tonym

iv been a messenger for almost 6months now and i find the less cars/traffic on the roads the less i enjoy my job, people come on here and complain about almost getting doored and general little things like that, this is the sort of stuff that makes riding a challange for me, took off my brake after a few weeks at it and it opened up a new way of riding/thinking.
i worked the second day of the year, no traffic at all but enough work to make the day worthwhile- i still just went home
so all you car haters-would you really rather cars not being there altogether?

queerpunk

come to new york, do it every day, realize the answer is unequivocally yes - i'd rather that cars not be there altogether.

LóFarkas

I like riding between cars-but then I'm not a full-time messie and I've never been hit. I guess either could change my outlook.

Hobartlemagne 

Arent Dublin drivers more attentive to small vehicles? When I was there a few years back,
I saw many motorcycles riding between moving cars. Could the drivers expect that kind
of thing, which would make it safer fo cyclists too?

TRaffic Jammer

I love the thrill of ripping downtown city traffic. Wide open roads, flowing fields of wheat while pretty don't do it for me. Give me grid lock and a cross town rush.

mander

I live out in the suburbs, my normal traffic riding style consists in cringing as fast commuters pass me on the left. But I do like getting into urban gridlock every now and then, there's really nothing like it.

geog_dash

I'll take either lots of cars, where everyone has to slow down and pay attention, or no cars (no brainer). Worst is light traffic, when the few cars are going at speed limit + 15 and drivers are zoning out or gabbing.

Actually, I wouldn't like it either if no cars meant all bikes. Some of those pictures from Netherlands and China look kinda sucky, IMO.

queerpunk

those wouldn't be so great for pounding down the avenues at 25mph, but i'd much rather have a whole ****load of people biking by my house than a highway disguised as a street on my front lawn.

of course, the roads in netherlands and china that are jampacked with bikes probably wouldn't be good for hammering at 25mph if they were empty, anyway. so, i think you're drawing errant conclusions.

seriously though. a little bit of traffic is fun. but come to new york and do it every day and see how fun it gets after the first, second, third near-death experience... of the week.

brunop

new york's nothin'. i ride in traffic there all the time. believe it or not drivers in nyc actually obey the traffic laws. even the taxis for the most part. come to boston if ya want to see some real ****tya$$ drivers. boston is where you'll get your near-death experiences. new york is fun.

timmhaan

exactly what i think too. sometimes i visit my parents in rural AZ and ride out on country roads. being passed at 60-70 mph or higher just sucks ass. i'd much rather get passed a thousand times at just 20-30 mph. high speed traffic scares me.

iridetitus

+1, mostly. i've been blindly rear-ended by a car from behind @ 30+ mph and i've slid on icy patches into cars doing less than 5 mph. both sucked. but...i love riding in traffic, especially when out riding solo. did so for 3+ yrs over the queensboro and miss it every day. were i a messenger, though, that pov could change.

fwiw, i once heard nyc loses ~25 people annually to car-meets-bike accidents. not sure if that was all messengers or if it included incidents like little kids getting hit playing in the street on their bikes and such or if it's even true.

be safe out there, folks.

iridetitus

ummm...not sure where in nyc you ride, but they do 60 down queens blvd; there might as well be no individual lanes anywhere in manhattan; and people park all over the street to 'run in for a second.'

but, yeah, it's fun. rode in boston for 6 months also. just as damb crazy there for sure.

Aeroplane

I've raced in Boston and NYC, and the only real difference to me is that it's easier to get lost in Boston.

john_and_off

i've never ridden nyc, so i don't have any authority to compare it to boston, but drivers are crazy as balls here. my favorite rides are in the middle of the night, when the roads are completely empty.

so yes, i really do wish i didn't have to share the road with cars.

TRaffic Jammer

The cars give me the adrenaline that I sooooo love, no cars....not much adrenaline.

el twe

I'll admit that I get a kick out of weaving through blocked traffic and watching as lights change in order to beat the green and cut that left turn, but the threat of the automobile, to both society and cyclists, is much greater than the enjoyment.

veggiemafia

That's my situation exactly, with appropriate substitutions.

Drivers in Pittsburgh are morons, though, and not used to bikes at all, except seeing them going 7mph down the sidewalk, carrying a CMU engineering student.

queerpunk

well put.

i'd gladly trade the adrenaline rush for the benefit mine and a million other neighborhoods would get from dramatically reducing auto traffic.

TRaffic Jammer

I'm not afraid of cars in the core. Yes they are a threat but even when they are spitting water from them they will STILL move too fast and with amazing impunity. Not to mention electric cars are REALLY REALLY quiet. They will be able to sneak up on us.

colnago57

I'll admit, the adrenaline really gets going while ripping through traffic, but today when I was doing that on a winters day, sucking exhaust fumes, I realized, cars really f$*kin stink. Also, when you get to ride through throngs of people on bikes (i.e. Netherlands, Northern Germany) its definitely kinda cool.

Igneous Faction

Riding around at 2 in the morning when there's no one but you on the road is incredible. It's like luxury lanes for my bike.

I'd rather that cars not be there, thanks.

mihlbach

You need a mix of both heavy urban traffic and wide open roads to really appreciate both. Living just right outside NYC, I get an even mix of both, so I don't really tire of either. I enjoy blasting through heavy traffic, but when I do it frequently, I find myself yearning for open roads and vice versa.

kemmer

+billions

I go about 7 miles on the glass and gravel covered shoulder of a wide, fast arterial. Sucky. Then I do about 5 down quiet(er) sides streets near downtown. Relief! The last mile or so is on 30 mph downtown streets. Fun!

I like riding around the busy parts of our little downtown, I don't know that I would like riding in NYC or Boston though. I would get over the boredom of having no cars to play with after the first winter without any red air quality days.

SpiderMike

I'm split on open road and in the city. Only thing that sucks is the open road is so far away. Getting buzzed by cars doing 70plus on the open road suck just as bad as getting buzzed by a hybrid or clown-burban. Each are worth it for the post ride buzz at the bar... I wants some more cactus juice

bonechilling

New York is pretty much the most ruling place on earth,
but the only thing that would make it better would be if
there were NO CARS. What a beautiful dream that is.