Pedestrians

[san]

On the way home this afternoon, going through Tooting. Ped decides not to look at a crossing when "the man was red" I whistled and slammed on the brakes missing him my mm's. He said nothing. I carried on and I kid you not about 80 meters down the road this chick just launches herself off the pavement and into my path. With the kerb on the left and cars on the right I had nowhere to go. disc brakes were almost on fire after screatching. Woman was oblivious to me. I crapped her out about not looking both ways. She said sorry. No harm done, but flippin heck, 2 in such a short space is too much for my heart.
Laters
Stuart

 

[xpc316e]

Perhaps you could ride a little more slowly when in their vicinity, knowing that there's a strong possibility that they'll throw themselves under your wheels?

 

[gavintc]

Interesting comment xpc, I used to get similar issues when I rode through central Glasgow. I now know where the danger points are and have not had a near one for ages.

 

[Baggy]

Tooting High Road used to be the ultimate mayhem zone when I commuted from Colliers Wood to Camden, pedestrians walking into the road, cars, bikes mopeds etc pulling out and turning off regardless of what was coming or who had priority...always felt like I needed extra eyes in my bum to get through there in one piece

 

[Joe24]

I've rode through Nottingham city centre, on the roads right in the middle for busses and bicycles. Best thing to do is go slow, keep looking around, whistle and try to anticipate. If they carry on walking, pass them and give them a well done. Scares the shite out of them.
They think that because they dont hear an engine its safe to cross.
Besides whistling, saying beep beep you cant do much else. Just best to slow down and keep controlle of the bike
Relax

 

[PrettyboyTim]

I always try and give pedestrians the benefit of the doubt. I think as a cyclist I am less likely to fall into the 'I can't hear an engine therefore there's nothing coming' trap, but I'm certainly less than perfect in that regard. There's been a few times when another cyclist has come up beside me and I've completely not realised they're there until I've almost knocked into them.

On the whole though I try and be as polite as I can, even if someone has walked in my path without looking first. It'll normally only add a couple of seconds onto my journey if I slow down to let them pass safely, and I certainly never berate them. I think there's absolutely no need to shout abuse over a couple of seconds of journey time. I sometimes see cyclists passing fairly aggressively close to a pedestrian who say happens to still be crossing the road when the lights go from red to amber, and I think it's out of order. I wouldn't like it on a bike if a car driver decided to teach me a lesson with a close pass and I don't think cyclists should use that kind of aggressive tactic against pedestrains either.

 

[swee'pea99]

Well said mista Tim. My commute takes me thru' Covent Garden every evening, & I just accept it's going to involve a lot of crawling, stalling and occasional stopping to get thru' the hordes of gormless numpties...but no point getting stressed about it...just adapt and accept the slight delay. None of which excuses idiots for stepping out right under your wheel when you're giving it some welly...

 

[snorri]

whistle

Any particular tunes, or just depends on your mood at the time?

 

[Joe24]

Any particular tunes, or just depends on your mood at the time?

Depens what she look like

 

[xpc316e]

prettyboytim writes a lot of sense - do unto others etc.

 

[el gordo]

Most of my riding is in more rural areas but there are still problems with pedestrians - especially during the summer and autumn months. I've lost count of the number of times I've had to take evasive action due to someone wandering aimlessly up the middle of the road, usually deep in conversation or head buried in a map. Following on from prettyboytim's posting, ramblers/walkers are usually a fairly good-natured bunch and a cheerful "good morning" will solve the problem but they do often seem oblivious to the fact that other people use the road.