Argh. Pedestrians.

Aidy · August 2009

I do kinda expect pedestrians to do random things.

But yeah, one just ran across the road. Except literally into the SIDE of me. I'm normally aware enough to be able to take emergency measures should one run out in front of me. But the *side* of me?! And note to all, hitting the ground at 25mph hurts.

His reasoning? "It's raining, my hood was up so I couldn't see".
Let's get this straight, you're running across a busy road, dressed all in black, and your eyes closed? *Seriously*?

Now let's go and see if my Dura Ace STI lever is at all salvageable

asquithea · August 2009

Probably didn't hear you coming -- the noise of rain on a hood would easily drown out the noise of your bike.

Still should have looked more carefully, but I can see how it happened.

downfader · August 2009

Thats a new one on me. Very odd. Sorry to hear of your off, did you press them for contact details to make them pay for the damage? Technically he could be liable.

Vivid · August 2009

A student on there way to school crossing the road did the exact same however into a car! Stupid girl flipped twice and slid for 10 or so meters. Not a pretty sight, surprised that she made it!

Some people value dryness over safety,

Are they paying for the damage?

suzyb · August 2009

That's why I never wear a hood, hate not being able to see.

hoolio · August 2009

Nice. I hope you took the opportunity to tell them what a muppet they were being.
I had a woman run into me while she was trying to cross the road. I was running a half marathon with 13,000 other people at the time! Some people just don't have much common sense.
Hope the bruises heal quick mate.

Aidy · August 2009

downfader wrote:

Thats a new one on me. Very odd. Sorry to hear of your off, did you press them for contact details to make them pay for the damage? Technically he could be liable.

I tend not to really believe in this kinda thing, at the end of the day, we both escaped relatively unharmed.

After a bit of fettling, I think the bike's alright - although with a couple of new scratches. I'll have another check of it in the morning, seem to have jarred my elbow a bit too much to make lifting the bike and checking indexing any kind of fun.

hoolio wrote:

Nice. I hope you took the opportunity to tell them what a muppet they were being.

I think he got that impression from the whole array of curses I was muttering as I picked myself off the ground.

To be fair to him, he did bounce up first and offer a hand to assist me up (although that's generally not especially helpful - I'd rather not have my body pulled about until I've had a moment to work out how many pieces I'm currently in).

ChillyGetsTrilly · August 2009

Yeah thats a new one. the timing had to be especially opportune to nail you in the side at 25mph... at least he was nice enough to lend a helping hand. he could have been seriously injured too!

bigmat · August 2009

Lots of mad peds today!

pastryboy · August 2009

Happens to me all the time - worst case I was flying up the cycle lane and there was a girl on the pavement next to it. There was no one else around, clear route forward and behind, nowere to go but straight ahead and she just decides to wander across the cycle lane when I was approaching. Fortunately I had time to react but if I hadn't she'd have been clobbered and I would likely have ended up on the dual carriageway.

Pain on canal paths too - see someone from 100m away - they're walking at the side of the path with plenty of room to pass, well done that man I think then all of a sudden they're going diagonally and I have to hit the brakes :x

downfader · August 2009

pastryboy wrote:

Happens to me all the time - worst case I was flying up the cycle lane and there was a girl on the pavement next to it. There was no one else around, clear route forward and behind, nowere to go but straight ahead and she just decides to wander across the cycle lane when I was approaching. Fortunately I had time to react but if I hadn't she'd have been clobbered and I would likely have ended up on the dual carriageway.

Pain on canal paths too - see someone from 100m away - they're walking at the side of the path with plenty of room to pass, well done that man I think then all of a sudden they're going diagonally and I have to hit the brakes :x

With the Canal paths I sometimes wonder if its a protest against cyclists. This is based on what others - noncyclists - have said to me several times. :?

Aidy · September 2009

pastryboy wrote:

Happens to me all the time - worst case I was flying up the cycle lane and there was a girl on the pavement next to it. There was no one else around, clear route forward and behind, nowere to go but straight ahead and she just decides to wander across the cycle lane when I was approaching. Fortunately I had time to react but if I hadn't she'd have been clobbered and I would likely have ended up on the dual carriageway.

Pain on canal paths too - see someone from 100m away - they're walking at the side of the path with plenty of room to pass, well done that man I think then all of a sudden they're going diagonally and I have to hit the brakes :x

I see the step out in front of me routine a fair amount - first time someone has just barrelled into the side of me though. Literally no way of avoiding a collision.

Bike (and body) seemed to cope happily with the cycle in this morning though, so no harm done.

georgee · September 2009

I had a rant at one girl who almost did this to me, then she went a stepped straight into the guy riding behind me, kaboosh!

idiot, he was on a new bike as well. I though he kept his cool pretty well, i'd have gone spastic.

freehub · September 2009

It was a green light, it's happened more than once, I'm cycling along, someone walks out in front of me, I have to swerve and only just get past.

I was doing about 18 or so mph one day, these 2 chavs walking across the road, seen me, they kept walking, I put on the breaks, I slammed into one of them knocking him to the floor, he was quite big too I thought he was gonna knock me out.

On sunday I was doing 20mph, indicating to roundabout, some kids thought they'd play chicken or something, walked slowly across the road, one bombed it on his BMX, the others on just stopped on the roundabout, one of those little white one painted as I went round it skimming them.

Headhuunter · September 2009

Some bloke ran into the side of me a few weeks ago. He was trying dodge thruogh moving traffic and I was passing along the centre of the road, about to turn right. There were a couple of lanes of traffic to my left, the first car braked and let him through, then he sort of ran the rest of the way through the second lane whilst staring at the cars and straight into the side of me. Luckily I stayed on but almost fell into a large metal bollard thing. He just ran off across the road without a word...

Gazzaputt · September 2009

I hit 2 woman on consecutive days last month going through city of London.

One walked out from behind a stationary car into the cycle lane and I knocked her flying/

2nd I swerved but caught her handbag bringing me down. Wasn't a happy bunny.

Porgy · September 2009

downfader wrote:

pastryboy wrote:

Happens to me all the time - worst case I was flying up the cycle lane and there was a girl on the pavement next to it. There was no one else around, clear route forward and behind, nowere to go but straight ahead and she just decides to wander across the cycle lane when I was approaching. Fortunately I had time to react but if I hadn't she'd have been clobbered and I would likely have ended up on the dual carriageway.

Pain on canal paths too - see someone from 100m away - they're walking at the side of the path with plenty of room to pass, well done that man I think then all of a sudden they're going diagonally and I have to hit the brakes :x

With the Canal paths I sometimes wonder if its a protest against cyclists. This is based on what others - noncyclists - have said to me several times. :?

To be fair - most cyclists I see on the canal path are going faster than I think is appropriate. I tend to slow down to walking pace whenever I pass someone. Though even then, I grant you, some people behave bizarrely, either shrinking away into the wall, or refusing to move aside to let me pass - which is what they'd need to do if I was walking or jogging!

I had a bizarre experience the other week when I was heading west on the canal path, another cyclist was heading east towards me and in front of them was an elderly walker who couldn't get out of the way because it would put them in my path. So they were forced to slow down behind the walker, I slowed down too and passed. Behind me I heard the cyclist shout "thankyou" in a very sarcastic way. :?

iainment · September 2009

downfader wrote:

pastryboy wrote:

Happens to me all the time - worst case I was flying up the cycle lane and there was a girl on the pavement next to it. There was no one else around, clear route forward and behind, nowere to go but straight ahead and she just decides to wander across the cycle lane when I was approaching. Fortunately I had time to react but if I hadn't she'd have been clobbered and I would likely have ended up on the dual carriageway.

Pain on canal paths too - see someone from 100m away - they're walking at the side of the path with plenty of room to pass, well done that man I think then all of a sudden they're going diagonally and I have to hit the brakes :x

With the Canal paths I sometimes wonder if its a protest against cyclists. This is based on what others - noncyclists - have said to me several times. :?

Even if their motives are not cycle friendly it should be remembered that canal paths are pedestrian paths that allow cyclists - not the other way round. As such to "hit the brakes" shouldn't be necessary as cyclists should be ped aware and go at the appropriate slow speed. See link below:

http://www.waterscape.com/canals-and-ri ... of-conduct

squired · September 2009

My brother once had a kid run full pelt into his back wheel at the top of Brixton Hill. The unfortunate thing was that it was his first attempt at riding into work, having not commuted since he was taken out by a car when cycling to college. The mother of the child was actually having a go at her child post-crash, but completely ignored my brother, who was on the floor as a result of the collision. The kid was probably about 5 years old.

After that incident my brother has never cycled to work again.

Headhuunter · September 2009

Porgy wrote:

downfader wrote:

pastryboy wrote:

Happens to me all the time - worst case I was flying up the cycle lane and there was a girl on the pavement next to it. There was no one else around, clear route forward and behind, nowere to go but straight ahead and she just decides to wander across the cycle lane when I was approaching. Fortunately I had time to react but if I hadn't she'd have been clobbered and I would likely have ended up on the dual carriageway.

Pain on canal paths too - see someone from 100m away - they're walking at the side of the path with plenty of room to pass, well done that man I think then all of a sudden they're going diagonally and I have to hit the brakes :x

With the Canal paths I sometimes wonder if its a protest against cyclists. This is based on what others - noncyclists - have said to me several times. :?

To be fair - most cyclists I see on the canal path are going faster than I think is appropriate. I tend to slow down to walking pace whenever I pass someone. Though even then, I grant you, some people behave bizarrely, either shrinking away into the wall, or refusing to move aside to let me pass - which is what they'd need to do if I was walking or jogging!

I had a bizarre experience the other week when I was heading west on the canal path, another cyclist was heading east towards me and in front of them was an elderly walker who couldn't get out of the way because it would put them in my path. So they were forced to slow down behind the walker, I slowed down too and passed. Behind me I heard the cyclist shout "thankyou" in a very sarcastic way. :?

I agree. Cyclists on canal towpaths are often a menace. Before I biked to work I used to walk from Islington, partly along the towpath , heading east. Despite signs at just about every entry point along the canal outlining that peds had priority and that cyclists should stay below, I think, 5mph, most of them hurtled along at nearer 10-15mph expecting peds to jump out of their way. One time I stepped round a large puddle in front of a loony on a bike flying towards me, forcing him to slow down. He yelled at me, I swore back at him. I was just about ready to shove him in the canal if he'd asked for it....

ride_whenever · September 2009

I've been walked into by a pedestrian whilst trackstanding, dozy twit wasn't looking where he was going.

He didn't like it when i pointed out he was a tw@t for walking into a stationary cyclist.

downfader · September 2009

iainment wrote:

downfader wrote:

pastryboy wrote:

Happens to me all the time - worst case I was flying up the cycle lane and there was a girl on the pavement next to it. There was no one else around, clear route forward and behind, nowere to go but straight ahead and she just decides to wander across the cycle lane when I was approaching. Fortunately I had time to react but if I hadn't she'd have been clobbered and I would likely have ended up on the dual carriageway.

Pain on canal paths too - see someone from 100m away - they're walking at the side of the path with plenty of room to pass, well done that man I think then all of a sudden they're going diagonally and I have to hit the brakes :x

With the Canal paths I sometimes wonder if its a protest against cyclists. This is based on what others - noncyclists - have said to me several times. :?

Even if their motives are not cycle friendly it should be remembered that canal paths are pedestrian paths that allow cyclists - not the other way round. As such to "hit the brakes" shouldn't be necessary as cyclists should be ped aware and go at the appropriate slow speed. See link below:

http://www.waterscape.com/canals-and-ri ... of-conduct

I quite agree with you tbh and as Porgy also pointed out I think the attitude of some stinks. We dont have canals here, but we have several shared facilities near the river itchen by Riverside park etc, and also on the Common. Some think its a race track and forget about kids and dogs, and also the elderly

davmaggs · September 2009

The canal paths around Angel, and then the Hype Park footpath down to Wellington Arch are two points in London that make me think that cyclists are a right bunch of ******

It's amazing that those two places cause me to instantly change my tribe as I almost get hit my chuckleheads riding on paths who then don't have the bottle to ride down the really quiet Constitution Hill.

Argh. Pedestrians.

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