The other point of view

[Debian]

As my bike has been reshaped I'm temporarily walking / driving to work depending on which site I'm to be at that day. This morning I was driving, there was one moment that gave me a brief insight as to how, sometimes, our behaviour impacts on a drivers point of view.

It was 6.30 a.m. today, very little (virtually none) traffic.

I'd just pulled into the main road and noticed the pedestrain lights just up ahead were changing to red. No issue normally but from the right hand side of the road trots a person pushing a cycle. Said person slowly walks across the crossing and reaches the other side just as the lights are changing. Person proceeds to stop about four feet out from the kerb, starts getting on the bike and then having done so wobbles off up the hill displaying no lights; he/she was wearing a hi-vis vest but it was still quite dark. By this time a little bit of traffic has built up on the other side of the road so that there's no room for me to safely overtake the wobbly cyclist.

Now, all in all a minor incident, I know but the fact is that there was no need for this at all. There was next to no traffic and nothing stopping even the most nervous of cyclists from entering the road like any other vehicle. Pedestrian crossings are for people, not cycles after all. And then to use the crossing to hold up the traffic before holding it up more by mounting the bike part-way across the road compounds the situation. Push your bike across the road if you really must if it makes you feel safer but don't then block the road while you mount up and wobble off. And use lights when it's dark!

I found it slightly amusing in a silly-sod , shake-of-the-head sort of way but I can see that a driver with a tendency to be anti-cyclist to start with could get a bit het up about it.

 

[jimboalee]

As my bike has been reshaped I'm temporarily walking / driving to work depending on which site I'm to be at that day. This morning I was driving, there was one moment that gave me a brief insight as to how, sometimes, our behaviour impacts on a drivers point of view.

It was 6.30 a.m. today, very little (virtually none) traffic.

I'd just pulled into the main road and noticed the pedestrain lights just up ahead were changing to red. No issue normally but from the right hand side of the road trots a person pushing a cycle. Said person slowly walks across the crossing and reaches the other side just as the lights are changing. Person proceeds to stop about four feet out from the kerb, starts getting on the bike and then having done so wobbles off up the hill displaying no lights; he/she was wearing a hi-vis vest but it was still quite dark. By this time a little bit of traffic has built up on the other side of the road so that there's no room for me to safely overtake the wobbly cyclist.

Now, all in all a minor incident, I know but the fact is that there was no need for this at all. There was next to no traffic and nothing stopping even the most nervous of cyclists from entering the road like any other vehicle. Pedestrian crossings are for people, not cycles after all. And then to use the crossing to hold up the traffic before holding it up more by mounting the bike part-way across the road compounds the situation. Push your bike across the road if you really must if it makes you feel safer but don't then block the road while you mount up and wobble off. And use lights when it's dark!

I found it slightly amusing in a silly-sod , shake-of-the-head sort of way but I can see that a driver with a tendency to be anti-cyclist to start with could get a bit het up about it.

Isn't that called "Primary"?

He was making sure the peanut in the car behind him couldn't squeeze past and cause an incident.

 

[Debian]

Isn't that called "Primary"?

He was making sure the peanut in the car behind him couldn't squeeze past and cause an incident.

No, I don't think so.

 

[jimboalee]

No, I don't think so.

Is 'Primary' the position on the road which disallows following traffic from causing a danger to the cyclist.

He certainly stopped you causing a danger. He 'took the lane'.... He doesn't have to give way to you because you are bigger and more powerful.
He's in front of you and you must give way to him!

 

[Debian]

Is 'Primary' the position on the road which disallows following traffic from causing a danger to the cyclist.

He certainly stopped you causing a danger. He 'took the lane'.... He doesn't have to give way to you because you are bigger and more powerful.
He's in front of you and you must give way to him!

Yes, but the point you're missing is that he (could have been she) used the pedestrian crossing in order to stop the traffic. This is no different to simply walking out into the middle of the road. It's simply not the done thing.

As I said, didn't really worry me but I just saw it from the other side for a moment.

 

[DrSquirrel]

It's perfectly legal to walk into the road to stop traffic - after all pedestrians have right of way and don't require a light to enter/cross a road.



I join a road daily and it sometimes takes an absolute age to get out. Slightly to my left is a pedestrian crossing.

I have been tempted to use it to cross the road - after all when I am on my feet I am a pedestrian and its perfectly legal.

Yet as you say this "wont look good" to the driver that has been held up... but at the end of the day its the pedestrian that is being held up because someone has built this huge road in between their paths...



If you're worried how we (cyclists) look to motorists... you'd be better to get off the road, and hide in the bushes until there is abouslty noone around, pay "road tax", display a number plate, pay insurance, cycle 1.34cm from the kerb, stop behind parked cars to give way to the cars following behind you before pulling around them.

Things like this "don't help" because of the incorrect view of a lot of motorists.

 

[Jel]

Sorry, I agree with original poster. It's annoying. We have a go at people for not waiting and being impatient, this is exactly the same. It's primary if you are in the flow of traffic, not if you're getting on your bike, shirley? It's like riding on the pavement. Ish.

 

[Bollo]

Is 'Primary' the position on the road which disallows following traffic from causing a danger to the cyclist.

He certainly stopped you causing a danger. He 'took the lane'.... He doesn't have to give way to you because you are bigger and more powerful.
He's in front of you and you must give way to him!

Debian, I suspect jimboalee might, just might be being sarcastic. I also think he's attempting to hijack a thread to continue his long running feud about the merits and demerits of assertive road positioning. Am I right Jim?

 

[Headgardener]

I think I can see where Debian is coming from, as a cyclist who doesn't drive I certainly wouldn't cross a ped crossing then get on my bike. I would move further up the road so that any following traffic can get clear before I join it.

 

[Tynan]

yes, I've seen this twice this week, push across the road and then slowly and awkwardly mount and move away while the lights change

joing the traffic from the side of the road needs to be done right and that way doesn;t strike me as a right way at all

 

[jimboalee]

Debian, I suspect jimboalee might, just might be being sarcastic. I also think he's attempting to hijack a thread to continue his long running feud about the merits and demerits of assertive road positioning. Am I right Jim?

The thread is about a motorist who is complaining about a cyclist, who in the motorist's opinion, shouldn't be riding where he's riding...

or is it,

a thread about a cyclist making sure the traffic round him doesn't pose him any danger?

or is it,

a thread demonstrating how annoyed motorists get when a cyclist rides up the middle of the carriageway when he could ride on the left side?

or is it,

a thread about a cyclist who uses the full extent of his legal entitlement to take the position on the road he wishes?

 

[RedBike]

There are two points on my commute where the paths / bridleways i'm riding along cross a road via a pegasus crossing.
Both sets of lights have a sensor which automatically 'presses the button' changing the traffic lights to red as I approach. This means that within a few seconds of arriving at the lights the traffics is stopped and I get a little green man/horse telling me to cross.

The trouble is I can't approach the traffic lights without causing them to change and it's amazing just how irritable some drivers get when they're forced to stop for a cyclist to ride across the road.

Even worse is the fact that I often don't actually want to cross the road, I want to join the road at that point. From a drivers point of view it looks like i've deliberatly activated the lights and stopped the traffic so that I can pull out onto the road.

 

[mark barker]

The thread is about a motorist who is complaining about a cyclist, who in the motorist's opinion, shouldn't be riding where he's riding...

or is it,

a thread about a cyclist making sure the traffic round him doesn't pose him any danger?

or is it,

a thread demonstrating how annoyed motorists get when a cyclist rides up the middle of the carriageway when he could ride on the left side?

or is it,

a thread about a cyclist who uses the full extent of his legal entitlement to take the position on the road he wishes?

As I see it its a thread about an obnoxious cyclist that has no consideration for any other road user. How difficult can it be to understand that a little thought for other road users would make everyones journey that bit easier? A quick look around this forum shows plenty of cases where cyclists jump up and down when a car driver does something stupid or inconsiderate, so why should it be different if a cyclist screws up?

 

[summerdays]

Well I think there are two separate points to the OP although they probably both stem from the same reason - the cyclist is not very confident and possibly new to cycling. Starting slowly in the middle of the road suggests that ... though I must admit when I was at that stage I preferred starting right next to the kerb.

However using the lights whilst pushing the bike... no problem what so ever ... if I'm pushing my bike I'm a pedestrian and presumably they have provided lights there as it is difficult to cross at some times of day. I use one set of toucan lights and once across I join the road (there isn't any cycle path on the other side so I have to anyway).

 

[Alien8]

Flippin 'eck Debs, are you still concussed?

The lights - okay.

The rest of it - what's the problem (apart from inconveniencing you)?

... but I can see that a driver with a tendency to be anti-cyclist to start with could get a bit het up about it.

Yes - because such a driver would be brain-dead.