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Having had another argument with a group of pedestrians and thier children who were standing having a chat on a cycle lane.
I can't help but wonder what it would take for the people in the UK to give a shit? even if we did manage to get a decent cycle network, what would be the point if everyone then simply walks along it or stands there blocking it.
When you come across a group off people with kids standing blocking a cycle lane should you simply let them have it and go around, or should you ask them to move, in the hope that in the future they will avoid blocking cycle lanes for no good reason?
assuming they have strayed off the adjacent footpath, this is the appropriate action. With a cheery good morning/afternoon so in future they think cyclists are ace.let them have it and go around
Go at them full pelt with a banshee war-cry. That'll learn em.
Use the road, or start a slagging match
Bunny hop em.
A kid's gotta be less then 3 feet, and pretty soft if you do clout it, so little risk of rim damage.
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Emboldened by your heroic victory over asda, you should become a masked avenger and beat to a pulp any child that dares to impede the progress of the great cycling warrior!
edit: one picture is worth more than a thousand words 😀
As I understand the Highway code pedestrians have "the right of way" including on the road. Though of course no one driving a road vehicle gives a crap these days. I suspect that cycle lanes aren't the sole preserve of cyclists to own. EG you will just have to put up with pedestrians blocking cycle lanes. It's no different to the fact that "car" drivers rarely give a stuff about parking on cycle lanes, stopping at lights in the "bike box" etc. You see the thing is at the end of the day pedestrians/cyclists/motorcyclists/car/lorry drivers etc are all human beings and these days no one gives a stuff about anyone but themselves anymore.
IanMunro +1 - and make sure you style it up a bit too.
I like to think that I will explode into a rage and use the worst language know to mankind to make it clear to them just how much they are pissing me off, but then I normally just cycle around them.
Jamie - brilliant.
The thing is, if you simply cycle around them, then they have no clue that your not happy about it and go on oblivious, however if you ask them to move they then have a go at you!
i saw a good crash in munich on friday. the bike paths here in town are a split pavement affair. some woman walks out of a shop looking at her phone, handbag on shoulder, four or five bags in the other hand and not looking where she is going. she walks onto the bike path. some bloke rings his bell like crazy and then BAM! he goes straight into her. she hits the (wet) deck. her bags go flying. her phone shoots out of her hand and into the road. the guy managed to stay on his bike and just stood there. didn't offer to help her up, but instead berated her for her action and then casually rode off. she got up and the whole right-hand of her was covered in dirt/wet.
i think the guy done it on purpose. he could have avoided her, or maybe his brakes weren't working.....
Just respect their right, to have not many freinds, to be lonely,and to randomly chat to others with children,to gain tips and advice, as they have absolutely no idea of parenting and the risks road users have to the life of their child benefits,they cant even ride bikes, but will probably have some mutt running round crapping on the path as well.
Perhaps just shout loudly elite rider coming past.
LOL.
or ride full pelt at them and skid to a stop. usually makes them jump.
I was full of respect for you with the Asda campaign and backed you to the hilt, I just don't think the deliberate mowing down of children and families is going to fly 😉
Quite sure though there's a future for you in politics working for Cameron though
😉
Ever played skittles?
Coins in a sock is what you need. I saw it in an old Charles Bronson film called Death Wish.
There is no future for me in politics, I'm happy avoiding the ratrace and earning a living helping out other riders
Politics is the art of talking shite, whilst getting paid to be useless.
Well, you could start by tucking your willy in front of your anus...
Politics is the art of talking shite, whilst getting paid to be useless.
/bites tongue.
Drac - Moderator
Politics is the art of talking shite, whilst getting paid to be useless.
/bites tongue.
Hang on, do you get paid as a moderator? The rest of us give our shite for free!
Is this a dedicated cycle lane, or are we talking shared paths?
Just cycle around them, life goes on.
MTFU and get on the road.
Hang on, do you get paid as a moderator?
Nope.
MTFU and get on the road.
This.
Edinburgh roads are generally fine to ride on, but if you absolutely must be on the cycle path (and assuming it's not a shared use path) then a polite "excuse me" is all you need.
Bell
This is a dedicated cycle path, no other paths near it.
As I said they weren't walking along the path, just standing on top of and around it, having a chat!
What path was it if it was bikes only? I thought most paths in Edinburgh were shared use?
[i]As I said they weren't walking along the path, just standing on top of and around it, having a chat! [/i]
In that case, stop and join in the chat. When they complain point out that they think it's entirely acceptable to infringe on your space (the cycle path), so why can;t you infringe on theirs?
See? It's clever, witty and makes them think about what they've done.
Also, wave a machete around.
The only person who knows the true answer to your question, and to put said pedestrians on the right "path" in life....
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Smile and say hello, what does it matter if their walking,cycling or whatever.
Also, wave a machete around.
For legal reasons, machete does not mean penis.
just stop in front of them and wait for them to move...
if they don't move then just start scratching your privates in front of them, or something else they don't want their kids to see.
Well if you think that's bad, today, on the QECP designated mountainbiking trail I came round a corner, at speed, to a scattering group of toddlers, screaming women and astoundingly a bloke holding his 2 year old, with it's pants round it's ankles, having a pee.... in the middle, yes middle, of the track between a couple of large tabletops.
They have the entire rest of the country park, and decide to have a pee in the middle of the very obvious jumps on a marked bike track?
Didn't say anything was too stunned by the stupidity
Treat them exactly the same as you would treat a cyclist on a footpath. 😀
DT78 that's mental.
I would find it hard not to feel guilty about hitting a small child, stupid adults are fair game though 😀
Why don't you just let your helper sort it out?
Surely the correct approach is to ding your bell as you are approaching?
Never a great issue for me in Edinburgh - all the paths I know are shared use apart from the nonsensical one in holyrood park and a ding on the bell works fine 99% of the time
Surely the correct approach is to ding your bell as you are approaching?
I'm not sure that works, or better put that the cyclist should assume that it works. I heard a bell on a recent amble down a canal tow path, but didn't recognise the noise as being a bell and as a result did nothing.
I came round a corner, at speed, to a scattering group of toddlers,
At a trail centre (Llandegla? Maybe) I once had to dismount to get past a large pile of abandoned bikes at the start of a section of singletrack. Got back on and spun up to then discover that a couple of families had decided that this nice path and wooded area was a fantastic place for a game of hide and seek.
It all comes down to awareness and people living in thier own little worlds.
The UK sucks a lot of the time because most people are only interested in benefits for them, they want to gain something but don't care if someone else loses out as a result.
Capitalism is like that, we have so little in our lives that makes us feel alive, that we are so focused on getting some happiness or something good for a while, that we fail ask if what we are doing will detrimentally affect other? or how it all got so shit for everyone on a regular basis.