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https://www.mumsnet.com/Talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/3580438-Cyclists-and-the-Highway-Code
Huh. Just Huh.
And Wow, too.
So now we have to be careful not to knock cyclists over, when driving past them.
Of course, they don't have to be careful not to knock anyone over when they go through red traffic lights, do they?
As if they need more legislation in their favour. It absolutely enrages me.
It's a hopefully clearly trolling take...
TBF, she/he is getting a fairly universal kicking.
Most of the responses are refreshingly rational. Makes a nice change.
Bunch of loons on that forum.
Yeah, proud of (most) Mumsnetters!
As an aside, every time I read Mumsnet I'm amused by the total absence of a swear filter. Whilst other forums have the most ridiculous filter to protect teh wiminz and kidz.
Bunch of loons on that forum.
Can I clarify if you mean STW or Mumsnet?
I am not clicking that link! A few months ago there was a link to something similar and I made the mistake of looking around the forum, I lost about 3 hours and I now think most mums are batshit crazy.
HGH.
As an aside, every time I read Mumsnet I’m amused by the total absence of a swear filter.
I'm convinced Mumsnet has a swear-bot that just adds the effin and jeffin into whatever gets posted.
Whilst other forums have the most ridiculous filter to protect teh wiminz and kidz.
I just did the sensible things like: "Peaks" => "Peak" and "gnar" => "mildly exciting". 😉
Think the sub forum is called "sporner corner", it's the most disgusting forum I've ever read. It's amazing.
Sporner Corner?
What does that even mean?!
No idea, it's where they talk about (and post videos of) cysts/spots/infected body parts etc.
It's the fact that cyclists run people over and kill them
Come on, you know we all* do it guys.
*the cyclists among us.
Think the sub forum is called “sporner corner”, it’s the most disgusting forum I’ve ever read. It’s amazing
I bloody love that sub forum 🙂
There's some exceptional confirmation bias going on there, isn't there.
Claim: "98% of cyclists run red lights."
Actual figure: 5.9% of cyclists run red lights (with motorists at 5.6%).
Claim: “98% of cyclists run red lights.”
Actual figure: 5.9% of cyclists run red lights (with motorists at 5.6%).
Realllllllllyyyýy !!
I know the danger cyclists represent when they do the "carefull look both ways before" they jump the lights is minimal. But that 5.9% is absolutely a load of rubbish. Come to Cardiff its almost 100% amongst the just riding a bike rather than the commited cyclist group. I couldn't care less if cyclists safely go through red lights (I do on occasion) but to say only a tiny percentage do is 😂😂😂😂😂
P.s
Around here anyway, other places might differ.
It always amazes me that threads on Mumsnet generally seem to stand up for cyclists a lot better and more regularly than the threads here.
It always amazes me that threads on Mumsnet generally seem to stand up for cyclists a lot better and more regularly than the threads here.
Something to do with the testosterone levels?
My favourite argument against cycling was "do you realise how much those bikes cost?". I assume it was meant as "don't feel sorry for them, they aren't cycling because they can't afford a car, they just do it to annoy car drivers". This was from a woman in a Mercedes SUV.
Yeah, I'm forever knocking cars over when I get to lights.
My favourite argument against cycling was “do you realise how much those bikes cost?”
When our work was setting up the cycle to work scheme, someone in senior HR suggested that nobody needs a £500 bike to commute on. The riposte was that she doesn't need a Q7...
that 5.9% is absolutely a load of rubbish. Come to Cardiff its almost 100%
The figure comes from a (frankly questionable) survey done by Auto Express a few years ago. It was done at Highbury Corner, they counted 974 cyclists 58 of whom jumped the light. That was 5.955% when I went to school.
I don't doubt the figure may be higher or lower at a given different junction, it's hardly a rigorous survey (though still more rigorous than your anecdote where you've already cherry-picked "some cyclists" from the total) and there's no reason to believe that that one junction is representative of the country as a whole. I do sincerely doubt however that it's "almost 100%" wherever you are.
Zero cyclists jump red lights here (Shetland)!
We have no light controlled junctions and the few pedestrian crossings we have hardly ever actually work lol!
When our work was setting up the cycle to work scheme, someone in senior HR suggested that nobody needs a £500 bike to commute on.
I totally agree with them. £500 gets you bugger all these days. £1k minimum.
So, if the figure (red light jumpers) is 5.9% in a part of London, then countrywide it must be something really negligible!
Bastards!
I wonder actually whether London has a larger-than-average percentage of regular actual cyclists, commuters who have a degree of road awareness, whereas elsewhere in the country there's a greater number of kids-on-bikes and other casual riders. It wouldn't surprise me if outside of London the incidence of RLJing as a percentage of riders were actually higher.
Purely speculating, OFC.
I've just signed up on Mumsnet to reply to that thread, incidentally. It came as no surprise whatsoever to me that the username "Cougar" was already taken.
It came as no surprise whatsoever to me that the username “Cougar” was already taken.
Drac will lend you his FunSponge login if you ask nicely.
I am fairly sure "funsponge" has a different meaning on Mumsnet.
That t-shirt is excellent. Where can I get one?
In the past 🙂
I might do a re-run if I can find a reliable on-demand T-shirt printer. The one I used for the original run went under, and when I tried a second one I had to pull the whole thing rapidly because they were a total shambles.
Bez, perhaps you could produce it in collaboration with Sick!
Or as seems to be the current trend "Bez X Sick!"
I am fairly sure “funsponge” has a different meaning on Mumsnet.
Goes in the penis beaker, right?
Sporner Corner?
What does that even mean?!
It means that they can't spell "spawner"
I’d just like to say that this thread and the latter stages of the Sick! one have thoroughly reinvigorated the forum for me.
I am fairly sure “funsponge” has a different meaning on Mumsnet.
Thanks. I've just had a monumental flashback to the story in "This is Going to Hurt: Diaries of a Junior Doctor" about the lady of the night losing a sponge up, er, her... chuff.
I won't spoil the punchline for anyone who hasn't read it.
Bez, perhaps you could produce it in collaboration with Sick!
I’ll take all the pre-orders you can throw at me.
I always thought a good slogan for a cycling t shirt would be:
The only time I get treated as traffic..
...is at a red light
The riposte was that she doesn’t need a Q7…
Is there a government funded scheme for discounted Q7s in tick? Deets please!
I quite enjoyed the semi-hysterical rant from one person terrified that a cyclist filtering past them in slow traffic would result in a fine and three points. Disguised, obviously, in a concern that a bike clipping their car might damage it or injure them.
I assume the same people don’t walk close to parked cars in car parks.
the lady of the night losing a sponge up, er, her… chuff.
IIRC 'sponge' doesn't convey 95% of the true horror of that story does it? Let's bow our heads for Pontypandy's finest.
Good video linked in that thread
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/video/2019/may/09/do-cyclists-think-theyre-above-the-law-and-does-it-even-matter-video
Cyclists should just be allowed to go through red lights anyway.
In the US *everyone* can make a right on a red (and yet the sky doesn't fall in). And they have laws in a few states allowing cyclists to go through a Stop sign or a red if it's safe to do so. Again, the sky doesn't fall in as a result.
Meanwhile car drivers seem to be perfectly OK with parking on double-yellows, and right on junctions, not to mention doing the overtake-and-immediately-turn-left manoeuvre - all of which are actually dangerous.
So I think the real reason car drivers get cross with cyclists jumping red lights is that they're sat in their little tin boxes, destroying the environment, making themselves unhealthy, breathing shitty air. And who wouldn't get cross with that - we're just a convenient excuse.
It's bullshit.
Good video that. 👍
Who's "Tojv"?
So I think the real reason car drivers get cross with cyclists jumping red lights is that they’re sat in their little tin boxes, destroying the environment, making themselves unhealthy, breathing shitty air. And who wouldn’t get cross with that – we’re just a convenient excuse.
Sat in their boxes, obeying the law.
Well, the ones that matter.
This obviously excludes the ones about running red lights (when they want to), speeding, staying off bike lanes and bus lanes... etc. etc.