I think it’s sensible they have similar rules to cars, because bikes are much, much faster than pedestrians. Ride on right side of road, the “right-hand yield rule”, following signs that are in place, etc. I don’t understand why it’s better to have them treated as pedestrians, when they behave so differently from pedestrians.
But different roads have different rules. Ride on car road, follow car rules. Ride on pedestrian road, follow those rules. It’s about context and predictability, again.
I think we are running into culture differences here. In the US we don’t have separate roads for different types of traffic except for in cities sometimes. And even then you get drivers who get super pissed about having less road to hog cause the city added the skinniest little bike lane and walkway. Most places in the US do not differentiate between car roads, bike roads, and walking roads, so much so that I’ve never even seen a pedestrian only road before unless sidewalks count.
Indeed, and I touched on this before that it’s very America to have such poor bike infrastructure, unfortunately. But in light of that, it would make even more sense to have bikes follow the same rules when riding on the same roads. I don’t know, that’s just my thinking.
I think it’s sensible they have similar rules to cars, because bikes are much, much faster than pedestrians. Ride on right side of road, the “right-hand yield rule”, following signs that are in place, etc. I don’t understand why it’s better to have them treated as pedestrians, when they behave so differently from pedestrians.
But different roads have different rules. Ride on car road, follow car rules. Ride on pedestrian road, follow those rules. It’s about context and predictability, again.
I think we are running into culture differences here. In the US we don’t have separate roads for different types of traffic except for in cities sometimes. And even then you get drivers who get super pissed about having less road to hog cause the city added the skinniest little bike lane and walkway. Most places in the US do not differentiate between car roads, bike roads, and walking roads, so much so that I’ve never even seen a pedestrian only road before unless sidewalks count.
Indeed, and I touched on this before that it’s very America to have such poor bike infrastructure, unfortunately. But in light of that, it would make even more sense to have bikes follow the same rules when riding on the same roads. I don’t know, that’s just my thinking.