Every morning I drive along a busy single carriageway road. It's a 40mph limit but most vehicles are doing more like 50. it's slightly downhill with a quarry on one side (so big aggregate trucks) and several side turnings. Mixture of hedges, fields and houses along it.
There is a young lad who rides his bike down it each day. Wears dark clothes including camo, no lights/reflectors, no helmet (no lets not get too hung up on that) headphones and rides with his hands in his pockets.
He frequently swerves out to avoid potholes (good skills - I'll give him that) with clearly no idea if there is anything coming alongside him. It seems to me it's only a matter of time before he gets squashed.
Should I leave him to it, or intervene, and if I intervene then how?
Thanks
Leave him to it, not your responsibility. He can't be under any illusion that what he's doing is safe.
Leave him to it, one less burk on the road. If you ride like a divvy and hurt yourself then expect no sympathy from me.
Just my view, maybe a tad harsh but hes doing himself no favours.
Gently knock him off then pull over shout at him and tell him to be more careful because next time it might be a lorry.
"and if I intervene then how?"
Knock him off and kill him, that way you don't have to worry about him getting run over any more 🙂
Edited
Gently knock him off then pull over shout at him and tell him to be more careful because next time it might be [s]a lorry[/s] FunkyDunc.
If it's dark and he has no lights then I'd say "get some lights fella"
but if it's during the day and he's just in dark clothes then I wouldn't say anything.
I saw a fellow cycling round our way, dark kit (at night) tiny front light, no rear light. I saw him and passed him, was waiting outside the pub to which I was driving when he passed a few minutes later. On a half reasonable bike (new-ish top of the range Rockhopper), SPDs, proper jersey etc - so appeared to be a reasonable cyclist (if that's relevant 😕 ), I said - politely - "alright chap, you've not got a rear light" - thinking maybe it'd fallen off or something.
He replied "**** off". Hopefully he was mown down soon after.
Kill him, his family and all his friends. And probably best kill his pets and any colleagues just to be sure.
It's the only language they understand.
I think that I'd try to stop him and politely tell him that I'm worried for his saftey. It seems odd that he's not worked out that it's dangerous, so therefore he porbably knows. BUT, some need a reminder. He's not JUST a danger to himself.
I say that because if was driving and saw him swerve a pothole I'd probably swerve to miss a cyclist. 🙄
In this thread - leave him.
In another thread later on next week we will all have to feel sorry for some bloke who got killed on a bike, dispite the fact we dont know him and he rode like an idiot.
You cant win.
Put a large printed-out sign in the back window of your car saying something along the lines of:
"I pass you everyday, your dark clothing & lack of lights makes you hard to see. I am worried you might be involved in an accident"
then overtake him, slow to just faster than he is cycling and wait for him to absorb the message! 😀
Wasn't there some research to suggest that drivers give "random" looking cyclists a wide berth, whereas those cyclists "who look like they know what they're doing" are more likely to be passed too close?
Personally, I'd leave him to it. He more than likely wouldn't listen to you anyway. Grandad 🙂
I’d have him shot. I would take him outside and execute him in front of his family.
How about a blast on your horn next time you go past him, and every time there after, and shake your fist at him too? It might just possibly make him think about what he's doing...
...or he might just think "t0sser....I have an automatic right to use these roads....there's no such thing as Road Tax, it's vehicle excise duty...."
Put a large printed-out sign in the back window of your car saying something along the lines of:"I pass you everyday, your dark clothing and lack of lights makes you hard to see. I am worried you might be involved in an accident"
then overtake him, slow to just faster than he is cycling and wait for him to absorb the message!
or get one of these [url= http://shopledauthority.com/items/automotive-led-displays/programmable-led-sign-for-cars-trucks-and-suvs-stz-100-er-detail.htm ]beauties[/url]
If you stop him getting killed on a bike chances are hes daft enough to die somewhere else with that lax an attitude to self preservation.
But since I dont know him I dont actually care directly.
Makes for an interesting philosophical debate though.
unles he stops how can you say something
As others notes giving a poor cyclist safety advice is like giving advice to a driver who cut you up. It is as well recieved ....its sad but i would leave them to it
might say siomethign if ccycling
Just give him a gentle nudge.
Don't worry about him, he may be the Irish Cordless Bungee Jump champion.
i reckon he'd [i]possibly[/i] be more open to communication if it was another cyclist doing the talking, but he may well just tell them to **** off too.might say siomethign if ccycling
How do you fancy riding into work one day boris?
yes but then you get to death race him whilst working on your aerobic threshold training 😉
You did not miss much last night , wet and muddy but it was not freezing cold
Never mind that: will Darwinism weed out the misuse of apostrophes in thread titles?
yes but everytime I "work on my aerobic threshold"* I seem to get a bad cold that puts me off the bike for a week.
*or just "pedal well bastard fast" as us none ex-roadies call it.
Young lad = indestructable + opposes laws of any sort.
he's probably one of those people who does this sort of thing and never comes a cropper. i'd personally leave him to it as he is obviously comfortable with it. I suspect he'll completely ignore your polite intervention and/or become very defensive/agressive were you to do so.
When you've sorted him out, maybe you could stop everyone you see smoking and point out the damage they are doing to their health, or maybe ask the drinkers in the pub if they are aware of how many units they have consumed....
crikey you have noticed that sometimes people do stupendously stupid acts without actually realising just how boneheaded it really is don't you?
Admittedly chances are this guys knows damn well, as do the smokers and most (but not all i bet) of the drinkers you mention
or maybe ask the drinkers in the pub if they are aware of how many units they have consumed....
http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/beer-advice#post-3454883