Isekai Ojisan - Vol. 12 Ch. 61.2

[MangaDex]

 

[SSDCZX]

what in tarnation?

 

[ciera]

Thanks for the updates

 

[LordofLeechers]

The law can best be summed up as "whatever I feel like at the time".

 

[Maplefield]

I'm one of those sidewalk bikers, since the biking infra sucks and I don't wanna risk getting run over by cars

 

[Doctor_Malsyn]

I'm one of those sidewalk bikers, since the biking infra sucks and I don't wanna risk getting run over by cars

Can't be helped i suppose

 

[nomunire]

I wouldn’t dare to try vehicular cycling, even in Japan. Just take the sidewalk.

Then again, I guess there’s a slightly less chance of getting isekai’d by a kei truck than by a F-150.

 

[Qwertybluefist]

always gotta choose when the right time to be on the road is, biking on the main roads are scary af don't wanna get run over

 

[feha]

Both halves of this chapter really felt more like two omakes, than 2 halves of a chapter.

 

[feha]

I'm one of those sidewalk bikers, since the biking infra sucks and I don't wanna risk getting run over by cars

Over here, it is always illegal to bike on sidewalks not designated (with signage, generally drawn on the street) to allow bikes ...
...unless you are younger than a certain age, for some reason. As if someone thought kids are less likely to accidentally hit someone. And to be clear the age is well into teens, I am not talking about something like "5-year-old on a bike with support wheels" where it actually makes sense to expect their speed to be slow and manageable. And their mass to be low and manageable. So as a pedestrian I would hate it if someone used the sidewalk.

Spoiler: rant about bikes in the city went on long, so hid it here

And about expecting bikes to go on the side of the road instead of making actual bike-lanes, I hate it (to be clear: it is still a better idea than sharing a sidewalk with pedestrians. As pedestrians can BOTH strafe AND fall over. And have absolutely no regard to traffic regulations or even their own safety. At least drivers are educated to take care when piloting the deadly weapon known as a car). Because whoever designs car roads really don't design with bikes in mind .

• ie. speed bumps. They have reflective signs on either side to make them easily visible to cars... exactly where a bike is meant to go or at least close enough that it really risks hitting and bike-basket hanging off the side (sometimes with a refuge cemented around the sign giving the bike ~10cm margin to drive between the refuge and the sidewalk for their wheels high enough that if you have either pedal at the bottom of the stroke, it will hit that side's curb ).
  • You want me to go over the bump itself? I do that sometimes, but that is almost worse as that means I suddenly have to veer into the center of the lane, so I am in the way of any cars. And if I have a lot of cars next to me? There's no space!
• And any sewer lid or grate? Always located on the side where bikes are expected, so we have to constantly swerve out into the cars territory. I could get thin grates right against the curb, but nope, they are a standard square grate that is located a bit haphazardly (and the sewer lids are haphazardly placed too).
  • (and even on actual dedicated bike-lanes on a sidewalk, what is up with putting all the sewer-lids there instead of in the road or pedestrian? And often even horizontal instead of angled with the slope of the road, so it sticks out of the asphalt as the top of a huge sharp concrete cube [aka looks and feels like a large and sharp curb] in the middle of the bike lane)
• Parked cars? Yes, they should be exactly where a bike wants to go! Particularly if there is a bike-lane you might want to turn onto. Then the frontmost parked car should make it an 87-degree no-visibility turn for the bike!
  • And even if they aren't where the bike wants to go, they should be on the side of the road and have their doors open onto where the bike wants to go! Always love it when going past any parked cars has to be an adrenaline joyride!
• How do you get into/off the side of the road from/to a dedicated bike-lane like in the example above, or a bike-parking area? Of course, big-ass curbs!
• Gravel, glass-shards, and other things? swept into the bikes area .
• Snow? Scooted off sidewalks into the bikes expected area. Often in a way where it looks fine for a while and then suddenly a large mound is made so you have to squeeze into the queue of cars. And the roads plows the snow into the bikes expected area of the lane (overall making them thinner). It is your own fault I have to bike in the middle of the lane.~
• Bus terminals? Why, when a bike-lane has been drawn alongside the side of the road/curb, is it drawn that we should drive through and share the [extremely cracked and sunken concrete slap of a] bus waiting area?
  • And if there is an actual dedicated bike lane, why does the bus terminal make the bike lane become a really sharp C-shaped curve with 0 visibility (and for various reasons there's an extremely high likelihood of people walking there despite it being designated for bikes) due to the shelter? Either move more of the sidewalk so the curve is not as sharp and gets better visibility, or instead make the damn car-road thinner at that area! You have no idea how many times I have nearly hit some pedestrian because of how it has been built to have no visibility and pedestrians entering the dedicated bike-lane because it is too much of a hassle to follow the curve of the side-walk.
• Overall, what is with so many places having super sharp curves in super-thin (sometimes thinned only for that curve) dedicated bike-lanes for the dedicated bike-lane, for parking spots to get the space to exist etc, that I can't even take without braking to walking speeds? Do redraw the lines/asphalt so the curve is more gentle!
• Red lights? Likely not enough space to dismount the bike if a car is next to you (and how do you turn left as a bike anyway??? for now I have always gone straight, then dismounted and walked over the crossing there when green to be safe. But no idea what the proper way to manage it without resorting to that is), and intersections where a zone for the bike is marked is rare. And if I am coming from an actual bike-lane that has a crossing, why is sometimes the button on the other side of a fence so I have to dismount and leave my bike in the designated/drawn area, to climb over [to the waiting area for pedestrians] and push it?

When using a bike, even in a city that is generally considered as unusually designed to allow for biking, you truly do realize that you are nevertheless considered a second-class citizen on the roads. Even for roads in the central parts where they claim they don't want cars and set up cameras fining any car-owner whose car enters that area (while they claim they don't want cars, truth is the city budgets expecting a certain amount of income from those tolls, and they really want as many cars as possible for that reason. It is why the 2 cities, when they were meant to cooperate on this, had one city hurry up and set up their own cameras/zone so they could monopolize the money. And in a way that impacted the other city's road-usage heavily so they had to spend money shoring up less-used roads that were now suddenly heavily trafficked), you can tell that any bike lane is someone going "oh, wait. I forgot to include planning for bikes! Let's quickly draw some lines and marks on the roads, even when they make little sense! and/or let's at least not create signage that is visible well in advance or from all angles, so someone on a bike only knows how to handle this intersection the third time they have to cross it!"

And damn do the city loves to leave pot-holes if they are in a dedicated bike-lane...

:fuming: :fume: :fuming: :fume:

Overall, I honestly wish the country made proper laws for biking and taught them in school to everyone. Because more often than not, people on bikes are the worst, and are absolute marauders more selfish than a fish in jail (get it? cell fish). And it would be way better if it was decided who has right-of-way in certain situations and that was then taught (protip, it is, and should always be, the pedestrian. Except when you are a group of ppl walking side-by-side covering the entire bike lane. Then you are the ones that should move. Even moreso if you are 3 baby carriages side-by-side + a slow grandpa with a cane, what were you even doing blocking everything in the first place, if you are that bulky and unable to get out of the way?).
But also pedestrians really don't know how to handle any situation where a bike appears and they are in the way. Particularly if you had to ring to get their attention (And yes, that includes me. I get scared, jump straight up, land, lose my balance and fall over, and then look at where the ring came from with a backpack swinging out into the opposing lane hitting anyone coming from the front or anyone using it to pass me), expect any such person to throw themselves in any direction randomly. So would have been nice if it was decided how people should react (freeze in place vs jump to the right side of the road. Either is fine, but please stop jumping further into the road...) and that was taught.
And I would love it if a universal signal was made that could be used to simply tell "I am here. You are currently fine so for all that is holy do not react! But I just want to give heads-up as I plan to pass you soon, and don't want you to randomly veer sideways in any way or otherwise scare you when I pass", as for now all we have is playing with the gearing and hoping the individual heard you (but don't expect that, as the cars are too loud and/or the pedestrians are wearing noise-canceling headphones anyway, despite walking in a dedicated bike lane with the pedestrian lane 3 meters over to the right separated with a patch of grass...).
I am not even asking for the world (aka for pedestrians to not use dedicated bike-lanes) here!

 

[TetraSky]

As long as no bored cops sees you, you're fine on the sidewalk if you're not a nuisance to pedestrians.

 

[DrSuperKamiGuru]

Both halves of this chapter really felt more like two omakes, than 2 halves of a chapter.

Weird huh?

 

[mahtan]

Traffic regulation is the most common type of crime that people commit everyday.

 

[BobBob]

I tried biking on the road once. Once. Terrifying business; never again.

 

[Alcion]

Bike infrastructure is garbage in my city. Theres like three actually decent bike lanes, then the rest are all 'heres a 1m wide strip on the side of the road that cars will run in and out of for parking and turning, plus the asshole motorcyclists that use it to pass cars illegally'.
Oh and that 1m wide strip has gutters every hundred meters, and the gutters are designed to be below road level with an associated dip in the road for water to go into, so its really half that width every hundred meters btw if you dont feel like basically going through a speed dip every hundred meters.

 

[MontDilanus1343]

If biking in the road, follow rules of traffic like a vehicle. All of them. Since you are one.

Including stop signs, yielding, signaling turns, right of way/no passing on right, and pulling to side to allow others to pass if traveling unsafely below posted speed limit.

Guess what most cyclists don't do? Causing things to be unsafe in the first place.

Same goes for motorists not treating cyclists like vehicles as well. With all benefits, and corresponding responsibilities.

 

[saredesu]

This is just a short rant disguised as extra😂 Author probably had a bad day with bike

 

[CountryMage]

I tried biking on the road once. Once. Terrifying business; never again.

Last time I tried, got into trouble when traffic bunched up, and suddenly the sidewalk is a couple feet high, so I can't hop up.

 

[Redice]

So it's like walking on the road instead of the poorly maintained sidewalk in other regions, lol. You only move on the sidewalk when 2 cars pass by simultaneously.

 

[kolotons]

I'm one of those sidewalk bikers, since the biking infra sucks and I don't wanna risk getting run over by cars

Your kind are a danger to walkers.