Pillock steps out into road without looking...

downfader

..gets hit by cyclist:

LINK

Now imo someones stupid actions appear to have caused the need of the emergency services, and what do I read on the comment section.. oh look "ban cycles"

Yeah, coz that makes sense. Feel free to tear into "ocean village resident" (who presumably has more money than sense)

ellieb

can't be a pillock.. it was a woman

downfader

Hmm according to wiktionary you're right, but only just

OffTheBackAdam

Now, who was arguing about motorists should always be blamed for knocking any cyclists or pedestrians over?
Substitute motorist for cyclist and what's the difference?

plug1n

I guess you just have to expect the unexpected:

- On my commute home last night an MTBer came from the pavement into a cycle lane right in front of me, and

- In the rain this morning a women pedestrian hiding under an umbrella walked out to cross between stopped cars that I was (safely) overtaking

Managed to avoid both idiots - fools rush in, etc.

Clever Pun

pillock jumps a railing gets hit by a bus in the cycle lane

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/7598674.stm

4 people and a bus in the cycle lane... great stuff

biondino

A woman turned to cross Kings Road just as I was speeding past today - 1 second later and we'd have both been a painful mess. Glad I had a helmet as god knows what I'd have hit on the way down.

downfader

Clever Pun wrote:

pillock jumps a railing gets hit by a bus in the cycle lane

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/7598674.stm

4 people and a bus in the cycle lane... great stuff

I knew a guy who lives up there and he said all the residents complained abiout those kids for ages.

walleyes

You want to be scared about what motorists think about cyclists - have a look at Youtube and key in cyclist near miss - on the other hand DON'T. The comments from some posters on there [actually most] underneath the video's are really worrying.

Amos

I did my first commute to work today, and on the way home a woman stepped straight off of the pavement infront of me. Luckily there wasn't any cars coming from behind otherwise it could have been nasty.

HungryCol

What is it of women of low intellect have their kiddies buggy on the road while they stand on the foothpath holding it waiting to cross? That never fails to baffle me.

OffTheBackAdam

HungryCol wrote:

What is it of women of low intellect have their kiddies buggy on the road while they stand on the foothpath holding it waiting to cross? That never fails to baffle me.

It's nature's way of trying to remedy its mistakes in the shallow end of the genepool!

mercsport

I worked woth someone once who drove everywhere , at high speed , using the kerb as his reference point for road positioning . It appeared to me that he was always within an inch - really ! - of the kerb's edge and frightened the wits out of me . It turned out that he'd got form and had killed a woman a year or two previously who'd stepped off the kerb in front of him . His less than rueful comment was " silly cow ! " .
Not his fault . Yet I often think back and consider him the culpable one as - in front of him - anyone displaying the least hesitancy ( me , I'm the hesitant type ) - and cocking a leg forward to step off the pavement would likely have been a goner . Why , I wonder , do I always see driving school instructors teaching their pupils to use the kerb as their road positioning reference points and not the centre line which would likely give a decent safety margin twixt kerb and centre ?
Anyway , my point is this , why does a cyclist regard someone as ' a pillock ' for thoughtlessly stepping out in front of them as they - often at high speed - noiselessly ride kerbside ? Is the cyclist a sainted creature ? Is not the onus on the cyclist to pay due regard to others possibly thoughtless actions and consider the consequences ? Why do so many cyclists ride in the gutter and over the grids and rottenness that prevails in that metre wide kerbside margin I wonder . As they whistle pass a line of stationary vehicles do they ever consider what it would be like if someone opened a door to get out ? Do they race around blind corners and not wonder if , perhaps , someone might be coming towards them on your line of tarmac . And so on .
I wonder if the road is the exclusive domain of the wheeled vehicle ? Perhaps I wonder too much .

downfader

mercsport wrote:

I worked woth someone once who drove everywhere , at high speed , using the kerb as his reference point for road positioning . It appeared to me that he was always within an inch - really ! - of the kerb's edge and frightened the wits out of me . It turned out that he'd got form and had killed a woman a year or two previously who'd stepped off the kerb in front of him . His less than rueful comment was " silly cow ! " .
Not his fault . Yet I often think back and consider him the culpable one as - in front of him - anyone displaying the least hesitancy ( me , I'm the hesitant type ) - and cocking a leg forward to step off the pavement would likely have been a goner . Why , I wonder , do I always see driving school instructors teaching their pupils to use the kerb as their road positioning reference points and not the centre line which would likely give a decent safety margin twixt kerb and centre ?
Anyway , my point is this , why does a cyclist regard someone as ' a pillock ' for thoughtlessly stepping out in front of them as they - often at high speed - noiselessly ride kerbside ? Is the cyclist a sainted creature ? Is not the onus on the cyclist to pay due regard to others possibly thoughtless actions and consider the consequences ? Why do so many cyclists ride in the gutter and over the grids and rottenness that prevails in that metre wide kerbside margin I wonder . As they whistle pass a line of stationary vehicles do they ever consider what it would be like if someone opened a door to get out ? Do they race around blind corners and not wonder if , perhaps , someone might be coming towards them on your line of tarmac . And so on .
I wonder if the road is the exclusive domain of the wheeled vehicle ? Perhaps I wonder too much .

TBH I wonder the same, but today we have added problems with pedestrians focussed on their mobile phones and texting screens, messing with ipods or simply just drunk and not in full control. These people are not hesitant, they just step into the road and many a time I have seen them as I approach and found their sudden change of direction a real cause for concern.

The bridge in question is notorious for this, as are the many student areas around the university etc. It is always someone elses fault. :roll:

unclemalc

Amos wrote:

I did my first commute to work today, and on the way home a woman stepped straight off of the pavement infront of me. Luckily there wasn't any cars coming from behind otherwise it could have been nasty.

I have had so many lemming moments from peds who think "its only a bike" and step off in front of me, coupled with the "going home' mentality of local drivers and buses, that I have stopped commuting on the bike .
Twelve minutes of stress and sweat (tha'ts all it is for me) isn't worth getting the beast out of the shed - so I walk to work. That's 35 minutes of relaxed mp3 listening and a bit of weight-bearing exercise.
I sympathise with all of you who have to /really want to bike-commute in the current car-orientated shite-pile we live in.
Its getting dark earlier soon :shock: , so be safe people....

unclemalc

downfader wrote:

mercsport wrote:

Anyway , my point is this , why does a cyclist regard someone as ' a pillock ' for thoughtlessly stepping out in front of them as they - often at high speed - noiselessly ride kerbside ? Is the cyclist a sainted creature ? Is not the onus on the cyclist to pay due regard to others possibly thoughtless actions and consider the consequences ? Why do so many cyclists ride in the gutter and over the grids and rottenness that prevails in that metre wide kerbside margin I wonder . As they whistle pass a line of stationary vehicles do they ever consider what it would be like if someone opened a door to get out ? Do they race around blind corners and not wonder if , perhaps , someone might be coming towards them on your line of tarmac . And so on .
I wonder if the road is the exclusive domain of the wheeled vehicle ? Perhaps I wonder too much .

TBH I wonder the same, but today we have added problems with pedestrians focussed on their mobile phones and texting screens, messing with ipods or simply just drunk and not in full control. These people are not hesitant, they just step into the road and many a time I have seen them as I approach and found their sudden change of direction a real cause for concern.

When I were a lad, all bikes had a bell (or in my case a hooter, from which I derived much pleasure from using on unsuspecting pedestrians). Both these means of alerting those intent on stepping out in front of me were useful.
These days, the bell (and hooter ) is very rare. However, Its presence on the handlebar would solve a lot of the unexpected step-outs from the unwary foot-user. My son has a Trek MtB which came with a bell (!) and after initial reticence about it being there (not cool...) he found that using it when bombing along canal footpaths worked wonders for him and those walking in front of him.
However the simple bell would not really save us from the casual car-door opener, the sudden left -turner or the kerb-hugger, all of which I am heartily sick of. The only safety net there* is your own self-protective riding style - assume something might happen so that when it does you have half a chance of not getting injured.
If you ride in town like the road belongs to you, you WILL get injured sometime: law of averages.
(* My son reckons a Gatling mini-gun would work better than a bell....)