dept. of random bullshit
Pollution Enthusiasts Look Forward to Positive Developments in Fight Against Cheery Bicyclists
Friday's BKV strike provided people with a wonderful excuse to go back and rediscover what it's like to ride a bike again. Furthermore, Sunday's big Critical Mass ride through town, meant bicyclists spread environmental good cheer. But what if you're one of those people who don't care for the environment? No, not as in one of those who deny the existence of global warming in face of mounting evidence, but I mean, really hate the environment. You know, people who think trash belongs on the sidewalk, acid rain is a quasi-natural cleaning agent, and any car that gets more than 10 mpg (23 L/100km) is just disgustingly efficient, and obviously the work of Satan.
Why not just buy a Hummer? No, not the kind you get from a lady of the night in a back alley, but the greatest compensator for a micro penis ever. According to a report from privatbankar.hu, one Tóth Autó Kft is planning on opening a dealership that will sell Cadillacs, Corvettes, and the aforementioned Hummers this summer. The location for the dealership will be where the M3 and perpetually-under-construction M0 meet. Aside from these three models, it will also be the place to get vehicles made by General Motors of the United States.
According to reports, if you run over a treehugging hippy riding their bike while driving a Hummer, the drive is so smooth you won't even feel it, hence no reason to feel the slightest bit of guilt. Not that you would. Furthermore, one of these babies offsets all the greeny goodness of a hundred bicyclists, so as soon as they start doing their part, you can quickly negate any impact they might have made. So buy yourself a Hummer today, and know that the critical mass you're aiming at is going to be far more life changing than taking a quick bike ride around the block.
EMAIL
COMMENT!Saw a Hummer going down Andrassy on Saturday with the number plate "W69ANKER".
I nearly got run over a few times by a few of those knuckleheads, no doubt giddy on their 'environmental good cheer.' Surely it's missing the point when most of these idiots end up on the pavement - are they pressing for the government to widen the pavements as well? If you're going to dress up in spandex and a crash helmet, at least have the decency to take your life into your own hands and ride on the road. That way there's an outside chance Hungarian motorists, pedestrians, and yes, even the government might start taking your cause seriously.
Does Raffles have a point - that bikers should obey the law in the same way that most car-drivers do. i.e. not at all?
If the bike lanes were better and parked cars a menace to pedestrians and bikers, there would be less of a problem.
hehe - should read
If the bike lanes were better and parked cars *less of a **** a menace to pedestrians and bikers, there would be less of a problem.
:)
I hear you, but I'm not really talking about breaking the law. In terms of only just being popularised, it's a relatively new form of transport, and therefore cyclists have to accept that they're on the back foot in terms of acceptance from road (and pavement) users. As a result, they need to at least behave in a consistent manner for cars and pedestrians to know how to react - to check their mirrors for bikes before turning right into a street, being an obvious example. I'm not anti-cyclist at all, and back home routinely clocked up 50 miles a week - in London I detest red light jumpers; not because they're breaking the law per se, but because they end up expecting it of other cyclists, and frequently plough into the back of the dwindling number who actually acknowledge what they're for. The streets of London aren't the safest for cyclists, but you're (quite rightly) fined a hige amount for riding on the pavement, and I wouldn't have it any other way.
Raffles,
Agreed. Better road user behaviour is for both bikers and car drivers - I hate it when the bikers here go through red lights too - gives all of them/us a bad name and shitty road behaviour becomes the norm. I wonder what it would take to improve road ettiquete a bit...I guess some realistic and enforced fines plus some kind of a raise in social education vis-a-vis 'proper' road use.
The following link is an uplifting vid of a great concept for 'taking back the streets' - the Ciclovia. Like a critical mass every weekend - seems everyone loves it.
http://www.streetfilms.org/archives/ciclovia/
I'd rather hit a pedestrian on the sidewalk with my bike then be hit by a car on the road. It just isn't safe to ride your bike on the street in most places in Budapest. Let's start with more bike lanes and fewer cars and then we can start talking about road ettiquete. Until then it's pretty irrelevant. Kurva biciklik!
1) Privatize BKV and let them live on their income, so they will close down a lot of those uneconomical routes;
2) Introduce a Congestion Charge for 1.000 - 3.000 HUF/day, so all poor Hungarians with their smelly old cars stay out of the City;
3) Introduce free bikes for borrowing at different places in and just outside the City. Make it criminal to lock them, so if you are not physically on top of one, you can not keep it. This way the poor people can get to and from work and they will stay healthier longer and not burden the State's cost for Health;
After this the City will be more green, nicer and us who can afford a Hummer can roam around without any queues, which will make our Hummers to spew out less bad stuff.
...and then they steal the bikes and sell them outside Budapest. This was the simplest point to criticise, Viking, but with some analysis the others could be, just don't have the time for it.
Of course, anything can be stolen and criticized. For the theft it is possible to make loan cycles in a different fashion that is easy recognisable and therefore easy to discover theft. A bicycle in the attic does not do the thief so much good.
It works in Amsterdam or was it Copenhagen? It had been tried in several places with less success, so there are a lot of lessons to be learned from before the start.
