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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To have stuck my 2 fingers up at being beeped?

127 replies

TheC · 03/03/2018 14:08

Crossing the road on my bike (on a crossroad, no crossing to the side of the road I needed to get to but it’s a steep hill so I had to cross at s certain point.

I started crossing when the lights changed, car moved forward slammed on brakes and held the horn down for the entire time I cycled in front.

I didn’t even look at them, just stayed nice and calm staring ahead (whilst their head probably exploded) and held my fingers up at them.

OP posts:
Merryoldgoat · 03/03/2018 14:40

The driver was being douchey for honking the horn that way but I sympathise. I think it’s reasonable to expect pedestrians and cyclists not on the actual road to wait until the lights are in their favour.

I also don’t think much of cyclists on the pavement rather than the road but that’s a personal thing and the weather is so dreadful I think we should all be cutting other road users some slack.

bluebellforest · 03/03/2018 14:40

Are, crossed post. Seeing how you had only just started crossing, so should have just gone back and waited for the lights to turn red again, YABU.

ChelleDawg2020 · 03/03/2018 14:41

YABU. Whether or not you were in the right - which is not clear from your comments so far - you should not have reacted in the way you did.

Honking the horn to make another road user aware of your presence is exactly what the thing is there for. Your reaction is completely unjustifiable.

Tippz · 03/03/2018 14:43

@TheC You are a very childish, silly, petulant, bratty little shit. Hmm

.
I would have done EXACTLY the same. Grin

Jon66 · 03/03/2018 14:43

If you make a mistake driving/cycling/pedestrian/horse rider etc why not take the high ground and put your hand up palm up to say sorry. Much nicer all round and the person who kept their hand on their horn then just looks like a twit.

DiegoMadonna · 03/03/2018 14:45

Two wrongs don't make a right, OP!

iammargesimpson · 03/03/2018 14:46

Why didn't you cross when the light was red for the traffic?

hazell42 · 03/03/2018 14:48

She may not have come round the corner, but the driver must have or she would have seen him and, unless she had a death wish, waited for him to pass. it seems to me she arrived at the crossroads and just went straight across, not stopping to consider whether there was something coming round the corner.
What she should hav,e done is gone round the corner a little way, then crossed and walked back, but she didn't because she didn't think it through. He had to slam his brakes on. He was entitled to beep

jazzandh · 03/03/2018 14:50

If you have commenced crossing whilst the lights are red and there is no pedestrian signal to indicate otherwise, then you would have right of way over stopped cars. Why would you reverse either on abike or on foot, when the cars aren't supposed to go until the way ahead is clear?

I'd have stopped in front of her car ..........

SundaysFunday · 03/03/2018 14:52

You were in the wrong, the light had turned green for her.

ilovecardigans · 03/03/2018 14:54

Have to agree with Jon66.

Regardless of whoever is BU in this or other situations, it is highly unwise to make provocative/inflamatory gestures towards other road users. There are some complete and utter nutters out there who wouldn't think twice about getting out of their car and doing you physical harm - or worse still, staying in their car and driving it at you.

tinydancer88 · 03/03/2018 14:56

Technically you probably shouldn't have gone once you realised the light had changed or should have acknowledged the error.

I don't really see why the driver needed to beep and I don't really know you felt so in the right that you swore at them - the driver was probably surprised/irritated that you moved off and you probably felt similarly when they honked, but I don't think the aggro on either side was warranted.

Tawdrylocalbrouhaha · 03/03/2018 14:56

Right or wrong, I would have done the same.

Kudos for not being seduced by the single raised middle finger option. Two fingers is a robust gesture dating back to Saxon times, and is now endangered like the red squirrel, so you have done your bit to uphold tradition too.

Tangofandango · 03/03/2018 14:58

hazell42 RTFT there were no corners involved and no male drivers.

rothbury · 03/03/2018 15:02

I think we need a diagram, but if I understand correctly, you were travelling from, say north to south at a crossroads, and the lights changed as you crossed,meaning the traffic travelling from west to east was moving towards you and you held them up? Is that correct?

You must have set off on an amber light then so YABU.

SpyroTheLittlePurpleDragon · 03/03/2018 15:06

Wasn't there a green/red man on the crossing? The whole point of the green man changing back to red before the lights change back to green is so that people don't cross when there's not enough time. If you decided to chance it and cross anyway, you were definitely in the wrong even before you started gesturing at people.

khajiit13 · 03/03/2018 15:08

Eh, why did you continue to cross? You'd literally put one foot forward when the lights changed to green? So presumably they'd already gone from red to Amber and you started to cross? Considering how far you had got you should have stepped back. I'd have been annoyed with you too however I wouldn't have beeped. If I'd been you and I had continued to cross I'd have apologised and got across as quickly as I could. You were Rude.

Penfold007 · 03/03/2018 15:09

The Highway Code says cyclists should dismount and walk across crossings. You sound as bad as each other.

Original poster
TheC · 03/03/2018 15:10

She may not have come round the corner, but the driver must have or she would have seen him and, unless she had a death wish, waited for him to pass. it seems to me she arrived at the crossroads and just went straight across, not stopping to consider whether there was something coming round the corner.
What she should hav,e done is gone round the corner a little way, then crossed and walked back, but she didn't because she didn't think it through. He had to slam his brakes on. He was entitled to beep

That was the most baffling load of crap I’ve ever read.

OP posts:
WooWooSister · 03/03/2018 15:10

The driver was right to use her horn because she was alerting you to the danger of crossing the road when the traffic had a green light.
You acted like a spoilt, rude brat.
But I guess you know that and have decided today is your day for annoying drivers and MN posters. I have a funny feeling that you wouldn't have been quite as rude if a man had been driving. Hmm

Original poster
TheC · 03/03/2018 15:11

I wasn’t at a crossing so there was no lights for a pedestrian to cross ... maybe I need to draw a diagram.

OP posts:
rothbury · 03/03/2018 15:12

Oh FFS!!

Do you mean you were cycling on the fucking pavement?

In that case YABVVVVVU

eyeswideshit · 03/03/2018 15:15

A diagram would be helpful

Original poster
TheC · 03/03/2018 15:15

I’m blue and the car is pink.

There’s lights for each directions of the cars but the only crossing for pedestrians with lights is in green.

To have stuck my 2 fingers up at being beeped?
OP posts:
Merryoldgoat · 03/03/2018 15:16

That’s my gut feeling Rothbury...