Sh4rkyBloke
Jaffa Cake monster
- Location
- Manchester, UK
Yes - that's right, folks, I saw Fozzy Bear / Kermit the Frog / Animal / Gonzo on a bike in Stretford this morning. I am unsure exactly which muppet he was as he was blazing through a red light and nearly taking out a ped who was crossing at the time. 
We exchanged some pleasant banter:
Me: "It's still on red, you muppet"
Him: (nothing at this point)
When I caught him at the next set of lights, he'd stopped... but only as there were cars on their green filter light turning across our path. The lights changed just as I arrived and I went past him saying "Oh, you do stop at some of them then?".
At the next set (another junction with a filter allowing cars to pass in front of us) he caught up and spoke, and got an appropriate response:
Him: "I treat them as give way, I don't need you to tell me what I should be doing"
Me: "No, the law does that, but clearly you can't read"
Cue lights changing and me leaving him again. At the next set (which are red) he catches me again...
Him: "I've also read the research that says that in Big Cities it's safer to treat them as give way and not always stop on red" (or some such drivel)
Lights start to change..
Me: "Oh, right. That old chestnut!!" (
and shaking of head as I leave him again)
When he finally caught me again about a mile later (at more lights on red) I waited for the 'other' lights (i.e. the ones controlling the traffic crossing our path on the crossroads) to go amber and started to clip in, thus moving forward slightly. 3 cars blatantly jumped the red as ours went green and I started off into the junction... he was just catching at this point and decided to try and point out that I was RLJing myself. Not sure quite how it's an RLJ, but as technically I did start before it changed to green (to get clipped in) I could let him partially have that one if it makes him feel better for his own shortcomings as a cyclist.
It's no wonder motorists see us as thinking we are a law unto ourselves!
We exchanged some pleasant banter:
Me: "It's still on red, you muppet"
Him: (nothing at this point)
When I caught him at the next set of lights, he'd stopped... but only as there were cars on their green filter light turning across our path. The lights changed just as I arrived and I went past him saying "Oh, you do stop at some of them then?".
At the next set (another junction with a filter allowing cars to pass in front of us) he caught up and spoke, and got an appropriate response:
Him: "I treat them as give way, I don't need you to tell me what I should be doing"
Me: "No, the law does that, but clearly you can't read"
Cue lights changing and me leaving him again. At the next set (which are red) he catches me again...
Him: "I've also read the research that says that in Big Cities it's safer to treat them as give way and not always stop on red" (or some such drivel)
Lights start to change..
Me: "Oh, right. That old chestnut!!" (
and shaking of head as I leave him again)When he finally caught me again about a mile later (at more lights on red) I waited for the 'other' lights (i.e. the ones controlling the traffic crossing our path on the crossroads) to go amber and started to clip in, thus moving forward slightly. 3 cars blatantly jumped the red as ours went green and I started off into the junction... he was just catching at this point and decided to try and point out that I was RLJing myself. Not sure quite how it's an RLJ, but as technically I did start before it changed to green (to get clipped in) I could let him partially have that one if it makes him feel better for his own shortcomings as a cyclist.
It's no wonder motorists see us as thinking we are a law unto ourselves!
