BS: Bleeping Cyclist

Subject: RE: BS: Bleeping Cyclist
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 16 Sep 23 - 03:49 AM

Escooters certainly need some legislation. Maybe they should be treated the same as either ebikes or mobility scooters? I dunno as I have never used one

Subject: RE: BS: Bleeping Cyclist
From: SPB-Cooperator
Date: 16 Sep 23 - 06:57 AM

Legislation is pointless unless it is rigidly and robustly enforced, and sufficient enforcement officers are employed to make this happen on every street 24 hours/day. The only way that would happen would be for the Home Secretary/Treasury to at least double the staffing budget for every police force - which would in reality have to increase taxes, cut services, or but the burden on local authorities/metropolitan mayors. I wouldn't put it past the government, however to churn out anti-cyclist hate propaganda blaming cyclists for the lac of effective policing, or even direct blame to people coming to this country some way or other.

Subject: RE: BS: Bleeping Cyclist
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 16 Sep 23 - 08:20 AM

I blame Bolivian unicyclists

Subject: RE: BS: Bleeping Cyclist
From: Tunesmith
Date: 23 Sep 23 - 07:19 AM

The Highway Code in the UK is joke. It seems to have great concerns about pedestrian safety but the Code doesn't reflect that. There are too many "should" rules which have no teeth; indeed as motorists ignore the "must" rules what chance have "should" rules.

Subject: RE: BS: Bleeping Cyclist
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 23 Sep 23 - 05:21 PM

True. Sadly :-(

Subject: RE: BS: Bleeping Cyclist
From: Charmion
Date: 06 Sep 23 - 08:59 AM

Another problematic electric scooter!

Proof positive that, in the wrong hands, the most beneficial gadget can be a source of chaos.

Whenever I see one, I think how handy it could be for doing my messages ... But no. I'd end up dead on Ontario Street, half-way home from the supermarket.

Subject: RE: BS: Bleeping Cyclist
From: Charmion
Date: 06 Sep 23 - 09:21 AM

When I lived in Germany, back in the Cold War, my favourite menace to navigation was a middle-aged woman on a moped, heading home from work with her basket brimming with briefcase, office shoes and supper ingredients, steering with one hand and using the other to secure the load. Typically, this person would find her place in the heavy Hauptstrasse traffic right spung in my blind spot, from which she would erupt without warning (Signal? Never!) to rocket through the tiniest imaginable gap between Landkreuzwagons and disappear in the general direction of suburbia.

I wondered where they trained -- the Wall of Death?

Subject: RE: BS: Bleeping Cyclist
From: gillymor
Date: 13 Sep 23 - 12:20 PM

To me it's not about drivers vs. cyclists vs pedestrians, it's gets down to the notion that some people are good and some people are no damn good regardless of the mode of transport.

Subject: RE: BS: Bleeping Cyclist
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 30 Aug 23 - 03:31 PM

Just remebered a little incident I had only a couple of months back locally when 3 drivers decided to try and kill me!

Nutters

It is little wonder that cyclists feel safer off the road when drivers cannot give way to cyclists even when the cyclist has the right of way.

Subject: RE: BS: Bleeping Cyclist
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 30 Aug 23 - 03:35 PM

BTW, before you ask, I did send the footage to the police. This was their response.

Thank you for your submission to Op Snap, sent on:
2023-05-29

This submission has now been reviewed and the following decision has been made :
No further action to be taken

As no further action will be taken, our justification is below along with any other comments:
Reference DV66EYA, MF15WWV & CN22BWA. Unfortunately this submission has gone time expired due to resource issues and a rapid increase in submissions so we have been unable to process this within the time limit. Please note it has still been logged for reference purposes.

Kind regards,

OpSnap

So basically, the police get so many reports of shit driving that they cannot action them all. :-(

Subject: RE: BS: Bleeping Cyclist
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 04 Sep 23 - 05:19 AM

Were there any nuns on roller skates?

Subject: RE: BS: Bleeping Cyclist
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 06 Sep 23 - 04:41 AM

He was an idiot but he is more likely to kill himself than kill someone else.

Subject: RE: BS: Bleeping Cyclist
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 06 Sep 23 - 04:45 AM

I have just read that speed limits do not apply to cyclists. That is crazy!

Subject: RE: BS: Bleeping Cyclist
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 06 Sep 23 - 08:30 AM

Another idiot Doug! Maybe the guitar case could have nudged him :-D

Cyclists can also be charged with dangerous cycling. From "The Independant"

They can however be charged with dangerous cycling under the 1988 Road and Traffic Act Section 28, which sets out that an offence has been committed if “the way they ride falls far below what could be expected of a competent and careful cyclist”.

Subject: RE: BS: Bleeping Cyclist
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 06 Sep 23 - 09:06 AM

My second eldest and his pal decided to hire electric scooters on their way home from the pub once night. They were returned to the hire point in 2 minutes and he still has the bruises!

Subject: RE: BS: Bleeping Cyclist
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 08 Sep 23 - 05:47 PM

I think it's covid!

Subject: RE: BS: Bleeping Cyclist
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 08 Sep 23 - 05:47 PM

And 99...

Subject: RE: BS: Bleeping Cyclist
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 09 Sep 23 - 03:19 PM

The latest road rules put pedestrians at the top of the tree. Buses and lorries are at the bottom.

Subject: RE: BS: Bleeping Cyclist
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 09 Sep 23 - 04:49 PM

Many laws don't work well at first. Change is not welcome by many but will eventually happen

Subject: RE: BS: Bleeping Cyclist
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 11 Sep 23 - 02:47 AM

Electric bikes in the UK are limited to 17mph by motor power. You cannot limit the speed of pedal or free wheel power.

Subject: RE: BS: Bleeping Cyclist
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 12 Sep 23 - 09:33 AM

They are not, SPB. The vast majority of cyclists, like me, ride sensibly and with all due care and consideration for others. Playing the passive/agressive victim and tarring all cyclists with the same brush will not win you any arguments.

Subject: RE: BS: Bleeping Cyclist
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 13 Sep 23 - 03:34 AM

Of course there are instances of poor cycling standards everyday just as there are instances of poor standards in everything (and possibly getting worse unless that is just perception) But the majority of cyclists, drivers, bikers, pedestrians and even roller skating nuns are perfectly good, law abiding people. The fact that bad ones are noticeable only underlines that statement. All the facts and figures indicate that only a tiny fraction of accidents are caused by poor cycling - Google it and you will find lots of statistics about cycle accidents. None of them that I have found indicate anything to justify the demonisation of cyclists that I am seeing here.

Mind you, I suppose blaming cyclists for all our ills makes a change from blaming Muslims or immigrants. Just don't give Cruella more ideas...

Subject: RE: BS: Bleeping Cyclist
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 16 Sep 23 - 03:49 AM

Escooters certainly need some legislation. Maybe they should be treated the same as either ebikes or mobility scooters? I dunno as I have never used one

Subject: RE: BS: Bleeping Cyclist
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 16 Sep 23 - 08:20 AM

I blame Bolivian unicyclists

Subject: RE: BS: Bleeping Cyclist
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 23 Sep 23 - 05:21 PM

True. Sadly :-(

Subject: RE: BS: Bleeping Cyclist
From: Mr Red
Date: 04 Sep 23 - 03:16 AM

Well, Nigel, I don't watch my speedo enough I suppose but I don't exactly hare manically around the place.

Fit a dash cam and you may well find you do notice speed limits. In the event, if Mr Plod sees the camera, he would commandeer the SD card. And knowing that is a sobering thought. IME

Subject: RE: BS: Bleeping Cyclist
From: Raggytash
Date: 05 Sep 23 - 02:33 PM

This morning waiting at a T junction with traffic lights waiting to turn left a cyclist going my way came passed me on the opposite carriage way (double white lines) went the wrong way round a traffic island just before the lights, got to the front of the queue cut across the car there and then turned left through a red light.

Had I done that in my car I would have broken at least 3 traffic rules and ended up with at least 9 points on my licence.

It is little wonder that car drivers get p****d off with them

Subject: RE: BS: Bleeping Cyclist
From: Raggytash
Date: 12 Sep 23 - 12:40 PM

I witness the incidence of poor standards of cycling almost every day.

Ignoring the rules of the road, putting themselves and others in jeopody.

There is a cycle hire company in the town I live in, it is on a one way street.

The number of people who cycle the wrong way down the street despite having just been told by the owners it is a one way system is astonishing. I find myself hoping they get a nudge from a car ..... or bus!

Subject: RE: BS: Bleeping Cyclist
From: Raggytash
Date: 13 Sep 23 - 09:34 AM

It seems to me that the motorist has been given the ALL responsibilty for the safety of cyclists and pedestrians, that little if any responsibilty lies with them.

You may well agree with that.

However ............ the pedestrian or the cyclist is made flesh (very squishy) and bone (very brittle) I on the other hand am sitting in a steel box that weight 2.4 tons.

Your call.

Subject: RE: BS: Bleeping Cyclist
From: Raggytash
Date: 14 Sep 23 - 08:52 AM

Last night I was driving down a narrow country road just as night had fallen.

I came across two cyclists, dressed in dark colours neither of whom had a light on their bicycles .............. there are those who would suggest that I would have been at fault I had hit them.


Really!!

Subject: RE: BS: Bleeping Cyclist
From: Donuel
Date: 14 Sep 23 - 01:09 PM

If Raggytash had hit and killed the cyclists the court would probably consider Manslaughter as opposed to vehicular homicide UNTIL THIS THREAD CAME INTO EVIDENCE. ;^/

Subject: RE: BS: Bleeping Cyclist
From: Doug Chadwick
Date: 04 Sep 23 - 04:40 AM

I was in Lodon at the weekend and visited the West End theatre land. The cyclists are well provided for with their own cycle lanes and pretty much behaved themselves, from what I could see, apart from one young lady who let the side down by hurtling downhill on Haymarket and went straight through the red light at great speed when pedestrian were actually using the crossing.

Most of the pedestrians seemed to recognise their vulnerability and waited for the green signal to cross, although there were a few who crossed to islands against the red man if there were no cars bearing down on them.

What did give problems were the roller skaters on Victoria Embankment. They were old enough to know better but hopped on and off the curb, from the footpath to the cycle lane, at will, zig-zagging in front of pedestrians and cyclists alike.

DC

Subject: RE: BS: Bleeping Cyclist
From: Doug Chadwick
Date: 04 Sep 23 - 05:24 AM

There might have been some penguins on skateboards but I was too busy avoiding the middle-aged men to notice.

DC

Subject: RE: BS: Bleeping Cyclist
From: Doug Chadwick
Date: 06 Sep 23 - 05:54 AM

Most bikes aren’t fitted with speedometers, so cyclists can’t be charged with speeding offences. They could, however, be charged with ‘wanton or furious cycling’ if they are considered to be going too fast for the conditions.

DC

Subject: RE: BS: Bleeping Cyclist
From: Doug Chadwick
Date: 06 Sep 23 - 06:21 AM

I arrived home by bus yesterday afternoon and was about to get off on the pedestrian only side of the road. The bus had stopped at the bus stop, the doors were open and I was making my towards the exit, with a guitar case in one hand and a bag in the other, when an electric scooter went wizzing by on the footpath from behind the bus. A few seconds difference and there would have been a serious accident as he couldn't see if passengers were getting off and there was no way he could have stopped in time. He was not wearing a helmet or any other form of protection that I could see.

DC

Subject: RE: BS: Bleeping Cyclist
From: Doug Chadwick
Date: 13 Sep 23 - 06:21 AM

Why a misfire, Steve? According to you, moving out of the way is the morally correct thing to do if there is an impatient convoy behind you.

DC

Subject: RE: BS: Bleeping Cyclist
From: Doug Chadwick
Date: 13 Sep 23 - 11:20 AM

I'll go along with 'misfire' for the "%#@&/×+" part of G-Force's post.

I've been driving cars and riding bikes for well over half a century and I can't ever remember encountering two-abreast cyclists who wouldn't give way to a car behind once they'd become aware of it.

As DtG pointed out, upthread, there are poor standards in all walks of life and it's the badly behaved ones who get noticed. I am surprised, however, at your claim never to have encountered the problem set out above.

The main road I live on connects the roads coming from the countryside to main roads leading into either side of town. Although we now have a by-pass, it still carries traffic of all sorts and is on a bus route. More than once, I have been in my front garden and seen a group of six or more lycra-clad cyclists go by, two abreast, chatting away, seemingly oblivious to the queue of traffic behind them. I have driven behind such a group as they left the village into the 40mph section of road, still two abreast and ignoring the segregated cycle track.

DC

Subject: RE: BS: Bleeping Cyclist
From: Doug Chadwick
Date: 13 Sep 23 - 02:34 PM

... someone who will sit patiently for 20 minutes behind a tractor or a flock of sheep ....

PATIENTLY? I only have to see a tractor in the distance and my hackles start to rise - even before I've worked out if it's ahead of me, on my side of the road, or coming towards me on the other side of the road. We have lots of tractors around here.

Sheep? We don't get many flocks of sheep on the roads around here, so meeting one is something of a novelty. Funnily enough, I actually came upon one on Sunday on the back roads of the Lincolnshire Wolds. I just put on the hand brake, sat in neutral and enjoyed the pleasure of being out in the countryside until they had passed.

DC

Subject: RE: BS: Bleeping Cyclist
From: Tunesmith
Date: 13 Sep 23 - 05:43 PM

Well, let's get real! In the UK, most cyclists ignore the Highway Code which clearly states that cyclists must not cycle on the pavement. Of the police have very worryingly decided to change the law and have - again very worryingly - been allowed to get away with it.

Subject: RE: BS: Bleeping Cyclist
From: Tunesmith
Date: 14 Sep 23 - 06:40 AM

My observations have more cyclists on pavements than the road; of course, this will probably vary from place to place. ALSO, it's amazing how many cyclists choose to ride on the pavement along the quietest roads imaginable. BTW, I bet most cyclist under say 30, in the UK, don't know that the law forbids bikes on the pavement. Now, how has this situation arisen? Well, ask one of those local police officers. You know, the ones with one blind eye!

Subject: RE: BS: Bleeping Cyclist
From: Tunesmith
Date: 23 Sep 23 - 07:19 AM

The Highway Code in the UK is joke. It seems to have great concerns about pedestrian safety but the Code doesn't reflect that. There are too many "should" rules which have no teeth; indeed as motorists ignore the "must" rules what chance have "should" rules.

Subject: RE: BS: Bleeping Cyclist
From: Thompson
Date: 08 Sep 23 - 02:56 PM

More or less universally, studies of road law breaking show cyclists break far fewer laws, and break the law fewer times, than motorists.
Virtually all bicycles sold today (apart from folding bikes) have disc brakes, which make it possible to stop not just on a dime but on a nickel.
Most road deaths, by a spectacular level of difference, are caused by four-wheeled motorised vehicles. The same with most life-changing injuries.

Subject: RE: BS: Bleeping Cyclist
From: Thompson
Date: 08 Sep 23 - 03:17 PM

Incidentally… 
I've been cycling around or about 70 years now. But it's only in the last couple of years that people in cars, and to an extent people walking, have become really horrible to me.
Now, as I cycle along, people in cars jab their fingers to the side of the road, incorrectly telling me that this is where I should be cycling.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=phNMzsRrbNU
People drive too close to me if I'm wearing a helmet (unless, oddly, I'm carrying visible greenery or flowers on the back). If I *don't wear a helmet, my grey locks are no impediment to their impertinence in lecturing me about why I should.
Where did this nasty enmity come from?

Subject: RE: BS: Bleeping Cyclist
From: Thompson
Date: 09 Sep 23 - 02:33 AM

Could be. People are indignant about all kinds of surprising things, and they're buying (*where* do they get the money?) giant tank-like cars that can scarcely be possible to drive safely, but must make them feel safe inside in the dark there with only their phone.

Subject: RE: BS: Bleeping Cyclist
From: Thompson
Date: 09 Sep 23 - 04:12 AM

I wear a Sam Browne hi-viz belt, relying on this to trigger memories in older people and nostalgia-fake-memories in the young from watching old shows, and make people go "Eeeek! Cop!" But a friend was puzzled some months ago when on a trip to his son's or daughter's sports field he was close-passed dangerously several times; on the way back, holding the hurley that had been left behind (for Americans, hurling is a traditional Irish game that combines hockey and psychopathy), drivers were meekly mannerly.

Subject: RE: BS: Bleeping Cyclist
From: Thompson
Date: 09 Sep 23 - 05:15 PM

The speed limiter I'd be talking about, on ebikes, would be absolute: maximum 25km/h.
As far as I know, speed limiters for cars are mostly linked to electronics at locations with particular speed limits.
However, I understand that Brooklyn is considering speed-limiting the cars of repeat scofflaws to force them to keep it in their pants.

Subject: RE: BS: Bleeping Cyclist
From: Thompson
Date: 10 Sep 23 - 02:57 AM

Never heard that theory but it's a good one. Which Heinlein story?

The "otherisation" of cyclists is being fomented by right-wing publications. (By "otherisation" I mean the way that a group is identified with its members. So, my sister's little car was damaged by a big bruiser of a cyclist who scraped along it and didn't stop to apologise or offer compensation. If this had been a driver, she'd have been furious with *that driver*, but, a victim of propaganda, she now sees *all cyclists* as inherently evil. This is, of course, stupid, but it's being really pushed by right-wing newspapers, shock jocks and TV.)

Subject: RE: BS: Bleeping Cyclist
From: Thompson
Date: 13 Sep 23 - 05:41 AM

Why, G-Force? How many of you are in the car? And why are you so angry?

Subject: RE: BS: Bleeping Cyclist
From: Thompson
Date: 13 Sep 23 - 05:44 AM

Reminding me of the Homer Simpson line when a judge asks him "Were you cycling two abreast?" - "I wish! We were cycling to a lake!"
Why cyclists should cycle two abreast.

Subject: RE: BS: Bleeping Cyclist
From: Thompson
Date: 13 Sep 23 - 12:55 PM

I will never understand why drivers seem to be bouncing with rage so much of the time. They're sitting their in their comfy chair in a climate-protected room, listening to their favourite music as they glide through the roads - and yet they obviously hate the journey if anything that's going to slow it by even a moment causes them to weep and beep and screech.
Odd, too, that someone who will sit patiently for 20 minutes behind a tractor or a flock of sheep turns into a maniac if it's someone on a bicycle that's on the road in front of them.