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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to want to throttle cyclists who run red lights?

241 replies

Millionprammiles · 05/04/2016 11:26

Just that really. Am sick of dd being narrowly missed when crossing at a green man (outside a primary school ffs) . Small children are especially at risk as cyclists can't see them when they're coming up on the inside of cars, so they assume its clear.
Not one cyclist has stopped to apologise.

I can't take a licence plate number. Unless one of them actually hits her I'm guessing the police won't be interested in looking at CCTV. Which is why cyclists continue doing it, day after day.
I think I'm in danger of running after one of them and pushing him off his bike.
(And yes its always been a male cyclist).

OP posts:
oliviaclottedcream · 05/04/2016 18:16

Yes but I also feel the same about Americanisms such as "Run" and not "Jump" red lights. Angry

What an idiot (cyclist) . It is almost always male cyclists I agree. They get very competitive once they get their little costumes on.

ivykaty44 · 05/04/2016 18:34

Fennellamaxwell

So in 2012 there were 79 pedestrians killed or seriously injured by cyclist. There were 4679 pedestrians killed or seriously injured by motor vehicle

So that's 4600 more pedestrians seriously injured by drivers than on push-bikes,bhardly the same is it when you present it by pedestrians injured or killed

Lucydogz · 05/04/2016 18:37

I was walking down a busy pavement on Sunday when a cyclist came past me from behind at full speed. It doesn't sound like much, but it's pretty scary. All I needed to do was step to one side and he'd have gone into me.
Living in Bristol (home of the lunatic cyclist) means that this is pretty common, along with cyclists at night with no lights or reflective gear. Also, why don't they have bells, so that you know when there coming up behind you?

ivykaty44 · 05/04/2016 18:41

Olivia

I feel that same thing about ops title, it's cyclist she wants to throttle for jumping red lights -is she/he oblivious to the motorist that jump red lights? Does she/he not care about cars? Or do they think it's OK for cars to do it?

Why isn't it that she / he wants to throttle all traffic that jumps red lights? Why single out only one road user?

originalmavis · 05/04/2016 18:45

I'd happily throttle people who whizz to past and/or too close to horses on the road.

SarfEast1cated · 05/04/2016 18:48

I'm with you OP - anyone who runs a red light really, but cyclists seem to do it more. We instill into our children the sanctity of the green man making a road safe to cross, and when someone jumps the light it makes that useless.
I chased after a bloke once on Oxford Street who jumped a light, and I think he got my point.

In your instance OP I would speak to community police and get them to spend time on the crossing. It's really shoddy behaviour.

ivykaty44 · 05/04/2016 18:49

Mavis I agree entirely, horses become traffic on the road. When I come up behind a horse I shout good day well before reaching horse and rider etc and then pass with care. If in motor then slow down and pass slowly which ever way I'm travelling.

I don't want an incident with a horse in either a carbon on a bike - it could be messy and nasty

Boakingboy · 05/04/2016 18:50

The OP clarified that she has been walking from the school for (?) 2 years. And in all that time she has never seen a car jump the red light. But she has seen a cyclist run the red lights at least once a week if not more.
Hence the thread title. She has at no stage said that all cyclists do this.

53rdAndBird · 05/04/2016 18:50

My horse of many years ago used to do a really exaggerated ears-back-teeth-bared-mock-snap at cars that came too close. Saw at least one driver looking briefly terrified as they drove past Grin

originalmavis · 05/04/2016 19:01

One of my sister's horses got spooked and lobbed her onto the bonnet to the car that revved at her. She was wearing her body armour and helmet, thank God, so the driver had more of a turn than she did.
Driver really whizz by horses where we are (central London), and I can only assume they are ignorant rather than just utter bastards.

Zampa · 05/04/2016 19:08

Cyclists kill pedestrians. Car drivers kill pedestrians.

Car drivers also kill cyclists. There are too many incidents of drivers killing or seriously injuring cyclists through careless or dangerous driving. Unfortunately, these drivers don't get jailed but fined only a few hundred pounds. Basically if you want to get away with murder, do it with a car.

Much of the the irresponsible behaviour in which cyclists engage is due to them being vulnerable road users who have to continually fight for road space. There's no excuse for putting a child/anyone at risk but this debate can't be about irresponsible dickhead cyclists versus the rest of the world. It's about investment in infrastructure, reading the Highway Code, mutual respect and understanding (and not being a dick).

Fast, competent cyclists/horseriders have a place on the road. But you can't become one of those without practice. Until we have a sensible and sustainable transport policy, roads will have to be shared with road users of all abilities.

This shouldn't be about them and us. I'm a pedestrian, a car driver, a cyclist and a horse rider. Most people fall into at least 2 categories.

BoneyBackJefferson · 05/04/2016 19:16

I like this youtube channel (as another poster is throwing them in to the mix), It from a cyclist who highlights some of the silly dangerous behaviour that cyclist get up to.

But the main point is that it is from a cyclist who dislikes idiots.

bertsdinner · 05/04/2016 19:26

In the city where I work, cyclists do mainly stop at red lights. Although they do seem to like to set off once the green man goes off, even though the traffic light's still on red. I find the lycra clad ones more likely to stop.
I find pavement cyclists more annoying. I obviously look when I cross the road, but its always a shock when, stepping onto the so called safety of the pavement, I spot a cyclist powering towards me.Most of my near misses with cyclists have been on footpaths/so called pedestrian areas in the city centre, probably because you dont expect them as its not the road.

I think drivers who drive too close to horses are the worse. I once saw a car virtually run a travellers horse off the road, ignorant bastard.

Puzzledandpissedoff · 05/04/2016 19:27

Much of the the irresponsible behaviour in which cyclists engage is due to them being vulnerable road users who have to continually fight for road space

Sorry, but that excuse just doesn't wash. If you're feeling vulnerable as a cyclist the answer isn't to endanger someone else - it's to use another route where possible, or simply to get off the bike

It's perfectly true that we cyclists have a right to use the roads and equally true that we need more infrastructure, but we've got to be realistic too. I don't especially want to pay yet more tax, cough up for a licence or whatever, but unless we make more of a contribution, I can't help feeling we're in a bit of a weak position to keep demanding these things

dilys4trevor · 05/04/2016 19:35

I'm still laughing at MAMIL. Haven't heard that one before.

It's today's expression of midlife crisis. In the 80s they got a Porsche. Now they go out and buy a load of gear from Rapha, an expensive bike, and turn into twats who wang on about cycling incessantly. And I know. I was married to one.

I'm not slagging off people who cycle to work or who have always cycled or for whom it's a genuine long term hobby. Just annoying MAMILs.

Agree with posters that there seem to be - on an average day - more people weaving about on bikes ignoring rules and not looking than there are car drivers doing the same. And there are many more car drivers on the roads.

backwardpossom · 05/04/2016 19:38

OP, YANBU. Some cyclists are absolute dickheads. The vast majority aren't though. I like to include myself with the majority, having never run a red light.

SoupDragon is right, though. Whataboutery doesn't help anyone. Nor does a list of other stupid things dickhead cyclists do. Some people are dickheads - doesn't matter what vehicle they are using. Not relevant to a thread about cyclists who run red lights, though.

Yika · 05/04/2016 19:46

How does having to fight for road space give cyclists licence to run red lights? Confused

I am also a pedestrian, cyclist and car driver and I've come to hate the anything goes attitude of cyclists.

Yika · 05/04/2016 19:49

I agree that cyclists are much more lawless than other road users. I think some of them don't actually realise that the rules apply to them.

Is it in Paris where they've changed the highway code so that cyclists are allowed to go through red lights? They thought it was easier to change the rules than to change the behaviour of the majority.

Yika · 05/04/2016 19:51

Yes, see this article.

www.bbc.com/news/magazine-33773868

"It is also a way of regularising a practice that is so widespread there is no point in trying to prevent it."

Zampa · 05/04/2016 20:02

that excuse just doesn't wash. If you're feeling vulnerable as a cyclist the answer isn't to endanger someone else - it's to use another route where possible, or simply to get off the bike

It's not an excuse, it's an explanation.

And why should a cyclist have to use another route or in fact not cycle? How about we all share the roads responsibly?

Zampa · 05/04/2016 20:10

How does having to fight for road space give cyclists licence to run red lights?

It doesn't. No cyclist should go through a red light. However, as highlighted upthread there are plenty of drivers who ignore advance stop lines or who think it's acceptable to block cyclists moving to the front of traffic. ASLs exist because it's safer for a cyclist to move off in front of car traffic.

Plenty of car drivers think it's acceptable to rev their engines at lights or to creep forward, presumably to intimidate cyclists. I've been there. Or maybe some pull over to the left to block cyclists from taking a safe position on the road. Consequently, some cyclists may choose to take themselves out of this situation by ignoring the traffic signals. This endangers them and other road users.

So, as I said, if people respect the road, it's laws and each other, maybe we can move forward from them vs us.

Zampa · 05/04/2016 20:11

Its, obviously ... Blush

WidowWadman · 05/04/2016 20:25

People who don't know what advanced stop boxes are should check out the highway code, they're clearly explained in there.

dilys4trevor · 05/04/2016 20:32

These are very clear surely. Big box with a drawing of a bike in it!

53rdAndBird · 05/04/2016 20:34

There are some things cyclists do which look like bad cycling to drivers, but which are actually not. Like, people cycling in the middle of the lane gets a lot of "grumble grumble, bloody cyclists, bring back the Cycling Proficiency Test!", but actually that's the safest place to be on a bike in some circumstances, and the modern version of Cycling Proficiency will actually teach you to do it.

There's a busy road I have to cross on my cycle to work, and I'm sure to a lot of the drivers there, it looks like I'm cycling down the pavement then across a pedestrian crossing. It's actually a shared use path and a toucan crossing, but that's not exactly obvious from where they're sitting.