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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To think cyclists shouldn't think themselves above the law ?

135 replies

AmIWhatAndWhy · 26/11/2008 17:38

DP has just called me, he left work and was crossing when a cyclist sailed through the lights and missed hitting him by inches.

The same has happened to me countless times, sometimes when with the DC. Why do they think it's okay to sail over pedestrian crossings?

OP posts:
VersdeSociete · 28/11/2008 14:50
fanjoforthemammaries7850 · 28/11/2008 14:52

I got hit by a cyclist who went through a red light a while ago, I saw the green man and crossed then he ran straight into me. Luckily I wasn't hurt, but for some reason I kept apologising to HIM, I should have kicked his ass a bit more I think!

ManIFeelLikeAWoman · 28/11/2008 14:58

If you don't feel safe in a car, don't drive a car.

If you don't feel safe on a bicycle, don't ride a bicycle.

Cyclists should not be on the pavement except for the sort of evasive action which absolves the car driver from following the law regarding driving on the pavement. I don't care whether they respect me or not. I want them on the road where they belong. If that scares them, maybe they should get themselves an Oyster card.

I think the Dutch law is a very silly law. The person at fault in an accident is the person at fault, even if it's a pedestrian. The mode of transport doesn't come into it.

IcingOnTheCake · 28/11/2008 15:26

You don't want to be a cyclist in Paris! Or a driver for that matter! They are absolutly crazy and by far the most dangerous of the lot. Dp and i were shocked when we went as to how crazy the whole system is.

Ivykaty44 · 28/11/2008 15:43

mayorq - having cycled in Holland you will realsie that there are very good segragated cycle paths that have stone bollards to keep the cyclist and cars apart. Also there are cyclists own traffice light system, this seems to deter cyclists from running red lights. It is also clear that drivers respect cyclists and cyclists respect drivers.

I was [shocked] last summer when a car at a roundabout actually gave way to me - I wouldn't have beleived it if it hadn't happened to me.

Cyclist shouldn't be on the pavements? There are a lot of pavements where I live that are dual purpose, pedestrains and cyclists. I would like to see cars stopped from parking on pavements

having been forced from cycling on the road by "some" driving antics - where are cyclists supposed to go?

As a way forward it is clear that cycling would really be of benifit to us as a nation, if we could build cycle paths instead of roads we would tackle several problems all at once, weights problems, excersise, pollution, fuel costs.

It would be good to see cycling as a positive, unfortunately there are a few who hurt people and then it gets a bad press, which is a great shame for thoses who cycle with care and thought.

prettybird · 28/11/2008 16:01

Drivers also need to realsie that there is a limit on the maount of indicating a cyclist can do. I alsoways try to give arm signals. However, there occiasions, when, having signalled and positioned myslef correctly on the road, I do need to have both hands on the handle bars - either (or both!) to brake or to steer. Yest sometimes I still get drivers beeping at me surprised that I have the temerity to be on the road and are somehow surpirsed that am, for example, turning right or waiting to turn right, "getting in the way".

Upwind · 28/11/2008 16:34

I also get beeped for waiting to turn right at junctions. I am not sure why the drivers imagine I shouldn't need to.

prettybird · 28/11/2008 17:27

... and it is also interesting how they don't see you, despite the high viz waiscoat, the reflective trouser bands/clip things and the flashing front and rear lights!

ManIFeelLikeAWoman · 28/11/2008 19:52

"Cyclist shouldn't be on the pavements? There are a lot of pavements where I live that are dual purpose, pedestrains and cyclists. I would like to see cars stopped from parking on pavements"

Again, by pavement I mean a space intended for pedestrians only. If it's a cycle path, then of course cyclists should be using them.

I too would like to see cars stopped from parking on pavements. But it doesn't justify me sprinting down the white line during rush hour and it doesn't justify a cyclist riding on a pavement (ie - I'll say it again - not a designated cycle path.)

"As a way forward it is clear that cycling would really be of benifit to us as a nation, if we could build cycle paths instead of roads we would tackle several problems all at once, weights problems, excersise, pollution, fuel costs."

Pavements solve all these problems too. Cycling would be of no greater benefit to this nation than the shoe industry. As long as people are happy to be fat as long as they don't get their hair wet, all the cycle paths in the world will be to no avail. Total red herring.

boogiewoogie · 28/11/2008 21:00

OP, where do you live? Seems as if it might be a regional thing. Not all cyclists sail over pedestrian crossings.

We used to live in a University town that was heavily populated with cyclists and have seen some do stupid things but I wouldn't say that they were any worse than drivers and drivers are just as likely to think themselves above the law and be arsey to cyclists when they are in the wrong. In fact, I used to get hooted at if I took over in front or even just signalling right , dh being protective of me caught up with the car in question and challenged the driver in question.

We drive and cycle where we are depending on circumstances. Someone mentioned that cyclists shouldn't use pavements unless there is a designated path. Quite. How about this dilemma then? Dh was cycling on the road with ds on a trailer, got stopped by a policeman and got told it was dangerous for him to do this and that he should use the pavement!

dh pointed out that it was illegal. Policeman said that he wouldn't prosecute him if he had cycled on the pavement but for future reference whether he could take dh's details! A colleague of said policeman also stopped dh on a separate occasion but at the same spot, this time I think dh was walking the bicycle with the trailer.

Cyclists it seems can't win, use the pavement and pedestrians won't be happy, use the road and the police won't be happy.

Manifeellikeawoman, I somehow don't think that obnoxious behaviour and abuse with the sole intention to annoy a cyclist as you described in one of the earlier posts solves anything.

VersdeSociete · 28/11/2008 21:53

But it was abuse of appallingly badly behaved cyclists, bw. And those chid trailers are appallingly dangerous - surely the policeman was expressing concern for your child?

VersdeSociete · 28/11/2008 21:54

Two "appallinglys" in one post - oops

ManIFeelLikeAWoman · 28/11/2008 23:21

"Manifeellikeawoman, I somehow don't think that obnoxious behaviour and abuse with the sole intention to annoy a cyclist as you described in one of the earlier posts solves anything."

I am very sorry if I have ever been obnoxious or caused annoyance to any dangerous, self-centred, self-pitying law-breakers. I will in future try harder to think of their feelings instead of my own. Heaven forfend I should either vent my own legitimate frustration on these selfish pr1cks (I've said it again - bad boy!) or try to discourage a repeat of this dangerous, inconsiderate and illegal behaviour.

I stand corrected.

StewieGriffinsMom · 28/11/2008 23:43

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

ManIFeelLikeAWoman · 29/11/2008 00:03

It's not about knowing what you're doing!
Get off the pavement, you are breaking the law!
You are the minority - we, the pedestrians, are the majority!
If you don't like it, don't ride a bike!
You are not special and different, you are not above the law!
Horse riders cope - deal with it!
I don't get this irate about many things (actually, that's a lie. But I try to keep it off MN.) But if I hear one more cyclist say, "oh well, the roads aren't safe" or "oh, but in Holland they do this" or "oh, if car drivers weren't so bad I wouldn't do it" I will assault them with their own pumps.
If you are scared, don't cycle.
If you break the law and endanger other people, at least expect to be condemned and vilified, if not (God forbid) punished.
If you think there should be more cycle paths, do something about getting them or move somewhere that already has them - don't invent your own.
Why not extend your logic and go shoplifting in expensive boutiques because you don't earn enough to afford them and the same goods would be cheaper in Holland? Or urinate in phone boxes on the grounds that there are too few public toilets in your area and the ones that there are are haunted by dangerous and inconsiderate people?
There's not a court in the land would convict you with sound reasoning like that on your side.

stepfordknife · 29/11/2008 00:07

Aaaah, we don't get this in the country (pissed off with the new forest ponies however)

StewieGriffinsMom · 29/11/2008 00:08

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

stepfordknife · 29/11/2008 00:12

Mind you I hate horse riders. Something about their elevated position makes them think they are in an elevated position. I don't mind so much the ones that raise their hands to thank me when I drive past them at 20mph (with much bad grace), it's the ones who don't even acknowledge you when you slow down. Then I wish I had a Subaru with a souped up engine so that I could give it some noisy throttle.

stepfordknife · 29/11/2008 00:13

What is the point of horses? We are overrun with the damn things around here

ManIFeelLikeAWoman · 29/11/2008 00:25

If you had read my posts you would know that I am not criticising anyone for walking bicycles on pavements (or anywhere else) but for riding them. Which is NOT legal.

You would also know that I did exclude children of primary school age from my comments because, as you say, it is not safe for them to be on the road. They are still an immense potential danger to pedestrians, especially babies, other children, the old and infirm, but we will have to live with that. I am talking about cretinous, pompous, self-important adults riding bicycles on pavements, crossings and pedestrianised zones which do not have designated cycle paths on them. Have I now made my point sufficiently clear?

Yesterday evening my daughter's pushchair was nearly hit by a man on a bike. He was coming round a corner. On a pavement. As a human being, he was unable to see round corners. Why should my daughter and me be put at risk because he's scared of going on the road with the big boys?

Perhaps - and I'm going to be radical here - if being able to cycle is that important to you, then yes, you should move to Canada, or Holland, or some other cyclist's utopia. Or alternatively you could stop bleating because you are not permitted to break the established law of the land which has been put in place for the greater good. It's what the rest of us do every single day of our lives. You probably do it yourself when you're not on a bike. Why not apply it as a uniform policy and keep things simple? Or is that too "ridiculous"?

The cyclists who whinge about this remind me of nothing so much as American citizens who want to exercise their right to keep guns in their houses as guaranteed by some archaic law, in the face of common sense, changing realities, ordinary civility and humanity, and simple, overwhelming practicality.

The main difference is that they do actually have a legal right to do so, however silly that may be. British cyclists don't. Get over it.

squirrel42 · 29/11/2008 00:33

I'll just say now that I think people who bomb along busy pavements at high speed
are dangerous idiots. I'd also add people who cycle without lights wearing dark clothes to this group, along with the oiks who seem to scatter broken glass along cycle tracks for fun.

Now on to justifying some of my own behaviour! I cycle to work and use the roads or "shared" pavements/cycle tracks for 98% of the way. However for one part I have the choice between a right hand turn on a downhill stretch of busy main road (can't signal and brake at the same time, end up stopped in the middle of the road waiting for a gap in traffic to dart across) or a shortcut down a 150 metre stretch of one way street. To take the shortcut in the safeest way possible I use the (wide, well-lit) pavement. When it's dark and raining I feel a hell of a lot safer going slowly - we're talking 7 to 8 mph - down there than on the road battling with the traffic on the main road. I'm in no danger of mowing anyone down and the two or three times I've encountered someone walking the other way I move well to one side.

I don't believe I am putting people at risk by doing this. Yes it is illegal, but so is going through a red light on a deserted road at 11pm at night, and to hell with it - I have been known to do that as well!

ManIFeelLikeAWoman · 29/11/2008 00:45

Squirrel - why should I have to look out for people like you when on the pavement? If the road is dangerous, get off and walk your bike until you may legally ride it again. It really is that simple. Then your "belief" that you are not putting people at risk will not be put to the test.

I'm going to stop posting now. The whole "but I'm a special case and my needs are too IMPORTANT to be covered by the law" smugness is beginning to appal and irritate me, in much the way constipation would. We can all be James Dean or Al Capone in our heads during wet play time. However, past the age of 11, most of us keep it out of the public domain. I look forward to the day when the pompous, wearying, bike-riding twunts I encounter daily face up to that hard truth and move on with their lives.

Until then, I bid you farewell.

beanieb · 29/11/2008 01:03

you mean some cyclists?

beanieb · 29/11/2008 01:06

Oh and teh hazard test which you haveo pass teaches you to look out for hazards and that includes pavement bound cyclists approaching a pedestrian crossing. You have a responsibility too and just because the cyclist was in the wrong by riding over the crossing, desn't mean you shouldn't still be expected to be aware of potential hazards.

BitOfFun · 29/11/2008 01:11

A girl I know was mown down by a cyclist and hit her head- it could easily have killed her, and I do think they have a responsibility like any road user. If they are on the pavement and hit someone, frankly it is criminal.