Just based on my observations today, 95% of cyclists give the rest of us a bad name.
I haven't seen so many people rushing past red lights since I last visited Hamburg's Reeperbahn.
@neil
Every time I walk to the shops someone drives or cycles through the red traffic light during a pedestrian phase. Every single time without fail.
For the car drivers I am not just talking about the ones that accelerate recklessly from way back on amber.
I mean the ones in the queue who proceed through the red light from a stationary start. Because they feel "entitled" to get through on this phase.
I look at their eyes and they are only watching for if they can beat other traffic.
Smartphone Zombie Syndrome is a part of this issue.
People walking or otherwise moving around without paying the slightest attention to their surroundings.
Extra points for closed back headphones and listening to loud music while staring at their phone.
There are a bunch of places here where the rules are completely stupid for bikes. For example, near me there's a place where you can't turn left from a cycle path when the crossing light is red, even though you're turning onto another cycle lane, so as long as you give way to other cyclists, it's entirely safe.
There are also crossing lights where you wait ages to let bicycles cross, to avoid making cars stop before they join a traffic jam later down the road.
So I can understand the frustration cyclists have. But I also try to remember that the laws that tell me not to run a red light are the same ones that tell drivers not to drive into me.
@neil and do you blame all drivers for all the ones running red lights, playing with their phones, eating, earbuds in, and so on? Collective punishment only seems to apply to cyclists and minorities.
@mjr I'm not interested in whataboutery. I had a lovely ride (flat tyre aside), and just noted the approach of my fellow cyclists.
@neil yet, most don't post similar "give the rest of us a bad name" gibberish after a drive when they've seen loads of other drivers behaving like hoons. For some reason, people expect fellowships of cyclists and horse-riders, but not of drivers, or walkers. It's unjust and holds back most pragmatic ways to assess and address the problems.
@neil Meg, red lights are car infrastructure. I don’t stop at them when I’m walking or riding if it’s safe not to. If the roads weren’t choked with two-ton kill boxes they wouldn’t need to exist.
> red lights are car infrastructure.
They are in a cycle lane, with a picture of a bike on them.
@neil (Also, sorry; I’m in an impatient mood with cars tonight. See most recent toot…)
@Charles I can understand that.
Thanks to drivers, I feel a lot less safe cycling from home to the station where I live, than I do around London (at least, the routes that I take).
A combination of more cycle lanes, and generally slower speeds.
Today, it was a pleasant ride from Paddington through Hyde Park, Green Park, St James Park, and then - the bit I like the least - around Parliament square / Westminster abbey.
@neil because it's often safer to do that than wait, because there's very little time between the bike green and car green and the latter like to accelerate off to prove... Something.
If our infrastructure were better, fewer people would cycle like dicks.
I don't really get it.
Sure, I appreciate that stopping and starting is a pain.
But speeding through a red light at a crossing *with people on it*? Why?!
Cycling while browsing one's phone, straight through a red light into a junction, then swerving to miss hitting the side of a bus. Why?!
@neil when I cycled in London I stopped at red lights and loudly BOOed at those going past me. Got told to f off a couple of times :D
@neil I don’t know if the effect is the same in UK but I have distinct impression lockdown broke something in an awful lot of people. Complete disregard for the basic rules of living in society to an extent that considering the effect of your actions on other people has become a quaint idea. It’s as if half of society reverted to being 15 year old assholes.
@neil Because they don't care. You could apply that to a LOT
@neil and yes, fuck the phone-while-on-bike people.
The ones that get me swearing the most are people who stop so far forward they can't see the lights
Then they're in my way when it's green and I do want to go
@neil On days when I bother to count, I usually see equal numbers of bikes and cars jumping red lights. Guess which is likely to do more damage when it hits someone.
