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Please don’t try to justify road rage....
Oh I'm sorry, I never meant to do that - please show me where I did so I can correct it.
Most road ragers losing their shit over a bike passing through a red light.
are actually angry because the bike rider managed to proceed while they’re stuck in their tin box.
So is that an acknowledgement that person on bike RLJ can sometimes equal angry person in car?
Kryton. There isn’t a single instance I’ve mentioned in this thread where I’ve “antagonised” anyone.
I’m referring to your comments in the thread about
a) your blatant disregard for the law whilst however safe and independent you think it is, provokes an anti cyclist reaction from the watching drivers affecting the rest of us at a later time. It also provides a poor example to others who are perhaps less able to make the same judgements as you safely e.g. watching kids.
b) as above, whether you realise it or not your self effacing humour comes across as bragging at best. Now, I’m not blaming you for that because some time ago I took advice from a forum poster about my own content and style which was a direct outpouring of my brain at the time, and chose to moderate how I write for the benefit of others which actually helped me converse in STW with a lot less stress, but perhaps you’d like to have a think about what’s being said, and you might then not receive the responses you are.
c) and with reference to a), if we do refer to “anyone” being anyone who has experience of seen your cycling methods, you have no evidence other than ignorance or non involvement to base that on I suspect there’s been a fair few people wound up about your cycling exploits yet just haven’t expressed that to you. I can no more prove that than you can the opposite, so stop repeating it at lib as it does not adhere people to you.
Thats intend to be helpful, I’m not here for an argument tbh..
person on bike RLJ can sometimes equal angry person in car?
It probably can sometimes. On the other hand, when I'm driving and front of the queue at a red and a person on a bike filters in front of me, and then the pedestrian crossing light goes, and rather than moving off safely and sensibly the PoaB (can I say cyclist?) ostentatiously sits there, or does a shite wobbly track stand, waiting for the light to go green before moving off, and can only be overtaken safely when well clear of the junction... That slows the cars passing through said junction. I mean I suspect my testosterone levels are too low for me to get cross about much these days, but it does look a bit daft compared to some sensible anticipation...
I'm quite impressed every time I see anyone do a wheelie. I can't do them for shit. There was a time when I could do endos though, one-handed and everything.
I actually think Geex has a point, even if he does take it to extremes. Riding a bike should be seen for what it is, a simple, fun and leisurely activity. Something that a child can do - and should be doing! Not something that requires advanced driver training, expensive safety equipment, registration, insurance and road tax, as many of the British public would have you believe.
Pedestrians break the rules and do unpredictable things all day long yet don't summon the vitriol that cyclists get. Because cyclists are grouped into a category with large and powerful vehicles they have little in common with - they're really pedestrians on wheels (See also skateboards, hoverboards, etc). And this is the entire problem, they're really grouped into a category they don't belong yet expected to behave as per that category suggests.
You can go to the Netherlands, and cycling there can be quite chaotic at times. Especially in the big cities like Amsterdam. But it works. It's no different to negotiating busy streets on foot. This is where you follow a social contract and act with a fair amount of consideration. For bicycles in the UK however, I think that social contract needs to be redefined before they get pushed further into a category they do not belong.
when I’m driving and front of the queue at a red and a person on a bike filters in front of me
Personally I've never understood why people want to do that (well, no—I do, I'm just maybe surprised that so many people don't find it makes their life worse). It just means you end up going through the junction with someone behind you who (a) has the "must get past" bait of a clear road in front of them and (b) is probably at least mildly peeved by having had someone pull in front of them while they were waiting. I'm much more comfortable with being in the middle of the lane behind at least one car.
To be fair, it's also illegal, assuming the person doing it passes the stop line. And on a motorbike (which is just as common) it's illegal even before that, since you can't pass the vehicle at the front of the queue if you're in/on a motor vehicle.
You don't filter? That's even worse,😁.
I usually swoop in from the right, but there's often a cycle lane along the curb which can be used and then a box for bikes in front of the car stop line.
Did anyone lose their shit over this blatant flouting of the law?
But this lady didn't flout the law. She dismounted and is therefore a pedestrian, used the pedestrian crossing then remounted and rode off once through the junction. All perfectly within the law.
You on the other hand.....
You don’t filter? That’s even worse
It depends.
If I'm clearly going to get through on the next phase of the lights then there's absolutely no point in filtering: it just means I get passed more. Each pass carries some element of risk so the fewer the better.
If it looks like I'm going to be waiting a while then I might filter. For example, leaving work there's often a queue for half a mile. That's worth filtering (there's a convenient yellow box about 50 yards back from the lights which is a near-guaranteed place to safely pull in behind a car and get through the next phase). Riding along roads like Southwark Street in London, which are often packed solid, I tend to filter as well. The considerations are a little different.
So, yeah, in some situations there's no point sitting in someone's exhaust fumes for ages when one of the benefits of a bike is the ability to slip through urban areas easily.
But my default is not to filter, because most of the times I find myself at some lights, it offers no benefit at all.
Over the last few months I've noticed my belly getting bigger. I thought it was just because I'm a fat, lazy bastard but, having read this thread, I've realised that, at the start of the year, I saw a dude on a bike popping a wheelie through some traffic lights.
Could I be pregnant?
Could I be pregnant?
Were you wearing bicycle clips at the time?
(Reduces risk of 'em swimming up your leg... Something we'd say of a mate bitd whose swimmers clearly had some power behind them, striking it unlucky as he did three times in a couple of years in the lottery of love. He hardly cycles these days mind, which is probably just as well.)
It probably can sometimes.
As much as Geex would like to deny that his RLJ antics have ever antagonised anyone, road rage is a "thing" - a largely pointless, dangerous and illogical "thing", but a "thing" nonetheless. I'm pretty sure people get annoyed at cyclists (sorry - persons on bikes) jumping red lights in much the same way as they get annoyed at car drivers running ambers or reds, or pushing in or what have you - pretty sure (and Geex will know best with his psychology background) that a lot of it is related to both territoriality and the difficulty in reading the emotions of the other person, so someone who's prone to road rage, if someone pulls in rather closely in front of them, will be inclined to read it as a "f*** you" and respond with anger, when it might be that they've just misjudged the gap, lost their way, or going to hospital to visit a sick relative and not fully paying attention to what's around them.
The problem for me as a person occasionally on a bike is that, as much as we're all people on bikes and not cyclists, to a car driver (or a person in a car, if you prefer) we belong to a single subset and the actions of one influence their opinions of all members of that subset.
Geex, just for clarity I'm not saying any of this because I support road rage or tarring all cyclists with the same brush, I'm saying that I believe these are the mechanisms that are in force around all of us.
On the other hand, when I’m driving and front of the queue at a red and a person on a bike filters in front of me, and then the pedestrian crossing light goes, and rather than moving off safely and sensibly the PoaB (can I say cyclist?) ostentatiously sits there, or does a shite wobbly track stand, waiting for the light to go green before moving off, and can only be overtaken safely when well clear of the junction… That slows the cars passing through said junction. I mean I suspect my testosterone levels are too low for me to get cross about much these days, but it does look a bit daft compared to some sensible anticipation…
Heh! Same here - had it this very morning, and the chap was in no hurry to move off, either, lots of street furniture for the first thirty yards so we had a steady trundle until there was room to get by. I don't know, as a PoaB, if I ever would have got frustrated at that, but these days I don't mind in the slightest. It does worry me that less considerate drivers would be impatient, toot the horn at the leisurely getaway and try and squeeze past where there really wasn't room.
I saw a dude on a bike popping a wheelie through some traffic lights.
Could I be pregnant?
Well, I only watched the video in the link I posted, I'm not even sure it is Geex but I know I am.
I hate endos. they’re ugly AF
Right that's it. That's the last straw.
And on a motorbike (which is just as common) it’s illegal even before that, since you can’t pass the vehicle at the front of the queue if you’re in/on a motor vehicle.
I thought that was just at zebra crossings. I filtered to the front at lights on my advanced test and plod tester seemed happy.
It’s possible my memory has gone rusty. I’m afraid I now can’t be arsed to remember which bit of legislation I need to check 🙂
Apparently its crossings with zig zag lines so we were both half right half wrong!!!
Every single light I approached this morning was GREEN.
there were 39 in total.
if that's not Karma I don't know what is. 😉
I still rode 3 pavements and 2 one way streets the opposite direction.
Every single light I approached this morning was GREEN.
...envy of your Awesum Skillz?
Ah...
Thanks Perchy
Ps. you always make me crave pink panther chocolate bars
I still rode 3 pavements and 2 one way streets the opposite direction.
Add a smile and a nod and a wink, and nothing could do more for the PoaB cause. Thanks on behalf of all of us.
Every single light I approached this morning was GREEN.
morning sickness. Now you are impregnating road furniture as well as passersby.
Irony bomb incoming......
Geex, I think you have found an admirer. NoSauce posted this;
"It’s bloody dangerous but I find it oddly mesmerising."
I seen a kid doing a wheelie up the road yesterday. Made me smile.
Better than stabbing and robbing pensioners.
Better than stabbing and robbing pensioners.
I'm glad you've seen the error of your ways.
Geex, I think you have found an admirer
someone's copy/pasted a geex post onto that wheelie thread! Bloody clowns, trolling the mumsnet gang 😆
parents do not seem to know where their teenagers are. Some around here are as young as 10.
🤭👌
"One evening recently we were going out and there were about 14-15 teens cycling down a high street, doing wheelies and throwing yellow reflective strips at pedestrians."
Wait... what?
Suppose they're visible at least. Bloody neon-nazis.
someone’s copy/pasted a geex post onto that wheelie thread!
Trolling level - Jedi
Well played.
“Neon Nazis”
Very good
Troll level - FAIL more like
Or did the Jedi fail too and that was your point?
Sorry haven't seen the films they're in.