"Cyclists need good manners"

Duracell Bunny said:

From this week's Wynnum Herald:

paper.questnews.com.auwrh008.pdfOpen ↗

LAST Sunday (Feb 18) I was crossing the road by the Manly markets with my dog, who is old and very slow.
We were being approached by a cyclist who was speeding towards us. Instead of slowing down he yelled at us to ‘‘hurry up’’.
I felt immediate anger towards this individual and responded accordingly. I
now pose the question as to how would he have reacted if it had been an elderly person crossing the road.
I would suggest that his reaction would have been the same. The cyclists that ride along the foreshore need to
be taught some manners, as often they ride in groups of three or more abreast making it impossible for cars to go past them without swerving.
These people do not pay to use the roads, (even my dog is registered) and I personally feel that someone should inform them that these are resources to be shared and they are no more special than anyone else.
Tina East,
Wynnum West

I wrote back suggesting Ms Tina East does something about her anger management issues .... I'm not going to hold my breath for publication 🙄

Brisbane drivers are not the best - this is evidenced by the need to "swerve' as the only option when passing cyclists. 😉

warrwych said:

Brisbane drivers are not the best - this is evidenced by the need to "swerve' as the only option when passing cyclists. 😉

Heh no they are not.

Here's the full text of my letter to the editor:

May I take Tina East (28 Feb Opinion) to task for her inconsiderate article concerning a cyclist? She does not say whether or not she was crossing the road on a pedestrian crossing, nor whether she checked that the road was clear before she slowly meandered across the road with her lame dog. Cyclists are not required to pay to use the roads, and nor is her dog - but all the cyclists I know pay a great deal to register their cars, but chose to use bicycles as much as possible, using cars only when needed, so yes we DO pay for roads.
She freely admits to an anger management problem towards this cyclist, therefore I would strongly suggest it is her that "needs to be taught some manners". Brisbane is unusually hostile to cyclists, always has been in the 25 years I've been cycling here, and as a result most of us ride pretty defensively. Acting aggressively is never the answer to problems.

Duracell Bunny said:

From this week's Wynnum Herald:

http://paper.questnews.com.au/QST_WRH/wrh008.pdf

-LAST Sunday (Feb 18) I was crossing the road by the Manly markets
with my dog, who is old and very slow.
We were being approached by a cyclist who was speeding towards us.
Instead of slowing down he yelled at us to ''hurry up''.

Quoted message said:

I wrote back suggesting Ms Tina East does something about her anger
management issues .... I'm not going to hold my breath for publication

I think it was indeed the cyclist who "lacked manners". Tina responded as a
lot of people would have. Maybe they could do an anger management course
together. Wouldn't you like to join them?

Theo

quote='Theo Bekkers'Duracell Bunny said:

From this week's Wynnum Herald:

paper.questnews.com.auwrh008.pdfOpen ↗

-LAST Sunday (Feb 18) I was crossing the road by the Manly markets
with my dog, who is old and very slow.
We were being approached by a cyclist who was speeding towards us.
Instead of slowing down he yelled at us to ''hurry up''.

Quoted message said:

I wrote back suggesting Ms Tina East does something about her anger
management issues .... I'm not going to hold my breath for publication

I think it was indeed the cyclist who "lacked manners". Tina responded as a
lot of people would have. Maybe they could do an anger management course
together. Wouldn't you like to join them?

Theo[/QUOTE]
😕

Whatever makes you think I'm angry about it?

DB

Duracell Bunny said:

Theo Bekkers said:

Duracell Bunny said:

From this week's Wynnum Herald:

http://paper.questnews.com.au/QST_WRH/wrh008.pdf

-LAST Sunday (Feb 18) I was crossing the road by the Manly markets
with my dog, who is old and very slow.
We were being approached by a cyclist who was speeding towards us.
Instead of slowing down he yelled at us to ''hurry up''.

Quoted message said:

I wrote back suggesting Ms Tina East does something about her anger
management issues .... I'm not going to hold my breath for
publication

I think it was indeed the cyclist who "lacked manners". Tina
responded as a
lot of people would have. Maybe they could do an anger management
course
together. Wouldn't you like to join them?

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

confused:

Whatever makes you think I'm angry about it?

You certainly appear to be steamed up enough to write to the newspaper. You
also appear to be one-eyed enough to not be able to grasp that it was the
inconsiderate cyclist who instigated the altercation between said cyclist
and Tina, who appeared only to want to cross the road with her dog, which
you profess to be owned in some greater way by the cyclist than by Tina. Why
did you assume or profess to know that the cyclist was paying rego on a car
the or she was not then using, but gave no thought to what was sitting in
Tina's garage unused?

Cheers

Theo

Duracell Bunny said:

Cyclists are not required to pay to use the roads, and nor is her dog - but all the cyclists I know pay a great deal to register their cars, but chose to use bicycles as much as possible, using cars only when needed, so yes we DO pay for roads.

IMO this is the wrong tack to take. Roads are funded by consolodated revenue, in other words taxes. Registration does not fund roads, taxes do.

I'm in the top tax bracket (not that hard these days) and I spend my money so yes I do pay for roads. I put a lot less wear and tear on roads as my default mode of transport is cycling, if anything I should get a rebate!

Local roads are paid for by rates, same argument applies.

Pursuing the arguement that most cyclists own a car which they pay rego for buys in to the false `user pays' mentality.

Theo Bekkers said:

You certainly appear to be steamed up enough to write to the newspaper. You
also appear to be one-eyed enough to not be able to grasp that it was the
inconsiderate cyclist who instigated the altercation between said cyclist
and Tina, who appeared only to want to cross the road with her dog, which
you profess to be owned in some greater way by the cyclist than by Tina. Why
did you assume or profess to know that the cyclist was paying rego on a car
the or she was not then using, but gave no thought to what was sitting in
Tina's garage unused?

Cheers

Theo

Did you actually read what I wrote to the paper? You infer an awful lot from what I said & what I didn't say.

I kept my letter to the editor brief, as otherwise it'd have no chance of publication. Sorry if you don't agree with what I said ... I ride the Wynnum/Manly foreshore roads a great deal, but I do avoid it on market day (Sunday) because of all the jaywalkers.

DB

Duracell Bunny said:

TheoDid you actually read what I wrote to the paper? You infer an
awful lot from what I said & what I didn't say.

I kept my letter to the editor brief, as otherwise it'd have no chance
of publication. Sorry if you don't agree with what I said ... I ride
the Wynnum/Manly foreshore roads a great deal, but I do avoid it on
market day (Sunday) because of all the jaywalkers.

Are you saying she was jaywalking? What makes you assume that?

Theo

quote='Theo Bekkers'Duracell Bunny said:

TheoDid you actually read what I wrote to the paper? You infer an
awful lot from what I said & what I didn't say.

I kept my letter to the editor brief, as otherwise it'd have no chance
of publication. Sorry if you don't agree with what I said ... I ride
the Wynnum/Manly foreshore roads a great deal, but I do avoid it on
market day (Sunday) because of all the jaywalkers.

Are you saying she was jaywalking? What makes you assume that?

Theo[/QUOTE]
Thank you for answering my earlier question - clearly you did NOT read my letter to the paper.

Pay attention, there's a good chap.

**Plonk**

In aus.bicycle on Thu, 1 Mar 2007 13:54:18 +1100

Duracell Bunny said:

my dog, who is old and very slow.
We were being approached by a cyclist who was speeding towards us.
Instead of slowing down he yelled at us to ‘‘hurry up’’.

I wrote back suggesting Ms Tina East does something about her anger
management issues .... I'm not going to hold my breath for publication
🙄

Did you also suggest the cyclist do so?

Zebee

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

Quoted message said:

In aus.bicycle on Thu, 1 Mar 2007 13:54:18 +1100
Duracell Bunny <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

my dog, who is old and very slow.
We were being approached by a cyclist who was speeding towards us.
Instead of slowing down he yelled at us to ''hurry up''.

I wrote back suggesting Ms Tina East does something about her anger
management issues .... I'm not going to hold my breath for publication
🙄

Did you also suggest the cyclist do so?

I really don't see how this cyclist was angry. While he was riding along a
*road* a pedestrian has stepped out to walk across, and for an unknown
reason has ambled across very slowly (he was not to know it was an elderly
or lame dog). The cyclist has given a warning by voice, perhaps not the best
way and a little impatiently. A bell ring would have been more acceptable,
but those damn roadies never do carry a bell :-)

Really none of this has involved excess anger on the cyclist's part. Equally
Ms East doesn't really seem to have anger issues, unless her idea of
teaching some manners to cyclists involves illegal or aggressive acts.

It was a brief conflict of travel intentions. Deal with it and get on with
your life!
--
Cheers
Peter

~~~ ~ _@
~~ ~ _- \,
~~ (*)/ (*)

I cant help but wonder why the cyclist just didnt slow down????
Cyclist should come ride up here where we dodge cows on the road, old
people, young people, dogs, horses - or just stop to chat along the way.
Really, how much of a hurry was the cyclist in? Maybe just slowing down
would have won more votes? Isnt cycling all about relaxing, enjoying the
outdoors, stressless pursuit while excersising? We can all get lost in
getting there pronto , or just go with the flow.
Kathy

Theo Bekkers said:

Are you saying she was jaywalking? What makes you assume that?

So Theo, you can confirm that she was crossing legally, and more to the
point, with her elderly dog was crossing at a pedestrian crossing with the
green man?

--
Cheers
Peter

~~~ ~ _@
~~ ~ _- \,
~~ (*)/ (*)

On Mar 1, 1:22 pm, Duracell Bunny <Duracell.Bunny.2mq...@no-

mx.forums.cyclingforums.com said:

warrwych said:

Brisbane drivers are not the best - this is evidenced by the need to
"swerve' as the only option when passing cyclists. 😉

Heh no they are not.

Here's the full text of my letter to the editor:

May I take Tina East (28 Feb Opinion) to task for her inconsiderate
article concerning a cyclist? She does not say whether or not she was
crossing the road on a pedestrian crossing, nor whether she checked
that the road was clear before she slowly meandered across the road
with her lame dog. Cyclists are not required to pay to use the roads,
and nor is her dog - but all the cyclists I know pay a great deal to
register their cars, but chose to use bicycles as much as possible,
using cars only when needed, so yes we DO pay for roads.
She freely admits to an anger management problem towards this cyclist,
therefore I would strongly suggest it is her that "needs to be taught
some manners". Brisbane is unusually hostile to cyclists, always has
been in the 25 years I've been cycling here, and as a result most of us
ride pretty defensively. Acting aggressively is never the answer to
problems.

--
Duracell Bunny

DB, it gives me great pleasure to confer on you honorary membership of
the BikeQld list GOMOB (Grumpy Old Men on Bikes).

Donga

just us said:

I cant help but wonder why the cyclist just didnt slow down????
Cyclist should come ride up here where we dodge cows on the road, old
people, young people, dogs, horses - or just stop to chat along the way.
Really, how much of a hurry was the cyclist in? Maybe just slowing down
would have won more votes? Isnt cycling all about relaxing, enjoying the
outdoors, stressless pursuit while excersising? We can all get lost in
getting there pronto , or just go with the flow.
Kathy

Slow down? That's the wind-up bit if I'm not mistaken. Slow down and
you'll get jumped and miss the sprint! Then it's all over until next
week. Simply not an option.

Donga

In aus.bicycle on Thu, 1 Mar 2007 19:01:23 +1100

Peter Signorini said:

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

Quoted message said:

In aus.bicycle on Thu, 1 Mar 2007 13:54:18 +1100
Duracell Bunny <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

my dog, who is old and very slow.
We were being approached by a cyclist who was speeding towards us.
Instead of slowing down he yelled at us to ''hurry up''.

I wrote back suggesting Ms Tina East does something about her anger
management issues .... I'm not going to hold my breath for publication
🙄

Did you also suggest the cyclist do so?

Really none of this has involved excess anger on the cyclist's part. Equally
Ms East doesn't really seem to have anger issues, unless her idea of
teaching some manners to cyclists involves illegal or aggressive acts.

I dunno. You assume the woman was not crossing legitimately, and that
the "yelled at us to hurry up" was a call of warning, not an angry
yell.

I have no idea if it was a legitimate crossing, nor if the rider was
riding at a suitable pace for the conditions, nor if the rider was
being aggro.

I just note that to assume that the writer of the letter needed anger
management but the cyclist didn't is making many assumptions not
supported by the evidence.

The writer might have been crossing illegally, and foolishly without
looking, the rider might have been polite and sensible. Or not. We
don't know... but this is aus.bicycle so the assumptions are always
going to be totally in the rider's favour, with extra helping of
disdain.

Zebee

In aus.bicycle on Thu, 1 Mar 2007 19:10:46 +1100

Peter Signorini said:

Theo Bekkers said:

Are you saying she was jaywalking? What makes you assume that?

So Theo, you can confirm that she was crossing legally, and more to the
point, with her elderly dog was crossing at a pedestrian crossing with the
green man?

YOu know for sure she was not on a zebra crossing? Or not legally
crossing more than 20m (or 50m depending on jurisdiction) from a
crossing place?

Why the presumption of guilt?

Zebee

Zebee Johnstone said:

In aus.bicycle on Thu, 1 Mar 2007 19:10:46 +1100

Peter Signorini said:

Theo Bekkers said:

Are you saying she was jaywalking? What makes you assume that?

So Theo, you can confirm that she was crossing legally, and more to the
point, with her elderly dog was crossing at a pedestrian crossing with the
green man?

YOu know for sure she was not on a zebra crossing? Or not legally
crossing more than 20m (or 50m depending on jurisdiction) from a
crossing place?

Why the presumption of guilt?

Zebee

Do we know for certain that the elderly person had her hearing aid turned on? Did the cyclist yell "hurry up" at the ped or "lovely pup" at the dog?

Sadly, we will probably never know.

SteveA

Duracell Bunny said:

😕

Whatever makes you think I'm angry about it?

Ah, come on, don't you know that simply expressing an opinion is commonly misconstrued, by those with less advanced social skills, as being extremely biased or even gives the illusion of being angry?

Tina duly expressed an opinion about how she thought, in a nutshell that's why the letterpages/feedback page still exists in numerous forms of the media. So feel free to ping one back. 😉