And just as a bit of counter-evidence: I was in Morocco for 9 days last month. Traffic in Marrakech is absolutely horrible, it's pretty much a free-for-all of cars, mopeds, bicycles, and pedestrians. But if you get out of central Marrakech and into villages, you start to see a lot of people on bicycles, and they co-exist perfectly peacefully with cars.
And as a slight tangent... how they ride bikes in Morocco is quite something to see. Top tubes and pannier racks are passenger seats. Panniers racks piled high with awkward bulky items. Women in full-on black burkas, cycling in the mid-day heat of the sub-Sahara. I even saw one guy on a bike, going downhill in the High Atlas mountains, slowing himself down by manually squeezing his front brakes together with one hand (I guess he didn't have brake levers).
its not just arabs, for all the "uncivilised" cultures he mentions, (south asians, africans etc) the bicycle & public transport is the staplehorse of the working class and the infrastructure of the whole economy.
People might enjoy going on joy-rides between designer houses on purpose made cycle lanes in the netherlands.
But in India ( & all off south asia) , Africa, and China.
Peoples lives depend on ferrying huge loads of produce on inadequate old fashioned often brakeless bicycles across huge distances of badly paved streets to major towns/cities. Dodging speeding land cruisers of rich internationally connected folk along the way.
I once saw a two guys with a broken down motorbike get a lift home on a rickshaw, with the motorbike perched on!
People in these "third world" countries, take the art of road sharing to a whole new level. In fact, I beleive the term "Critical Mass" was coined to describe this phenomena in China (which is much the same across Asia & heavily populated worker dominated countries)
So middle class Europeans/Americans on cunster posh bikes have been trying to emulate this art of road sharing for a couple of decades at least.
The statement on velorution does not seem to clearly/consistently/successfully project any argument.
The only thing in which it is clear & consistent is with its with its surprisingly strong racially discriminatory tone.
I mean, you could easily write an accurate article on "real" social attitudes/road etiquette toward bicycles in which you could come to the conclusion that particular immigrants were disrespecting to other road users.
But that is not what this is, this is a fumbling racist rant.
And I think everyone knows, cunts are cunts. Ive had stuff shouted/thrown at me from every colour & creed.
its not just arabs, for all the "uncivilised" cultures he mentions, (south asians, africans etc) the bicycle & public transport is the staplehorse of the working class and the infrastructure of the whole economy.
People might enjoy going on joy-rides between designer houses on purpose made cycle lanes in the netherlands.
But in India ( & all off south asia) , Africa, and China.
Peoples lives depend on ferrying huge loads of produce on inadequate old fashioned often brakeless bicycles across huge distances of badly paved streets to major towns/cities. Dodging speeding land cruisers of rich internationally connected folk along the way.
I once saw a two guys with a broken down motorbike get a lift home on a rickshaw, with the motorbike perched on!
People in these "third world" countries, take the art of road sharing to a whole new level. In fact, I beleive the term "Critical Mass" was coined to describe this phenomena in China (which is much the same across Asia & heavily populated worker dominated countries)
So middle class Europeans/Americans on cunster posh bikes have been trying to emulate this art of road sharing for a couple of decades at least.
The statement on velorution does not seem to clearly/consistently/successfully project any argument.
The only thing in which it is clear & consistent is with its with its surprisingly strong racially discriminatory tone.
I mean, you could easily write an accurate article on "real" social attitudes/road etiquette toward bicycles in which you could come to the conclusion that particular immigrants were disrespecting to other road users.
But that is not what this is, this is a fumbling racist rant.
And I think everyone knows, cunts are cunts. Ive had stuff shouted/thrown at me from every colour & creed.