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As for ejits riding at night without lights and the fashion for riding a fixie sans brakes, they are definitely up there on the chopper scale too.
Leaving Mugdock and heading down through Milngavie last night at about 10pm, as you approach the section just after the mini roundabout where it changes to from a 30 to a 40 then onto a 50 I encountered a teenage boy on the road, dressed in black, no lights, no reflectors and an ipod on.
At least he had a helmet on 🙄
I encountered a teenage boy on the road, dressed in black, no lights, no reflectors and an ipod on.
so was he just sitting there or did he have a bike ?...... 😆
At least he had a helmet on
Well he'd be perfectly fine, yes? 😉
ninja?
😆
Aye, on a bike.
And for those that condone RLJ'ing, 6:30am this morning I'm out walking the dog and I'm here:
All lights are at red and the green man is illuminated. A cyclist is coming up Kilmarnock Road at a fair speed and blasts through the green man. Meanwhile Mr Mercedes sitting at the junction on the right decides he's not waiting for the lights and he goes through the green man too.
They're both on a collision course but see each other in the nick of time and take evasive action.
FWIW if they'd collided they'd both have got what they deserved!
I'm also a glasgow commuter, it does seem pretty hairy here. Strangely enough, it's also remarkable how little respect and tolerance cyclists get from drivers here.
they've more in common with each other than all cyclists
How so? The vehicle they drive does not in any way make them similar.
What about cyclists on pavements?
I appreciate that in city areas with lots of pedestrians its a ridiculous notion, but how about on a fairly rural road, 50mph speed limit, cars doing that upwards, and theres a pavement, would you use it?
I did so tonight, and a woman reversed out of her drive at speed across the pavement without looking, and then looked indignant as I shouted oi. She then tried to blag that it was my fault for being on the pavement (if i were a pedestrian she still would have knocked me over, she moved out that quickly).
She swore at me and then wound her window back up quickly, trying to hide so I went back up to her to discuss the point, and she would not acknowledge that her driving was inappropriate, yet I acknowlegded that my cycling is not ideal, its a damn sight safer than me cycling on the road.
Drivers tend not to acknoledge their mistakes, there are very few accidents caused by something other than a driver or cyclist error. People don't learn from this, which is why i think its important to confront them and reason (not get angry, except if they do first!! :-)), otherwise standards will not improve, as they continue oblivious to their mistakes.
Having said that, I will still cycle on that pavement, I don't fancy becoming a feature in the hedgerow!
Motivforz, I hate to break this to you, but that's a textbook illustration of why you shouldn't cycle on the pavement. Use the road, don't cling to the edges, force people to notice you're there and to slow down if necessary, and you will be fine.
I agree, in most circumstances, but this road in particular is full of dips, blind hills, blind corners etc and a lot of drivers go along at a speed such that they could not brake in time if something was staionary or slow moving (as I am up hills!) even with 3 flashing red lights on my arse.
In urban areas riding defensively is king, saved me from plenty of close calls, but rural areas requires a different tact, often due to inexperience or naive drivers.
What about cyclists on pavements?
Two shots to the back of the head would be my proposed solution
Drivers tend not to acknoledge their mistakes
Name a group of people that does!
I'm also a glasgow commuter, it does seem pretty hairy here. Strangely enough, it's also remarkable how little respect and tolerance cyclists get from drivers here.
Glasgow's city centre is noticeably less pleasant to cycle in than Edinburgh's - I put it down to weight of numbers, seems to be more cyclists on the road in Embra.
How so? The vehicle they drive does not in any way make them similar.
They've all had lessons, passed a test, require insurance, pay road tax and fuel etc. This means a motorist has more in common with all other motorists, than a cyclist does with all other cyclists, so lend themselves better to being considered as a single homogenous group, despite that being a futile notion in either case, that's the point I was trying to make (albeit in a roundabout way!)
A simple solution.
Anyone caught RLJ'ing has their bike taken off them and crushed 8)
I see far more car drivers going through on amber (which means stop) and red than I do cyclists.
running red lights is just as bad as any car driver who desperately feels like they have to be in front of you. It'll save you a whole minute if you do it. I really can't be arsed with the hassle so I'll just wait. I think cyclists who run red lights are stupid in the same way I think idiots in cars who endanger people's lives are stupid. Plus as originally pointed out, it only reinforces people's opnion that all cyclists are idiots and if we're going to get treated like equals, or with tolerence as simon says, this sort of behaviour needs to stop. It's no good saying 'well car drivers do a lot worse', at the moment the driver is king and we're trying to change that, bad behaviour will only slow the process down.
Hit a nerve did he PP? ;0)
No, but it seems I have.....
😈
People on all sorts of bikes jump lights. Type of bike has nothing to do with it at all.
I love winding people up on the RLJ threads. Like shooting fish in a barrel.....
🙂
Like shooting fish in a barrel.....
You know that by doing so there is less to eat... 😉
I see far more car drivers going through on amber (which means stop) and red than I do cyclists.
You MUST stop behind the white ‘Stop’ line across your side of the road unless the light is green. If the amber light appears you may go on only if you have already crossed the stop line or are so close to it that to stop might cause a collision.
BoardinBob, I think Miketually is referring to the [url=
Gamblers[/url] out there.
Now that my commute has changed, I'm using far busier roads and encountering more problems than I did when it was a nice quiet 8 miles.
I often think you just can't win. You jump the lights then you (and every other cyclist) is a menace, you sit and wiat in the ASL and get beeped at for "holding up the traffic".
Use a cycle path and (becasue of the design of them) you end up being thrown into the road at a junction. Don't use a cycle path and cars beep at you for not using it.
I'll jump lights if it's safe to do so but it's rare, I'll usually only do it when the roads are very quiet (don't want to give a whole queue of car drivers any further excuse!). Other than that I ride reasonably assertively, thank courteous drivers with a wave or nod and generally ignore any abuse or hoots, it's simply not worth the hassle of pointing out to the driver that he/she is an incompetent moron.
While commuting, I reckon I see 10 bad cycling incident for every one bad driving incident. A large percentage are women on shonky old bikes. Most guys on decent bikes seem to be able to stay within the law. As was said previously, I seem to end up passing some of the RLJs when they've passed me at standstill. If they're in such a hurry, why don't they just [b]PEDAL FASTER![/b]
The best I've seen so far: me waiting at red traffic light, while two other blokes on a bike pass me through, one on the pavement and the other one on the same road as me.But the best bit is when the cyclist on the pavement decide to rejoin the road because no traffic (traffic light is red, remember) and hit full front the cyclist on the road who just went through the red light. He make me laugh rather than worrying about the 2 blokes on the floor.
Gilles
Did you not piss yourself laughing when you saw that? 😆
Re the comments about fixies without brakes. When did shitty old beater bike fixies become the bike of choice for commuting round town? It's great to see more folk out on bikes but why brakeless fixies? Are they just the ride du jour? It makes me laugh when you I see someone try to slow down on one of the hills in the city centre on a fixie with 12 inch wide flat bars in the rain. It reminds me of the scene in Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey when Death passes a guy lighting up a fag and says "See you real soon". 😀
As for trucks and buses, if they can't see you in their mirror or in front of them, don't expect them to look out for you as they turn left. It's probably best to assume that they don't know you're there and ride accordingly.
Peregrine
Are you wanting amused or abused? Hard to tell from your post! Could be quite a difference between the two! 😉
I don't do it with complete impunity, and stop more often than not, but if it's safer to do so, or it compromises no one else, then I'll jump lights.
don't reckon i could sum up my own position better than that, really. i don't stop at red lights if there's a safe enough gap. that's it.
samuri - Memberrunning red lights is just as bad as any car driver who desperately feels like they have to be in front of you. It'll save you a whole minute if you do it.
it's not just the time - slowing down, stopping and then getting back up to speed again's knackering 😆
i read somewhere that every time you do it is the equivalent energy of riding an extra 50m, or something like that. i hate slowing down!
Does anyone here seriously believe that if all cyclists strictly obeyed the Highway Code, that we would somehow get all motorists' respect? I don't condone RLJ or pavement riding, but lets get some perspective - we're to a very large extent the victims and not the perpetrators.
You go down that route flatboy and car drivers will go through red lights claiming 'but it's eco' !
Ransos
What I would dearly like to see is an element of the driving test that encompasses theory and practical on riding a bike in traffic. It would certainly be a start to make drivers aware of how vulnerable cyclists are and that passing without leaving space isn't the wisest thing to do.
ooOOoo - MemberYou go down that route flatboy and car drivers will go through red lights claiming 'but it's eco' !
haha, that's true - "must keep going, we can never stoooooooooppppppp..."