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Small Rant: Drivers!!!!
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Great place to post this, on a thread where a load of cyclists have just been talking about their cycling experiences...
I have had a clubmate killed in broad daylight on a straight road by a motorist. Mowed him down and threw him 30 feet in the air. And seriously injured his pal who was off for months with his injuries and saw his pal die.
I'd say they were average cyclists and I'd never seen either of them run through zebra crossings either.
In fairness, I don't think any particular category of road user has the monopoly on being an @rsehole. Runners included
Oddly enough the only category of road/track/pavement users who haven't at one time or another caused me to take evasive action are runners/joggers all the rest have, including being deliberately driven at by a van driver. I cycle, drive a car and motorbike, so no user bias here.
I should add, most folk most of the time are fine and a cheery wave seems to help.
I ran a fair bit in the Canaries this year and every driver, without exception, was 100% courteous. Every one of them stopped if you looked like you were likely to cross the road, in fact a couple of times I wasn't going to cross but did so as the car had stopped for me!
A rep told me that it wasn't the law - cars had the right of way over pedestrians - it was just plain old courtesy. More laid back lifestyle contributing to a generally more patient population maybe? Whatever, it makes sense for someone clad in a tonne of metal too be considerate to someone clad in a few ounces of dri-fit. We just sometimes lack mutual consideration in this country, an appreciation of others interests, whether or not you appreciate them yourself. Thankfully its the exception not the rule, (but far too many exceptions I feel)
I run, I cycle (mainly in London), I walk, and I drive.
The vast majority of ill discipline with respect to road usage is easily from the cyclists. Without exception, every day I will see cyclists blatantly ignore road signals or fail to give way on zebra crossings.
There should however, be general greater tolerance from motorists, as the half tonne of steel is a potential killer.
In my experience, making eye contact be it on foot or on saddle, rather than assume I'm in the right is of little use: you only have to be unlucky once.
pedestrians (suicidal pavement-phobic runners aside) simply have to be careful since metal beats flesh and bone any day.
Drivers should be very careful because lets face it wannabe triathlete remnants are a bugger to clean out of your front grille, and anyway who wants points on their license and/or higher insurance quotes.
Interestingly both these scenarios should push Cyclists should be far more careful than they actually seem to be. Theories abound as to why but I suspect the answer involves 'stupidity.'
Dustin: I agree with making eye contact. It's that personal touch; they're much less likely to just run straight over you.
Even further down the pecking order for me whilst I'm running, are I-phone using walkers....I've scared the shit out of few of those!
Wrong, you need to check the form. No where does the official V11 say 'road tax'
You can prove anything with facts.
So you never notice the motorists that don;t observer ASL's or all those texting/on the net the moment that the traffic slows, or not observing box junctions, I could go on...
Or the pedestrians, engrossed in their headphones or phones that walk out without looking? Or fail to observe pedestrian crossing - ever tried riding through the junction by Camden tube? The pedestrians there are horrendous and that junction is opne of many in London where people cross at will.
I've lived and cycled in London so speak from experience. A lot of people are total dicks, their mode of transport is irrelevent, a dick on foot, will probably be a dick on a bike and be a dick when driving. The main problem with london is that there are several million people living i a space that would be crowded with half that number and to many people think they have priority over everyone else, that they have a right to get to where they are going quickest and will blame whoever suits their personal agenda and/or ideology for delaying them.
2wheels - I never said you don't get bad motorists, pedestrians or runners.
Perhaps I should have worded it that the greater percentage of ill discipline comes from cyclists.
I agree you get bad drivers, texting/on the phone, but they are in a minority. Ditto pedestrians not looking/walking out.
Every day without fail I see half a dozen cyclists go through red lights when there is the green man. Cars do not.
Try running through London, motorists by and large give way / let you cross - of course there are some exceptions.
As I put in the earlier post, I always try to make eye contact, getting somewhere 30 seconds quicker really is no big deal.
Pedestrians are fragile flesh and blood. Some of them are very stupid indeed but most are instinctively careful since they know they won't win an argument with a bus moving at speed.
Motorists can be terrible but on the whole have passed exams and are wary of getting points on their license / body fragments entangled in their front spoilers. That said a couple of tonnes of metal can be pretty lethal so best to give them a wide berth, just to give yourself some margin for error, like.
Cyclists are a funny one. On the one hand they are as weak and fleshy as pedestrians, so you'd expect them to be very careful indeed. However many of them have nothing but contempt for red lights, giving way and so on. THIS MAKES NO SENSE (see above re arguing with a bus).
Similarly, seeing a wannabe timetrialist ramming his carbon fibre cervelo and jawbone into a pedestrian's beer gut at 33kmh - even if he is wearing a Spurs shirt - is likely to cause actual bodilly harm both to him and the cyclist, and trash a perfectly usable bike, Yet this scenario is one that cyclists risk alarmingly often. THIS MAKES NO SENSE EITHER (even if its very funny).
I do want to buy a bike, and get into triathlon. However I like to think Id have the good sense not to confuse 'central london rush hour' with 'ideal timetrialing conditions.'
As has already been stated, there are a lot of idiots about, driving cars, riding bikes, and even wearing running shoes... I'm sure we could all come up with a ton of bad cyclist stories and even more bad driver stories... But given the lack of protection provided by a bike vs a car I would have thought that cyclist would be more careful, yet they seem to be the group that take the most risks.
Taxi Drivers are usually the safest.