Tweet of the Day: What’s Wrong With This Picture?
This picture tells a lot about what is wrong in this country #SouthKorea pic.twitter.com/Kabp3Gd5kl
— Fabian Kretschmer (@FabiKretschmer) June 28, 2016
This picture tells a lot about what is wrong in this country #SouthKorea pic.twitter.com/Kabp3Gd5kl
— Fabian Kretschmer (@FabiKretschmer) June 28, 2016
Nothing is wrong with that picture.
It is clever and elegant fukk you to bicyclists.
“Fabian” sounds like a German tbone.
Eat a diik, CH. 😉
Establishing a well thought out, effecient bike lane system reduces overall traffic congestion. Something Seoul definitely needs!
Not that I don’t have my own issues with some of the cyclists I’ve dealt with in Korea. Share the Road goes both ways, and don’t be doing time trials along the Han, where little kids with training wheels are just getting started.
Ummmm… yummy diik!
I agree. Good bike lanes would be a good thing.
But since there are not good bike lanes, nor can there be, bikes need to stay off the streets…
…or the law needs to change so when you hit some fukkstick biker dressed in black on a black bike at night, you aren’t faced with financial ruin as if it is the car driver’s fault.
Even where there are “proper” bike lanes, they make the situation more dangerous… as making right turns off busy streets becomes even more stressful. Fast-moving bikes can appear in the moments your attention is rightfully focused on other potential threats.
Further, coming out of a side street across a bike lane becomes difficult as there are frequently barriers to seeing oncoming bicycles…. from parked cars to buildings to banners… not to mention the entire lack of personal responsibility bicyclists the world over seem to lack in remaining visible, predictable, and within established traffic rules.
Korea doesn’t help by putting bike lanes along the busiest streets instead of off along the back roads. There is already enough chaos and distraction.
It is unjust that Korean law will financially ruin a driver who is doing everything correctly if they happen to hit a bicyclist who is breaking the law and/or fantastically negligent in their action. This alone should make every driver hate bicyclists and discourage their existence.
In the end, I like the idea of bicycles as transportation for reasons ranging from health to pollution to parking… etc.
But I like elephants, too.
And society is not structured to properly accommodate either one on public streets.
So, bicyclists, go ride elsewhere.
Not a single bicyclist defended their actions nor countered my claims.
As I suspected, they are both a menace on the streets and weak of mind.
MTB… I will give you a conditional exemption from this line of thought… but only because you seem like a pretty reasonable guy when not getting all perverted with your cable and chain fetish while dressed in a spandex partial gimp suit with a big black rubber thing on a stick pressed against your azz as you are bent over holding a suggestively curved metal rod.
Sorry, I’ve been busy. I can post links to how traffic islands make bicycling (and pedestrians) safer in traffic, but my tenants moved without notice, and I have been taking care of my property rather than argue with strangers on the internet.
But a couple things:
All Black Riders at Night: Fuuk that guy. Assisted Suicide is what I, and most serious riders call that level of stupidity. Wear reflective gear, have lights and reflectors, and now there is reflective paint for the entire frame and wheels.
Getting sued for squashing a Cyclist: Sorry, but that’s a Korea thing. I’ve had 10,000 year old halmone and hadapogies walk across in front of me on the river trails with nary a glance to the left or right. Good thing I have good brakes, or I’d be on the wrong end of a lawsuit. Foreigners are automatically at fault in Korea, and the local philosophy seems to be “the weaker person is the victim.” If you’re in a car, you’re at fault. Doubly so if you are anything but loud mouthed Korean.
Korea and it’s “Missed it by that much” approach to doing things. The island shown in that pic MIGHT have worked, if only they had built it right. But I managed to break a collarbone when someone cleverly substituted gloss for flat paint on the bike trail. No problem if dry, but slicker than snot when wet…
I’ll post links on infrastructure improvements to get bikes and cars (and pedestrians) when I’m not up to my neck in maintaining property values.
I look forward to your information and analysis.
Your glossy-in-place-of-flat has already inspired me.
On dry days, do you think flat can be converted to glossy with cooking oil? There are some curves that could use attention.
In seriousness, my experience with American bicyclists is little different than with Korean bicyclists… except a larger sense of entitlement that it is their right to use a full lane on a main road at rush hour even with a long line of cars behind them as they diddle around 15 mph below the speed limit.
All sorts of things can be argued about the wonders of bicycles… but when one person negatively affects so many other people in any other situation, it rightfully ends up with legal action or an azz-kicking.
Again, I am PRO bicycle… but there are so many bad apples in a community that argues instead of self-polices, it is better for the majority of the busy population which drives or walks to just do away with the entire group that is constantly in the way.
OK, here is the article I was thinking about, regarding the Corner Refuge Island:
http://io9.gizmodo.com/this-awesome-intersection-design-is-a-dream-come-true-f-1529805459
The bike lane itself is segregated from the rest of traffic by a curb. This keeps slow riders from blocking traffic, especially on uphill slopes. It also protects pedestrians from cars and bicycles. From the pic in the original article, the Korean refuge island seems to be another example of holding the plans upside down. Proper use of a refuge island lets drivers see anyone at the intersection, and lets cyclists and pedestrians see cars approaching.
But the concern CH had was cyclists appearing where they shouldn’t be, a.k.a. splitting lanes or riding up on the right hand side blind spot. This infrastructure change keeps all but the very fastest or most foolish cyclists out of the auto lanes. I have been both from time to time, and remain unsquashed. I stopped worrying about traffic when I started keeping up. Sadly, I’ve gotten fat here in New Mexico, and look forward to returning to Korea one day.
Most of my riding in Korea was on the cycle paths. I can ride from Camp Casey to Yongsan, and almost never be near a car. From Casey, I cross two roads (Hwy 3, and HWY 3 Bypass), and then onto the trail. I cross one single road in Deokgye-dong, which has a traffic light. After that, it is clear until I take the elevator up at the Han Gang Bridge and ride a couple blocks to Gate 17. If I’m not on a bike trail, most of the roads in Area 1 have “breakdown lanes” which serve as bike lanes. Bikes are out of traffic flow. I can’t speak for other Areas.
I think I’ve covered most of CH’s concerns between my last reply and this one. If I missed something, or anyone else has questions, I’ll do my best to discuss them.
MTB, I liked your video.
It was a very good idea presented in an amazingly clear way.
Too bad the scam artists in government are too focused on pushing taxes and (small) business controls under the guise of global warming and other nonsense to take concrete steps such as this to improve public health, cut down on traffic congestion, and reduce polution… all problems government exists to legitimately help solve.
As I am pro-bicycle, I support infrastructure redesign and improvement such as this.
…but…
Sadly, we live with the bicyclists we have, not imaginary ones forced into social compliance with fantasy infrastructure…
….so I still loathe them.
You’re not going to get perfection overnight.
And it’s not just Koreans with the plans upside down:
https://www.yahoo.com/sports/news/football–heavy-rain-turns-stadium-into–bathtub-131457105.html
Really? That’s some poor drainage right there.
@MTB, I like the protected bike lane and intersection design idea as well. The only downside I see though is that either part of the road or sidewalk would need to be lost in most cities to create it. I don’t know how many people would be willing to possibly give up a traffic lane that would congest traffic further to put in the protected bike lane, however urban planners building new communities should make this a regular feature.
By the way here is the response from Seoul government to a complaint a sent to them about the bicycle lanes:
The link also has other pictures of some of the poorly designed bicycle crossings as well.
http://kojects.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Seoul-Bicycle-Design4.jpg
When I went to Las Vegas last summer, I was able to do a lot of riding around the city. There are six (seven) lanes in a lot of primary roads Off Strip: two up, two down, one full lane each way for bikes, busses and cars turning into parking lots, plus a painted median for cars to turn into the opposite side of the road parking. Vegas didn’t have the “protected” lanes, but getting around without getting in the way was pretty easy.
Of course, the U.S. builds big roads for our car culture, and has room to spare. Korea? Not so much, but I noticed a lot wider boulevards in some of the new construction areas outside of Seoul.
Given the guys with buses, dump trucks, and LPG-laden vespas swerving onto sidewalks, it seems riding a bicycle in Seoul, Incheon, or Pyeongtaek is attempted suicide.
Considering further, the protected bike lane is great idea in theory… but probably useless in practice.
Urban areas have lots of right turns with no traffic lights that would require turning through a bike lane filled with the usual fast-moving and hard to see bikes.
If bikes could act as a car… keeping up with traffic in a normal lane instead of getting special treatment, it would be OK… but they cannot.
The ones that can, we call motorcycles.
Or we call them “Ridden by MTB, when he’s not FAT!” 😆
You’re right on this. Infrastructure changes won’t happen overnight, and not everyone with a bike will be able to maintain +35kph over an extended distance.
But then again, traffic can be so bad that it’s not the bicycles bogging down traffic, it’s the other cars and trucks.
The solution I envisioned are single-seat, 3 wheel, closed-cabin electric vehicles used only for commuting to work. Their top speed would be around 35 mph which would make up for the lack of safety features. They would require less parking, less expense, would not require long-range batteries, etc. With running lights, they would be very visible. They could coexist with bicycles very well… and the higher density their smaller size would allow on the road would move more people faster.
They could also have fixed speeds (meaning everybody would be going exactly 30 instead of everyone piled up behind the guy lollygagging at 27) and/or sensors to match the vehicle ahead… but baby steps… gotta get these on the road first.
There are so many short commutes in a country like Korea that this would solve many problems… from pollution to congestion to parking.
It’s been done:
https://momentummag.com/swedish-inventors-bike-car-winter-riding-solution/
You may want to look into distributor and manufacturing rights.
Always got your back!