I'm a pedestrian, mostly
I drive a car less than I ride a bike (and I do ride a bike, though not often on the roads). And as a pedestrian, I'd rather share the roads with car drivers than cyclists, who are a largely unrepentant menace. I'm not looking to "get people out of their cars" or save the bloody environment, I just want to be able to get to work without being knocked over by some holier-than-thou tosser who thinks red lights don't apply to them.
( emvee cruor deo cruoris, Wed 4 Aug 2010, 9:51, 2 replies)

Agreed.
I am all for environmentally friendly forms of transport, but cyclists seem a law unto themselves.
I got knocked into a hedge by a bike monkey last week, who had hopped up onto the path and was coming around a corner full tilt as I was walking the other way. He was unsighted as there is a garden with a tall hedge next to the path, and I was unsighted because I am virtually blind and get about using a long cane (white stick). I now have a bruise on my stomach and a ripped handbag (which luckily took the force of his handlebars).
The people walking behind me picked me up and berated the twat in no uncertain terms (I was too winded), who, when they wouldn't let him continue merrily on his way on the pavement by blocking his path (there were four of them and the path has a railing on the other side as it is next to a main road), rammed them with his bike and sailed off without so much as an apology to me.
It's not the first time something like this has happened to me. Fucking menaces.
(womanwhocanonlylivewithdogs, Wed 4 Aug 2010, 10:35, closed)

Womanwhocanonlylivewithdogs
makes a good point. It's alright saying you should look before crossing on a green man, but what about the blind and partially sighted? They have to rely on the fact that when the crossing beeps it *should* be safe to cross. Modern bikes are almost silent nowadays, good luck hearing one before it's almost on top of you.
(Petite chien is going to do science to it, Wed 4 Aug 2010, 11:07, closed)

I'm talking about pedestrians who step into the road without looking. No argument from me that crossing pedestrian crossings with people even in the vicinity and riding on the pavement is out of order. Pavement is for pedestrians, roads are for cars and ideally proper seperate cycle paths are for cyclists.
(Pete_G, Wed 4 Aug 2010, 11:25, closed)

Stepping into the road without looking is not a crime
Jumping a red light on a bicycle is.
( emvee cruor deo cruoris, Wed 4 Aug 2010, 11:40, closed)

Stepping into the road on a green man, pedestrians should not HAVE to look.
Likewise - whatabout the blind?
( Je suis un vagabond is an unfunny, up your own arse middle class knob, Wed 4 Aug 2010, 11:45, closed)

I think...
...what Pete_G is trying to say is that pedestrians who step out into an ordinary stretch of road without looking are a danger to themselves and other road users. Pedestrians stepping out into the road at a designated crossing should absolutely not have to look.

I cycle 7 miles each way to work and back every day and I obey the red lights and so on, up until the point that my light is just about to turn green and I get a bit of a jump on the traffic behind me.

What seems incredibly ridiculous is that other cyclists will abuse me for obeying the law...

Edit: I've just read a reply at the bottom of the page about stopatred.org and pledged to not ride through red lights... Look at me! I'm a virtuous cyclist!
(Sir Itchalot has a very self-referential signature, Wed 4 Aug 2010, 12:09, closed)

Good on you
we need more like you
( emvee cruor deo cruoris, Wed 4 Aug 2010, 12:22, closed)

shrill histrionics aside
the numbers would tend to suggest that the actual danger posed by cyclists is hugely at odds with the perceived danger. Cars users kill and maim far more, doing equally stupid things, yet people who drive never seem to generalise this to 'all drivers are cunts'.
( Happy Phantom has been to Hastings, Brighton, and Eastbourne too, Wed 4 Aug 2010, 10:53, closed)

I understand flying is still the safest form of transport, but it doesn't stop a lot of people being afraid of it.
Likewise, two rings don't make runt and all that.

You don't, however, get many car drivers who will try to claim that they drive a car for the benefit of anyone other than themselves, or try to justify breaking the law, with the possible exception of the wife's waters breaking/speeding story.
( Je suis un vagabond is an unfunny, up your own arse middle class knob, Wed 4 Aug 2010, 10:56, closed)

Actually
Flying is only the safest form of travel if you calculate by distance travelled.
If you calculate by the number of journeys vs the amount of accidents, then train travel is the safest.





As you were
(EvilMeister, Wed 4 Aug 2010, 14:04, closed)

from personal experience
I've never been knocked down by a car, but I've been knocked down by unrepentant cyclists twice, despite being on crossings at the time. Living in a city I don't have much to fear from motorists because they really don't have the space to get up any speed but cyclists remain a daily hazard.
( emvee cruor deo cruoris, Wed 4 Aug 2010, 11:07, closed)

Selfish dicks will remain thus in any mode of transport. If a cyclist knocks you down at a crossing, I suspect they'd have committed an arrrestable offence - in which case, you'd be perfectly within your rights to detain them. A 700 quid fine and whatever they have to give you in personal injury compo might go some way towards improving their manners.

Certainly wouldn't hurt to have mandatory bike number plates, provided they don't actually cost any more than the materials warrant. Might even reduce bike theft, if it matched a number stamped on the frame, so a win all round...
( Happy Phantom has been to Hastings, Brighton, and Eastbourne too, Wed 4 Aug 2010, 11:21, closed)

^What she said^

( Je suis un vagabond is an unfunny, up your own arse middle class knob, Wed 4 Aug 2010, 11:27, closed)

I'm all for number plates, registration etc.
Or even just some proper organisation - as I said above, I have no problems with Amsterdam which has proper cycle lanes, because I know that cyclists there will stop at crossings and obey the rules laid out for them. It's just my experience of cyclists in London that have dimmed my view of them because as Vagabond says above, they really do seem to think they should be above the law.
( emvee cruor deo cruoris, Wed 4 Aug 2010, 11:28, closed)