Ride with or against traffic flow? Which is safer and why?

[Master-Yoda]

I hope you take this in jest:)

 

If your "special sword" is green, I recommend seeing a doctor as soon as possible...

 

And the character is from thundercats. You know. When cartoons were still freaking awesome.

 

Look mate, the problem people have here is that you started a thread wanting opinions. People gave them to you, but instead of acknowledging them, and moving on, you've continued to make exceptions to the original post and situation. This leads to frustration as your special circumstances don't really matter. There are arguments for and against your thoughts, and hey, that's okay. You're a big boy (although I'm not sure, if you don't know who thundercats are), and you'll be ok that people disagree.

 

Now I've been as properly civil as possible here. Please just stop the nonsense as you've made it clear you don't actually want opinions on the matter, instead you want to see post after post of people who agree with you. This is the hub. That's not going to happen. Welcome.

It the first time that you reply in a decent manor so I'll reply in kind which would have been my initial response if you'd replied differently in the first place.

 

I remember Thundercats back form the 80's (I'm from the 70's), unfortunately I don't recall the characters so sorry for mixing up your avatar with a completely different bunch of characters.

 

I don't have problems with people having different opinions to mine, I DO however have a problem with the way people put their thoughts forward and use similar terms such as "this is the way it is so accept it". To these types of comments I slowly put surely extend my middle finger and tell you to go screw yourself, and why would I react like this you may ask? Simple, I was born free and with a mind of my own. I have the ability to question what's around me and I chose to do so at my own will, it's your problem if you don't like the way I think and I couldn't care less. It's also sad that you keep on hovering over this topic and clicking on the embedded url to view the latest updates and to reply whenever it suits you. Great I say, at least the so called troll has captured your interest and you simply cannot resist but to translate your though into words and reply to a thread that you're not really interested in...

 

I've been visiting TH for a while now so don't be fooled by the registration date of my account nor by the number of posts. I'm no newbie to the Wonderful Wide Web nor dealing with guys like you which will always exist on all public platforms. I'll even tell you more, I'm probably registered on more than 30 different forums which cover my personal interests (F1, coding, mtb, soccer etc..) and most of the times it's SA forums where you'll find the largest number of idiots. There's just something about a large percentage of white South African males that's wrong, it's like you get beat up at home by your wives then come to an online forum and act all macho, is this suppose to make you feel better?

 

You expect me to accept your comment "this is the hub, that's not going to happen, welcome" as if you were the hub and the hub cannot exist without you? Your an imbecile if you're that small minded. To think that you would even consider thinking this way just because you're registered on a public forum longer than someone else that you somehow have more rights to be here that what I do, are you kidding me? There's only one time in my life when that philosophy applied and that was in the army, not here.

 

This vessel has enough firing power for you, the canons are ready and you will be fired upon without hesitation. Move along if you don't want to participate in this thread and let it die in peace, like all threads do.

 

BTW, my sword is green because that's the colour of "The Force"

Edited November 16, 2013 by 3dclaude

[HeyYou]

 

BTW, my sword is green because that's the colour of "The Force"

 

Now that's from the 70s!

[Skylark]

When people reply with essays to justify themselves it's a sign of....

And on a public forum nogal!

[Master-Yoda]

When people reply with essays to justify themselves it's a sign of....

And on a public forum nogal!

Let me finish that off for you..it's a sign of that further explaining is required as you didn't get it first time.

 

Welcome back, ready for another round?

['Dale]

This thread is radically hi-jacked....

Eish

[Master-Yoda]

This thread is radically hi-jacked....

Eish

Agree..

[Falco]

This thread is radically hi-jacked....

 

This thread is pathetic, that's what it is.

 

Its time for a moderator (a real one, not Claude), to hit the delete key.

[dirtrider]

Agree , I do what I do and so do you . If you dont like what I do stop me and say so .

[Witkop]

Edited November 16, 2013 by Witkop

[Witkop]

[FeK9]

Be visible, at all times...

[scotty]

Seriously, are you that stupid? It's an example of the "odds" previously discussed and was rightfully used as an example, no one is debating if the video is real or not so stop taking things so literally.

[Skubarra]

Let me throw this at you from a different angle. Three riders (mom/dad/child) are riding with the traffic flow and some drunk driver comes and hits them from behind, do you think that only one, two or possibly all three riders will be hit by the vehicle? Most families ride closely to one another and the way I see it, there's a higher chance of all three family members suffering the same outcome.

 

Now the same scenario except that this family is now riding against the traffic flow and of course, the same driver comes along. Now I don't know about most people by I for one have a defensive style of driving, I'm constantly looking and anticipating what other drivers are doing and I apply the same technique to when I ride my bike on the road, I go defensive. So I'll definitely be on the look out and am likely going to be ready to have some sort of reaction if I have the slightest feeling that "***" is heading my way and I honestly believe that anyone that's behind me will also have a better chance of reacting.

 

Nothing is perfect and driving against traffic would be no exception to the rule. It's obvious that there's a higher chance of the accident being fatal from a head on collision and maybe there's actually more fatalities (percentage wise) with cyclists that ride against traffic, I don't.. What I do know is that I hate of not having some sort of control to at least try and prevent getting tangled in the first place.

 

Yes, there would be theoretical scenarios where riding against the traffic could help you avoid an accident.

 

I can also give you scenarios where not wearing a seatbelt saved someones life in a fatal car crash , or not stopping at a red robot help you avoid a potential hijacking. But do these examples make compelling reasons for never wearing seatbelts or never stopping at red robots? No, because you also need to look at the problems you create when making these choices.

 

You are only looking at the "benefits" of riding against the traffic for you as a cyclist while completely ignoring the problems it creates for other road users.

 

 

Again, there are a number of very valid problems with riding on the wrong side of the road pointed out on this thread which you simply choose to ignore.

 

Agreed, it all depends on the circumstances and as cyclists we need to judge each scenario accordingly.

 

Interesting that you started this thread with a mini-rant against taxi drivers. Imo these okes are prime examples of road users who basically ignore traffic traffic laws when it doesn't suit them and apply their own judgement to each circumstance and scenario accordingly - depending on how they think is the best way to drive.

 

imo telling cyclists to be your own judge of when to apply road rules or not is even worse than all cyclists riding on the wrong side of the road.

Edited November 16, 2013 by Skubarra

[Master-Yoda]

 

 

Yes, there would be theoretical scenarios where riding against the traffic could help you avoid an accident.

 

I can also give you scenarios where not wearing a seatbelt saved someones life in a fatal car crash , or not stopping at a red robot help you avoid a potential hijacking. But do these examples make compelling reasons for never wearing seatbelts or never stopping at red robots? No, because you also need to look at the problems you create when making these choices.

 

You are only looking at the "benefits" of riding against the traffic for you as a cyclist while completely ignoring the problems it creates for other road users.

 

 

Again, there are a number of very valid problems with riding on the wrong side of the road pointed out on this thread which you simply choose to ignore.

 

 

 

Interesting that you started this thread with a mini-rant against taxi drivers. Imo these okes are prime examples of road users who basically ignore traffic traffic laws when it doesn't suit them and apply their own judgement to each circumstance and scenario accordingly - depending on how they think is the best way to drive.

 

imo telling cyclists to be your own judge of when to apply road rules or not is even worse than all cyclists riding on the wrong side of the road.

 

I tell you what, I'm getting bored with snip this and compare it to that type responses so let's see how smart you really are..

 

Search the net for videos showing cyclists being hit by vehicles that ride against the traffic flow and I guarantee you that for each video that you find, I'll find +100 videos showing vehicles riding into/over cyclists that follow the traffic flow. And to help you on your way..https://www.google.co.za/#q=cyclist+hit+by+car+youtube

 

And don't come with studies or other content that cannot be verified, I want video footage showing that there's a higher rate of accidents (percentage wise of course) with cyclists that travel against the traffic flow. Let's do some research of our own and ring the numbers, I'm sure that at the end we'll have a result that'll favour one side or the other..

 

So good night and happy surfing, you can bet that I'm looking forward in hearing what conclusion you reached :D

[chris_w_65]

How is it even possible to negotiate an intersection while riding against traffic?

I almost hit a guy the other day on my road riding the wrong way, the car in front of me pulled out to avoid him and I had to do the same and in much less time/distance than had he been riding in the correct direction.

[Skubarra]

I tell you what, I'm getting bored with snip this and compare it to that type responses so let's see how smart you really are..

 

Now I think you are just very cleverly avoiding every argument I have made above, but ok..

 

Search the net for videos showing cyclists being hit by vehicles that ride against the traffic flow and I guarantee you that for each video that you find, I'll find +100 videos showing vehicles riding into/over cyclists that follow the traffic flow. And to help you on your way..https://www.google.c... by car youtube

 

Now I haven't made the effort to google it, but yes I would actually expect that 1 to 100 ratio. If only because the ratio of cyclists cycling against/with the traffic is 1 to 10,000. Which would make it a neat proof that its safer to cycle with the traffic

 

A very good night to you as well

Edited November 16, 2013 by Skubarra