Cyclist blinded by egg.

Simon Mason said:

Cyclist blinded in one eye by an egg thrown from a car:

this type of thing really makes me F**ing angry; why are we considered
as less than human by some road users? I have had chavs in a car lean
out of a car and try to pull me off in Rotherhithe tunnel. Plus the
constant Get a Car jibes; Gun petrol matches anyone?

"MartinM" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
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Quoted message said:

Simon Mason said:

Cyclist blinded in one eye by an egg thrown from a car:

this type of thing really makes me F**ing angry; why are we considered
as less than human by some road users? I have had chavs in a car lean
out of a car and try to pull me off in Rotherhithe tunnel.

Cycling in the Rotherhithe tunnel *shudder*.

I think it's the herd picking on the weakest member syndrome. A gang of a
dozen fit roadies in designer gear could take the mick out of a lard [censored]
wobbling their way back to their car in a similar fashion if they were so
inclined.

--
Simon Mason
http://www.simonmason.karoo.net

"MartinM" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

this type of thing really makes me F**ing angry; why are we considered
as less than human by some road users?

Cyclists are not singled out. They rank alongside other non-enclosed users
of the road and/or pavement in the eyes of some thoughtless road users. You
have to keep things in perspective, remind yourself that the majority of
raod users are OK and not assume the mantle of persecuted cyclists'
representative.

Simon Mason said:

Cycling in the Rotherhithe tunnel *shudder*.

it was worse than smerking 20 tabs; but the alternative was Tower
Bridge (too far) or the Greenwich foot tunnel (PITA on a bike). I rode
through it a year or so ago for old time's sake, the pollution level
was tangible.

"vernon" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
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Quoted message said:

"MartinM" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

this type of thing really makes me F**ing angry; why are we considered
as less than human by some road users?

Cyclists are not singled out. They rank alongside other non-enclosed

users

Quoted message said:

of the road and/or pavement in the eyes of some thoughtless road users.

You

Quoted message said:

have to keep things in perspective, remind yourself that the majority of
raod users are OK and not assume the mantle of persecuted cyclists'
representative.

Beg to differ. Nobody's hurled abuse at me, squirted a drinks can at me nor
feigned aiming their car at me when walking in broad daylight, all these
things have happened to me when cycling as well as the more harmless
"humourous" comments.

The only incident I know of regarding abusing motorists in a similar manner
was the story related by my late father of how, when driving open cab army
trucks in Colchester with only their heads protruding through a tonneau, the
local kids hurled snowballs at them :-)

--
Pete
http:[email hidden]/P

"vernon" <[email hidden]>typed

Quoted message said:

remind yourself that the majority of
raod users are OK and not assume the mantle of persecuted cyclists'
representative.

You obviously inhabit a different planet from mine; cyclists *are*
persistently persecuted on mine :-(

--
Helen D. Vecht: [email hidden]
Edgware.

Quoted message said:

Beg to differ. Nobody's hurled abuse at me, squirted a drinks can at me

nor

Quoted message said:

feigned aiming their car at me when walking in broad daylight, all these
things have happened to me when cycling as well as the more harmless
"humourous" comments.

Beg to differ.

http://www.purdueexponent.org/2001/01/31/opinions/letter2.html yields:

'' To the people in the car heading west on Stadium Avenue on Saturday
evening at a little after 11 p.m. who decided it'd be funny to lean out and
throw eggs at myself, my friend and my girlfriend while driving about 40
mph: It's one thing to pull a prank that messes up someone's clothes, but
when you're probably too drunk to throw straight and end up smashing the egg
against my girlfriend's face it becomes a serious issue. I consider this the
equivalent of someone coming up and punching her in the face and then
running away laughing. The paramedics did a good job calming her down
afterwards, but it would be nice to know who would slam a girl's face with
an egg and then not have the decency to stop their car to try to correct
their stupidity. To anyone who knows these people and heard or overheard
them talking about it happening, please contact me so their names can be
filled into the police report that was filed. ''

I know it wasn't broad daylight but the act is still the same. I have seen
reports in the local rags over the past few years about pedestrians being
targetted by BB gun owners...a particularly dangerous thing to do in the
current climate.....chavs will be chavs or neds or jerks and attempt to do
something 'funny' to unprotected road users, doesn't justify or excuse their
action and they don't specifically target cyclists no matter what your
personal experience is. Don't recall there being much of a market for
anti-chav wear :-)

Quoted message said:

The only incident I know of regarding abusing motorists in a similar

manner

Quoted message said:

was the story related by my late father of how, when driving open cab army
trucks in Colchester with only their heads protruding through a tonneau,

the

Quoted message said:

local kids hurled snowballs at them :-)

One needs to remember that egg (or any other projectile) hurling is not
typical or regular behaviour of motorists and/or pedestrians

It's too easy to get caught up in a hysterical rant and ascribe typical
behaviour onto rare incidents.

On Fri, 21 Oct 2005 18:53:49 +0100, "vernon" <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

this type of thing really makes me F**ing angry; why are we considered
as less than human by some road users?

Cyclists are not singled out. They rank alongside other non-enclosed users
of the road and/or pavement in the eyes of some thoughtless road users.

That's true. A couple of months ago I was starting out on a
backpacking trip and was having to walk for about half a mile along a
road before heading onto the hills.

A car came round the bend, ahead of me. The female driver brought the
car to a halt, wound down the window and shouted "[censored]!" at me then
drove away. I can't remember what I did; I like to think I waved
cheerily but I probably just kept walking. I found the incident quite
amusing, really, but shouting abuse doesn't physically hurt anyone.

Some people are just nutters, I'm afraid.

Judith

Peter B said:

The only incident I know of regarding abusing motorists in a similar manner
was the story related by my late father of how, when driving open cab army
trucks in Colchester with only their heads protruding through a tonneau, the
local kids hurled snowballs at them :-)

Oh dear that wasn't in 1947 was it? We were snowed in for so long there
wasn't much entertainment......
:-)
Dan Gregory

vernon said:

It's too easy to get caught up in a hysterical rant and ascribe typical
behaviour onto rare incidents.

It's not a rare incident, though. It happens to me about once a year
on a bike, never as a pedestrian, never as a motorist.

Last time was either a big silver coin or (more likely, I think) a
large washer. Fortunately I saw it coming atthe last moment and got
my head out of teh way (violently enough that my neck was a bit sore),
but care to speculate what a washer thrown edge-on does to a forehead
with a closing speed of maybe 90mph?

regards, Ian SMith
--
|\ /| no .sig
|o o|
|/ \|

Peter B <[email hidden]> whizzed past me shouting

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Cyclists are not singled out. They rank alongside other non-enclosed

users

Quoted message said:

of the road and/or pavement in the eyes of some thoughtless road users.

Beg to differ. Nobody's hurled abuse at me, squirted a drinks can at me nor
feigned aiming their car at me when walking in broad daylight, all these
things have happened to me when cycling as well as the more harmless
"humourous" comments.

A couple of months ago some teenagers in a car squirted water at me as
they passed, then did the same to two separate pedestrians.

They will have heard me shout their mum's registration number out to the
second pedestrian: if there's nothing else I can do, I like to remind
them that the vehicle can be found and targeted.

Quoted message said:

The only incident I know of regarding abusing motorists in a similar manner
was the story related by my late father of how, when driving open cab army
trucks in Colchester with only their heads protruding through a tonneau, the
local kids hurled snowballs at them :-)

My primary school teacher used to get aeriated when they snowballed his
car. You can't hit the motard in a closed car, but he was afraid it'd
cause him to crash.
I suppose it's less common nowadays because cars don't exactly stand out
any more, but also because snow's become so rare.

--
Sue ];(🙂

La liberté individuelle s’arrête là où commence celle des autres

Quoted message said:

My primary school teacher used to get aeriated when they snowballed his
car. You can't hit the motard in a closed car, but he was afraid it'd
cause him to crash.
I suppose it's less common nowadays because cars don't exactly stand out
any more, but also because snow's become so rare.

Role reversal does occur. The school where I work dreads snow as there is
often a queue of irate motorists at the general office wishing to register a
complaint and seeking a severe beating or total castration of the
snowballer(s)
of their vehicles.

I'd forgotten about such instances as, as you say, snow is a rare occurance.
I just hope the long range weather forecast is wrong. Pedestrian teachers
are seen as fair game by pedestrian pupils when there's a lack of motorists
to hurl their snowballs at.....

On Fri, 21 Oct 2005 21:33:33 +0100, Sue White <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

A couple of months ago some teenagers in a car squirted water at me as
they passed, then did the same to two separate pedestrians.

Equally, many years ago, on the Stourbridge ring road (3 lanes for
those that don't know it) a kid, probably teenage, was on the pavement
swinging a new bicycle tyre, that he'd obviously just bought, out into
the 3rd lane, deliberately hitting cars. If I'd seen him in time -
before he hit may car - I would have caught the tyre and pulled the
[censored] into the side of my mini. Aside from the traffic behind me
running /it/ over, I guarantee that he would have had more damage than
my Mini 850 <evil>;-)</evil>

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Helen Deborah Vecht said:

"vernon" <[email hidden]>typed

Quoted message said:

remind yourself that the majority of
raod users are OK and not assume the mantle of persecuted cyclists'
representative.

You obviously inhabit a different planet from mine; cyclists *are*
persistently persecuted on mine :-(

I often get abused by pedestrians (presumably either temporarily out of
their cars or too [censored] to drive one). Face it, we are often
stereotyped as losers/tree huggers and thus an easy target (and the
media does not help). I have noticed recently a growing tendency of
teenagers to make overtly stupid and loud comments to pretty much
everyone; either from cars, on the street or on trains; is the fabric
of society breaking down or am I getting old?

MartinM wrote on Saturday 22 October 2005 02:04:

Quoted message said:

I have noticed recently a growing tendency of
teenagers to make overtly stupid and loud comments to pretty much
everyone; either from cars, on the street or on trains; is the fabric
of society breaking down or am I getting old?

both 🙂
--
Alex

From address is a spam block.
Reply-to address is valid.

MartinM said:

media does not help). I have noticed recently a growing tendency of
teenagers to make overtly stupid and loud comments to pretty much
everyone; either from cars, on the street or on trains; is the fabric
of society breaking down or am I getting old?

Teenage cyclists - at 10PM at night, riding on the pavement without
lights in almost pitch black conditions - also tend to make comments
around here when you look at them like they are brain dead morons -
which they are.

The last one was a few weeks ago - I did not even say anything - the
moron just looked at me when I shook my head at him and he said
"should I ride on the road and get killed". I thought that that would
be nice, but there are about 5 cars an hour on that road at that time
of night. I know as I (a) live there and (b) I rode/wove (mostly
wove!) along it the first night I got my new bike a few weeks before.

Still, he was better than the kids who climb over the park fence,
which should be both topped with razor wire and set to about 20KV...

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"Sue White" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Peter B <[email hidden]> whizzed past me shouting

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Cyclists are not singled out. They rank alongside other non-enclosed

users

Quoted message said:

of the road and/or pavement in the eyes of some thoughtless road users.

Beg to differ. Nobody's hurled abuse at me, squirted a drinks can at me
nor
feigned aiming their car at me when walking in broad daylight, all these
things have happened to me when cycling as well as the more harmless
"humourous" comments.

A couple of months ago some teenagers in a car squirted water at me as
they passed, then did the same to two separate pedestrians.

They will have heard me shout their mum's registration number out to the
second pedestrian: if there's nothing else I can do, I like to remind them
that the vehicle can be found and targeted.

Quoted message said:

The only incident I know of regarding abusing motorists in a similar
manner
was the story related by my late father of how, when driving open cab army
trucks in Colchester with only their heads protruding through a tonneau,
the
local kids hurled snowballs at them :-)

My primary school teacher used to get aeriated when they snowballed his
car. You can't hit the motard in a closed car, but he was afraid it'd
cause him to crash.
I suppose it's less common nowadays because cars don't exactly stand out
any more, but also because snow's become so rare.

Chavactivity. Another favourite trick is throwing stones through bus
windows. One day they'll hit the driver, who will then lose control of bus.
With a bit of luck, victims might include the stonethrower's mother......

"Cyclists are not singled out. They rank alongside other non-enclosed users
of the road and/or pavement in the eyes of some thoughtless road users. You
have to keep things in perspective, remind yourself that the majority of
raod users are OK and not assume the mantle of persecuted cyclists'
representative."
I wouln't agree with that. As a pedestrian I have had an egg thrown at me ago several years, but since I took up cycling three years ago, I have had abuse hurled at me on at least a dozen occassions, I have had water squirted on me, I have had an elastic band flicked (hard) against my leg - I caught that spotty youth and won't say what happened as it may then become subject to a court case ;-) and I was peleted with eggs from a passing school bus.
On one occassion a passenger in a car hurled abuse out of the passenger window, I caught up with him at the next junction, and as I leaned in through his window he lost all power of speech, and I don't think he'll of done it to anyone since.
I think cyclists are singled out. A colleague at work will now only ride off road after having a scalding coffee thrown over him from a passing car.
I feel for the lad who the story in the original posting was about.

"vernon" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Cyclists are not singled out.

They are certainly not alone in being singled out, people may be seen as
valid targets for many reasons eg. being
black/gay/overweight/ginger/Jewish/......the list is endless but in my case
being an average (I'd like to think above average ;-) white, English,
heterosexual, caucasian, I need to don some Lycra, a strange plastic hat
(don't ask) and dare to cycle on roads somebody else has paid for to
qualify for otherwise unsolicited abuse :-)
Of course the other way to guarantee incoming abuse is to drive a car, but
then that's generally an internal affair within a sub-group and two-way as
well :-)
--
Pete
http:[email hidden]/P