Do pedestrians ever get hit by cyclists

jeremyrundle

AMAZING :evil:

I went to Morrisons today to get my son a treat, I cycled into the car park and along the frnt of the shop, as usual my FOUR 3w CREE chip lights on the front flashing, yet still a moron, about twenty, IPod phones in totally oblivious to me or anything else waled off the pavement into my path, at 8' I het the "Airzound", NOTHING, :evil:

I shouted and he drearily looked round and said, and I quote "sorry mate, you want to get a bell" :!:

Four 3x Cree lights and an airzound..........

I said "you need to wake up", all I got was P off

Hello pedestrians, perhaps a few more hits, literally, from a bike at 10mph may teach you.

Yesterday in the park whilst cycling along the foot/cycle path a teenage idiot father watched at his five year old walked right in front of me, I said he should teach responsibility and act with it, well you can guess what I got, is it me.

prj45

It's your job not to hit pedestrians, no matter how dumb/trusting they are.

dancook

prj45 wrote:

It's your job not to hit pedestrians, no matter how dumb/trusting they are.

As long as you make every reasonable attempt to avoid them, you could still hit them if you want :twisted:

kurako

Hitting pedestrians is very uncool. You may want to consider hitting the brake rather than the Airzound. I don't see how that sort of behaviour is any different to some cager honking his horn for a cyclist to get out of the way.

mybreakfastconsisted

In Norwich, outside Cinema City, a ped with mahoosive earphones wandered over the road slap in front of me. I swerved and braked "Wake up you bellend"! I said.

He pointed at the pedestrian crossing lights that were on red fifty feet away and said "You should have been slowing down for the lights!"

dancook

mybreakfastconsisted wrote:

In Norwich, outside Cinema City, a ped with mahoosive earphones wandered over the road slap in front of me. I swerved and braked "Wake up you bellend"! I said.

He pointed at the pedestrian crossing lights that were on red fifty feet away and said "You should have been slowing down for the lights!"

as prj45 and Kurako were saying... pedestrians have the right of way- do not antagonise them!

prj45

Certainly using an airzound on one is pretty nasty. I'd expect more of a fellow cyclist myself.

keracticus

And I bet the pedestrian wasn't even wearing a helmet !

mybreakfastconsisted

dancook wrote:

mybreakfastconsisted wrote:

In Norwich, outside Cinema City, a ped with mahoosive earphones wandered over the road slap in front of me. I swerved and braked "Wake up you bellend"! I said.

He pointed at the pedestrian crossing lights that were on red fifty feet away and said "You should have been slowing down for the lights!"

as prj45 and Kurako were saying... pedestrians have the right of way- do not antagonise them!

Me calling him a bellend may stop him wandering around listening to music in the road.

notsoblue

Never ever risk hitting a pedestrian....

iPete

In my first year on the road I've quickly learned to cycle fast but chill out and expect the unexpected. When things happen, deal with it and move on, we're all just trying to get somewhere. Not saying the OP does but some cyclists think it's their god given right to never be slowed down by anything. By cyclists I mean some people.

EKE_38BPM

You can't always blame the cyclist. Peds have a responsibility to take care of their own safety.

One morning I was cycling to work along a three lane, one way street in heavy traffic. I was in the left hand lane with a HGV immediately to my right and another behind me. A ped wearing massive headphones (maybe he thought he was DJing in a club) steps into the road looking to his left (away from oncoming traffic). I saw that he was crossing no matter what and despite my shouts he continues crossing the road. I had no space to swerve out of his path and couldn't brake sharply due to the truck behind.

It ended up with me shoulder barging him and him spinning round, hitting the deck and falling back towards the pavement. He shouted something at me and I replied with "You were lucky I wasn't a truck." and carried on to work.

There was nothing I could have done to avoid him without endangering myself so I took the least dangerous (to me) option.

Yes, you shouldn't hit peds, but if they have no concern for their own safety, they are fair game in my opinion.

zanes

EKE_38BPM wrote:

You can't always blame the driver. Cyclists have a responsibility to take care of their own safety.

One morning I was driving to work along a three lane, one way street in heavy traffic. I was in the left hand lane with a HGV immediately to my right and another behind me. A cyclist wearing massive headphones (maybe he thought he was DJing in a club) jumps into the road looking to his left (away from oncoming traffic). I saw that he was crossing no matter what and despite my horn he continues crossing the road. I had no space to swerve out of his path and couldn't brake sharply due to the truck behind.

It ended up with me clipping him and him spinning round, hitting the deck and falling back towards the pavement. He shouted something at me and I replied with "You were lucky I wasn't a truck." and carried on to work.

There was nothing I could have done to avoid him without endangering myself so I took the least dangerous (to me) option.

Yes, you shouldn't hit cyclists, but if they have no concern for their own safety, they are fair game in my opinion.

Edited that for you :roll:

prj45

mybreakfastconsisted wrote:

Me calling him a bellend may stop him wandering around listening to music in the road.

If I see a ped "step out" (you know, when they step into the road to get round something or someone on the pavement without looking back) I'll often say that what they did is the number one cause of pedestrian deaths on our roads (I think I'm right).

It shouldn't be, a good cyclist or driver should NEVER hit a pedestrian, but there are a lot of crap drivers and cyclists out there!

Foobies

dancook wrote:

mybreakfastconsisted wrote:

In Norwich, outside Cinema City, a ped with mahoosive earphones wandered over the road slap in front of me. I swerved and braked "Wake up you bellend"! I said.

He pointed at the pedestrian crossing lights that were on red fifty feet away and said "You should have been slowing down for the lights!"

as prj45 and Kurako were saying... pedestrians have the right of way- do not antagonise them!

pedestrians have right of way on a road 50 feet from a crossing? Thats news to me, next time im walking im gonna step out in front of a bus and take first western national for all tehyve got!

prj45

Foobies wrote:

pedestrians have right of way on a road 50 feet from a crossing? Thats news to me, next time im walking im gonna step out in front of a bus and take first western national for all tehyve got!

You must always give pedestrians priority, what else are you going to do, ride into them?

EKE_38BPM

zanes wrote:

EKE_38BPM wrote:

You can't always blame the driver. Cyclists have a responsibility to take care of their own safety.

One morning I was driving to work along a three lane, one way street in heavy traffic. I was in the left hand lane with a HGV immediately to my right and another behind me. A cyclist wearing massive headphones (maybe he thought he was DJing in a club) jumps into the road looking to his left (away from oncoming traffic). I saw that he was crossing no matter what and despite my horn he continues crossing the road. I had no space to swerve out of his path and couldn't brake sharply due to the truck behind.

It ended up with me clipping him and him spinning round, hitting the deck and falling back towards the pavement. He shouted something at me and I replied with "You were lucky I wasn't a truck." and carried on to work.

There was nothing I could have done to avoid him without endangering myself so I took the least dangerous (to me) option.

Yes, you shouldn't hit cyclists, but if they have no concern for their own safety, they are fair game in my opinion.

Edited that for you :roll:

If I was driving in the situation you describe I would have used the horn to warn the cyclist/ped, I wouldn't have been concerned about braking sharply and getting run over by a truck behind me and would have been more likely to swerve towards the HGV to my right. Hitting a person (on foot or on a bike) would be the worst of all possible options.

Its horrible hitting a person in a car. An idiot ran out infront of me when I was driving once and there was nothing I could have done (well within thinking distance nevermind stopping distance). Having a dent in your bonnet caused by the ped's head was horrible and I sold the car within weeks as I didn't want to drive it anymore.

I'm glad there were plenty of witnesses to confirm to me and tell the police that it wasn't my fault, there was nothing I could have done.

Edit: If a cyclist is being overtaken by a car, which has left plenty of room and is doing everything correctly, and the cyclist swerves drastically into the car's path, you can't blame the car driver if he hits the cyclist, especially if there are restrictions to the car swerving to avoid the cyclist (other traffic, road furniture, a wall etc).
Cyclists ain't always in the right. Cars ain't always in the wrong.

EKE_38BPM

The ped was OK BTW. He had a headache and a few bruises but otherwise fine.

He probably lost a few,much needed, braincells too. He didn't seem like the sharpest tool in the box!

turnerjohn

prj45 wrote:

mybreakfastconsisted wrote:

Me calling him a bellend may stop him wandering around listening to music in the road.

If I see a ped "step out" (you know, when they step into the road to get round something or someone on the pavement without looking back) I'll often say that what they did is the number one cause of pedestrian deaths on our roads (I think I'm right).

It shouldn't be, a good cyclist or driver should NEVER hit a pedestrian, but there are a lot of crap drivers and cyclists out there!

nothing to do with being a "good" cyclist or driver...other people actions can cause accidents.....if someone literly jumps out in front of you how can you not hit them ?
Im not saying one is better then the other but people (generalised here) need to wake up and take some responsibilties in what they do....the "headphone" wearing def isn't helping either !!!

dondare

Some will disagree with me on this, but if you can't avoid the ped then you are going too fast.
If the ped runs out into the road and hits you I reckon that's different.It's happened to me a couple of times.

EKE_38BPM

dondare wrote:

Some will disagree with me on this, but if you can't avoid the ped then you are going too fast.

+1 for disagreeing with you.
If you are within the speed limit and someone steps out within your stopping distance and can't swerve to avoid for whatever reason, the ped is going down!
To avoid this happening to me, I always take it very easy when cycling on a shared path/ in a park etc.

Bloody peds. Why ain't they on a bike, anyway?!

desweller

zanes wrote:

EKE_38BPM wrote:

You can't always blame the driver. Cyclists have a responsibility to take care of their own safety.

One morning I was driving to work along a three lane, one way street in heavy traffic. I was in the left hand lane with a HGV immediately to my right and another behind me. A cyclist wearing massive headphones (maybe he thought he was DJing in a club) jumps into the road looking to his left (away from oncoming traffic). I saw that he was crossing no matter what and despite my horn he continues crossing the road. I had no space to swerve out of his path and couldn't brake sharply due to the truck behind.

It ended up with me clipping him and him spinning round, hitting the deck and falling back towards the pavement. He shouted something at me and I replied with "You were lucky I wasn't a truck." and carried on to work.

There was nothing I could have done to avoid him without endangering myself so I took the least dangerous (to me) option.

Yes, you shouldn't hit cyclists, but if they have no concern for their own safety, they are fair game in my opinion.

Edited that for you :roll:

Well... yeah, they should take care of their own safety!

Too often I get the impression that cyclists wish to abdicate responsibility for their own safety. As if, just because cars carry much greater potential for causing injury, no cyclist can ever be in the wrong when in an accident involving a motor vehicle. That's like standing on a railway line and then posthumously blaming the train for spreading your corpse over 3 miles of countryside.

prj45

EKE_38BPM wrote:

If you are within the speed limit and someone steps out within your stopping distance and can't swerve to avoid for whatever reason, the ped is going down!

I was going to suggest, slow down then, but then you wrote this where it's clear you realise that this is the right way to do things:

EKE_38BPM wrote:

To avoid this happening to me, I always take it very easy when cycling on a shared path/ in a park etc.

Why don't you also take it easy on a road where you have peds on the pavement who may walk out without looking?

PBo

prj45 wrote:

EKE_38BPM wrote:

If you are within the speed limit and someone steps out within your stopping distance and can't swerve to avoid for whatever reason, the ped is going down!

I was going to suggest, slow down then, but then you wrote this where it's clear you realise that this is the right way to do things:

EKE_38BPM wrote:

To avoid this happening to me, I always take it very easy when cycling on a shared path/ in a park etc.

Why don't you also take it easy on a road where you have peds on the pavement who may walk out without looking?

Oh come on, now you're suggesting that we should take it "easy" enough so that in all circumstances we should be able to stop? Because that's how it reads, and if so that's utter crap.

Why don't we have a man with a red flag walking in front of the bike? Why don't we just walk, pushing our bikes along?

Look, we can all be conscientious, responsible and careful. Experience gives you the spideysense to identify potential stray peds. So yes, we can ease off a bit, but the point is that peds also have a responsibilty to not be anti-darwinian. It still takes a finite amount of time to see, react, brake and stop, so if ped steps into your event horizon - there's nothing you can do and it is not your fault.

Does this only apply to cycles? Do you think that cars should drive at 2mph in case of kamikaze peds? I mean, whatever I think of cars and there attitude to cyclists, I accept that roads are places that cars can travel quite fast so that people can get long distances more quickly - and expect them to do so. Sure, decent drivers will slow in residential areas, or near schools etc., but to be able to stop for ANY random act of ped madness cars would need to go ridiculously slowly, and that's just stupid....


To suggest, as several in this thread seem to, that cyclists should always be able to stop for any random event is utter garbage.

dondare

With regards to speed limits (which do not apply directly to bikes) that is the maximum speed allowable. Many factors, including the presence of peds, or cyclists for that matter, mean that vehicles should be travelling slower.
It is still possible to make good time on the road by watching what's ahead of you and giving it plenty of welly when their are no peds about or you are able to ride far enough out to pose no threat to the ones who start to cross the road without looking. But sometimes, yes, you have to bring your speed right down, even when riding on the real road.
No need for a man with a red flag, just good observation and common sense.

jeremyrundle

prj45 said Certainly using an airzound on one is pretty nasty. I'd expect more of a fellow cyclist myself.


Hello, are you real.

Are you telling me if a pedestrian with an ipod walked off the pavement DIRECTLY in front of your car you would not toot, yes you would.

I agree that we cyclists have a responsibility to be awar but so do pedestrians.

I woder how many pedestrans have caused cyclists to have accidents.

I go the airzound as a last resort, as I said FOUR 3x cree lights on my bike, I am "large" and I hit the brakes and the horn "at the same time" and still he was oblivious, totally.

Do pedestrians not have a responsibility to "think bike" they are telling motorists to do it enough :!:

jeremyrundle

Oh and I will add to my previous comments with NO disrespect to you younger cyclists who say I amy be wrong to toot a pedestran, I am fifty not a teenager, I ride slow, with shopping, always say thank you when someone moves, and do not ride as if I own the pavement as I have seen many "youngsters" do, flying past pedestriand .

If a slim youngster comes off they get up and ride off, I probably would not be able to.

So if it is a choice between a pedestrian through sheer ignorance or one with a dog on a fifty foot lead causing me harm and a toot, then toot them I will.

My only advice would be that I and I hope no one else ever would to it to an older/elderly person.

dondare

Pedestrian behaviour is barely controlled at all in Britain, other countries make it illegal to jaywalk or cross when the man is red but not here, and I think we have it right.
Cyclists are required by law to watch out for peds and take care not to hit them (and so are motorists although they forget that, too). Apart from anything else, some are deaf, some are blind and some have "learning difficulties"; you shouldn't ride your bike in a way that only allows the agile and alert ones to avoid being hit.

W1

I got hit by a pedestrian once.

I fell off, he got coffee on his briefcase.

I suppose that was my fault too?

Or can all those saying it's always the cyclists' fault stop their bikes instantly? Or do they all do 1mph in order to be able to do so?

t0pc4t

isn't there a duty of care in law that says peds can do pretty much what they like and it's up to other road users to work around that?

And in answer to the original question, yes peds do get hit, there was a reasonably high profile case is year or two back where a cyclist killed a pedestrain

http://www.metro.co.uk/news/719063-cycl ... y-1861-law

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/arti ... -a-fine.do

zanes

DesWeller wrote:

Well... yeah, they should take care of their own safety!

Too often I get the impression that cyclists wish to abdicate responsibility for their own safety. As if, just because cars carry much greater potential for causing injury, no cyclist can ever be in the wrong when in an accident involving a motor vehicle. That's like standing on a railway line and then posthumously blaming the train for spreading your corpse over 3 miles of countryside.

I was making the point that EKE's rhetoric and tone sounds rather similar to more "militant" motorists that think cyclists should "pay road tax, have numberplates, get insurance" etc.

I agree with the rest of what you said.