Mad woman

[wcsauto]

mad woman just walked out in front of me today and i nearly sent her flying. i knocked her arm but she didnt seem bothred.

she just stepped out in front of me and i had no chance to stop or slow down - thought i was going to kill her.

i managed to swerv mostly out of her way but for the next few minutes my heart was pounding and afterwards i was quite annoyed with her for scaring me so much.

 

[Serenity]

Well thankfully you made it out okay. That could have been some memory for the both of you! I betcha she learned a lesson!

edit: Oops. Just noticed how long ago this was. My bad.

 

[Tynan]

ditto, bloke stepped off the right hand curb of a single lane, he'd seen me and allowed for me passing, luckily I covered the brakes and slowed slightly

cue a woman on the left side and very near me stepping out without any check at all, because he'd gone, swerve and swear

 

[Eat MY Dust]

Maybe it was less of a suicide bid and more a cry for help!!

 

[goo_mason]

We need to cycle along making "vroooom vroooom" car-type noises. I've noticed that people tend to step happily into roads without looking if they can't hear anything coming.

Either that or I stop spraying WD40 on my pedals to stop my cleats squeaking against the plate

 

[cupoftea]

What like motorist, lisening to music or talking on the phone?

 

[Arch]

I think the music thing varies though from person to person - some people can cope with more than one thing at once, and some can't! And it depends what sort of driving/cycling it is - complex city stuff or relatively easy rural. Some people are better at instantly diverting all attention to the road when they have to, than others. Not that I condone phone use - although some can probably manage it (although the hand off the wheel is an added danger), it's better that we have a law because of the many who can't and also there is more attention diverted in order to have a conversation, than in just passively listening.

As for cycling in earbuds or whatever, I'm fine with it, as long as it's not loud enough to drown out other noise, and I personally wouldn't usually do it in town, but would on quieter roads.

It's the same with pedestrians. Some are rendered dopey by ipods, some aren't (I always look extra carefully when listening to mine) and some are just dopey to start with...

 

[flycatcher]

A few weeks ago I was filtering past traffic in an marked cycle lane. A young lad stepped out well in front of me and stood between two stationary cars waiting for traffic on the opposite side to clear so he could get across. The traffic on our side started to move so he did nothing more than step backwards into the cycle lane into my path. I shouted and stiffened up my shoulder and swerved as much as the lane would allow but caught him full on and sent him flying.

I slowed down looked round but he got up. So I carried on and thought nothing more of it.

About a mile up the load a car slowed down and the charming woman inside started shouting "you're a f***** knobhead, you hurt that lovely young lad back there".

Now apart from the abuse I did feel a bit guilty for not stopping and he did seems a pleasant chap no older than 12 but I just replied, "why I am the knobhead, he walked into me, it might be a motorbike next time"? Cue more abuse and drove off into the distance!

Would she think she was a knobhead if he walked into her car? I doubt it. I look out for him as I will ask if he's OK if I see him again, I could tell he was a decent young lad who made a mistake but if it teaches him a bit of road sense my work there is done!

Should I have stopped?

 

[Keith Oates]

I think stopping to see if he was OK would have been the right thing to do!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Arch]

Yeah, hindsight is wonderful thing, but stopping would have been right. In fact, I'm not sure how that stands legally? If it was a car, that would be an offence wouldn't it? Anyone know?

 

[dondare]

My many, many years of experience on the road, coupled with some of the debates I have had on various forum sites (including Safespeed, can we say that here?) lead me to the conclusion that whenever there's a risk of pedestrians in the road, we should consider their safety and use our vehicles at a speed which takes this into account.

 

[jnb]

A few weeks ago I was filtering past traffic in an marked cycle lane. A young lad stepped out well in front of me and stood between two stationary cars waiting for traffic on the opposite side to clear so he could get across. The traffic on our side started to move so he did nothing more than step backwards into the cycle lane into my path. I shouted and stiffened up my shoulder and swerved as much as the lane would allow but caught him full on and sent him flying.

I slowed down looked round but he got up. So I carried on and thought nothing more of it.

About a mile up the load a car slowed down and the charming woman inside started shouting "you're a f***** knobhead, you hurt that lovely young lad back there".

Now apart from the abuse I did feel a bit guilty for not stopping and he did seems a pleasant chap no older than 12 but I just replied, "why I am the knobhead, he walked into me, it might be a motorbike next time"? Cue more abuse and drove off into the distance!

Would she think she was a knobhead if he walked into her car? I doubt it. I look out for him as I will ask if he's OK if I see him again, I could tell he was a decent young lad who made a mistake but if it teaches him a bit of road sense my work there is done!

Should I have stopped?

Yes.

 

[Will1985]

What is it with ancient threads being dredged up today?!?!

 

[Jake]

regarding the original post, did this happen down by smithfields this morning? our office manager said she say some girl on a bike going through a green light, had to slam brakes on and come offf her bike to stop for some silly cow crossing the road wihtout looking, (she would have been on a red man). hada few recenly, but not what i would call close, they had ipods on too. give them the whistle, but they just dont hear! grrr

 

[ketka82uk]

In my experience the vast majority know full well you are coming; they just don't seem to care! It's as if they think the bike will either a) stop on a sixpence or won't hurt if it hits them!