akb
Veteran
- Location
- Potton, Bedfordshire
If only the majority of the users knew this. Once you noticed he wasnt paying attention, you should have alerted him of your prescence.
Extremely close near miss with an idiot
- Thread starter Matthew_T
- Start date
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If only the majority of the users knew this. Once you noticed he wasnt paying attention, you should have alerted him of your prescence.
snorri
Legendary Member
- Location
- East coast, up a bit.
A news item relevant to this thread http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-22631731
I'm not sure if we should get one of these for Matthew or the person he almost ran into
I'm not sure if we should get one of these for Matthew or the person he almost ran into
Boris Bajic
Guest
Wildly OT, but has that ever stopped me?
In the days when my children were little and we whizzed around together on a bike with a tag-along, I used to get them to answer my mobile by yelling "I'm on the bike!"
It tied in with a silly game my wife and I played, where whoever was en route from London would be asked questions eliciting the reply "I'm on the train". Hours of fun; I'm sure you can imagine.
If it was not my wife (their mother) calling when we were out for rides, it could cause surprise and consternation to have the 'bike' response yelled by a young child to the sound of passing traffic.
How we laughed....
Thank you for reading this and good night.
In the days when my children were little and we whizzed around together on a bike with a tag-along, I used to get them to answer my mobile by yelling "I'm on the bike!"
It tied in with a silly game my wife and I played, where whoever was en route from London would be asked questions eliciting the reply "I'm on the train". Hours of fun; I'm sure you can imagine.
If it was not my wife (their mother) calling when we were out for rides, it could cause surprise and consternation to have the 'bike' response yelled by a young child to the sound of passing traffic.
How we laughed....
Thank you for reading this and good night.
shouldbeinbed
Rollin' along
- Location
- Manchester way
seems Matthew thinks the same as I did, I took from his opening post and comments about the other party that he had a choice of how to play it and decided on the course of letting it play out to an unneccesasrily close shave and then by choice letting off a device that is deafeningly loud, frightening and intended to make people in far more soundproofed vehicles aware of your presence in someones unsuspecting face. A tad more generosity of spirit might have made for a non story right at the outset. No? I do have very close experience of autism in the family and close friends. A friend's son couldn't present themself on the internet at all let alone as Matthew does, its a very broad spectrum.
Cyclopathic
Veteran
- Location
- Leicester.
There is a difference between being technically in the right and doing the right thing. I have to agree with those who have said that you should have acted when you saw the hazard rather than waiting until it became an issue. Defensive riding often means doing the work for other people who are less observant or considerate so a quick call of "ahoy there" or "coming through" or whatever would have stopped any of that rigmarole. Being technically in the right is no good if you end up in a pile of wheels and tubing. Other people will always be tits and you just have to accept that and do your best to compensate without letting it get you riled up.
Cyclopathic
Veteran
- Location
- Leicester.
Don't let Phnarr see this post.
snorri
Legendary Member
- Location
- East coast, up a bit.
From the evidence presented so far, the texter is cycling along, maintaing a steady course on his left hand side of the path when suddenly an oncoming cyclists crosses the path towards him, rather than give way at the sand hazard on his side of the path. The rude manner in which this oncoming cyclist behaved is compounded by his sounding of a very loud horn at close proximity.
With regards to the texting aspect of this, to me it's just one more very dangerous activity that people deliberately undertake with the assumption that they are somehow never going to be the one in (or to cause) an accident.
I don't get it and maybe it's a good thing that I don't. A text or a phone call or that extra 30 seconds saved jumping a red surely can't be more important than your safety or even your life can it?
I'm slowly educating my girlfriend into the intricacies of cycling and how to deal with potential hazards. Many times I point out that bell and horn use is even more of a danger than if you remain silent, if only because the shock of the noise makes people less predictable in my eyes.
The guy sounds like a tool and personally would hope that he learns his lesson in a fairly painful accident that involves no one else, before he creates a larger accident. I was in Brighton yesterday and the shared use path on the seafront is just terrifying and I would do everything to avoid that thing. I saw one woman going quite briskly approaching a crossing junction screaming at pedestrians who were crossing to get out of her way. I sometimes get quite belligerent in my cycling and think people should get out of my way but this is becoming less frequent now, but in the end it just puts you in dangers path and makes people think less of you!
The guy sounds like a tool and personally would hope that he learns his lesson in a fairly painful accident that involves no one else, before he creates a larger accident. I was in Brighton yesterday and the shared use path on the seafront is just terrifying and I would do everything to avoid that thing. I saw one woman going quite briskly approaching a crossing junction screaming at pedestrians who were crossing to get out of her way. I sometimes get quite belligerent in my cycling and think people should get out of my way but this is becoming less frequent now, but in the end it just puts you in dangers path and makes people think less of you!
Unfortunately Matthew you can't really decide to take the appropriate action (or not) based on how you're feeling at the time. If you're too tired to cycle responsibly, don't cycle.
When you pass your driving test will the amount of attention and curtacy that you show towards other road users vary with your mood or energy levels? If so then you'll be guilty of the very same poor manners that you often accuse drivers of when you're cycling.
The guy you met on the shared use path is most likely telling a very similar story about a cyclist he came across who was riding on the wrong side of the path and scaring the life out of him with an air-zound! The net result is that both of you think the other party was totally in the wrong and therefor neither of you are going to modify your riding or learn anything from the encounter.
As others have said - always assume the other guy hasn't seen you, is stone deaf and partially sighted and is having a bad day. If you want to stay safe don't rely on them to take the appropriate action. Better that you both take avoiding action than neither of you
Not intended as a lecture honestly Matthew, just advice from an older (though not necessarily wiser) rider. I hope you choose to take it as such
OP
OP
Matthew_T
"Young and Ex-whippet"
- Location
- Prestatyn, North Wales
I have modified my cycling. I now cycle on the left of the path at all times. Although today I passed a ped on the right and a cyclist infront of me moved to their right which forced me to pass on their left. I apologised to the lady though.Unfortunately Matthew you can't really decide to take the appropriate action (or not) based on how you're feeling at the time. If you're too tired to cycle responsibly, don't cycle.
When you pass your driving test will the amount of attention and curtacy that you show towards other road users vary with your mood or energy levels? If so then you'll be guilty of the very same poor manners that you often accuse drivers of when you're cycling.
The guy you met on the shared use path is most likely telling a very similar story about a cyclist he came across who was riding on the wrong side of the path and scaring the life out of him with an air-zound! The net result is that both of you think the other party was totally in the wrong and therefor neither of you are going to modify your riding or learn anything from the encounter.
As others have said - always assume the other guy hasn't seen you, is stone deaf and partially sighted and is having a bad day. If you want to stay safe don't rely on them to take the appropriate action. Better that you both take avoiding action than neither of you
Not intended as a lecture honestly Matthew, just advice from an older (though not necessarily wiser) rider. I hope you choose to take it as such
MontyVeda
a short-tempered ill-controlled small-minded troll
- Location
- Lancaster... the little city.
This kind of thing happens all the time on my route to/from work; either cyclists winding all over the place or meandering peds... the hotter it is the more they seem to meander. A couple of pings on the bell, well in advance normally does the trick 
Luddite Joe
Über Member
- Location
- Swindon
Today I was commuting home along a shared path with a friend. It was covered in a thin layer of sand with lose stones. I had a bit of a tailwind so was cycling at about 20mph.
Ahead I noticed a cyclist. As I grew closer, I realised that it was Matthew.
He had his finger poised over the trigger of his Airzound, so I decided to text him a friendly request not to use it.
As I grew closer, I realised that he had better read my text or we could have a big accident.
When he got up to me, he shouted "Hey" and gave a blast of his horn. At the last moment, I swerved with the one hand on the bars and went "Woah".
My front wheel lost traction on the sandy surface and his handlebars barely missed mine.
After I had passed him, I looked behind but he still hadn't read my text.
I could not believe how close he was and how stupid he could be to use that horn. He was a massive tit.
Ahead I noticed a cyclist. As I grew closer, I realised that it was Matthew.
He had his finger poised over the trigger of his Airzound, so I decided to text him a friendly request not to use it.
As I grew closer, I realised that he had better read my text or we could have a big accident.
When he got up to me, he shouted "Hey" and gave a blast of his horn. At the last moment, I swerved with the one hand on the bars and went "Woah".
My front wheel lost traction on the sandy surface and his handlebars barely missed mine.
After I had passed him, I looked behind but he still hadn't read my text.
I could not believe how close he was and how stupid he could be to use that horn. He was a massive tit.
D
Deleted member 20519
Guest
Get rid of the damned horn, it does no good whatsoever.
