I nearly killed him, he nearly killed me.

DonDaddyD

I drove to work today, t'was one of those few days where cycling wasn't the best option as I had to attend an event, PR and all that 'rah'....

Anywho, this Morning I'm in my car, in Brixton at the junction by the town hall. - I'm attempting to cross the junction from Acre Lane to join Cold Harbour Lane. - Its not an overly complex junction, just busy. Very busy. All of which, is compounded by massive roadworks and diversions.

My lights go green, I hesitate as the pedestrian to my right is making shapes to try and cross within the seconds between amber and green. There are three lanes at the lights, he'll never make it. He decides not to and I move off. Immediately after moving off I perform an emergency stop.

Yep! A cyclist has just performed an RLJ. His swerve is mere molecules away from my car and it all blurs into one: I look at the cyclist, check my mirror to make sure the person behind me hasn't hit me and then I loose myself to rage and am beeping my horn, punching my steering wheel, as the cyclist, who luckily I haven't hit, looks at me with a blank expression. He rides off. Had it not been for the pedestrian making me hesitate the cyclist would have most likely hit my drivers side door at speed.

Honestly, I'm sick of the contempt and arrogance of some cyclists. There were three lanes of traffic laden vehicles. His approach, has clear view of my road. There was no way he would have made it across, remember my lights are green, proper and his lights are proper red. Still he tried to RLJ!

I'm no saint but I'm tired of cycling stupidity. I'm tired of cyclists who take the freedom of a bike for granted and become not only a danger to themselves but a danger to everyone else. I very nearly killed him. He very nearly killed me.

Bottom line my thoughts are this; flatbar, dropbar, roadbike, hybrid, full suspension, hardtail, carbon fibre, fakenger, roadbike, messenger, fair-weather, all gear-no idea, elitist, bike tart, commuter etc whatever! Beyond a surface level acknowledgement I don't give a f*ck what group you subscribe to, if you subscribe to any at all:

First rule of cycling, if you love it, if you like it and if you truly want to enjoy it, should, is, and will always be...

RIDE SAFELY!

OldSkoolKona

DDD, I had the car today as well (don't think anyone noticed so keep it between you and me) and saw some RLJing near missing then filtering up the inside of a bus maneouvers that did the cyclist in question no favours. No doubt in both cases, both cyclists saw themselves in their perception of the 'right'.

Simple rule I live by when cycling, if you want to be treated like a road user, follow the rules of the road otherwise you put yourself (and others) at risk. Doesn't bear thinking how shook up you would have been DDD had he hit the car and injured himself.

roger_merriman

yup some folks are berks, mind you i didn't see anything too bad today, i was mr hire van, collecting some nice old desks tables for my Mum, which where north london and i live right SW london. watching the sunset do it's thing on the other side of the gorge.

But yes some of the choices folk make is just plain mad and bad.

always_tyred

DDD, what's your typing speed? Is it, like, 120 words a minute or something?

prj45

Always Tyred wrote:

DDD, what's your typing speed? Is it, like, 120 words a minute or something?

He's fitted sensors to his gear changers and brake levers so he can use them as a keyboard input to his computer.

Click click, Click , clickity click, cllcik zzzipp, click ziiipp, click clicky click.

Cunobelin

Harold Shipman wore black lace up shoes, just because I do so as well does not make me responsible for his murders



IN the same way I am not responsible for other cyclists just because i Cycle!

Jay dubbleU

OldSkoolKona wrote:

DDD, I had the car today as well (don't think anyone noticed so keep it between you and me) and saw some RLJing near missing then filtering up the inside of a bus maneouvers that did the cyclist in question no favours. No doubt in both cases, both cyclists saw themselves in their perception of the 'right'.

Simple rule I live by when cycling, if you want to be treated like a road user, follow the rules of the road otherwise you put yourself (and others) at risk. Doesn't bear thinking how shook up you would have been DDD had he hit the car and injured himself.

+1 - if we want respect from other road users we must use the same rules

DonDaddyD

Always Tyred wrote:

DDD, what's your typing speed? Is it, like, 120 words a minute or something?

This has, surprisingly, been a topic of conversation amongst my family whom I also email. Ironically I recently did a typing test for a job. 46words a minute. Keep in mind that I'm untrained and was typing slower than normal for accuracy (not being able to use backspace and what not.....) on a forum I just go "balls-out-sprint-typing"

Doesn't bear thinking how shook up you would have been DDD had he hit the car and injured himself.

I tried to think about the what if and honestly, I couldn't. I don't want that on me, what do you do what do you say, you're both angry, horrified. Frustrated and scared. Its just horrible.

R_T_A

+1 with your view - luckily you're aware as a driver as well

Some people have no sense at all - one of my colleagues saw a guy cycling on the hard shoulder of the M4 near Maidenhead this morning :shock:

whyamihere

DonDaddyD wrote:

Always Tyred wrote:

DDD, what's your typing speed? Is it, like, 120 words a minute or something?

This has, surprisingly, been a topic of conversation amongst my family whom I also email. Ironically I recently did a typing test for a job. 46words a minute. Keep in mind that I'm untrained and was typing slower than normal for accuracy (not being able to use backspace and what not.....) on a forum I just go "balls-out-sprint-typing"

DonDaddyD, yesterday.

andy83

i always say to people that it is evident which cyclists drive a car and which dont with they way they take roundabouts etc

ok im sick of poeple shouting at me to get off their road as they are in a tin, however i do think everyone who uses the road, drivers, cyclists, motorbikes, mopeds etc should undertake a test.

unfortunately that wont happen and we as cyclists will always be seen as an obstruction on the road

i know that from how scary it can be on a bike at times i drive very carefully round cyclists and if im ever in car with someone i know i make sure they are aware and tell them it could be me they are nearly killing and that seems to work for most

bomberesque

DDD I agree with you 100%

what's worse; the non biking public judge us all guilty by association with these knobs which gives the worst of the drivers the excuse they think they need to belligerantly drive without any consideration for any cyclists.

So; what to do about it? The drivers don't care, is my sense, RLJ kurb hopping fakingers simply play into their own sense of ownership of the roads, peds the same wrt pavements. Anecdotally, the cops seem to hold the majority opinion that we're our own worst enemy and so why should they be relied on to be sympathetic and enforce rules that we break all the time anyway. I think we need to clean our own house, but I'm honestly not sure how.

lost_in_thought

bomberesque wrote:

DDD I agree with you 100%

what's worse; the non biking public judge us all guilty by association with these knobs which gives the worst of the drivers the excuse they think they need to belligerantly drive without any consideration for any cyclists.

So; what to do about it? The drivers don't care, is my sense, RLJ kurb hopping fakingers simply play into their own sense of ownership of the roads, peds the same wrt pavements. Anecdotally, the cops seem to hold the majority opinion that we're our own worst enemy and so why should they be relied on to be sympathetic and enforce rules that we break all the time anyway. I think we need to clean our own house, but I'm honestly not sure how.

I was chatting about this with some friends the other day, some of whom cycle.

We thought (through a beery haze I admit) that the thing to do would be to set up a section of traffic police on bicycles whose job it is to police cyclists (and drivers).

The difference to the current pushbike plod would be that they're on roadies and actually capable of going fast enough to catch the fakenger/RLJ-er. They could also deal with driving offences like mobile phone use.

Clearly I volunteered a thousand times to spend my days hooning around london booking pavement-riding RLJ-ing numpties!

bigmat

Could the roadie traffic police please start with getting rid of scooters / motorbikes from the advanced stop boxes at junctions. I see literally hundreds a day and it really annoys me :evil:

lost_in_thought

MatHammond wrote:

Could the roadie traffic police please start with getting rid of scooters / motorbikes from the advanced stop boxes at junctions. I see literally hundreds a day and it really annoys me :evil:

Yeah, exactly that sort of thing... annoys me too if they're in my way - don't mind if they're not.

Porgy

Cunobelin wrote:

Harold Shipman wore black lace up shoes, just because I do so as well does not make me responsible for his murders



IN the same way I am not responsible for other cyclists just because i Cycle!

If that was the way things worked then where would it stop? All drivers responsible for the 3000 odd deaths a year? All British voters responsible for the million odd dead in Iraq? All men responsible for abuse and violence on women?



just asking

Soul Boy

That junction is a nightmare. Every morning I wait in that little slip road for bikes outside the Town Hall (coming from top of Brixton hill). Every morning cyclists just pootle on through regardless of the colour of the lights, or the fact the pedrestrain crossing outside McD's is green. Almost every morning I see some idiot doing getting themselves in trouble, or cutting up peds as a result.

I was also thinking, what is the solution? I used to get myself very wound up by it, but it was doing me no good. I get annoyed still, but I have no control, and can only shake my head and leave karma to run its course.

Not sure about the shipman comment, bit left field that one :?

nielsamd

lost_in_thought wrote:

We thought (through a beery haze I admit) that the thing to do would be to set up a section of traffic police on bicycles whose job it is to police cyclists (and drivers).......They could also deal with driving offences like mobile phone use.

As long as roadie-cops don't also (when not in fair pursuit) do as I have seen plodcycles do, namely ride on wrong side of road, on pavements, crossing at ped crossing (with/against `red man') etc.

++1 on the dedicated anti-mobile phone brigade though. Undercover if you like.

OldSkoolKona

lost_in_thought wrote:

bomberesque wrote:

Clearly I volunteered a thousand times to spend my days hooning around london booking pavement-riding RLJ-ing numpties!

it would be like turning SCR into a career.... :twisted:

I agree as well about the comments about catching poor driving behaviour, but two wrongs don't make a right. Everyone has to take responsbility for their own actions and not say its ok to RLJ because drivers break the speed limit (no doubt someone will argue about the different consequences of both actions justify the RLJing :roll: )

One thing it does highlight is that how much better drivers who cycle in general are, they appreciate what cyclists go through and are more patient, give them more space, hold back around pinch points etc (or at least I find I do).

Which, IMHO, shows that the more people who cycle, even if its only at the weekends when the weather is nice, and experience the challenges of cycling on the road, the better for all of us (and yes I know there are exceptions to this - the old 'I cycle too' retort after you get cut up, but I do think as a general rule its true)

On the subject of 'testing cyclists' I'm against that but I can't say enough about people reading Cyclecraft and taking Advanced Cycle Training. I think the Commuting Forum does a great job in pointing newbies in the direction of these two things and I think if more and more cyclists were aware of them, you'd see a much greater reduction in incidents than miles and mile of green paint.

bomberesque

I propose a new commuting shirt

"I don't jump red lights or ride on pavements like those plonkers, please don't judge me by your opinion of them whe you're thinking about running me over"

/edit and +1 for cyclist-drivers. I am certain that there is a tipping point beyond which enough of a "significant minority" of drivers are at least part time cyclists to make a difference to the overall experience of cyclists on the roads. I do most of my road biking in either Brussels (where most people drive SUVs or take cabs) or Antwerp (where most people own and use a bike, at least some of the time. The difference is stark.

Bassjunkieuk

OldSkoolKona wrote:

lost_in_thought wrote:

bomberesque wrote:

Clearly I volunteered a thousand times to spend my days hooning around london booking pavement-riding RLJ-ing numpties!

it would be like turning SCR into a career.... :twisted:

That was my exact thought after reading LiT's comment:

"Now where would we find a bunch of cyclist willing to chase other riders around town all day???" **wanders to SCR thread**

As Soul Boy says tho I also see plenty of these numpties each morning and have just come to accept that there are going to be idiots who RLJ and ride on pavements. I generally won't bother saying anything because frankly if I did I'd arrive at work without a voice! Unless of course they do something stupid that directly effects me (jump off pavement into my path or RLJ then wobble back in front of me) at which point I'll generally mutter something as I get past them........

OldSkoolKona

Bassjunkieuk wrote:

OldSkoolKona wrote:

lost_in_thought wrote:

Clearly I volunteered a thousand times to spend my days hooning around london booking pavement-riding RLJ-ing numpties!

it would be like turning SCR into a career.... :twisted:

That was my exact thought after reading LiT's comment:

"Now where would we find a bunch of cyclist willing to chase other riders around town all day???" **wanders to SCR thread**

Now, would we get a big flashing light and a siren/loudspeaker combo as part of the get up? Chase down the cyclist who has just overtaken you at a red light, and as you're coming in for the scalp, set off the siren and ask the offender to kindly pull over to the side over your loudspeaker... :twisted:

Roastie

lost_in_thought wrote:

The difference to the current pushbike plod would be that they're on roadies and actually capable of going fast enough to catch the fakenger/RLJ-er. They could also deal with driving offences like mobile phone use.

The other night I was having dins with a messenger, so by definition is a serial RLJ'er. As much as we disagreed on the topic of RLJ'ing - I did find his stories of evading Plod quite amusing - the fact that they even try to catch RLJ'ers with cars is laughable.

salsajake

bomberesque wrote:

I propose a new commuting shirt

"I don't jump red lights or ride on pavements like those plonkers, please don't judge me by your opinion of them whe you're thinking about running me over"

/edit and +1 for cyclist-drivers. I am certain that there is a tipping point beyond which enough of a "significant minority" of drivers are at least part time cyclists to make a difference to the overall experience of cyclists on the roads. I do most of my road biking in either Brussels (where most people drive SUVs or take cabs) or Antwerp (where most people own and use a bike, at least some of the time. The difference is stark.

I'd buy one of those - put me down for 3 in different colours!

Soul Boy

Well if you want the T-shirt, heres where to start....... http://teepay.com/

il_principe

whyamihere wrote:

DonDaddyD wrote:

Always Tyred wrote:

DDD, what's your typing speed? Is it, like, 120 words a minute or something?

This has, surprisingly, been a topic of conversation amongst my family whom I also email. Ironically I recently did a typing test for a job. 46words a minute. Keep in mind that I'm untrained and was typing slower than normal for accuracy (not being able to use backspace and what not.....) on a forum I just go "balls-out-sprint-typing"

DonDaddyD, yesterday.

That .gif nearly made me wee my pants! Getting very odd looks from co workers now!