To expect cyclists not to ride on the pavement and not expect pedestrians to move out of their way!

[ophelia275]

I am so sick of having to swerve the pushchair or move out of the way so that some idiot on a bicycle can avoid the traffic by cycling on the pavement and expect me to stand aside with my kids/pushchair/shopping so that they can ride past. Sometimes (when I am not with my kids) I stand firm and don't move out of their way so they have to get off or be patient and wait until I have walked past.

When I was quite heavily pregnant I was walking along and this guy on a bike came zooming up and shouted "move" and just pushed past me. Nob.

Grrr. Hate them!

"Suddenly lags"? what does that mean? Haven't you heard of stopping distances? They apply whether you're behind a cyclist or a car.

So you're annoyed by legal cyclists but not by cars which take up the same amount of space?

As for the aesthetic effect of spandex, it's for speed, not looks.
Do you expect ugly people to wear bags over their heads. Or does your :o offset your insult of the middle-aged?

I sometimes go on the pavement on narrow busy sections of road but its quite quiet around here and I always give precedence to pedestrians as I know strictly speaking I should be in the road

Nancy I have felt like doing that at times but actually doing it ?

I mean when one or two people can't keep up with the group, fall behind and almost hit our car. Which seems to happen often.

I don't know any car that takes up the space of fifteen bikes with people on them, but that's just me.

As for the spandex comment? I honestly think you're just nitpicking. My first reference to spandex was a joke, I put a grin next to my second comment to signify it was a joke. You're taking my comments extremely close to heart. Why?

FYI: Spandex shouldn't be worn by anyone. When I become Prime Minister, I'm banning it!

Anyway, I stand by what I said. Obnoxious cyclists are the worst and I do not like them. Other than just being annoying they can be flat out dangerous.

My point exactly, Rustybear, and the first part applies in Australia too, which was what I was trying to impress on the poster whose name I can't be arsed flipping to the next page to find.

The funniest pavement cyclist incident - me, stood at bus stop on very narrow pavement; man on bike cycling on pavement with a fat Staffy on a dog lead attached to the bike...

Fat Staffy saw me; came racing over, sat on my feet wanting a fuss...

Still on his dog lead attached to bike.. oops! :)

It's a shame all users of road and pavement can't be considerate to others then their would be no problem. Issue is thoughtless people will be thoughtless whatever form of transport they are using that day.

Sirzy - yes thoughtless people just can't help being thoughtless.

It turned out that Fat Staffy's owner had previously fallen off his bike only a few minutes earlier - when Fat Staffy decided to stop suddenly & pee up a lamppost.
Bless poor Fat Staffy's thick owner.

I know road cycling can be extremely hazardous for cyclists but bloody hell Pan how can you justify jumping red lights?!

Too many times I've had to hold my children back while we are trying to safely cross with the green man showing because some selfish arse on a bike thinks the lights don't apply to him.

You can't complain about anything if you blatently flout the rules/laws and endanger pedestrians in doing so.

You can't have it both ways.

Pavement cyclists piss me off.

We always see at least two en route to school in the morning, I get why certain stretches of rd are risky for them but that doesn't mean they can travel at speed on the pavement.

I'd love to cycle though, it would be good exercise for myself and my children, but I don't fancy the rds of SE london.

Wish there was better cycle lane provision.

The bottom line is that pavements are for pedestrians. If you, as a cyclist, feel that you have good reason to be an exception to the law then you must obviously do as you wish. You can't, however, then moan when people think you are a twat and complain about you, or when a police officer pulls you over.

DP is a competitive cyclist, as are many of our friends and acquaintances. They all loathe and detest cyclists who ride on the pavement, jump red lights, shout abuse at drivers/pedestrians etc, for the simple reason that they reinforce many road users' poor opinion of cyclists which makes it more dangerous to be a cyclist, even a good one. I entirely agree and explained this more than once to idiot cyclists who I came across when I used to commute across London by bike.

DP has on a couple of occasions given chase to cyclists who have nearly knocked pedestrians over or cut people up and given them a mouthful.

I should also add that I think grabbing a cyclist's bag puts you on shaky ground, even if they were on the pavement, but I did once shove a cyclist who nearly ran me over, away from me hard enough to make her skid and have to stop and put her foot down. I was crossing a road on a green pedestrian light and she overtook a stopped car and rode straight at me screaming "watch out". I was carrying DS1 on my back and had a wheely case so there wasn't much chance of me leaping out of her way so I just dropped my case and stuck my arms out and pushed her away as hard as I could. I still got a glancing blow but at least we weren't actually hit. She actually started to give me a mouthful but was thoroughly out-mouthfulled by me and a lorry driver who was stopped at the crossing and wound his window down to call her every name under the sun, so she rode off giving me the finger and shaking her head.

How you're backing off, Lurking First it was cyclists two abreast who inconveniently turned out to be legal; now you're pissing and moaning about peletons. The fact is you posted openly about thinking of car-dooring a cyclist and wanting to kill them.

And no, having a go at the middle-aged on the sole basis they offend your eyes because they're middle-aged is not OK. Passive aggressive :o or not.

Where I live almost all pavements are designated to be shared by cyclists and pedestrians. It's not ideal but I think roads aren't ideal for cyclists either.

Amber - I go through one red light, if it's red, on the way to work. It's on an incline and at that point there is a cycle lane. So bugger me as it were if I am going to stop and start again on an incline when continuing affects nobody no how. fwiw I had indicated one red light, not a habit.

Why on earth would there be a red light if it wasn't to let pedestrians or cars cross Pan?

And cycling at any speed on pavements can be very dangerous.

"Ten pedestrians were killed by cyclists and 262 seriously injured between 2005 and 2009."

Going back to OP I once saw a cyclist go through red lights at a v busy city centre crossroads. At night. With no lights. And no helmet. And with his arms crossed. People like that are dicks.

Not sure what you mean, ivan. The detail of it is that it's a T-junction which I ride along the bit at the top, from left to right going to work, which is uphill. Drivers and pedestrians can get on with whatever they wish to.

and I am pretty sure those pedestrian deaths have largely taken place on roads, not pavements at all.

and that bloke on a bike lastly. I sort of admire the chutzpah on him!! No excuse if he gets injured or injures someone else, naturally.

Joking makes me a menace to other drivers? But running red lights doesn't? Not everyone has the same sense of humour, lay off the personal attacks.

Why do you think you're above the law pan? The rest of plebs have to follow it, why not you?

Pan your not really trying to justify why you are above stopping at red lights are you? They apply to everyone using the road not just those who want to stop you know!

Cars going through red lights put others lives at risks. Cyclists doing the same risk their own lives. They aren't comparable offences.

Also car drivers getting high and mighty about 'cyclists don't stop at red lights' are silly. The correct reply is 'yeah? And you don't obey the speed limit'.

What about the trauma of the poor person who hits an idiot cyclist? No one wants to hit a person. What if they have children in the car who are injured?

A cyclist could certainly end up dead. But so could the driver who hit the person.

Saw a huge bus running a red light the other day. Bloody dangerous.

This is the reality: www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2161163/Leonard-Jones-Leanne-Burnell-face-jail-Amy-Hofmeister-mowed-staged-81mph-car-race.html
www.thisissomerset.co.uk/Amy-Hofmeister-death-Mother-says-Leanne-Burnell/story-16432912-detail/story.html

Found guilty, and yet the scumbags were given bail.

Let's not distract from the killers in our society - car drivers - with bluster about 'cyclists don't stop at red lights'.

How the fuck can you kill someone and get given bail???

Sirzy - I've said a couple of times I ride thro' one light where it affects absoultely no-one in any way. I think that's reasonable behaviour. OF course I stop at all the others (and everyone should) for reasons of not wanting to get squished.

I'd still maintain tho' that the reason why so many drivers get into a rage about cyclists NOT stopping is just a "but WE can't do that!" IF a cyclist goes through on red it doesn't affect the progress of other road users, unless of course if it's across a junction and it causes trouble. Which I don't condone and tut quietly when I see it, which is regularly.
Hope that clears up Pan's Law on the red light thing.

I always say 'Does your mum not let you ride on the road then?' never fails to make them blush.