Safe Speed Forums

Again, I don't believe I've actually claimed anything have I? I have simply reported my findings from that journey. You've ( and this bit is for malcolmw and Observer) taken an inferrence from my possible implication.

The example I gave of that particular journey was of only four cyclists because that is all I saw. I gave you a sample which I knew to be true and accurate so that you would not accuse me of having a vague memory or using some numbers I had just made up.

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www.misspelled-signs.com - A tribute to illiterate signwriters.

short memory too?

I must have touched a nerve. you're getting insulting and pedantic now...........

Are you having a

yes, as I've already said idiotic comments get on my !£$!. Saying all cyclists, or even a majority, ride on the footpath and run red lights is no different to claiming things like
women can't drive or <insert favourite race here> can't drive. If I did that I'd get well and truely slammed for being an idiot. Why should the anti-bike brigade be treated any differently?

Sorry, who is that?

How about the perceived majority jump lights etc? I've been working in London today & yesterday, and everytime I went outside for a fag (close to a fairly busy junction), EVERY cyclist I saw went through a red light, about 40% of car drivers were using their mobiles (but there were no accidents), about 40% of work vehicles had a No Smoking sign (that I could see), and about 20% of car drivers went through a red light.

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Pecunia Prius Equitas et Salus

anyone who thinks it's ok to blindly say things like "all cyclists run red lights".
It displays the same amount of thought as the stuff that the car haters in the other place come up with.

It's no wonder some cyclists run red lights with the lack of courtesy paid to them. On more than one occasion I have seen people who instead of wait a couple of seconds for the cyclist to clear the junction, decide either to sit on the horn and force the cyclist out of the way, or overtake on the outside before doing an immediate left turn at a junction!

I quite agree - and it's no wonder a lot of other road users break some rules with the lack of courtesy shown to them by road planners, LA's etc...

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Pecunia Prius Equitas et Salus

Chicken? Egg?

Unbelieveable.

yup.

Mike B, Oscar,

do you prefer to see bikes removed from public use (well isn't this ultimately what 'anti-bike' means?)

Definitely not. I would like more of their riders to obey the traffic laws and adhere to the highway code though.

But that also goes for other road users too.

Mind you, having said that, I don't expect that the 3 cyclists who I have observed this week going the wrong way down one-way streets against the flow of traffic would be doing it on a motorcycle or in a car... do you?
(That should steer us away from the jumping red lights topic hopefully)

Oh, and johnsher, I'm not claiming, inferring, nor implying even, that ALL cyclists ride the wrong way down one-way streets so please don't start.

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www.misspelled-signs.com - A tribute to illiterate signwriters.

Mike_B's put it better than I could.

And nowhere did say all cyclists. Just every one I see, even the fully-kitted ones.

I ride one myself. Fair weather only though, I'm afraid.

Ah! But these are a minority of hard core idiots anyways. Sadly they reinforce a stereotype

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Take with a chuckle or a grain of salt
Drive without COAST and it's all your own fault!

A SMILE is a curve that sets everything straight (P Diller).

A Smiley Per post
FINES USfor our COAST!

Approach love and cooking with reckless abandon - but driving with a smile and a COAST calm mind.

NO!

They have the same choices. I do not jump a red light in my car. I do not do so on my motorbike. I do not do so on my bicycle.

It has nothing to do with "disciplinary" I could face if I wantonly broke a law I am supposed to enforce - with some professional judgement

It has to do with traffic condition/COAST/consideration to all other road users.

I usually find respect begets respect anyway. The ones who do not show this? All too often we find they are the ones your pet scam cannot cop - but a real BIB will show fangs

Two wrongs never make a right and a red signal means exactly what it means

The other party will cross on green. If you cross on red - insurers and courts will not support you as a "victim" and hold you civilly liable. I can quote umpteen court cases on that basis by the way

_________________
Take with a chuckle or a grain of salt
Drive without COAST and it's all your own fault!

A SMILE is a curve that sets everything straight (P Diller).

A Smiley Per post
FINES USfor our COAST!

Approach love and cooking with reckless abandon - but driving with a smile and a COAST calm mind.

It is not being "anti-cycling"

BUT

All other road users - whether on foot or in car - have a right to expect a road user on a bicycle ot abide by established Highway Code Rules which mean


to jumping red lights


to riding on pavements


to riding the wrong way up dual carriageways

to riding the wrong way up one-way carriageways

If we cop you doing this in this patch (Co Durham) - we will cop and PROSECUTE just as we - um - PROSECUTE dangerous/negligent/careless/unhinged in control of a motorised vehicle.

We make no expection. We use professional judgement/benefit of - cough - discretion - at all times. All prosecutions here are fair and squarely earned.

Do something daftly illegal here - you will live to regret it. That's my message. We are tolerant ot a fair level. We know we are fair here. Our public are not raging or spitting "Nazi/Stasi/Draconian" anyway

But cyclists cannot complain if driver breaks a law if they also break laws.

We are talking of a militant hard core handful on each side of course.

Thankfully, the majority of us are law abiding and actually rather nice folk to know in person and in a virtual world.


Let's just say the spinnydrift militant type apart - most on the internet fill me with an optimism that we might just win safety battles and achieve road user harmony

_________________
Take with a chuckle or a grain of salt
Drive without COAST and it's all your own fault!

A SMILE is a curve that sets everything straight (P Diller).

A Smiley Per post
FINES USfor our COAST!

Approach love and cooking with reckless abandon - but driving with a smile and a COAST calm mind.

I really don't believe all cyclists are a law unto themselves. It does sound to me as though it's worse in London, however, so I think what's happening is all part of the so-called city mentality. Too many people in too confined an area all battling for road supremacy. It isn't about road use/abuse as much as it is about personality clashes and being part of the rat race.

Even the most simple task becomes frayed when the pressure is on. You have only to look at chefs' in a kitchen or make the bed with your partner

Cyclists' are at the bottom of the road pecking order, so for many it's their way of getting the upper hand and maybe getting back at the filthy, lazy, inconsiderate, dangerous, liberty-taking motorists'. But I think there's more which only someone who cycles regularly in traffic will truly understand...

A) Why cycle all around the Wreaken, encountering more dangerous traffic, because of one-way systems when you can see where you want to be is just a stone's throw away. This delay is annoying in cars too but it doesn't really bother them so much because they're not expending energy from the morning's Cornflakes and they can amuse themselves with a plethora of stuff while they wait.

B) Why get caught in a plume of smoke from traffic lights or spend any longer than is necessary taking deep breaths of city fumes when I can be on my way, so long as I can see the road is clear and do it safely? (I agree masks may help us, but even so…)

C) If a path is free from pedestrians and the road is dangerous, why should it be such a crime to cycle on the path for a short distance if it helps me get to a safer place? I would rather arrive at my destination alive, if somewhat illegally, than arrive in A&E. It's good for the country that I am interested in self preservation too.



In the countryside, or even in the suburbs, the conduct seems to be far better. On my way to work there is a junction where I see drivers on the main road let others from a side road join the main road in an orderly manner. It's a tacit agreement which works very well; one car moves forward on the main road, the next guy gestures to let a guy in the side road move onto the main road and so on.

The manners are very good. It's been a while since I've been to London but it sounds as though it's turned into organised chaos since I was last there.

I really do think it's cringing when people make laws or try to talk with some authority on something they know little or nothing about. Walk a mile in someone's shoes etc.

I say get your arse which most likely "looks like a hundredweight of chewed bubblegum"*, on a cycle for a few weeks and then come back and tell me your findings


Well that's what I think anyway.


*Full Metal Jacket

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The views expressed in this post are personal opinions and do not necessarily represent the views of Safe Speed.
You will be branded a threat to society by going over a speed limit where it is safe to do so, and suffer the consequences of your actions in a way criminals do not, more so than someone who is a real threat to our society.

So, breaking the law is OK, as long as you are doing it to make life easier for yourself.

_________________
www.misspelled-signs.com - A tribute to illiterate signwriters.

Well, I wouldn't advocate breaking any law and I'm not saying I am one of 'those' cyclists but I do think it's important to look at it from the other person's point of view rather than just label them all as law breakers and condemn the lot out of hand.

There's a French expression, "to understand is to forgive" (tu comprend se tu pardonay) and I don't see how anyone can possibly understand without having the experience themselves or at the very least have some empathy.

I say again though, I really don't see cyclists running red lights in my area very much. In fact people, all people, by enlarge turn a blind eye for instance to people cycling on a pavement so long as it done courteously. This is why I ask whether it's the city mentality.

We have substituted good manners and common sense for laws. Laws for everything! I think I heard that during Blair's leadership he introduced some 2500 new laws. (I'll research that later)

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The views expressed in this post are personal opinions and do not necessarily represent the views of Safe Speed.
You will be branded a threat to society by going over a speed limit where it is safe to do so, and suffer the consequences of your actions in a way criminals do not, more so than someone who is a real threat to our society.