To be sick of cyclists making pedestrians feel unsafe

[OptimismvsRealism]

Life is so much worse than it was ten years ago in cities precisely because of this

As expected, people (presumably cyclists) have come on the thread to complain about car drivers to try and deflect the issue 😂

I'm in Central London four days a week and it's rare to be able to cross the road as a pedestrian (when the lights are green for us) without having to stop to let a cyclist or several ride through at a high speed. It's like the traffic lights don't concern them at all.

Nearer to home in SE London it's mostly Uber Eats and the like on their electric bikes, similarly ignoring pedestrians and weaving through traffic.

@Reugny I’m not sure people walking their dogs on the lead are ‘a menace’ because you have to slow down to accommodate them.

Walking four abreast down the pavement, forming a slow moving wall.

Or standing at the top / bottom of their stairs at the tube station during rush hour, while they think about where to go and wait for their friends.

Well if their driving on a shared pathway at 10mph over the limit and hit someone then I'm pretty sure something will happen to them.

This. Just like you are making sweeping generalizations about cyclists I can do the same about pedestrians. They step out without looking, relying on their hearing not sight to decide to cross a road, deafen themselves to your existence with air pods and then give you grief when your existence surprises them despite you having shouted ‘excuse me’ loudly four times.

I Saw a cyclist go absolutely head over handlebars, falling a considerable distance from his bike because a pedestrian just stepped out without looking whilst he was going downhill. Another friend had exactly the same happen to him, sending him flying over his handlebars and landing head first onto spiked railings. His cycle helmet almost certainly saved his life.

And as someone who cycled everyday for about 15 years I can also confirm that its more common that not for cars to run through red lights. They just decide to ‘just push through’, .

So we can all play that ‘that other lot, what wankers!’ Game.

Electric car owners don't pay taxes for their vehicles either.

If your vehicle doesn't produce any harmful gases when moving then you are exempt. So both cyclists and electric car owners are exempt.

I don't think motorists, cyclists or pedestrians can hold any particular monopoly on shite behaviour in my opinion. Have commuted on bike in London for years and have been cut up by cars, had doors opened up on me and have had dopey pedestrians staring into their phones just step into the road without looking. Equally I have seen cyclists mount kerbs, jump red lights and ride the wrong way up one way streets.

I am a car driver, cyclist, pedestrian and public transport user.

I see idiots moving around by all methods.

Though to be fair the horse riders I come across tend to be the most sensible as they risk their own safety and that of their horse.

Where I live, we have cycle lanes which at pedestrian crossings, also have a set of lights for the cyclist - to get them to stop so people on foot can get across the cycle lane and then the road.

The cars stop when the lights are on red. The cyclist don't appear to give a shiny shite about the lights and just carry on regardless.

You mean stop completely until they realise that they aren't the only one using the path and need to short their leash.

Even though they have been asked to move in advance.

It's funny when cyclists complain about pedestrians "getting in their way".

"Cycling on shared paths is terrible because pedestrians are slow and take up the whole path and don't move out the way so we need to slow down."

Yet on roads.....

"cyclists have priority and it's ADVISED to cycle in the middle of the road to stop cars over taking!! Car drivers should have more patience and stop trying to get past!!"

At the end of the day pedestrians are the most vulnerable. I agree car drivers shouldn't overtake cyclists in dangerous conditions and I can see why cyclists should have priority in certain conditions on the road. They are more vulnerable than cars. But they can't then also demand priority over pedestrians and insist they jump out the way.

Shared cycle and pedestrian paths are shared. Roads are shared.

Cyclists get annoyed that pedestrians are unpredictable and walk out without looking. And apparently if a cyclist hits a pedestrian in that situation it's the pedestrians fault.

But if I car hits a cyclist who jumped a red light it's the cars fault because the car should have been looking better and the cyclist is more vulnerable.

You need front and rear dash cams.

Cyclists I think are actually the only set of road users who generally have zero awareness of any other road users around them.
Pedestrians, horse riders and drivers, (on the whole) are making a conscious effort to keep an eye on those around them. Cyclists just expect everyone else to make a conscious effort to avoid them and carry on whizzing about with their head phones in, entirely oblivious.

Because this is yet another cyclist - bashing thread. Again.

I live on a road which has a 20m speed limit and a fairly narrow pavement. My hedge & gate posts block visibility of the pavement. It’s increasingly common to have cyclists at speed on the pavement. I’ve had a few near misses just walking out from my garden.

This is definitely a problem which has increased over the last 20 years. I see lots of people who really should be cycling on the road but who are passing pedestrians dangerously close on the pavement.

hurray, a threat bashing cyclist!!! haven't had one in a while!

That's ok as unlike car drivers they are more likely to end up seriously injured or dead when a car or larger vehicle hits them.

The poster should have them anyway so when another car driver side swipes her she has proof that it was 100% their fault.

Edited to say: if other vehicles can see you have a dash cam they actually drive more carefully around you.

I mean, just speaking personally, I'd rather not be scared or hurt by a cyclist either.

The worst thing about my old commute home was daft idiots on bikes, dressed head to to in black without a single light or reflective thing. In the dark, especially in bad weather, it was impossible to see them on the lanes/against the hedges.

I’m sick of drivers killing cyclists and pedestrians. Honestly, get some perspective

I mean, it isn’t ok when they are undertaking vehicles, going onto pavements etc etc to skip red lights. A particularly common occurrence round here. Again, a majority of every other road user sees a red light and stop. If I’m on my horse, and there’s a queue of traffic stopped at a light- I don’t under take them all and skip it. If I’m walking, and there’s a red light, I’ll stop and wait before I cross. If I’m in my car, I’ll join the queue and wait until it’s green.

Is there a particular reason this rule doesn’t apply to cyclists? Am I not vulnerable on foot or on my horse? We should all take responsibility for our own safety and of those around us- no matter how many legs or wheels we are travelling on.

It's not an either/or thing is it though? It's not like if every bad car driver vanished, the bad cyclists who go about like idiots would suddenly vanish too.

Everyone who uses the roads* needs to be more considerate!

(* though in my area at the moment the worst offenders are young men on electric bikes/scooters using the pavements as their own personal race track!)

But pedestrians are also likely to end up dead if hit by a bigger and faster vehicle.

Why should cyclists demand cars always look out and give way to them. But apparently pedestrians should also look out and give way to them???

The more vulnerable should be the ones being looked out for. So cars should give way and look out for cyclists and pedestrians. Cyclists however then need to look out and give way to pedestrians.

Cyclists do not rule the road. They are not more vulnerable than pedestrians. And pedestrians being "unpredictable" is not an excuse. Because cyclists can also be unpredictable. But yet cyclists expect drivers to be aware of this and allow for it and always slow down/ give way etc. Cyclists should do the same for pedestrians.

A pedestrian could easily end up being hurt or killed by a cyclist in the same way a cyclist could be hurt or killed by a car.

Cyclists do not rule the road

They kind of do, though. They face no consequences for their bad driving, or for injuring people.