Cyclists in London are insane

[Newmum288]

Currently visiting from up north and all I can think is WTF??? Every time I try to cross the road with the pram, after diligently waiting for the green man, continually cyclists are ramming their way through pedestrians, even though the pedestrians are on green!
AIBU to think cyclists in London are insane?! So dangerous! Nearly been hit so many times

Yes, usually because the dog hasn't been trained and completely lacks recall. I've had to jump over one in the past as I've been running along the towpath with my dog. I've had issues with them when cycling too, as well as other pedestrians. The ones glued to their mobile phones with earplugs in drive me potty. No situational awareness at all and then give you a filthy look as you try to get past.

Many more people are killed in car accidents than by negligent landlords, too, so perhaps we shouldn’t worry about the landlords, either?

Many cyclists are dangerous. I have more than once had to leap aside to avoid a cyclist speeding on London’s pavements or through red lights. If that had been my elderly mother, who cannot move quickly (and also lives in London), she would likely have been seriously injured or killed.

And yet london is full of pensioners not getting killed by bikes. They need to watch out for those pesky cars though, which actually do kill pensioners

Thing is, it's not like drivers aren't also hurting and killing people, and a badly driven car, van or lorry is far more dangerous than a badly cycled bike.

So if the police have some time spare that they can use to track bike licenses and chase up dangerous cyclists , I'd much rather they spent it dealing with anti social and dangerous driving because that will have a bigger impact on road safety.

Once we get to the point that cylists hurt more people than drivers then by all means switch over.

I see you repeated your original clickbaity point rather than responding to my point – that just because one thing kills more than another doesn’t mean we shouldn’t worry about the second thing, as well. Presumably because you know I’m right, and you have nothing to add.

If one thing kills more than the other, than surely it makes sense to concentrate efforts on the largest killer? If road deaths were a virus, we'd call it a pandemic and its not cyclists doing the killing.

That is best left for another rant thread, but it is nice to see the usual stereotypical non-thinking nonsense trotted out by those programmed how to think by the Daily Mail.

Cyclists in London can be a nuisance but it not ALL cyclists, and as for being dangerous, how many pedestrians are killed or seriously injured by cyclists anually compared to motor vehicles, and how many of those pedestrian incidents could be attributed to the gormless FOMO smart-phone-dumb-user idiots gawping at their screens with bugger all awareness of their surroundings, stepping out into the path of moving vehicles? Perhaps a bit of danger is a good thing, it might eventually reprogramme people into realising that you have a duty of care to yourself and carelessness can have consequences for the perpetrator.

Also people don’t report being hit by cyclists - I got knocked down by one a few months ago (he was on the pavement and I just didn’t see him coming) so you can’t compare to motor vehicle accidents as in general they are being reported

An e bike going over 50mph is a killer. It’s why the police are stopping the modified bikes as they know full well what will happen when someone gets clobbered by one

I've cycled in London for over 30 years and completely agree that the conduct of many cyclists is dangerous. IMVHO, the food delivery e-bikes are the worst, followed by Lyme and Forest bike users. Watching these bikes go through red lights, over zebra crossings as people are using them, on the pavement and so on is part of my regular commute.

Bus, car and taxi drivers can be dangerous for cyclists, but they are generally more predictable. Kamikaze cyclists are scary for us 'obey the Highway Code' cyclists, pedestrians and vehicle drivers.

Most of them are pricks and I hope they fall off

There is an issue with Lime bikes where riders buy 30 minute passes so riders rush to their destinations. If they paid by distance, they wouldn’t rush so much. So good regulation might help. I wish the police would nick cyclists who go through red lights as they give us other cyclists a bad name, and we’re decent people mainly!

I yell RED LIGHT at them.

I was hit by a cyclist on the pavement, broke 3 ribs, but it didn’t get reported. Cyclist nowhere to be seen once she clocked that I was at least alive, sped off shouting ‘sorry!’

I was hit by a cyclist on the pavement - I was stepping out of a shop on a London high street - 2 steps out the door and I was taken out by a 9 yo on a mountain bike. This happened 1995 & I can still feel the shock of it - completely out of the blue.

I ended up wrapped in the bike somehow & the worst 2 physical injuries were from a pedal to my shin & a pedal injury to my back which cause massive bruising, cuts & swelling.

I also still have a big lump on my leg from scar tissue 30 years later.

I fucking hate cyclists.

I am also a cyclist.

The most arsehole group of people I know happen to all be cyclists. Who are also doctors. Anaesthetists to be precise. Honestly this personal group (not all
cyclists, not all doctors) think the world owes them a fucking favour by coming to their work on bikes. Load of sanctimonious creepy dicks who look down their dripping noses at the world and they are all I must add, men. Oh and not in London either.

Omg was this recent? I drive into that area for work from outside of London. I worry every time about accidents because it’s so chaotic. Really sad for that woman, even if she was cycling irresponsibly.

OMG!

was convinced this girl I saw was going to squashed. She was the same age more or less as my daughter and I felt a mixture of irritation and real fear for her

”A South London woman suffered horrific facial injuries after being thrown from a Lime bike that allegedly malfunctioned mid-journey, causing her to crash face-first onto the pavement.”
https://www.mylondon.news/news/south-london-news/i-left-unconscious-bloody-after-32833545
Supersimkin7 seems gleeful in describing an appalling accident.

I was walking along the Thames towpath yesterday and there was a diversion where the path got very narrow. Five cyclists come from the opposite direction - they don't slow down or stop and one of them shouts at me to 'watch out' as I'm impeding their way.
It's the arrogance that gets me. I did suggest that they got off their fucking bikes and wheeled them if they didn't have enough room- I'm sure they thought that was an outrageous suggestion!

I have no experience of using any sort of bike you can hire, but I assume people pay through their phones/credit cards? The bikes could be fitted with some sort of device that would link to their identity and also broadcast to traffic control so that if the bike was ridden illegally (going through red lights, in pedestrian only areas etc) the hirer could be prosecuted.

Don’t ever assume anything in London. Some cyclists go through red lights but so do some car drivers as well as plenty of pedestrians. Basically you need to keep your wits about you at all times. The rules are that there are no rules. It’s a free for all. For example, don’t assume that because it’s a one-way street some fucker won’t drive or cycle down it the wrong way. And act like they’re completely in the right.

Having to be alert all the time is exhausting but our wonderful mayor doesn’t seem to care about knife crime let alone delivery riders on e-bikes whizzing along crowded pavements or cyclists going through red lights.

Wait til you see them do it with little kids on bikes in tow with no lights and no helmets…

Thank you for the link. I know what you mean, I don’t think being pushy means you deserve to go under a lorry

I commute a couple of times a week which involves a half hour walk each way in London and there isn’t a single walk where I don’t yell ‘IT’S A CROSSING’ at least once at a cyclist with zero intention to stop.

However, pedestrians in London are an absolute nightmare too. There’s a particular crossing near King’s Cross where I regularly see whole hoards of people at risk of getting run over because they’ve only waited for one direction of traffic not two. Yesterday I saw a woman with a wheelie suitcase walk brazenly diagonally across Euston Road stopping 3 directions of traffic.