Tried to knock a bloke of his bike today

[Sh4rkyBloke]

My work here is done......

You do work, on here?? Wow, I come here to avoid doing work!

 

[downfader]

Missed most of this.. but will relate a story.

Sunday morning me and Bro were walking up East Street in southampton when I heard the telltale clicking of a rear hub behind me. I knew it wasnt on the road as its oneway back the other way. I look around, baring in mind the pavement is just wide enough at this point for me and my brother side by side, and see a lad of around late 20s trying to squeeze between us on his bike.

He wasnt going to take no for an answer so I stepped in the road and said out loud how rude I thought it was and then realised theres no way he'd hear me as he had these massive earphones on. I just shook my head at him and scowled. He must have got the message as he looked back 2 seconds later slightly sheepishly.

I'll admit there have been one or two times when I've fantasysed about pushing a pavement cyclist over, but they're usually a lot more agressive than this guy and I also always would regret hurting someone. I know an old boy got charged a few years back for pushing a young girl off hers. Common sense prevails and I thankfully cant bring myself to do it.

 

[NigC]

Memory of a (slightly) relevant story is coming back to when I was very young - maybe 6 or 7. It still makes me mad when I think about it

Like I say, I was very young and at that time had never cycled on a road. Anyway, me and another, slightly older friend, went to a local shop - 200 yards or so from home. Obviously we took our bikes and went on the path. We had nearly reached the shop (actually my friend had and I was a little behind), when out from their front garden pops an old guy. He physically stops me and forces (yes, forces) me to cycle on the road (we were on the wrong side, so I had to cross it) - he checked it was clear then gave me a push and said "there you go!". Needless to say, I was terrified and ended up in tears - worse still was I needed to get back across the road to the shop and the bastard was watching me! I remember I managed to cross the road again, but after that my memory has gone

I think it's fair to say, passifist as I am, if somebody did that to my daughter, I'd cheerfully break every bone in my hand while pounding thier head.

Damn! Now I'm in a bad mood

 

[Matthames]

I knocked a pavement cyclist off once, but it was his own stupid fault for riding on a narrow pavement.

I was walking along this pavement chatting to my friend, because I am deaf I tend to walk alongside people while talking to them so that I can lip read. This pavement cyclist come charging up behind us and tries to barge past, whilst on a mobile phone. The end result was that he ends up getting pwned by a wall and comes off.

 

[downfader]

Workmate of mine was in a market place (St Marys in southampton, all pavements) and said a cyclist went into his leg and came off landing on some poor blokes stall. Muppet stands up and starts moaning at my workmate "You deliberatley knocked me off" to which the stall owner replied something like "You're an idiot. Ride on the road, moron. You're going to pay for any damage"

What do they call this.. schadenfraude or something?

 

[DrSquirrel]

I'd rather stand my ground and let them knock themselves off... with a push you could be unlucky and they fall in just the wrong position etc.

 

[vbc]

Quite a lot of response to my original post!

Not particularly proud about having a go at the bloke but, like increased aggressive behaiviour towards cyclist on the road, pedestrians now suffer intimidation from road users who consider themselves further up the 'food chain'. So now you have pavements routinely used as car parks (with no objection from the police), cars & vans driving on pavements to get past traffic queues and as defacto cycle paths, whether designated as such or not. Cyclists have to be assertive on the road and pedestrians some times have to be assertive on the pavement.

Just sick and tired of being a target, whether I'm walking or cycling and feel justified in forcibly pointing out to the scrote that he was in the wrong.

And by the way, I cycle on the pavement when I'm riding my bike to work. In the first place where I join the busy A38 on an uphill slope and use a short stretch of pavement to get up to speed before joining the carriageway - seldom any pedestrians and will always slow down/give way if there are. In the second place, on a shared use cycle path to avoid a dangerous stretch of road.

 

[decca234uk]

Well done, it's time to make a stand against selfish individuals who think the world exists for them alone and have no respect for other people. You did however take a risk. It's his human right to ride on the path and nearly knock people flying.

 

[al78]

The rules also say you must have pedal reflectors and a rear reflector but most people don't.

Incorrect.

The rules say you must have pedal reflectors and a red rear reflector if you are riding during lighting up times.

 

[allen-uk]

Missus and me walking in a quiet side road. Young oik (12, 13 maybe) shoots past us on pavement, nearly knocking us over.

Unluckily for him, he turns into a house 50 yards up the road. Missus knocks on front door, tells his (turns out to be) mum what had happened. "JASON!" she bawls over her shoulder, apologising to us and gently closing front door, "JUST WAIT TILL I GET MY HANDS ON YOU..."

Allen.

 

[Cyclist33]

Incorrect.

The rules say you must have pedal reflectors and a red rear reflector if you are riding during lighting up times.

Yeeeeesss... That goes without saying (which is why I didn't) but it doesn't alter the point of my post.

Cyc

 

[mangaman]

Quite a lot of response to my original post!

Not particularly proud about having a go at the bloke but, like increased aggressive behaiviour towards cyclist on the road, pedestrians now suffer intimidation from road users who consider themselves further up the 'food chain'. So now you have pavements routinely used as car parks (with no objection from the police), cars & vans driving on pavements to get past traffic queues and as defacto cycle paths, whether designated as such or not. Cyclists have to be assertive on the road and pedestrians some times have to be assertive on the pavement.

Just sick and tired of being a target, whether I'm walking or cycling and feel justified in forcibly pointing out to the scrote that he was in the wrong.

And by the way, I cycle on the pavement when I'm riding my bike to work. In the first place where I join the busy A38 on an uphill slope and use a short stretch of pavement to get up to speed before joining the carriageway - seldom any pedestrians and will always slow down/give way if there are. In the second place, on a shared use cycle path to avoid a dangerous stretch of road.

vbc - there's a difference between assertiveness and violence. I had, coincidentally, a similar experience to you the same day.

I called him a Tosser - which he was and everyone around could hear. He didn't look happy but pushing someone off could cause serious injury.

I think you've slipped a bit down the moral high ground by admitted to pavement cycling daily on your commute as well - what's the difference?

I'd shout "Tosser" at you if you cycled up the pavement near the A38 as well

 

[summerdays]

I'd shout "Tosser" at you if you cycled up the pavement near the A38 as well

I even admit to occasionally cycling on the pavement just beside the A38 - for 4 m if that ... I want to turn right onto the A38 and then immediately 4 m later right off the A38 at a busy junction... instead I cycle on the pavement if winter, or on the grass beside in the winter time. And that particular bit I notice loads of cyclists doing the same... I have even requested that they put in a path/cycle path on the grass were there is a clear line showing how well the route across the grass is used ... about 400m long - note no pavement for the pedestrians on that side of the road at all.

There are parts of the A38 around here which are shared use (OK currently they are being dug up - surely that set of roadworks must be finished soon), and you would definitely meet more cyclists than pedestrians on them. So it probably depends on where vbc joins the A38 ... I'm still trying to work out where there is an uphill slope going inwards towards town...(lots of assumptions there) ... if its the one I think it could be then the pavements are more than wide enough at that point, but I'm really not sure where he is on about.

There are differences in how people can cycle on the pavement... some bits of pavement are wide and not really used by pedestrians whereas there are bits of the A38 for example near the old swimming baths on which there is so much shop over-spill onto the pavements, pedestrians etc that you would be mad to try and cycle on the pavement.

 

[allen-uk]

I think the truth is that you can behave like a pig when driving a car, or riding a bike (on roadway or pavement), or as a pedestrian, taking no notice of others around you.

However you are moving through the world, do so gently, treating all others with respect and kindness. (I suppose that includes calling them tossers sometimes).


A.

 

[mangaman]

I even admit to occasionally cycling on the pavement just beside the A38 - for 4 m if that ... I want to turn right onto the A38 and then immediately 4 m later right off the A38 at a busy junction... instead I cycle on the pavement if winter, or on the grass beside in the winter time. And that particular bit I notice loads of cyclists doing the same... I have even requested that they put in a path/cycle path on the grass were there is a clear line showing how well the route across the grass is used ... about 400m long - note no pavement for the pedestrians on that side of the road at all.

There are parts of the A38 around here which are shared use (OK currently they are being dug up - surely that set of roadworks must be finished soon), and you would definitely meet more cyclists than pedestrians on them. So it probably depends on where vbc joins the A38 ... I'm still trying to work out where there is an uphill slope going inwards towards town...(lots of assumptions there) ... if its the one I think it could be then the pavements are more than wide enough at that point, but I'm really not sure where he is on about.

There are differences in how people can cycle on the pavement... some bits of pavement are wide and not really used by pedestrians whereas there are bits of the A38 for example near the old swimming baths on which there is so much shop over-spill onto the pavements, pedestrians etc that you would be mad to try and cycle on the pavement.

I think that's a controversial line to take summerdays.

Either you cycle on the pavement illegally or you stick to the road.

However wide the pavement is, it's still wrong and if you do it you can hardly criticise other pavement cyclists (not aimed at you - but vbc)