I know that James May was always the hippie of the group, but I'm still happy he said it.
this post was submitted on 24 Mar 2025
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Captain Slow will reach the correct conclusion...after some time.
James May added: “The thing that really bothers me is road sectarianism. Quite a few people in cars seem to be somehow offended by people riding bicycles because they’ve paid all this money for a car and think therefore they should be rewarded for it, but often they’re just not using the car very intelligently.” 👍
I have to admit I'm a bit guilty of this, but from both sides. I bike more than I drive, and when I'm driving all cyclists are a menace and are in the way, but when I bike all drivers are reckless idiots who are trying to kill me.
The rule of the road is that any one going slower or faster than you is a menace, this applies to everyone with pedestrians being at the bottom of the food chain.
To be fair most cyclists in major cities have a death wish. I don't have another way to describe wearing all black in winter with no lights driving against traffic in a car lane (where there is also a dedicated, separated bike lane), and ignoring all stop signs and traffic signals. It's a death wish.
Yes it's mostly doordash et al, but just because doordash doesn't care about it's workers doesn't mean the workers don't have to.
in my region the doordash type motorcyclists are the ones with a deathwish, they weave fast through traffic like they are immortal (and traffic laws don't exist). needless to say they die a lot. the byciclists are rightfully afraid of our chaotic traffic, except when they install a motor on their bikes, for some reason.
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I still think about the time I passed a bicyclist on the road, reached a red light, and saw him pass between all the cars that had just passed him to stop in front of me again. We all had to pass him again.
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The polar opposite to Jeremy Clarkson
He's always been the one that's not as much of a cock as the other two
What did I miss about Hammond?
He tended to just ape the Orangutan. Heh. Ape. Orangutan. See what I did there?
Obviously TV stars are the right people to ask about city planning. Because city planners and architects have given up the concept of automotive cities as recently as 1970 and nobody has been giving a fuck since then. On of the fathers of the original idea, Le Corbusier, declared the automotive city as failed because of the sheer number of cars . The automobile revolution had, in his opinion turned into an automobile explosion and no reasonable concept could handle the volume of traffic that were far beyond the estimations the original idea was based on. Nevertheless reasonable political reactions on the total failure of dealing with permanently increasing inner city infvidual traffic are still an exception. Because Hans Wurst and Joe Moron must have their car an arm's length away from their sofas or they'll either die from exhaustion walking to the convenience store or from acute lack of beer and potato chips...
Agreed. Also dog's do not belong in cities.
They can if people clean after their dog and keep them on leash in public spaces. The problem is always the people in the end.
Bold claim. I'll tack onto that and say cats don't belong in cities.
correct, because cats don't belong outside at all, they should be kept indoors for their safety and the safety of the ecosystem.
What if you are in a country with native cats?
sure, if you live in africa then go ahead!
Yeah, I am sure all the Scottish wildcats live in Africa.
You all heard Captain Slow.
Hand over them keys.
Actually, that would be amazing. Unfortunately, living in a major North American city, I don't have enough wealth to be without a car.
Man I really wish we weren't so entrenched in this car-centric city planning philosophy. Public transit just doesn't get it done around here compared to abroad.
Works fine as long as you don't mind being late. Limiting your travel times. Tripling the length of your commute. And braving a mobile-psychiatric dayroom environment in order to go anywhere..
I AGREE BAN CARS INVEST IN PUBLIC TRANSPORT 250 MILLION EURO IN ONE EAR SERVED 1 MILLION PEOPLE FOR 20 YEARS!!!
BAN BAN BAN BAN BAN BAN BAN BAN BAN
Calm down
Getting your opposition to do that while remaining calm is a great rhetorical tactic. Especially if they rage out with little that directly ties their outburst to you being "unreasonable".
What is Top Gear?
Very famous show about cars. They made model compete against each other or other transportation mode in various racing contest and discuss a lot about mecanisc. It is British but also famous in France.
@pseudo @jagged_circle It had a pretty good viewership in Australia too. I think it did pretty well in a lot of countries.
Yeah. I could guess it. It was a very interesting show. I never was into cars but it is a nice thing to watch in the evening.
@jagged_circle @Global_Liberty
11-52.
?
@jagged_circle sorry, 11-52 is, historically, the top gear of a road bike..
I had a 11-54 for a while... That was the bike I hit 60mph on, combination of downhill and drafting. Could have gone faster if I'd had more gears. That's what prompted me to buy a Sachs 3x7 hub, so I technically had a 63-speed. But I never had the confluence of conditions to try again.
Oh, sorry, I ride a brompton
@jagged_circle ah so sorry, top gear is 50/11*1.33 ... Err something like that?
Yeah idk. I have two sets of planetary gears and one cassette
One of the most successful and popular global TV shows of all time.
We could learn from China as they've been solving this problem with EVs. See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AomxytSwrkY
Cars will never go away due to the current city landscape, but things like these would significantly improve transport and livability.
EVs still bring noise, pollution, land use, and carbon emissions from concrete. So they don't solve all the problems with cars, they should be a last resort.
@Dalaryous @Global_Liberty tiny cars only reduce parking space, they take up essentially the same amount of road at speed.