Insane and Thuggish Cyclist

Moflojo

A couple of weeks ago I witnessed a messenger roaring at pedestrians for daring to cross the road in front of him, his warning message was "I'm not f**king stopping!", screamed at the top of his lungs.

It seemed entirely innappropriate and the guy really came across as a total numpty.

The incident sparked a memory of an incident in the UK a few years back where a 'serious' cyclist killed a schoolgirl. As far as I recall the cyclist was heard to shout "Move because I'm not stopping!" just before he hit the girl.

Link to the story

Chill out on the roads, whether you're cycling for a living or not.

Icyseanfitz

kona wrote: »

Hahahaha this thread is great.

FWIW Ill shout at anything I think is going to potentially cause me to crash, cars an old women included(Im sure the aul one would rather a roar than a pedal up the ass).

For all the heroic car drivers out there, I still have to meet one, nearest I get is shouting....which I cant hear....earphones (hehehe)

my god your a mad man :eek: bloody earphones are a one way ticket to a face full of car didnt you know :P (im sorry mods) this is a friday thread and yet its not friday hmmm

J Madone

Can you tell us when these incidents occurred ?
It's a bit vague on when they happened

Feu

so is shouting at a motorist/other road user ever acceptable?

tomasrojo sent me that cycle craft "safe cycling" leaflet, and it says:

You have a right to use the road – So don’t be afraid to reasonably assert your rights, however try not to be too pushy or self righteous either


what is reasonably asserting your rights?

kona

Icyseanfitz wrote: »

my god your a mad man :eek: bloody earphones are a one way ticket to a face full of car didnt you know :P (im sorry mods) this is a friday thread and yet its not friday hmmm

I know, I just cannot live without the adrenaline of knowing one of my senses is pre occupied and useless. When that buzz wear off I dunno what I might do, maybe tinted lens on my oakleys!

Im such a Rebel!

Icyseanfitz

kona wrote: »

I know, I just cannot live without the adrenaline of knowing one of my senses is pre occupied and useless. When that buzz wear off I dunno what I might do, maybe tinted lens on my oakleys!

Im such a Rebel!

for sure its deadly my man, being able to hear that car going 80 mph into the back of you will save your life, oh god bless mtb's i only have to deal with road users for about 5 mins tops (unless im driving) until i get to my local trails and then its just walkers.....who fear me and my red faced two wheeling shenanigans

Moreofthatjazz

Beasty wrote: »

Final warning - cut out such generalisations

Thanks

Beasty

Apologies, that was tongue in cheek... just trying to point out the futility of shouting at a sealed tin can on wheels, they will not hear... better off not being in that position in the first place... as for this thread, i'm out... my new years resolution was not to get into shouting matches, on the internet or otherwise...

Joe10000

Joe10000 wrote: »

I spend a lot of time in these 3 places so will keep an eye out for him, if I get a clear sight of him should I take the shot ?

I meant the camera shot.

Lumen

Moflojo wrote: »

A couple of weeks ago I witnessed a messenger roaring at pedestrians for daring to cross the road in front of him, his warning message was "I'm not f**king stopping!", screamed at the top of his lungs....The incident sparked a memory of an incident in the UK a few years back where a 'serious' cyclist killed a schoolgirl. As far as I recall the cyclist was heard to shout "Move because I'm not stopping!" just before he hit the girl.

Aside from the morality of this stuff, these clowns are presumably derailling any subsequent legal defence.

07Lapierre

kona wrote: »

I know, I just cannot live without the adrenaline of knowing one of my senses is pre occupied and useless. When that buzz wear off I dunno what I might do, maybe tinted lens on my oakleys!

Im such a Rebel!

Real rebels dont wear helmets!! ( no lets not go there)

Holyboy

Hmm,as a general road user,both pushbike and motorbike I can see both sides as I presume most of us can,there are some bad drivers out there for sure but shouting and hitting their cars isnt going to make them drive any better,i do have to say though a large portion of cyclists dont seem to think the rules of the road apply to them,im seeing them jump red lights and not use hand signals every day,both against the law! And no bicycles dont have horns BUT they are supposed to have a bell!

seamus

Feu wrote: »

what is reasonably asserting your rights?

99% of the time, this is something done passively by occupying the centre of the lane of junctions and ensuring that you're never squeezed in against the edge at roundabouts, and so on. Also looking directly at a driver waiting to turn left or right in front of you can often save your skin. These are non-confrontational, non-adversarial methods of saying, "I am here and I have a right to be here".

The whole thing is a lot easier and lot less stressful if you go around with a zen-like calm. One thing that all road users must accept, but very few road users can, is that you cannot change anyone else's behaviour. Nor should you even attempt to.
You can only affect your own behaviour, therefore you should adjust your behaviour to maximise your own safety. A shout is only necessary when a beep would also be necessary - to alert another road user to the imminent danger of your presence.

Shouting at other road users, including pedestrians, aggressively banging on cars, banging off wing mirrors, blasting through crossing pedestrians are all the actions of people with attitude problems.
They'll try to tell you that they're teaching other road users a lesson, but in reality all the other people learn is, "Cyclists are scumbags". Funny that these people (presumably including our friend Dolanator) spend day in and day out getting stressed out and screaming at people, never realising that people's behaviour isn't changing and therefore they're screaming into a hurricane and not making a blind bit of difference.

Just realise two fundamental facts of life:

1. Everyone else is an idiot
2. There's nothing you can ever, ever do about that

And the whole cycling experience becomes a lot more pleasant.

Obviously it's hard to maintain your zen master composure when someone has side swiped you and you're lying on the ground, but the goal of cycling zen is to gain enough awareness of your surroundings that you can not only avoid your mistakes, but you can also avoid other people's mistakes, and hopefully collisions are kept to a minimum.

kona

07Lapierre wrote: »

Real rebels dont wear helmets!! ( no lets not go there)

Pffft Im so dam tough, that I wear a helmet out the door so my mammy is happy then take it off and let it sit on the bars while im cycling, in a two finger salute to Rules.

kona

Icyseanfitz wrote: »

for sure its deadly my man, being able to hear that car going 80 mph into the back of you will save your life, oh god bless mtb's i only have to deal with road users for about 5 mins tops (unless im driving) until i get to my local trails and then its just walkers.....who fear me and my red faced two wheeling shenanigans

well Im so cool I can hear a tune playing while im in the process of dying! hahaha, Those walkers love me, they keep trying to help me build trails by adding rockgardens on corners, and branches on straights, they re very considerate!

Icyseanfitz

kona wrote: »

well Im so cool I can hear a tune playing while im in the process of dying! hahaha, Those walkers love me, they keep trying to help me build trails by adding rockgardens on corners, and branches on straights, they re very considerate!

yup straights are no fun without some good ol obstacles in the way, i too find certain sneaky individuals very obliging on this front

DisasterIRL

My brother happened upon a similar cyclist, bus instead of fowl language he used a high pitched whistle which he used at anything that he didn't agree on, in a similar fashion, by the sounds of things, to the person in the OP

Cookie_Monster

Feu wrote: »

so is shouting at a motorist/other road user ever acceptable?

no, sure aren't you required to have a bell you can ding a ling at anyone. so much more noticeable and audible :pac::pac::pac:

kumate_champ07

LCRC_BAX wrote: »

I spotted a guy that fits that description riding this....

ironically that bike is quite gay

(nothing wrong with being gay)

kumate_champ07

GTDolanator wrote: »

how many hours a day are yous lot on the bike???

im on it 9-6 everyday i have more say in this matter than any of yous.
when your in the saddle as long as i am tou see strange and queer things on the road.So dont start commenting on things you no f-all about

I presume youre a courier, do you brake alot of the rules of the road, for instance do you stop at red lights?

kumate_champ07

Icyseanfitz wrote: »

my god your a mad man :eek: bloody earphones are a one way ticket to a face full of car didnt you know :P (im sorry mods) this is a friday thread and yet its not friday hmmm

my first accident in maybe 6 months happened last week because I found my mp3 player and decided it might be nice to use it on a sunny day, had the volume low-middle but got totally lost in this music =

a year ago I used to listen to techno and d&b mixes while cycling, it doesnt matter how fast or slow it is.

Icyseanfitz

kumate_champ07 wrote: »

my first accident in maybe 6 months happened last week because I found my mp3 player and decided it might be nice to use it on a sunny day, had the volume low-middle but got totally lost in this music =

a year ago I used to listen to techno and d&b mixes while cycling, it doesnt matter how fast or slow it is.

what happened? hope your alright, as for that song...well it would definitely put me to sleep techno and fast paced tunes is where its at for cycling

kumate_champ07

Icyseanfitz wrote: »

what happened? hope your alright, as for that song...well it would definitely put me to sleep techno and fast paced tunes is where its at for cycling

I was not hurt luckily , thanks.
I was cycling thru a quiet residential area in harolds cross taking a short cut and had to pull up my uderpants so my lower back wouldnt feel cold , came up to a junction and didnt even bother slowing or looking, I was at crusing speed tho, a car drove by and I stopped just in time, he was beeping his horn and slowed down. didnt notice till after he left but the impact twisted my quill stem+handlebars about 30degrees. dont think I damged his car anyway.

I immediately apologised because it was completely my fault, was angry with myself and funnily he pointed at my headphones and gestured that I was probably not aware of him. I put them straight into my bag and wont be using them again.

it's strange that this time it was my fault but the driver was more worried about me and didnt seem to care I was in the wrong, usually Ive come across complete arsesholes or maybe they were just in shock after knocking me down