I like to say that riding a bike makes me feel like I’m in a car commercial. I get to cruise there a city without traffic; and I can go off road through the woods. It just feels like freedom
this post was submitted on 03 Sep 2026
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Fuck Cars
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I’d love to see some anti-car ads that parody the spirit of car ads; leaving the big SUVs stuck in traffic while a bike cruises on.
That’s a great idea. Then they can show a car driving around the block looking for parking. Meanwhile a bike just parks in the of the store
As someone with mobility issues, even if the infrastructure was perfect, I would still need a car. I wish actually useful e-bikes were legal in the UK, I suspect car companies have lobbied to restrict them.
That's the neat part. Reducing the overall number of cars on the roads also massively benefits people who have to use one. Since you don't need to crawl through traffic any more.
And the cars would be different from what we have today. They would be at least more human size
Are you sure about that? The cars left over would probably skew harder towards work trucks and people carriers, which can't easily be replaced by bikes. So it might actually get worse.
I think it would go to before the SUV appeared, since people wouldn't feel afraid of the other cars. The trucks (f150 type) would be smaller and more practical. They are bigger nowadays, but have less capacity.
Thing is they all convinced themselves they absolutely need a car.
Perhaps the microcars that are popular in the Netherlands could be a good option for you? They are legal to ride on bike infrastructure and I think they are generally inoffensive, especially when serving users with mobility issues.
I'm asking out of curiosity, not trying to be accusatory: If there were perfect public service infrastructure that went everywhere you needed it to -- let's say the bus stop is directly outside your house, even -- why would you still need a car?
I have Long Covid which for me has manifested in an inability to store energy correctly, I have about 20minutes of walking, washing up, or deep concentration before I need to recharge by sitting for 2 hours.
If there were a bus stop directly outside my house and I could isolate myself enough on the bus in theory I could take a bus. There is a bus stop 5 minutes walk away, but the journey tends to use up my 20 minutes.
Driving is probably the one ‘activity’ that doesn’t drain my reserves. I can drive somewhere and have 20 minutes to shop etc. then drive home.
That sucks, I'm sorry to hear that.
Oh wow, hi, I have Long COVID (Post-Covid ME/CFS) too.
I’m bedridden by illness so the only way I can get around is by ambulance.
I’m still staunchly fuck cars though. Being so ill has made me super neurologically fragile which means sounds can make me feel awful. The noise pollution from cars is a massive QOL drop for me. On top of that due to frailty I’m very sensitive to heat, and since my landlord bans me from installing AC (yay capitalism), I basically suffer really badly and have my illness worsen every summer. So people not using cars (less CO2) is a big plus in my book.
also I appreciate when there isn’t much traffic so my ambulance trips can go smoothly, hence less cars on the road is a plus for me.
Though I agree theres a tiny minorty in the fuck cars movement who doesn’t really care about exceptions for disabled/chronically ill people. But I think most people here will be on our side, that getting cars off the road is useful to make space for people who actually need them, like us.
I really feel for you, I’m so grateful to have not had worse symptoms, I’m in a group with people some who are so much worse off, one has POTS and comes in with new brushes each week where she has fainted randomly.
Trying to explain to people that while I appear to be perfectly fine, I will have to sit down or I’ll be asleep for a couple of days, is always met with confusion.
We have an electric car and it’s powered 100% by sunshine (and oil company CEO tears). Hopefully the switch to EVs happens swiftly where you are and that CO2 keeps going down.
Anecdotally since about 50% of the cars on my street switched to EVs my CO2 monitor has been showing ppm figures in the 300s for the first time in ~4years.
For me, my parents are 20mins away by car. By bike or public transport its 3 hours. There is simply no way for a public transport system to beat the flexibility of a car, and there are very real scenarios that make a car extremely useful.
Trips to bunnings/home depot are also easier with a personal vehicle.
That said, we should still strive to minimise car usage as much as possible anyway.
For me, my parents are 20mins away by car. By bike or public transport its 3 hours
This is a failure of city design and the public transport system. There is no reason for public transport to be slower than a car, and cities and towns that were more compact would allow you to access by bike quickly and comfortably.
It might require you to buy a kit and modify the bike yourself, but cops can't tell how many watts a motor makes by looking at it, nor are they likely to notice you're twisting the throttle to modulate speed.
Its not uncommon for kids in China to illegally modify emopeds so they do absurd speeds but look normal, presumably similar kits for ebicycles are on aliexpress.
The police here have test systems that measure the power of the bike, if it’s over 250w, can go over 15mph etc. The bike gets crushed.
The bike gets crushed.
Hmm, this really reminds me of the book "1984" by George Orwell. No, I have not read it, but imagine it's that.
In 1984 if you think about getting an unsanctioned bike you are crushed (after being tortured) I recommend reading it, you will see so many references in everyday life.
Nah fuck that paternalistic homophobic piece of shit. If the FBI promotes your work, you suck as a socialist.
How do the test systems work? Surely theres a way to beat them or just don't get caught.
Not really - unless you have a known model with the correct stickers your bike gets fully tested and searched top to bottom for test defeat devices.
So you buy a known model with the correct stickers and switch out the motor and related circuits. If they're anything like bore-swaps, the motor will have the same case and say 250W on it.
They still put the known models on a dyno, so you do all that work and spend all that money and it still gets crushed.
When? Also it's probably not hard to have a setting to only use 250 watts of power. Illegally modified ebikes and emopeds are a thing everywhere, do you think the UK is uniquely effective at combating them?
All the details here: they just stop people randomly in the street and test them. https://youtu.be/XcFuN2fitOU
Holy shit I forgot how much british news loves its fascism.
But yeah, it shouldn't be too hard to put together a bike that can beat the tests, but it might require some creativity, such as setting up the phone holder to disengage the >250W circuit, so you can take your phone, hand the bike to the pig, and it will pass the test.
In Georgia I've never had a vehicle inspection, I'm guessing that isn't common for the American experience? The only times I've had to go through vehicle inspections was when I lived in Germany and England for a bit.
In Ohio they are ostensibly required, but i only know of it being enforced in the Akron area. Sometimes you can get a decent car for cheep there that won’t pass inspection as long as you promise not to register it in Summit county, iirc. Point is enforcement is super patchy for a lot of the continental interior.
One quibble: the oil companies don't need government subsidies in order to keep the price of fuel down. They are the most profitable corporations in the history of the planet. They need subsidies in order to keep things that way.
I love how true this is
While license and registration + taxes are not "car" problems and are actually a part of the solution, there is one more thing you can evade in my country.
Requiring bribes to traffic police.