Frikin' cyclists

[Crankarm]

Was talking to a woman yesterday, well she wanted to buy some bike lights. She had found these really crappy, expensive and nasty lights, like giant pills with hooks on at 11 and 2 o'clock to attach to the saddle rails and brake cables. Emergency lights to get you out of trouble. Use once and then never again. They looked total crap but she liked them enough to pay £14.99 for them, a front and a rear. Anyway in course of said conversation she admitted she'd been riding for years without lights in the dark for years without problem. My disapproval level starts to rise. She must have been about 55 years old, from South Africa wearing a huge baggy dark brown coat. She had a very casual approach to her safety. Then she asks me whether it would be better to wear a helmet ............... where to start I thought! Then she makes a futher admission that perhaps a helmet is not so necessary as she normally cycles on the pavement . I told her to get proper lights and use the road as pavements were for pedestrians. Cyclists who did so without lights just got cyclists a bad name. I told her that there are small but significant number of cyclists who adhered to the Highway Code, had good lights and respected other road users. Why wouldn't she want to be like one of those? "What's the Highway Code?" she asked. Some people are beyond help. Before I sent her on her way I told her to visit ChainReactionCycle's website and buy some cheap proper bike lights.

Tally yesterday for cyclists deliberately riding red lights and nearly taking out pedestrians crossing the road - 4. One numptee flew past the few cyclists stopped at the lights on Castle Hill going in between cars crossing on green. I thought it was going to be an undertaker job but alas no. They had lights and high viz on as well. I think it was an older cyclist may have been a woman judging by the bike.

Then some other numptee on a BSO scared the crap out of me by bunny hopping at some considerable speed onto the pavement about 3 inches from my right foot as I walked down Castle Hill so he could avoid the red light by cycling along the pavement for about 50m and cross over the pedestrian bit to the other side. He looked every bit like a council worker or bin man shaven head, long yellow jacket, reflectives, jeans and yellow boots.

 

[Vikeonabike]

I met this lady in Petrborough the other day! Seriously! Even Postcoded her bike!

 

[al78]

I assume she has never driven if she doesn't know what the highway code is. But yes, her attitude sounds just like the 'riding a bicycle = pedestrian on wheels' attitude. Not necessarily beyond help; ignorance can be cured with education.

 

[gbb]

Don't know you'll ever educate some people. Many of us have ridden paths in our earlier years, more probably rode without lights..i know i did.
I just couldnt do it now, i wouldnt allow myself (barring unexpected flat batteries or similar)
Why ? because i want to be treated with the same respect i give others, i care about how i'm percieved by others.
But some people live in their own bubble, have no idea how their actions impact on others...they simply don't get it, it doesnt even occur to them.
They're the people like me, who broke the rules when we were younger...but unlike me, failed to look at themselves and learn.

 

[Red Light]

You must attract them or something. I never see even a tiny fraction of the problems you describe. Yes I see them but nowhere near that often. And I cycle in Cambridge too.

 

[gbb]

I think some days you see it all.
Driving over town bridge in Peterborough today, cyclists on the footpath headed into town, weaving in and out of peds, some peds stopping dead in their tracks because a cycle's coming at them, some cyclists perilously close to the kerb....and thats mostly the councils doing !! From Oundle Road, there's a nice demarked lane for cyclists over the bridge...then it just merges into a path thats teeming sometimes with pedestrians. The cycle lane just fritters away into nothing for a while (IIRC)

As for lights, it seems Peterboroughians are doing poorly again. Some years you dont see many without lights, this year seems bad again.

Ive had occasional path cycling numpties hop onto the road right in front of me...thankfully very rarely.

Meh, some days you see it all...

 

[snorri]

I know I'm swimming against the stream here, but I have sympathy, indeed some respect for the type of person being criticised in this thread. Living in a less densely populated area I know by sight most of the people in my locality whose actions so annoy posters on this and similar previous threads. With the exception of youngsters who know no better, they all have some problems in life which I have never had to contend with including mental issues, low wages, unemployment, or unemployable, and difficulties with basic social skills.
Why respect? These guys don't have "all the gear", but they're on the road 52 weeks of the year, rain or shine, unlike some who would call themselves cyclists and make disparaging remarks about "BSOs" and their riders.

 

[chillyuk]

, they all have some problems in life which I have never had to contend with including mental issues, low wages, unemployment, or unemployable, and difficulties with basic social skills.

I have had, and in some parts, still have, all those issues during much of my life but I have never used any of them as an excuse. Perhaps if we expected more people to be responsible for their own actions and stop rationalising wrong doing society would be much healthier.

 

[Norm]

Last Wednesday, I had to ride into town at around 10:30 in the evening to collect some train tickets for travelling the next day.

I was quite surprised that there were so many other cyclists about, I saw 7 in total but not one of them had lights and every one of them was on the pavement.

Having hit an old boy who was cycling on a pavement in the rain about 10 years ago (he cycled straight out in front of me from behind a wall so I couldn't see him coming, even if he hadn't been completely unlit and wearing a long black coat), I want to visit severe pain on each and every cyclist I see like that. Not because I give any more of a damn about their lives than they obviously give but because they might be knocked off by someone blameless, whose life is then significantly affected.

 

[MattHB]

I think it's all about respect to be honest. If you have a major snarl up on the road and there's a pavement who's traversing would make it 100% safer to get past then use it, but don't do it at speed and remember you're the imposter and treat the pedestrians as such. there's ways and ways, I think we'll all agree on that one?

Lights are essential, as is proper clothing. If nothing else have some respect for the car drivers who you are expecting to a. See you and b. miss you. If you don't show respect to a ton of metal and explosive fluids then you're a fool.

At the end of the day yes it's an individual's choice to behave in a certain way, but we also have to coexist with all the other creatures on the planet and a selfish attitude isn't going to facilitate that for very long.

 

[skudupnorth]

It is scary when you see such things on the road and wonder how they ever survive longer than a day ! I ride and drive across an area called Chat Moss which is very flat,open,fast and UNLIT countryside ! (people from East Anglia would feel at home there !) I sometimes come across a repeat offender with no lights but a workmans type jacket as his only form of lighting.I always think what mindset thinks "i will be ok going across dark,fast driving countryside with no lighting"

 

[HovR]

I find it surprising the number of cyclists in Gloucester who are not adequately lit - And a lot of these are people that should know better. I very often see others on £700+ road bikes with no lights, or the dimmest flashing LED's available - And it makes no sense. If you have that sort of money to spend on an expensive piece of equipment, surely you want to light it up like a Christmas tree, so you don't get hit possibly ruining the bike?

This year I have only seen 2 other cyclists lit better than me, and my lighting overall only costs around £27! (£20 for a Cateye flashing set, £7 for a 5 Watt front light which comes with a free rear flasher.)

 

[growingvegetables]

I'll go against the stream too - without going quite the same direction as snorri, though

There is a whole generation of cyclists who started back in the days of Sturmey Archer dynahubs and other 1960-70's light systems. Plain, simple, bog-standard, "bike-to-get-a-to-b" cyclists; year on year, fair weather or foul. Entirely uninterested in "enthusiast cycling".

Over the years, they've gradually adapted their cycling habits and style to gradually increasing congestion and aggression. Developed bad habits - yup, no surprise. Unorthodox self-preservation - yup. Utterly bemused by the range of stuff available now - yup.

Mixed emotions. Respect is certainly part of it. Fear for them also - I suspect this profile and age-group MIGHT constitute an extraordinarily high-risk group. How you get to them ..... now that I don't know; not if you've been cycling for 50 years impervious to disdain from/frustration of "serious cyclists".

 

[pepecat]

There are an awful lot of people around in Birmingham at the moment with no light on their bikes. And - shoot me down in flames if you like - a LOT are students. I know this cos I work at the Uni (Bham Uni) and leaving work at 5pm I see plenty of them cycling around campus / just leaving campus with no lights. And cycling on the pavement. I am tempted to roll the window down and shout 'Get some lights!!' at them.

 

[snorri]

I am tempted to roll the window down and shout

You have windows on your bike, electric or manual????