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How was your cycle commute?

jusali said:
I had a bloke overtake me then immediately have to pull in (cos traffic was coming other way) knocking me off my bike. I got back on a cycled on me way, no-one batted an eyelid, not the pedestrians, the car coming the other way or the car that knocked me over.
Isn't that so desperately sad?
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were you angry? calm?
 
the whole 'keep calm and carry on' attitude subsequent to a near death experience seems almost pathological. what's wrong with you?
 
joustmaster said:
Why on earth would I let it go..
If someone didn't like the fact I was walking up the street, and decided to push me over, I wouldn't ignore them.
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You would hopefully let it go as you wouldn't want to escalate a situation which might end up with someone, probably yourself, injured or dead, or also possibly facing the prospect of losing your job and your liberty.
I can understand losing your rag in the circumstances (I briefly considered spitting in the van bloke's face the other day), but I find it mystifying that you are saying this in the cold sober calm light of day - that you WOULD behave in that way as if it would be the correct course of action, rather than a regrettable one.
 
Orang Utan said:
You would hopefully let it go as you wouldn't want to escalate a situation which might end up with someone, probably yourself, injured or dead, or also possibly facing the prospect of losing your job and your liberty.
I can understand losing your rag in the circumstances (I briefly considered spitting in the van bloke's face the other day), but I find it mystifying that you are saying this in the cold sober calm light of day - that you WOULD behave in that way as if it would be the correct course of action, rather than a regrettable one.
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It's rare that I do it but on a couple of occasions I've followed then spoke to people who've cut me up. I've been humble and polite. The reason I've spoke to them is not to get even but to let them know what they did in the hope they'll be a bit more careful in future. On both cases I think they genuinely didn't know they nearly run me over, or just didn't see me. On these occasions the exchange went well. I've even had an apology. This has been the exception but it can be useful to talk to people.

The last occasion I was able to talk to someone after an encounter I managed to say the preprepared line "Now you can either be a coward and drive off or you can pull over and we can talk about this and learn something". She drove off. I felt better. I'd pick and choose who I said that line to though!
 
Think for a moment about the hundred plus cyclists and other vulnerable road users who didn't get an opportunity to react one way or another last year as a result of them being killed outright as a result of having to share poorly designed roads with shitty drivers.

lecture me on being nice to other road users when my life doesn't depend on the occasional misbehavior of people driving motorised vehicles.

I will continue to be angry until such time as something meaningful is done to stem the tide of preventable deaths on our roads, come to think of it, i strongly suggest everyone else on a bike or walking gets fucking angry too, angry at the seeming inability for TfL and by extension, the mayors office to do anything beyond pay lip service to the need for a definitive cycle safety strategy in london.

telling people to 'be nice' is a worthless diversion that can only make the situation worse.
 
The trouble is, the sort of 'respect' a lot of drivers expect cyclists to show is to 'get out of their bloody way' which means sit on the left at all times (door zone, pothole zone) and cower from them. It's even in the UKIP manifesto if you doubted such attitudes exist - requiring cyclists to walk on narrow roads to avoid impeding traffic (strangely, I normally find myself held up by cars rather than the other way around - how about not sitting half in the already pathetically narrow cycle lane when queing at lights?). Sometimes cycling facilities also are used to get cyclists out of the road as though they have no place there - the half-arsed 'shared pavement' solution (cf my post last week about my experience in Cornwall and drivers hooting and gesticulating towards the shared pavement even though I wasn't impeding them in any significant way).

On the way into work today I watched another cyclist going around a large roundabout on the far left, stopping at each arm and giving way to cars. It's that kind of meek, unassertive cycling that'll get them squashed. Take the lane, and in doing so give others confidence to do so, and also make drivers more aware that this is what cyclists do. I live in a city where cycling is at a pretty pathetic level, and almost feel like I have a bit of a duty to make motorists used to cyclists being in the road.

I'm not a super militant cyclist - sometimes I will let a car (or especially a bus) out at a junction in the same way I would if I was driving, or pull in a bit on narrower roads to let people past if I'm going slow with a heavy load - it's OK to be considerate to other road users - but my politeness or willingness to yield when I don't have to mustn't be taken for granted, which is the problem I have with that niceway code bollocks.
 
Orang Utan said:
You would hopefully let it go as you wouldn't want to escalate a situation which might end up with someone, probably yourself, injured or dead, or also possibly facing the prospect of losing your job and your liberty.
I can understand losing your rag in the circumstances (I briefly considered spitting in the van bloke's face the other day), but I find it mystifying that you are saying this in the cold sober calm light of day - that you WOULD behave in that way as if it would be the correct course of action, rather than a regrettable one.
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If someone is attacking me, I am going to do everything in my power to stop them.
If in the street someone has a pop at me, I am going to hit them until they stop trying.
If on a road, I am going to do everything I can to them to stop them attacking further.
 
So, if someone has just tried to run you off the road, it's best to stay where you are and let them go about their business, not before taking their license plate of course.
Going after them to smash their vehicle up with a d lock is not advisable, is it?
 
Also, situations in which we get angry with motorists are usually when the driver is totally unaware of what they have done and need to be made aware of it without antagonising them.
Situations in which motorists deliberately try to hurt other road users are thankfully rare.
 
Orang Utan said:
So, if someone has just tried to run you off the road, it's best to stay where you are and let them go about their business, not before taking their license plate of course.
Going after them to smash their vehicle up with a d lock is not advisable, is it?
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Its not an all or nothing thing.
Sometimes they just drive off. Sometimes you find yourself being chased. Sometimes you find the car coming back for you. Sometimes the driver gets out. And like I said. If someone is attacking me, I will try to stop them.
Smashing someones wing-mirror , will, from my experience, either make them flee, or make them get out of their car. Either way they are no longer trying to kill me with a ton of metal.
 
tumblr_mgkpjdOnpe1rkb0m7o1_500.gif
 
Here is an example..
Last year I was on a quiet road, and a car purposely pulled alongside me and turned in to me. It was at a fairly slow speed, so I was only knocked half off my bike. The guy was going crackers at me, in his car. If I had set off, he would have chased me or passed me dangerously. If I had done nothing, he would have got out. Instead I walked round to his side and gave his door a shoeing, and threatened to damage his jaw bone. He seemed to realise that there was a real world outside his car, and quickly drove off.
 
joustmaster said:
Frighten someone off who trying to injure you..
Don't get me wrong, I have lashed out in revenge before, too. But thats not something i'm selling as useful thing
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:hmm:
It's quite a feat to get your bag off your back, open it, get your lock out, then smash it calulatedly on a mirror. Surely evasive action would be more effective?
 
joustmaster said:
Here is an example..
Last year I was on a quiet road, and a car purposely pulled alongside me and turned in to me. It was at a fairly slow speed, so I was only knocked half off my bike. The guy was going crackers at me, in his car. If I had set off, he would have chased me or passed me dangerously. If I had done nothing, he would have got out. Instead I walked round to his side and gave his door a shoeing, and threatened to damage his jaw bone. He seemed to realise that there was a real world outside his car, and quickly drove off.
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I'm stunned that this is liked by even one person! And a sensible one at that!
 
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