oldies rage

wilkies80

Did anyone else see the piece on GMtv this mornin about some old dear who clouted a cyclist who went through a red light. The presenter (Fiona Phillips) was havin a good laugh at the cyclists expense. The old dear in question ( a Baroness ) hit the guy with her shopping bag as he went past. Fair enough the guy went through a red light but 2 wrongs don't make a right (IMO). They had a spokesman from the CTC on but he seemed totally un-comfortable and out of place being there and didn't come across very well at all. Anyone else got an opinion on this ?

meagain

IMHO the cyclist got less than was coming to him.

Rich Hcp

Don't jump red lights!

Then you don't get a clout.

Serves him right.

No sympathy for peope that do that.

cyclingfury

I wonder if the media would have found it so amusing if the car driver had been a 20 year old lad and the cyclist female.....

oldwelshman

Not that I would have jumped the light, but if it was me I would have taken the bag off her and clouted her back, being a baroness probably twice 8)

jellybellywmb

The other way round and it would have been "Cyclist Assaults Boroness". What if the cyclist had swerved the handbag and met his end in the bonnet of a London Taxi ,not so funny then.

Agreed cyclist should not have jumped the light but what gives her vigilanty rights. I would turn this on it's head and prosecute the stuck up old bag.

I had an incedent the other day when barrelling down a hill into town and a young lad thought it was funny to partially jump out and wave his school bag at me naerly causing me to off. He was slightly embarrassed when I stopped as at 6ft and 15stone I wasn't what he expected.

Panter

She shouldn't have hit him.

He shouldn't have jumped the light.

I have no other opinions I'm afraid

Cheers

Chris

Droops

Sounds to me like they're a perfect match:
Both would appear to be self-important, thoughtless, inconsiderate, arrogant yobs. The worrying part is that those who don't match that description seem to be a species in decline... or am I getting old(er)?

Bassjunkieuk

well by using her example will it be ok for me to hit ped's who cross on the red man, when no cars are coming - just me on my bike? After it's my right of way as the light is red for them?
This happened on my commute home last night as I was in the one way system near Kings Cross, red man was up on crossing but everyone was still crossing the road, and very few of them seemed to bother to stop until I was right on top of them!
I also had it happen in Brixton. The cars had stopped as the traffic was solid but I could still filter up the middle, only then to have to make an emergency stop as people where using the crossing between the stopped traffic despite the traffic lights being green!

I fully agree that the cyclist should stop at the red light, it's people like that who give the law abiding majority a bad name! I wouldn't resort to physical violence if I had a near miss on a crossing with a cyclist (as I appreciate how dangerous this could be) but certainly would yell at them!

McBain_v1

Cyclist in the wrong, but baroness commited an assault.

Don't like people hittling cyclists* so I'd have made quite a scene about that.


*(unless one happended to knock my little lad over in which case I'd batter them to a bloody pulp, stomp on their wheels and shove their pump where the sun doesn't shine)

clanton

A while ago there was a news report of an OAP who angrily shoved a woman cyclist off the pavement. She fell into the path of a bus and was killed. It was in Europe - possibly Demark?
Whilst I hardly condone cycling past OAP on pave,ments (or on pavements at all) two wrongs do not make a right, in this isntance with tragic results.

AntLockyer

Bassjunkieuk wrote:

well my using her example will it be ok for me to fool ped's who cross on the red man, when no cars are coming - just me on my bike?!

I seem to remember pedestrians are always in the right.

il_principe

She might have swung her bag but I bet she never made contact, he'd have been long gone by the time she reacted surely.
Silly cyclist.
Silly old trout.

Mystique

Is she really the sort of person the media should be holding up as some kind of have-a-go hero??

another jacko

I heard this on radio 5 a couple of days ago and it is strange how these stories develop in the telling, expecially from people who have it secondhand.

They interviewed the baroness soon after it happended. She did not come across as any sort of 'have a go hero'. She said she just reacted instinctively as he bore down on her in the middle of the road and seemed quite concerned that she might have caused an accident if she had made better contact. She was, rightly, rather cross with the cyclist but seemed apologetic for the way she dealt with it.

Perhaps it's different oop north, but several times I've been waved to keep going by pedestrians at crossings when they push the button and the lights go red 'sorry mate, I didn't mean to make you stop'. We need a bit more give and take and sensitivity between all the different road users, not all the different tribes shouting louder at each other about asserting their 'rights'.

How many of you are sometimes pedestrians, sometimes cyclists and sometimes drivers and how often do you behave in one of these modes in a way which would have annoyed you if you had been around in one of the other modes?
I bet very few people can truthfully answer 'never'.

stevec205gti

Maybe she didn't actually hit him - maybe in jumping the red light he rode into her bag which she happened to be swinging around at the same time, and had he not have jumped the red light he wouldn't have crashed into it..........

JWSurrey

RLJ is really poor behaviour that should result in a much larger on the spot fine.
Better still, if caught, the bike should be impounded for a week and the offender can walk home.

Hutch in CW this week, as a response to that poor bit of journalism in The Times, pointed out that we should all make a stand against socially unacceptable behaviour.
I feel very ill at ease that this sort of news article can lead to the "happy slapper" incidents of cyclists being badly injured by kids in cars pushing us in to the kerb.

Just after that article, I received my first finger in 20 years, for daring to ride down the road - as I went past a traffic island I was nearly wiped out by the car driver - not sure what her 3 year old daughter made of it all.

I work in the City, and RLJ results in what I call "Mission Creep".
First, some cyclists started RLJ or sitting in front of the stop line/on crossings.
Next, motorbikers/mopeds started using the ASL (Advanced stop line), not realising it's there to allow "bicycles with slow speed / no power to out manouver cars" to get out of the way / turn right in more safety.
Next, cars and buses start parking on the ASL - I've seen taxis creeping up to the metal dots that demarcate the ped. crossing!
What happens ultimately, is a banana republic free for all, where everyone ignores lights and box junctions!

I was hit by a cyclist accelerating over a ped. crossing (with the green man) a couple of years ago. He thought he could jink round me and the girl in front - but didn't see the man running across - he swerved to avoid him - luckily I saw it coming, and only got a glancing blow, rather than broken ribs and 6 weeks off training.

Amusingly, I was on a village high street a few weeks ago - An old lady with a frame (zimmer, not bike) was crossing on a table-top road hump.
I was waiting for her to finish crossing, not wishing to annoy her by pulling in to the middle of the road and riding behind / good manners - only to be overtaken by a car with his children in the back!

Common courtesies all round help.
City Police had a week of monitoring and stopping RLJs. Made for a much safer journey to work.