[RANT] Aaaarrggg!! Bloody Pedestrian!!

notsoblue

Had a nice pootle in this morning, minding my own business, enjoying the sun. I'm riding west along Bloomsbury Way to Theobald's Road, and of the two lanes of traffic, one is stationary. I come to a pedestrian crossing and its *GREEN* for me to go and as I ride over it a group of pedestrians decide to cross and one of them, a middle aged guy (who should really know better) intentionally shoulder barges me and shockingly thumps me on the arm.

This Daily Mail reading, suit wearing, a***hole goes out of his way to try and knock me off my bike because he simply assumes that I've gone through red and feels I deserve some pathetic vigilante justice.

I was *incensed* by this, but due to traffic and the age of the a***hole I didn't do anything other than shout that my light was green and a few other choice profanities. Ended up finishing the last bit of my commute in a fury of righteous indignation because I'd never buzz pedestrians on a crossing and he blindly assumed thats what I'd done. What a complete utter ****.

Sorry,
</rant>

Clever Pun

peds don't respect bikes like they would a car... as a rule. it's irritating as hell

glad they didn't knock you off

rjsterry

It's the ones that seem to fail to even notice that they are crossing a road that get me. Had one this morning that just decided she wanted to cross over to the other side of the (one-way) street, without so much as a glance toward the oncoming traffic. pulled right up behind her without it registering. Very tempted to shout, "BOO!", but thought better of it.

Headhuunter

As cycling gets more popular I'm finding that peds are getting more aware of cyclists but you still get them walking out in front of you. Had the usual flock of peds crossing the yellow hatched area on King William Street where Lombard St and St Swithin's Lane turn off. For some reason there and outside London Bridge station on Tooley Street, peds seem to trust to luck and walk out every day without the slightest glance.... Not sure why.

I also often find that if 1 ped starts to cross, even if this person doesn't have right of way, others will blithely follow like sheep without looking.

gaz545

You should take extra care when filtering in traffic for pedestrains that will cross at crossings when nothing is coming. From their point of view you may not have been visible. Slowing down and anticipating that they might cross and letting them go is far better than barging through and getting your self hit because of some arse.

I do know where you are coming from and i hope you don't take what i said above personally.

I commute past Victoria train station, and at present part of the route is for busses, taxi's and cyclists only. When no busses or taxi's are around. the pedestrians will just cross at the junction in a huge flow even though you have a green light, they will not stop for cyclists. So what do i do? sound my air zound in 2 short bursts from a distance and slow down to a near stop when i get to them, most of the time people will stop and i can continue safely, and my actions where not unreasonable. Some people will take the piss and contiune crossing and i've had a few people trying to block me or even try and push me off my bike but due to my slow speed, i can just stop and be the bigger man.

Wrath Rob

rjsterry wrote:

Very tempted to shout, "BOO!", but thought better of it.

That's pretty much what I do. I once elicited a fantastic shriek from such a lady, the poor person on the other end of the phone that she was blissfully chatting into must have got a similar shock!

biondino

Yeah, I go for "oi!" or "watch out" or "stop!!" - and sometimes, if I'm honest, I know there's no danger but they're still being idiots and merit the fright.

notsoblue

gaz545 wrote:

You should take extra care when filtering in traffic for pedestrains that will cross at crossings when nothing is coming. From their point of view you may not have been visible. Slowing down and anticipating that they might cross and letting them go is far better than barging through and getting your self hit because of some ars*.

I do know where you are coming from and i hope you don't take what i said above personally.

Yeah, I get what you're saying, and my attitude to pedestrians is to simply assume they've not seen me. After having a nasty collision with one a few years back I'm particularly sensitive to this. What *really* got me riled up on this occasion was that the fella saw me coming, looked me in the eye, assumed I was going to jump a red light and went out of his way to try and knock me off in such a fit of self-righteousness.

gaz545 wrote:

I commute past Victoria train station, and at present part of the route is for busses, taxi's and cyclists only. When no busses or taxi's are around. the pedestrians will just cross at the junction in a huge flow even though you have a green light, they will not stop for cyclists. So what do i do? sound my air zound in 2 short bursts from a distance and slow down to a near stop when i get to them, most of the time people will stop and i can continue safely, and my actions where not unreasonable. Some people will take the wee-wee and contiune crossing and i've had a few people trying to block me or even try and push me off my bike but due to my slow speed, i can just stop and be the bigger man.

Its awful. So anti-social. It just really got to me this morning because you hear so many negative stories and comments about Cyclists etc. when in actual fact people's behaviour has very little to do with their mode of transport.

Cycling is a joy for me, so its particularly jarring when you occasionally collide with someone's hateful little world.

Headhuunter

biondino wrote:

Yeah, I go for "oi!" or "watch out" or "stop!!" - and sometimes, if I'm honest, I know there's no danger but they're still being idiots and merit the fright.

That's what I do, simply to let people know I'm coming, I don't have a bell and in any case from what I've seen peds ignore those as well. I only shout to warn people I'm coming yet some peds seem to take it as an act of aggression and tut or shout back or whatever as they meander across the road....

SimonAH

My belt fixie is so bloody quiet that I'm forever surprising people - and hate to admit it but sometimes do it on purpose. On mixed use paths around town it's great fun to make a chav jump in the air as you go past him because he hasn't heard you coming. Childish I know.

Bassjunkieuk

@gaz - I noticed you'd got an airzound after watcing the vid you posted (via twitter IIRC) of the tw4t in the X5 down in Croydon. Was thinking one may be a good investment for the commute especially as the 2nd bottle cage on the seat tube is always empty on the commute......would have been useful for the WVM I encountered this morning!

gaz545

Bassjunkieuk wrote:

@gaz - I noticed you'd got an airzound after watcing the vid you posted (via twitter IIRC) of the tw4t in the X5 down in Croydon. Was thinking one may be a good investment for the commute especially as the 2nd bottle cage on the seat tube is always empty on the commute......would have been useful for the WVM I encountered this morning!

It is great, but you have to bodge it with drops as the standard mount doesn't fit oversized bars. A few zip ties in the right place and you can get it under the hood and just out of the way of the drops so your bike is still functional and you can press the trigger whilst braking.

noisemonkey

slowing down to avoid a bunch of chavs heard one of them say "push 'im off his bike" as I slowed down for a bus to pull out. Numpties..

SamWise1972

I saw a middle aged man and his wife trying to cross a dual carriageway to the north of Hyde Park. They were on the central reservation, and could have walked for 1min in either direction and got to a light controlled crossing. Instead, they hovered and wavered, and then dived out in front of a taxi. He honked at them, and the bloke waved his fist at the taxi and swore up a storm. I swear, people are mental.

frankenface

A few weeks ago I came off my bike at speed & landed on my head because a pedestrian ran out into the road without looking & I had to brake suddenly. Got back on my bike today for the first time since and - without provocation - a man jumped out at me, roared like a lion and shouted "I hope you fall off!!" Too late mate....