Brixton chitter chatter, part 2

[Mrs Magpie]

A great 'Summer On Coldharbour Lane' moment......

Sitting outside Honest foods having a fine snack and glass of Perry when a police car flashes past, sirens blaring......closely followed by one of those plain-clothes cars with blue flashing headlights and weird sirens.....five seconds later a police van wee-wahing along..................20 seconds later a lone copper on a bike pedalling like the clappers....he was cheered and he smiled and waved without missing a beat.......

 

[paolo]

A great 'Summer On Coldharbour Lane' moment......

Sitting outside Honest foods having a fine snack and glass of Perry when a police car flashes past, sirens blaring......closely followed by one of those plain-clothes cars with blue flashing headlights and weird sirens.....five seconds later a police van wee-wahing along..................20 seconds later a lone copper on a bike pedalling like the clappers....he was cheered and he smiled and waved without missing a beat.......

 

[Mrs Magpie]

Why does the fan/air con by the lift/news kiosk waft the smell of shit into Brixton tube station?

 

[tarannau]

I know the answer to this, or at least I overheard the man in the kiosk joking about the stench a little while back.

Well I did know, but I've forgotten. At the least Mrs M, you're not the only one to notice the floating whiff of floaters.

 

[gaijingirl]

Can't remember if this is where the discussion on weeing in the street was but "enjoyed" watching the same character as mentioned above (dancing to Levi Roots) hitching up her skirt and having a nice piss in Windrush square at lunchtime today...

(whilst the public toilets remain shut!)

 

[ajdown]

Saw a flying cyclist this evening, near the tile place on Brixton Hill, after he rammed his bike into the side of a car turning left.

Didn't stop to help as there were plenty of people around him, and phone calls being made.

 

[Orang Utan]

don't you mean he was knocked over by some fool in a car who wasn't looking?

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

Saw a flying cyclist this evening, near the tile place on Brixton Hill, after he rammed his bike into the side of a car turning left.

Didn't stop to help as there were plenty of people around him, and phone calls being made.

Oh, I saw the silver car parked in the middle of Waterworks Road and a cyclist and a crowd of people. I judged by the dent in the car that that someone had had a bump. All seemed ok though luckily

PS: and to be fair, it's not like Waterworks Road gets a huge amount of traffic, and the traffic that it does get often turns in without considering the pedestrians

 

[ajdown]

Conversely, cyclists also do belt down the hill, on the inside of traffic (when they're not weaving in and out of stationary traffic) so what may have looked, on first glance, like the cyclist was a long way away in the rear view mirror based on the traffic speed, suddenly ends up a lot closer by the time you turn - if, in fact, you could even have seen the cyclist before you turned because they might well not even have been anywhere in your mirror that few seconds before you turned.

Cyclists also forget that they don't have the ability to stop as well as the other road users, hence when something legitimately and safely goes to turn, there's nothing they can do except brace for impact.

 

[Winot]

Important whether or not the car was indicating - most don't.

 

[Orang Utan]

Conversely, cyclists also do belt down the hill, on the inside of traffic (when they're not weaving in and out of stationary traffic) so what may have looked, on first glance, like the cyclist was a long way away in the rear view mirror based on the traffic speed, suddenly ends up a lot closer by the time you turn - if, in fact, you could even have seen the cyclist before you turned because they might well not even have been anywhere in your mirror that few seconds before you turned.

Cyclists also forget that they don't have the ability to stop as well as the other road users, hence when something legitimately and safely goes to turn, there's nothing they can do except brace for impact.

they are supposed to look before they turn, idiot

 

[Spark]

Conversely, cyclists also do belt down the hill, on the inside of traffic (when they're not weaving in and out of stationary traffic) so what may have looked, on first glance, like the cyclist was a long way away in the rear view mirror based on the traffic speed, suddenly ends up a lot closer by the time you turn - if, in fact, you could even have seen the cyclist before you turned because they might well not even have been anywhere in your mirror that few seconds before you turned.

Cyclists also forget that they don't have the ability to stop as well as the other road users, hence when something legitimately and safely goes to turn, there's nothing they can do except brace for impact.

Cyclists can stop perfectly well. If they didn't have time it would probably be because the car was cutting them up. There's also a good chance that the car will just have overtaken the cylist so should have been fully aware that the cyclist was also approaching the junction (had the motorist been paying attention). This overtake the cyclist and then turn left across the path of the cyclist manouevre is pretty common as I'm sure other cyclists will be able to confirm.

 

[ericjarvis]

Conversely, cyclists also do belt down the hill, on the inside of traffic (when they're not weaving in and out of stationary traffic) so what may have looked, on first glance, like the cyclist was a long way away in the rear view mirror based on the traffic speed, suddenly ends up a lot closer by the time you turn - if, in fact, you could even have seen the cyclist before you turned because they might well not even have been anywhere in your mirror that few seconds before you turned.

Cyclists also forget that they don't have the ability to stop as well as the other road users, hence when something legitimately and safely goes to turn, there's nothing they can do except brace for impact.

This is arrant nonsense. With halfway decent brakes a cyclist can stop faster better than other road users. Just as a cyclist can initially accelerate from stopped faster than other road users. It's basic physics.

If a vehicle turns across your path then that vehicle is in the wrong. Full stop. Regardless of what type of vehicle, if you cut across somebody to turn left you are driving dangerously. If there is a collision it is your fault without the slightest hint of an excuse. If you didn't see the vehicle you have cut up then that is YOUR fuck up not theirs.

What the car should do is precisely what it would if cyclists were routinely armour played and weighed two tons. Check the mirror, and if there's any potential traffic coming, slow down whilst signalling, then only turn when there has been time for oncoming traffic to see the indicators and when there is nothing that might be turned across. What too many drivers do is reduce mirror, signal, manouvre, to manouevre, oh fuck, mirror.

The trouble is that too many drivers think it isn't their responsibility to avoid cyclists. Either because they don't give a damn about the safety of any other road user and only bother avoiding vehicles they see as likely to harm them, or because they read Jeremy Clarkson's objectionable and murderous bullshit and take it seriously.

There are a large number of drivers out there, and this is according to views I have heard them express explicitly, who believe they should never have to slow down or in any way change what they do on the road for the convenience or safety of cyclists.

 

[ericjarvis]

Cyclists can stop perfectly well. If they didn't have time it would probably be because the car was cutting them up. There's also a good chance that the car will just have overtaken the cylist so should have been fully aware that the cyclist was also approaching the junction (had the motorist been paying attention). This overtake the cyclist and then turn left across the path of the cyclist manouevre is pretty common as I'm sure other cyclists will be able to confirm.

Very common indeed. I get the impression that about 30% of drivers in London think they can treat cyclists as stationary objects, 30% think it's up to the cyclist to stay out of their way, and 30% are just too incompetent to be able to manage any manouvre without endangering other road users. Kudos to the 10% who actually deserve the right to a driving license.

 

[tarannau]

Is it obligatory for AJ to show himself up as an uninformed dickhead at every opportunity, or does he get special grant funding from the council of giant dufuses?

 

[ajdown]

No, I think it's just people don't like being confronted with the blunt truth that cyclists aren't always innocent in these matters.

I just wish some government official would be radical and bring in compulsory training, registration, safety checks and insurance requirements for cyclists to put them on an equal footing with the rest of the traffic they share (or take over) the road with so that they can also be tracked and held accountable when they inevitably break the law, such as jumping red lights.

Drivers pay excessively to provide roads for cyclists to use - so it's about time that was equalled out.

 

[tarannau]

They are innocent in these matters you tryhard halfwit. Drivers turning should take caution of traffic, including cycles, and they should not turn if they are going to cut up other users. It's basic highway code stuff, no matter how you try and spin it in your perverse wrongheaded way.

Frankly you don't seem to have the intelligence to be on the road, failing to have even the barest understanding of the basics of the highway code

 

[Orang Utan]

Drivers pay excessively to provide roads for cyclists to use - so it's about time that was equalled out.

so do cyclists you twonk. everyone pays tax!

 

[Orang Utan]

There are a large number of drivers out there, and this is according to views I have heard them express explicitly, who believe they should never have to slow down or in any way change what they do on the road for the convenience or safety of cyclists.

innit, i've been cycling in the middle of the lane recently to avoid getting pinned in the gutter and the amount of impatient, reckless twats out there is staggering. you're going at 20mph in slow moving traffic and people still try and overtake you, just for a few seconds advantage.

 

[Badgers]

This is an age old bickering transport thread though isn't it?
All road users (including pedestrians) cock up from time to time.
The car users cause the most damage so it is hard to have sympathy when they cock up.

Right of way should be given to emergency vehicles, pedestrians, horses, bicycles, buses, ice cream vans, taxis, motorbikes/cars and then lorries last.

(or something )

 

[Crispy]

Drivers pay excessively to provide roads for cyclists to use

Vehicle excise and fuel duty are not ringfenced for road maintenance/building in any way.

 

[ajdown]

They are innocent in these matters you tryhard halfwit. Drivers turning should take caution of traffic, including cycles, and they should not turn if they are going to cut up other users.

So if a car driver is indicating to turn left, a cyclist is behind the car, then the car turns at the same momentthe cyclist cuts up on the inside of the car, so the driver has no notice (or to slam on the brakes causing the car behind to ram him as the cyclist swerves past) it's still the driver's fault?

Fuck off.

 

[tarannau]

That's not the situation you outlined at all, you duplicitious halfwit.

To remind you of your fantastically inaccurate worldview, you had cyclists 'ramming' themselves into the side of cars, largely becuase in your view drivers are taken unawares by cyclists who may appear 'a long way away in the rear view mirror based on the traffic speed.' Add to that your spurious bullshit about cyclists not being able to stop as well (wtf?) and irrelevant pish about them weaving in and out of traffic

You are clearly referring to drivers not being able to see cyclists properly, implying that they are blameless somehow, not needing to take caution or properly be expected to check on their blind spots. That's a world away from your hysterical retake which sees cyclists ignoring clear indicator signals, you duplicitous battyrag.

 

[ericjarvis]

No, I think it's just people don't like being confronted with the blunt truth that cyclists aren't always innocent in these matters.

I just wish some government official would be radical and bring in compulsory training, registration, safety checks and insurance requirements for cyclists to put them on an equal footing with the rest of the traffic they share (or take over) the road with so that they can also be tracked and held accountable when they inevitably break the law, such as jumping red lights.

Drivers pay excessively to provide roads for cyclists to use - so it's about time that was equalled out.

For Chrissake. It doesn't matter what the vehicle that hits you is, if you turn left and are hit by oncoming traffic it is you that has fucked up. It's got nothing to do with it being a cyclist, it's just that car drivers routinely treat turning left across a cyclist completely differently than they do with anything they see as liable to cause them more damage.

Drivers do not pay excessively to provide roads. Roads are provided out of general taxation as they have been for donkeys years. The total raised from Vehicle Excise Duty in 2006/7 was 5.1 billion pounds. That is just enough to pay for the current costs of widening the M1.

Motorists whine excessively about how much they pay whilst claiming it gives them some sort of additional privilege. It's about time that was equalled out. We should impose a tax of £500 a year for any motorist who wants to whine about how badly treated they are, and for that they will have the privilege of being allowed once a year to park illegally, to fail to indicate whilst making a turn, and to exceed a speed limit by 5mph for up to 10 minutes.

 

[Spark]

Can you clarify a couple of things, seeing as you saw it? Was the cyclist riding in the bus lane? Was the car in the main lane so cut across the bus lane?

 

[ajdown]

The bus lane starts just before the junction by the music bar (or whatever it's called this week) then stops for the junction, and restarts again. Technically the car did not cut across the bus lane as looking at the road markings there is no bus lane across that particular junction.

I still don't understand why everyone is so anti-car and pro-cyclist as a matter of course without taking facts into account.

For reference. I was in the bus that was stopped at the bus stop opposite heading up the hill at the moment it happened.

Isn't there something more interesting going on in Brixton at the moment than keep going on with the anti-car rhetoric?

 

[Orang Utan]

it's just anti-aj rhetoric tbf

 

[tarannau]

There has been no anti-car rhetoric though has there?

The only thing I see is some predictable sadsack ranting about bikes being a danger and not paying tax again, regardless of the thread, highway code or accuracy. Unsurprisingly people aren't queuing up in support.

 

[Spark]

The bus lane starts just before the junction by the music bar (or whatever it's called this week) then stops for the junction, and restarts again. Technically the car did not cut across the bus lane as looking at the road markings there is no bus lane across that particular junction.

So the car still changed lane without checking properly the moving traffic in the lane it was moving into?

 

[ajdown]

Not necessarily - as I wasn't in the driver's position and I don't know what he saw.

It could well have been that the cyclist was behind the car and went to undertake at the moment the car turned. The car driver may not have looked sufficiently.

It didn't appear to be fatal, which is the main thing, and a dented door and a bent wheel aren't the end of the world really.