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AIBU?

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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:
Ginger1982 · 03/03/2018 16:26

Who has right of way is the whole flipping point but given that you seem so utterly convinced that you're right, what is the point of arguing further?

safariboot · 03/03/2018 16:27

Right or wrong, IMHO you were stupid to start road raging when you are on a cycle and the other person is driving a car. If it escalates, and there are drivers who will escalate, you're coming off worse. The driver going to jail is little consolation when you're injured or worse.

Example from a couple of years ago of a cyclist making an obscene gesture and the driver retaliated by ramming into the cyclist: www.gazette-news.co.uk/news/16051547.Road_rage_driver_who_rammed_cyclist_is_jailed/

Tistheseason17 · 03/03/2018 16:29

I’d moved about as far as my firsttyre on that part of the road when the lights changed so I carried on

You should have pulled your one tyre back. Driver was expecting the green light and not expecting a cyclist to continue when it was not safe and they had only take one tyre off the kerb.

It's not like you entire bike was on the road and your were physically crossing - you stuck your first tyre out. Easier to take back IMO.

That said, as a driver, I would have been irritated and honked, but I would not have held my horn down.

smashyourglasses · 03/03/2018 16:32

As a cyclist, i'd have pulled my bike back when the light changed. You weren't far across enough to carry on. Definity ride on the road.

WhatToDoAboutThis2017 · 03/03/2018 16:35

They beeped their horn to alert you to their presence which is the purpose of the horn.

This. YABVU, OP.

You were called out on your dangerous, inconsiderate and selfish behaviour and didn’t like it, so decided to further prove your poor character by swearing at them.

arethereanyleftatall · 03/03/2018 16:38

Yes, yabu to stick two fingers up at someone when you were entirely in the wrong.

You must know you were, which makes this thread very strange.

Do you have any grasp of the Highway Code at all?

Alisvolatpropiis · 03/03/2018 16:43

Ywbu

AnoiaUnstickMyDrawers · 03/03/2018 16:44

If she was stopped at a red light and your direction of travel was 90 degrees to hers, then your light would have been green. If it wasn't green then you shouldn't have proceeded. (I'm not talking about a green man, I'm talking about the traffic lights controlling traffic travelling in the same direction you were)

But of course you couldn't see the light because for some reason you were on the pavement. Does this incident illustrate to you why cyclists aren't allowed to ride on the pavement?? Oh, and because you weren't walking, you weren't legally a pedestrian, so even if there HAD been a pedestrian crossing the driver wouldn't have broken any laws if they had simply driven across in front of you while you were crossing.

FYI Cycling on the pavement has a maximum penalty of £500.

FairfaxAikman · 03/03/2018 16:44

You would have been less unreasonable had you been going left to right rather than right to left.

You say your wheel was on the road when the light changed but you still had to cross an empty lane before you were in front of the car, therefore it was incredibly stupid to continue and assume you'd be seen.

FrancisCrawford · 03/03/2018 17:03

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

MavisPike · 03/03/2018 17:07

You are lucky to be alive if you keep doing that

catx1606 · 03/03/2018 17:11

So you started to cycle across as the lights turned green exactly the same time as the cars would have started to move forward. Do you realise how utterly annoying and dangerous it is to do something like that. Was this in the last few days when we've had horrendous snow and ice? I ask as if there was black ice on the road, the drivers caught have driven on it and not been able to stop. What would have happened if their brakes had failed? You would have been hit and probably blamed them. Next time pull your bike back. You only had one tyre on the road, you weren't even half way across when the lights changed. Sticking a finger up like that would have wound up an already pissed of drover. They were alerting you to the fact that they were there ad had started to move.

Annechristmas · 03/03/2018 17:51

What a stupid thing to do. Regardless who was in the right (it wasn't you) stop putting your safety at risk by cycling in front of cars. And stop putting pedestrians safety at risk by cycling on pavements.

JediStoleMyBike · 03/03/2018 20:18

Every time I see a cyclist bombing along the pavement I'm reminded of this story. Totally horrific.
www.google.co.uk/amp/metro.co.uk/2015/07/15/cyclist-who-hit-little-girl-on-the-pavement-denies-riding-his-bike-dangerously-5297096/amp/

user1492877024 · 03/03/2018 20:28

You are clearly an idiot who is not only a danger to yourself but also to those around you. I despair, I really do.

Cacti · 03/03/2018 20:35

I don't think you were BU. But then I have a smidge of patience and will wait for people at a crossing even if it's green for me to go. Because common decency and that Hmm

Cacti · 03/03/2018 20:37

And if she was an observant driver, she would have seen you already starting to cross before her time to move off. If she didn't, that's her fault, not yours.

GreatDuckCookery6211 · 03/03/2018 20:39

Of course you wrong. If the driver would have carried on she would have ran you over. She probably beeped out of fright and to alert you that the lights had changed. Idiotic behaviour.

Voice0fReason · 03/03/2018 20:40

Your actions were stupid, dangerous and illegal.
Sticking your fingers up was the least worst of the things you did!

mum11970 · 03/03/2018 20:53

I’m both a cyclist and a driver and think you were definitely being unreasonable. You are an adult and should be cycling on the road and adhering to the rules of the Highway Code the same as car drivers. Pavements are for pedestrians, not cyclists. If the lights changed to green when you had one wheel over the pavement then you knew exactly what you were risking as the lights must have been on Amber when you approached. The driver will have been checking the road in front not to their side. A very stupid and dangerous thing to do and you deserved a blast of the horn.

BuggerOffAndGoodDayToYou · 03/03/2018 21:31

Anyone else think that OP has gone off with her tail between her legs?

Leaspr · 03/03/2018 21:46

Obviously you're being completely unreasonable. You weren't crossing at an actual crossing, you didn't dismount and you started to cross when you knew the lights had changed. You're lucky she beeped and didn't run you over. So to then flip her off makes you a complete Arse.

Snowysky20009 · 03/03/2018 21:51

You were in the wrong

anneoneill · 03/03/2018 22:45

FYI Cycling on the pavement has a maximum penalty of £500.

And improper use of the horn has a maximum penalty of £1,000.

Neverender · 03/03/2018 22:46

Yaaaaas!!!!!