Am I too angry?

GraemeT

Nice ride in this morning, spoiled only in the last kilometer or so by a woman on the other side of the road riding on the pavement :evil: :evil: :evil:
Now, this is an area with a dedicated cycle lane and even traffic lights where it crosses another road :roll:
At this point I was muttering generally about pavements being for pedestrians etc. Then, to add inslt to injury, as we turned into the company site she started riding up the wrong side of the road with traffic coming both ways :shock:
When I informed her of her errors she just laughed :evil: :evil: :evil:
AARRGGHH. It just makes me so angry :<why isn't there an Incredible Hulk Emoticon>:
So after this experienced I am left questioning my outlook:
Should I continue to try to educate the world in the ways of correctness or should I just adopt a "Live and Let Die" persona?????
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Kieran_Burns

We have a social responsibility to help others (IMHO), so I agree that you should politely point out someones errors when appropriate to do so. You are HELPING a person, and I would personally feel terrible if I hadn't tried to stop this and then find out that something terrible (albeit inevitable) had happened to her / someone else.

rolf_f

I suspect these days there is less cycle tuition for Children (I hope I'm wrong!) - so if you haven't had that, and you haven't learned to drive, I can understand that some people would cycle like they walk (ie erratically and with no understanding of the rules of the road). Not condoning it of course.

bomberesque

it's the laughing that's the problem here, isn't it?

I am acutely aware that I get judged by peds and drivers as guilty by association with cyclists who think that road rules don't apply to them, whether it's because they're "just going down the road" or feel they're part of some guerilla fakinger clique. When you try to explain this to an otherwise reasonable individual who's been riding on the pavement and they laugh in your face, it's acceptable that your blood would boil. But keep the faith. The more bikes on the road, the more the system needs to make room for us (by adjusting road rules to accomodate cyclists, for example) the more the system accommodates us the more paople will ride and the more it will squeeze out the idiots who think they're somehow above it all drivers and guerilla clique cyclists alike.

Be angry but under control. And let her tyres down, the b1tch

R_T_A

Unfortunately, it doesn't really matter if someone is a cyclist/driver/ped - an idiot is an idiot.

You pointed out the error as a responsible individual would - she laughed at it - her funeral. Maybe Darwin had a point

I know that means some drivers will think "typical cyclist", but they're probably the same people who drive whilst on the phone whilst eating a sandwich and changing radio stations at 60mph.

Today I'm in a Zen mood. I managed to wake up half an hour later than normal, decided I should MTFU and still ride in, and really enjoyed the sunshine.

claash

The other problem that you have experienced (I am sure) is that when you are cycling in a group of people..... they are the ones whose blood pressure is affected by your rants- not the offending party!!!!

SO the question is: Who made you the cycling police: If the woman wants to end up being scraped off the road let her!!

Take a chill pill dude!!

GraemeT

claash Posted: Fri May 29, 2009 10:06 am Post subject:

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The other problem that you have experienced (I am sure) is that when you are cycling in a group of people..... they are the ones whose blood pressure is affected by your rants- not the offending party!!!!

SO the question is: Who made you the cycling police: If the woman wants to end up being scraped off the road let her!!

Take a chill pill dude!!

Oddly enough, thats exactly what my girlfriend said

elPedro666

Let her die.

No, seriously, you're spot on, I get fuming at **** drivers, but then **** cyclists are twice as bad because how can we expect drivers to respect cyclists when a few are undermining us?

****s.

velorazzi

At least Graeme, you managed to be objective in your remonstration of this stupid woman.

Yesterday, on my way in to work I overtook a bloke on a hybrid, wearing the largest pair of headphones I've ever seen on a cyclist. As I went past I inclined my head and said "morning", to which I received no reply - despite the volume at which I'd uttered it. Used to being blanked by most mountain bikers or hybrid riders around here, I simply carried on.

About a mile down the road I was stopped at the lights of a very busy 5-way junction. Who should sail past me, clipping my shoulder, and directly out into traffic? Yep, the tit with the headphones. He hadn't been travelling particularly quickly, and I was flying when I'd overtaken him, so he'd obviously been peeved that someone on a bike could go faster than him, and put his foot down just to catch me.

Anyway, not only does he go out into the centre of 5 lanes of traffic and stop to wait for a gap, but he also does so - to my horror, in front of a right-turning articulated lorry. After the lights had changed and I'd caught up with the idiot again, I leant over as I passed him and simply said, "W*NKER".

Not very adult perhaps, but for a few moments I truly felt I was about to witness to a cyclist (in the loosest sense) being smeared across the carriageway by a juggenaught; an incident for which the poor driver may have been blamed. :evil:

Sewinman

Hmmm, live and let live i say.

I do think cyclists can be a self righteous bunch. I was near home yesterday and this car overtook me and another cyclist and then turned left into a petrol station. He *probably* should have waited and not overtaken but he indicated and it was not really a classic left hook, the other cyclist & I simply had to apply our brakes. Anyway this other cyclist decided to shout into the window 'wait f*cking behind before turning, you f'ing tw*t!@'. Totally needless. I just carried on my zen like state and thought about his health.

Chill Winston!

claash

Oddly enough, thats exactly what my girlfriend said

Very sensible girl!!!! 8)

boneyjoe

Sounds to me like there's total anarchy on the streets of Switzerland!

I'll ride on the pavement if the road is totally clogged with traffic. Also on bits near home and office that allow me to miss some very busy/dangerous junctions. It winds some people up, but that's life!

Best to chill out about these things. 8)

verloren

You did the right thing by pointing out her mistake, I think, but don't feel obliged to continue the conversation. Once the person you've tried to help laughs or otherwise belittles your advice just say "When you're hit by a car I'd hate to think I hadn't tried to help you when I could, but what you do with the advice is up to you. Have a nice day!"

The police in the run-up to natural disasters in parts of the US use a similar tactic; if someone refuses evacuation the police don't argue, they just have them sign a document confirming that they've had the opportunity to be helped, that no further help would be provided, and that no special efforts would be made to retrieve their water-bloated corpse when the disaster has passed.

bluesacs

Wouldn't it be better just to chill out and not take it all so seriously, at the very least it'll save you money by you not having to print those disclaimer forms.

downfader

claash wrote:

The other problem that you have experienced (I am sure) is that when you are cycling in a group of people..... they are the ones whose blood pressure is affected by your rants- not the offending party!!!!

SO the question is: Who made you the cycling police: If the woman wants to end up being scraped off the road let her!!

Take a chill pill dude!!

I disagree. Society has always been based upon self policing until the last few hundred years where this has slowly changed... he was within his right to politely tell her not to ride that dangerously. She doesnt have to take the advice obviously.

I've done the same to cyclists in the past

claash

he was within his right to politely tell her not to ride that dangerously

Aaaahhhhh but that is it isn't it!! Did you ask what tone he used?? If you look at his :evil: :evil: :evil: I am fairly sure the "polite" element came out more as a PAVEMENTS ARE FOR PEDS :evil: :evil: :evil:

Just a thought.......

Jay dubbleU

Survival of the fittest - there are those who learn and those who don't - those who don't ie RLJers or with headphones that restrict their traffic awareness or black clothing and no lights end up as roadkill

roger_merriman

Sewinman wrote:

Hmmm, live and let live i say.

I do think cyclists can be a self righteous bunch. I was near home yesterday and this car overtook me and another cyclist and then turned left into a petrol station. He *probably* should have waited and not overtaken but he indicated and it was not really a classic left hook, the other cyclist & I simply had to apply our brakes. Anyway this other cyclist decided to shout into the window 'wait f*cking behind before turning, you f'ing tw*t!@'. Totally needless. I just carried on my zen like state and thought about his health.

Chill Winston!

indeed you will get cut up etc, how ever you get around in a city so loosing it at every thing will just get your blood pressure up and nothing else.

bluesacs

Jay dubbleU wrote:

Survival of the fittest - there are those who learn and those who don't - those who don't ie RLJers or with headphones that restrict their traffic awareness or black clothing and no lights end up as roadkill

Possibly true but they may develop a particular set of skills that allow them to survive by red light jumping and by cycling on pavements. It's fairly difficult to say whether some behaviors are negative or not.

Somebody, if they'd been around back in the dawn of this earth, might have told the swifts and swallows not to bother migrating, it's dangerous, it's not productive, too much energy, find a safer way but then we would have been deprived of the grace, majesty and artistry of these cavaliers of the sky.

downfader

claash wrote:

he was within his right to politely tell her not to ride that dangerously

Aaaahhhhh but that is it isn't it!! Did you ask what tone he used?? If you look at his :evil: :evil: :evil: I am fairly sure the "polite" element came out more as a PAVEMENTS ARE FOR PEDS :evil: :evil: :evil:

Just a thought.......

..well heres "just a thought" - you're making a LOT of assumptions based on a few hundred words written online.