As a fellow cyclist, who is disgusted by the arrogant behaviour of this minority who are bringing us all into disrepute and risking regulatory consequences for us all, when I'm in a similar position I generally anticipate the worst and time my crossing carefully. Once the approaching cyclist has committed to their path I change my step and try and make sure that I barrel into the side of them as they pass - keeping clear of
I think you'll find that - jumping red lights is illegal already - so is deliberate assault
If they're already aware of you and have chosen a route to avoid you, who exactly is the bigger [censored] here?
I find a good hard open-palm slap onto a window or door of a car sailing across the ped x-ing usually gets an entertainingly abrupt emergency stop and panicked expression...
Or the emergence of a foul-mouthed yob waving a baseball bat :-(
I once arrived (on foot) at a pelican crossing where it seemed that a pedestrian had been hit by a car. Fortunately they seemed merely shaken up; they were sitting at the side of the road talking to a policeman. What was prossibly the car in question was pulled over just ahead, in front of a police car, and the driver was also being questioned.
After the usual wait the lights went red and the green man lit up, so I started to cross - only to have to take avoiding action from a twunt who was driving across against the red, staring with fascination at the police/pedestrian/car tableau...
[that he deliberately knocks cyclists who he believes are breaking traffic law off their bike]
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I think you'll find that - jumping red lights is illegal already - so is deliberate assault
If they're already aware of you and have chosen a route to avoid you, who exactly is the bigger [censored] here?
the one on the bike
I disagree. One is breaking the law in such a way that there is a very small chance of causing injury or damage to another person. The other is deliberately taking actions intended to cause injury to another person.
But presumably you believe that two wrongs do make a right.
Being 6' 5" and 15 stone none of my "victims" have had the temerity to challenge me yet and having jumped red lights and accidentally collided with a legally crossing pedestrian they would be hard pressed to do very much. It's all in the observation and the timing. ;-)
All red light jumping is illegal and cannot be defended, but while a cyclist inching across a junction on red with no traffic & no pedestrians is at the trivial end of the spectrum, cycling over light-controlled pedestrian crossings with pedestrians on the crossing is at the opposite end and cannot be defended in any way.
I applaud your tactic - at 6'2" & 16 stone I might well adopt it myself rather than the usual muttered "Wan*er" as I stop on the crossing to let another inconsiderate tw*t cycle across infront of me. A startled "shoulder charge" might just do the trick!
After the usual wait the lights went red and the green man lit up, so I started to cross - only to have to take avoiding action from a twunt who was driving across against the red, staring with fascination at the police/pedestrian/car tableau...
there is a difference: what you describe is a mix of stupidity and incompetence by the driver.
A Tw*t on a bike cycling across a pedestrian crossing weaving among pedestrians or cutting directly across them is a deliberate and conscious act.
BTW I train my kids to not trust the light but, if there is traffic approaching, to wait until it stops before stepping out. No point in looking up form the blooded road saying "But you should have stopped!"
After the usual wait the lights went red and the green man lit up, so I started to cross - only to have to take avoiding action from a twunt who was driving across against the red, staring with fascination at the police/pedestrian/car tableau...
there is a difference: what you describe is a mix of stupidity and incompetence by the driver.
A Tw*t on a bike cycling across a pedestrian crossing weaving among pedestrians or cutting directly across them is a deliberate and conscious act.
BTW I train my kids to not trust the light but, if there is traffic approaching, to wait until it stops before stepping out. No point in looking up form the blooded road saying "But you should have stopped!"
Don't forget to train them to pretend to step out without looking if the light has changed and the traffic hasn't stopped.
I normally find that that gets the kind of reaction that passes for contrition nowadays* from the person that was about to ignore the lights.
IME it usually it happens when the bus cuts the cyclist up on the way to the bus stop. Quite why some cyclists continue to whizz along when they know people are going to hop off beggars belief.
The solution for this is for the bus to (be able to) pull in all the way to the kerb. This would require a combination of better-designed bus stops and proper traffic enforcement at those which already are properly designed to allow a bus all the way in.
On a similar note, I recall on the recent documentary about a London bus depot on TV (I forget the name) that bus drivers in this country are actually trained to pull in 6-8 inches from the kerb, and not right up to it. Does anyone know why? I always put this down to poor or lazy driving before now, as in Germany the convention is to touch the kerb with the wheels, thus taking best advantage of the low-floor boarding step.
"Neil Williams" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:[email hidden]...
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Mark Thompson said:
IME it usually it happens when the bus cuts the cyclist up on the way to the bus stop. Quite why some cyclists continue to whizz along when they know people are going to hop off beggars belief.
The solution for this is for the bus to (be able to) pull in all the way to the kerb. This would require a combination of better-designed bus stops and proper traffic enforcement at those which already are properly designed to allow a bus all the way in.
Er - that wouldn't help in the situation where a bus starts overtaking a cyclist then cuts into their stop. It's happened to me...
In message <[email hidden]>, davek <[email hidden]> writes
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Ian Jelf said:
Oh well, at least it wasn't a car or lorry.......
Indeed. It's good that you weren't hurt - both for your personal interest and to point up the fact that being hit by a bike is less serious than being hit by a motor vehicle. Not that I wish to excuse the idiot's actions in even the remotest way.
As for her remarks, well obviously she was in such a hurry that she didn't have time to stop and explain fully: "I'm sorry I hit you but the problem is that I am a complete [censored]." Her yelling out "[censored]" was just shorthand.
I'm sure that's what she must have meant.
You wouldn't *believe* how much that has cheered me up and made me laugh! Thanks! :-)) -- Ian Jelf, MITG Birmingham, UK
In message <[email hidden]>, M-gineering <[email hidden]> writes
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congokid said:
From my experience as a cyclist in London I know that very few cyclists stop for pedestrian crossings or red lights (apart from when the passing traffic is too heavy to weave through, or they've spotted a policeman). Often they barrel through at high speed and any collision with me would have serious consequences
Bring back umbrella's which, if swung in the appropriate manner, bring remarkable results 😉
ROFL! I'm a tour guide so I nearly always have an umbrella as it's handy in crowds and has become bit of a trademark. (We even had a salute of umbrellas as we emerged from our wedding last year)
Unfortunately yesterday I was without one, which is highly unusual. -- Ian Jelf, MITG Birmingham, UK
After the usual wait the lights went red and the green man lit up, so I started to cross - only to have to take avoiding action from a twunt who was driving across against the red, staring with fascination at the police/pedestrian/car tableau...
there is a difference: what you describe is a mix of stupidity and incompetence by the driver.
A Tw*t on a bike cycling across a pedestrian crossing weaving among pedestrians or cutting directly across them is a deliberate and conscious act.
Yes, but the cyclist is annoying whereas the car is quite possibly fatal. It's like the difference between, say, deliberately spraying graffiti, and ignorantly allowing an untrained worker to use a dangerous machine without protective measures: the latter is worse.
-- John Band john at johnband dot org www.johnband.org
In message <[email hidden]>, naked_draughtsman <[email hidden]> writes
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Ian Jelf said:
Well, I developed an interesting angle on this yesterday when - as a pedestrian in Piccadilly - I managed to get knocked down by a cyclist. With a number of other people I was crossing a side street at a green pelican crossing on (pedestrian) green. Motor traffic had been stopped for some time.
Did you report it to the police? If everyone who was hit or nearly hit did so they might do something to stop these cyclists who give the rest of us a bad name.
With hindsight I wish I had, although I suspect my description would have been too vague and - please don't forget - I wasn't hurt. I could have been but I wasn't.
I think that the crowd thought it was more serious than it was. I also confess that I spent a lot of time saying that I was okay and that it was nothing and not to worry so we all, remarkably quickly, went our separate ways. -- Ian Jelf, MITG Birmingham, UK
I find a good hard open-palm slap onto a window or door of a car sailing across the ped x-ing usually gets an entertainingly abrupt emergency stop and panicked expression...
Possibly followed by the driver getting out and assaulting you.
Still, at least I got compensation and the driver got points on his licence. And I'd do the same thing again.
Danny Colyer ([email hidden]) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :
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I find a good hard open-palm slap onto a window or door of a car sailing across the ped x-ing usually gets an entertainingly abrupt emergency stop and panicked expression...
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Possibly followed by the driver getting out and assaulting you.
I'm 6'2", and mid-30s. I'm not *hideously* unfit.
If he looks to be a total nutter, I can run quite quickly...
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Still, at least I got compensation and the driver got points on his licence. And I'd do the same thing again.
I find a good hard open-palm slap onto a window or door of a car sailing across the ped x-ing usually gets an entertainingly abrupt emergency stop and panicked expression...
Possibly followed by the driver getting out and assaulting you.
The more profitable approach being to stop, lodge a complaint with the police and claim any old dent in the car. The police will happily go along with this.
From what I've seen, it's not a minority of cyclists who do this, but a majority. At least where I see them, that is, which is from Islington to the centre. Occasionally you do see a sensible cyclist waiting out a red light, but it really doesn't happen that often. Usually they'll bump up onto the pavement, ride to the pedestrian crossing, cross, then bump back down.
I've also noticed an increase in cyclists riding past busses with people getting on/off, between the bus and the curb. Having a bemused cyclist staring at you with a look of complete confusion mixed with rage, simply because you got off a bus at a bus stop, is quite entertaining.
🙂
dave
This happens all the time outside Windsor House (TfL HQ) which in itself is only 30 seconds down the road from New Scotland Yard. On the 3 occasions this has happened to me over the last year or so not once has the cyclist stopped to apologise and in one case had the cheek to shout obscenities back at the pedestrians crossing! Please please one day let there be a policeman there to nick them...
(Isn't there a £30 fine or a "training course" if caught doing this now?).
