jmaccyd said:
Someone asked about double red lines, they are the markings for Red Routes and Taxis are allowed to stop to pick up or set down (ie no waiting)
As for some of the other statements to sad for words really. I thought that it was just some taxi drivers that displayed ignorant, stereotyped and bigoted views. It seems to be spreading to some cyclists as well
The point is (not wiping any bile off my shirt) how do things get better? If the road is viewed as a battleground, something to be thought over and other groups on the road are then viewed as enemies/foes/opponents then we are in a downwards spiral. How do things get better?
Nicely 'un-aimed' post there jmaccyd, and point taken.
It is a chicken and egg situation, I only started to 'generally' lose respect for Cab drivers once I found that repeated experiences of agressive and bullying driving were not exclusive to my tiny world.
I maintain my 'general' opinion while a considerable portion of London Cab drivers, IMO, can only approach discussion on these issues from the 'you shouldn't be allowed on the road in the first place', school of knucle scraping and unarguable arguments.
Some think I'm scum for being on the road and I think they are scum too for thinking that, and only that.
Becuase after that there is no further dialogue possible.
Alternatively, if I were to approach a cabby and ask if he has a spare 5 mins to talk about his driving ...........9/10 cases, you know what I'd get told to go and do to myself.
Last year I helped a cyclist who had a possible broken shoulder from a cab door, opened by the fare(who legged it) while in traffic on London Bridge.
When I asked the cabby why his doors weren't locked in traffic he went white and said, ''s'not my problem M8 it was the passengers fault.' He then walked backwards to his cab and p*ss*d off before the Police arrived or anyone could get his reg & licence number sadly, 'cos he would probably been stuffed had this matter been further investigated.
Now what I 'generally' thought was just lack of courtesy starts to border on real inhumanity.
My holding these opinions while cycling causes no real harm, I don't pick fights with cabs or deliberately get in their way and I have never knowingly endangered or hit a cab or made the driver feel their life was at risk.
But on the other hand, give some budding Littlejohn's 2 tonne of Black Cab an endorsment from the Queen and the attitude I'm discussing here and the self inflated bully on my back wheel appears again.
jmaccyd, I am not aiming any of this at you or at every single cab driver, that would be barking at the choir.
I am not harbouring hatred but I will voice disgust at what I see as an untennable agument: all bikes shouldn't be on the road vs.can we look at this from both sides, please? This is the summery of my 20 years London cycling experience to date and I have no idea either how to bridge this divide.
T x
