thm. You’ve no idea what I do and when and how I do it. I would be amazed if my actions caused any aggro at all in any driver, pedestrian or cyclist around me.

Other than reading that you undertake and run red lights????

Being considerate to other road users is at the top of my list of priorities (and that includes avoiding the aggro that me being under their wheels or across their bonnet would cause).

I am struggling with the consistency here?

Of course, there are bad drivers etc and I was almost taken out a few days ago. But two wrongs don’t make a right. Just because there are bad drivers doesn’t mean that cyclists have the right to ignore rules of the road. Red lights are red lights – period.

Rule 79 of highway code: Do not ride on the inside of vehicles signalling or slowing down to turn left.

“**** off Lycra boy, who are you, the police?”

The man is a poet.

Rule 79 of highway code: Do not ride on the inside of vehicles signalling or slowing down to turn left.

Absolutey. Doing that is stupid and dangerous. You might as well be stuck in a car if you’re going not going to filter, though.

Can’t deny that runing red lights is breaking the law. Doing 72 on a motorway is breaking the law, too.

Rule 79 of highway code: Do not ride on the inside of vehicles signalling or slowing down to turn left.

-so do do it if they are not. filtering is legal!

when I see something like that I feel I have a responsibility to educate people

I particularly like this line. why do you feel like this? i see all sorts of bad stuff going on, but have never once felt like it was my responsibility to educate them to improve their lives. “f*** off lycra boy, who are you the police?” was a fully justified response.

so if you saw a child approaching a rabid dog chained to a fence and it’s dad was running after his other kid doing something else, YOU’D DO NOTHING?!!!

WHAT ABOUT ITS FACE??!!!

In 10+ years of cycle commuting in central London I can think of NO occassion when another cyclist running a red light has put ME in danger.

Therefore ‘**** off lycra boy” seems entirely justified as a response.

Was it though? Why swear at someone?

Its a sport and a past time I love. We get bad press on small things like what this guy did, we are massivly out numbered, all I did was say be careful.

Its fine if you think his numbers are justified, go out and die. I am sure your actions will be justified and the poor sod who was driving will be ok.

exactly martin – to you its a sport and a pastime – to other cyclists its a tool and a part of everyday life

“Me, myself, I”…..

….sigh

Yes TJ and it is for me to get too and from work. BUT, its gives guys (i.e us on here) who go out on a weekend, or our spare time a bad name because they’re pulling these stunts, were all tarnished with the same brush.

Arent we?

Can you tarnish something with a brush? High oxygen brush maybe?

A motorist swerved his car at me this morning, as I passed on the inside, using the bus lane. Moments earlier, he gave me a mouthful of abuse for (legally) cycling across the road at a toucan crossing. It seems that he didn’t like having 10 seconds added to his journey.

So, what kind of behaviour could a cyclist undertake that would be comparable to a motorist using 1.5 tonnes of steel as a weapon?

Simple enough, a guy pulled out on a roundabout and didn’t see me

Did you not see him either?

Can we clear something up here btw. From past arguments it seems TJ’s ‘red light jumping’ is actually crossing the white line in a couple of places to get a better view – not blitzing through junctions care-free which is what most people mean talking about RLJ I think.

loddrik – Member
Tbh I couldn’t give a toss what motorists (of which I am one) think of me, it’s about self preservation first and foremost, of that means flouting the highway code then so be it.
As someone who was neartly killed by a motorist and spent 6 months on crutches as a result, I reiterate that I make no apologies…
POSTED 18 MINUTES AGO # REPORT-POST

Is not what they think that bothers me it’s their actions. There are some mad folk about who may get very annoyed at cyclists running a red. This may cause their hatred to grow and carry out actions which may put you a risk.

Also being knocked off should make you more cautious? I was knocked off on Tuesday, some muppet opened his door and not seeing me. Some damage was done (not as bad as yours) since then I’m now riding more careful 😆 each to their own I guess…

Can we clear something up here btw. From past arguments it seems TJ’s ‘red light jumping’ is actually crossing the white line in a couple of places to get a better view – not blitzing through junctions care-free which is what most people mean talking about RLJ I think.

Exactly. Funnily enough, there are shades of grey, often ignored by forum posters. Some crimes are worse than others. At one end of the scale you’ve got 72mph on a M-way and riding through a ped crossing on red on an empty road when the pedestrian who pressed the button has already crossed. On the other end of the scale, you’ve got 110mph in a 30 zone and blitzing through a 3 lane crossing on red and ruining the life of the guy whose bonnet you kill yourself on.

anyone doing either of the first 2 is not going to make thm’s life more difficult.

Is not what they think that bothers me it’s their actions. There are some mad folk about who may get very annoyed at cyclists running a red. This may cause their hatred to grow and carry out actions which may put you a risk.

A motorist did this to me this morning, despite me having acted completely legally. The point is that there is a cohort out there that is hateful and angry, regardless of how we behave toward them.

I don’t RLJ, and don’t think other cyclists should either, but in many cases it’s about as serious an offence as doing 71mph on a clear motorway. Some perspective required, I think…

Many years ago when I commuted in Edinburgh I remember being at a set of lights waiting to turn right, when on the other side a cyclist (wearing jeans and T-shirt, no helmet) looks across at me, (wearing Lycra and a helmet)and obviously thinks “Lycra tosser, I’ll show him”. He sprints off into the city centre, I can’t remember the road name, but it afforded a long view of the road as it descended down for about 1/4 mile. Near the bottom of the hill was stationary and slow moving traffic, with a queue of cars waiting to turn right into a junction. This fella canes down the inside all the way, while I hung back, thinking to myself “thats a bit dangerous, anybody could…” A car flashed a right turner and the guy slammed into the rear passenger door window, his legs were hanging out of the window. Needless to say he was a bit dazed. I stopped and made him sit down while somebody called an ambulance. I managed to get his name and where he worked, so when the ambulance arrived and rode to his workplace, some high street sports shop and told his manager who couldn’t be bothered to be honest and that was that. Best policy with these kind of folk is to let them learn the hard way, no amount of “advice” is going to work, all it does is cause the person giving the advice aggravation. I also don’t think that it goes onto justify motorists to act aggressively towards us. One act of stupidity won’t galvanise a bunch of law abiding sheep to attack another road user. Those motorists who do are just w*nkers anyway, it’s up to us to “Stay Frosty” when we are out there.

Those arguing that it is safer, would you also jump the light if you were on a motorbike or in a car?

There a few junctions on my commute which would probably be safer jumping the lights by a few seconds in my car, but I would never entertain the idea of doing so. Maybe that’s just because I’m a goody two-shoes though. 8)

Soulwood, best post so far tbh.

would you go a couple a miles over the speed limit in your car if there was a black box in your car that would automatically get you 3 points and a fine if you did?

I regularly cycle commute in the city and have pretty much seen it all.

Cyclists can be really retarded at times. So can pedestrians, taxi drivers, bus drivers and white van drivers.

It’s a fact of life. You can’t stop someone from being stupid, the best way is to ride defensively and assume that no-one around you has actually seen you until you make eye contact with them. Being polite, assertive and courteous all helps to make your journey a safer one.

retro83 – Member

Those arguing that it is safer, would you also jump the light if you were on a motorbike or in a car?

I cannot think of an example of how it could be. On a motorcycle you are faster so you get the clear road, in car you are in a metal box so not so vulnerable.

There are places I know where if you wait for the green light you have cars attempting to get past you where it is not safe and for a regular journey I do I have to make a right turn thru a stream of traffic. If I go before the green light but when I can see the road is clear I get past the danger point while the road remains clear. I do not always do it – it depends on the traffic conditions, weather there is the usual illegally parked car ahead, how aggressive the car driver behind me looks and a whole series of factors

Those arguing that it is safer, would you also jump the light if you were on a motorbike or in a car?

AFAIK, it is perfectly legal to get off your bike at a red light, push across the junction, and pedal away on the other side. I’m not sure what the practical difference is between this and pedalling through very slowly, giving way (not that I would).

Retro83, I don’t think most folk would jump a red light whilst driving a mechanically propelled vehicle, as it leaves you more vulnerable for fines & points, and if you do mess it up, esp in a car, you have no room for manouvre, unlike a bike or even a motorbike. In Sheffield there are a couple of junctions where a left turn lane has been put in to allow a safe turn against traffic proceeding with a green light. This is only possible due to there being space at that particular junction. I would hazard a guess that 85% of other traffic light controlled junctions just don’t have the space to do that.

Ok so…

Last night on my way into town, I had numerous drivers pulling out of turnings forcing me to brake sharply, numerous drivers not using their left side mirrors and turning into my path, drivers ignoring give way signs, ignoring my right of way on roundabouts; the usual cornucopia of crap driving moves. One feller almost wiped out by a car turning left off Bishopsgate; I had a word with the driver who said he’d seen the cyclist, and knew what he was doing. So why did you overtake then turn left just in front of him then you knob? Just no understanding of road safety, or any consideration to cyclists. Another one almost took out another cyclist up by Barbican.

I could go on. An on. And Ariston….

For every knob cyclist there are a hundred, a thousand knob drivers. But feel free to spout on about ‘non-cyclists’ or whatever nonsense, eh? 🙄

Who really cares if someone else puts themselves in danger?

May I ask OP, if you witnessed a driver of a motor vehicle acting irresponsibly would you feel teh need to comment directly to them on their driving style?

In some situations it can be safe and fine to RLJ, for example the left turn at a set of lights, if nothing is coming from your right and there are no pedestrians crossing – much akin the US right turn, makes great sense if you ask me.

You do get idiots on bikes, much like you get idiots in motor vehicles and on motorcycles, it’s just part of life – let them get on with it.

Elfinsafety, I could go on about drivers too. I see them every day, but were massively out numbered by them.

Last night whilst going right on a roundabout a women in front of my showed no signal and then stopped sharply further down the road as she saw a space outside Tesco and pulled in without looking. However, I was ready as knew she was looking and not concentrating.

The rant was about a cyclist. Not a driver.

Steve, I have done that if I get a chance if they have put myself in danger and others yes.

If I need to turn left at some lights, I dont RLJ, I goto the front of the queue and wait until they turn green. I position myself so that the driver in the front knows I am there and I am turning.

Yeah but as already pointed out by DezB; car drivers are a massive danger to cyclists, whereas cyclists are, by and large, a danger mostly only unto themselves.

I do agree that the level of knobbery has increased proportionate to the number of cyclists. In That London, there are far more cyclists around these days. Which is great, but with that will come more knobs. inevitable.

I’ll tell people to be careful and try to point out dangers if I see them doing stupid things. Most seem to be relatively inexperienced at riding in congested areas, so often take advice quite well.

But no cyclist ever pisses me off to the extent that knob drivers do.

Those arguing that it is safer, would you also jump the light if you were on a motorbike or in a car?

in my example I have to wait to turn left at a red light. We are held at red because the left turn are all turning right – if there was not an old pike house there it would be a filtered left turn IMHO. I then turn left into a narrow ish road that is about 350 metres long where cars cannot overtake me – they occasionally try which is not fun or safe and are stuck behind me. If i jumpr the light I clear this section before they catch me
The overtake /vulnerability is a non issue in a car /motorbike.

For every knob cyclist there are a hundred, a thousand knob drivers.

I suspect that the proportion of nob drivers is similar to nob cyclists, however the nob cyclists are much more flagrant about it and this pisses everyone off.

On Mumsnet the other day Mrs Grips showed me a thread mentioning cycling and one of the first few posts was ‘All cyclists are c*nts’.

That’s what we are up against. PR is important.

Personally, I have given up the full lycra on the commute, as it does just as much harm to our perceived image as running red lights (which it can be either safe or dangerous to do, if you dont know that then you lack experience and judgement and should not be telling others what to do). And I dont get spat at or have amsuing ‘got any drugs?’ comments. Well not as much

I also witness far more oboxnious behaviour by riders in lycra who think they are ‘real cyclists’ (ie done a few sportives) than timotei chicks, hipsters, altura dads, suits on bromptons and other kinds of normal people.

What I find most annoying though is people who think they know better than you do what is best for you, and then tell you, or even less effectively, post about it on Interweb forums.

But each to their own eh?

So, somebody trying to be nice and trying to point something out is now seeing as annoying is that how society is nowadays? 🙄

Mologrips, THATS exactly what I am thinking of.

WE on here think most motorsists are plonkers judging by these posts, however, there is a difference. They are in 1.5 tonne of metal with an engine.

however the nob cyclists are much more flagrant about it and this pisses everyone off.

dont think they are when was the last time you drove and did not see a speeding car? In fact when did we last see a car that was not speeding
I dont think us being law abiding will help they will just hate us for filtering or some such other reason. Sadly people dont need much reason to hate IME
can you swear on mumsnet 😯
wow just checked the f word in titles and everything go sisters

The fact is, buses, cars and vans are bigger than you and hurt when they hit you.

For this reason, cyclists should always yield. Always.

For this reason, cyclists should always yield. Always.

Unless you reckon you can probably squeeze through before the gap closes.

Christ, I’m glad I don’t ride on the roads any more. Apart from the odd short link-up between trails and bridleways.

I did get involved in an incident near Bamford last summer though. 2 roadies going past the garage riding two abreast holding up the traffic (I was 3 cars back), with a nervous older woman immediately behind them. Eventually she plucked up the courage to overtake and as she did one swerved out and a collision was narrowly avoided.

Said roadie then gets off bike and proceeds to hammer on the old dears windows shouting abuse at her. Right up to the point I got out of my car and told him to **** off and leave her alone.

I always give cyclists room for obvious reasons. But when twunts deliberately hold up traffic so than have a natter, I draw the line. Especially if they act all indignant when it goes tits up. There was even a cycle path there that they refused to ride in!!

As for RLJing; yesterday I lost count of how many cars I saw doing this. Surprise surprise, a disproportionate amount of black cab divers were guilty. The same group that are most vociferous against cyclists…

What I really hate is the way that some drivers automatically believe they have more right to be on the road than anyy cyclist. The old ‘I pay Road Tax’ line comes up with tiresome regularity. I find that responding with ‘do you also pay **** tax’ causes much merriment…. 🙂