Pushing a bicycle across the road when the light is red

[gentlegreen]

Any chance of an answer ?

 

[Crispy]

I find that quite insulting

Because your daughter got hit by an inconsiderate person running with their bike, you're condemming me for the same crime. When I'm on my bike, I'm a cyclist and a road user. I obey the laws of the road and am considerate of other road users. When I'm off my bike I'm a pedestrian and a pavement user. I obey the laws of the pavement and am considerate of other pavement users. When I'm walking my bike, I walk it, not run it.

I have been hit by inconsiderate people with pushchairs before, but I am not going to condemn all people with pushchairs.

 

[citygirl]

Any chance of an answer ?

yeah..grow up

 

[citygirl]

INconsideration is exactly what i was talking about..i said my bugbears were those..not that i'd knock a cyclist off if he tried to pass me, but if an INCONSIDERATE one did it, then i might be tempted to, yeah.

 

[Agent Sparrow]

crispy. my 4 year old was injured by a cyclist who decided to do exactly what you say you do at the lights...and he walked straight into her on the path, didn't see her, cus he was too busy watching to see if he'd beaten the cars and was able to get off as fast as he could on the other side. if i'd taken her pushchair for a wander in the road, because i couldn't be bothered to wait for the lights to go, then i'd be putting her and other road-users at risk. (a pram can do as much damage as a bike.) so why is it ok for bikes to be pushed across when there IS an alternative...to just wait...blimey...you're a patronising fuck. i hadn't realised this before.

Tbh I think Crispy is being the voice of calm reason on this issue and not patronising at all. Obviously you've had a bad experience with a cyclist, which I am sorry for (and I hope your daughter wasn't too badly hurt), but if you think he's being patronising on what he's posted here I suspect it's more you're misinterpreting his posts because of your bad experience with this one cyclist.

As for what else I think you're saying about cyclists going up to the lights past stationary cars (whether they then dismount to cross the road or not), surely this is just one of the advantages of being on a bike. Bike's have certain advantages over cars (the ability to get off and push or to overtake stationary traffic when there is room being a couple of them), and that's why many people use them. Cars have advantages too, one being that car drivers don't have to breathe in other people's fumes whilst they're waiting at lights. Thus I think any car drivers bemoaning a cyclist overtaking traffic to wait at the lights, in front of everyone's exhaust, is really just being a bit bitter cos they can't do the same.

On the subject of pushing a bike over the lights, tbh this is how I often do my right turns coming out of my place at work. It's much safer for exposed me on a bike than to actually try and turn right on a road with some pretty aggressive car drivers at rush hour.

 

[citygirl]

I find that quite insulting

Because your daughter got hit by an inconsiderate person running with their bike, you're condemming me for the same crime. When I'm on my bike, I'm a cyclist and a road user. I obey the laws of the road and am considerate of other road users. When I'm off my bike I'm a pedestrian and a pavement user. I obey the laws of the pavement and am considerate of other pavement users. When I'm walking my bike, I walk it, not run it.

I have been hit by inconsiderate people with pushchairs before, but I am not going to condemn all people with pushchairs.

INconsideration is exactly what i was talking about..i said my bugbears were those..not that i'd knock a cyclist off if he tried to pass me, but if an INCONSIDERATE one did it, then i might be tempted to, yeah.

INconsiderate people are everywhere this is true. and if it's not you, then i wasn't TALKING about you, was i? *you lot* tar as many car drivers with the same brush as we do cyclists. but if you know it doesn't *apply* to you, then it shouldn't be a problem...

 

[tommers]

INconsideration is exactly what i was talking about..i said my bugbears were those..not that i'd knock a cyclist off if he tried to pass me, but if an INCONSIDERATE one did it, then i might be tempted to, yeah.

fucking hell. you might knock a cyclist off their bike if you thought they passed you INCONSIDERATELY?

really?

that's utterly mental. you do realise that?

have I misunderstood? what would you use to knock them off?

 

[Sigmund Fraud]

INconsideration is exactly what i was talking about..i said my bugbears were those..not that i'd knock a cyclist off if he tried to pass me, but if an INCONSIDERATE one did it, then i might be tempted to, yeah.

Fuck you.

 

[Crispy]

No need for abuse

 

[Sigmund Fraud]

Why the fuck not?

 

[Agent Sparrow]

So what's the definition of not inconsiderate and allowed to pass, and inconsiderate and worthy of being the recipient of fantasies of knocking them over?

 

[Crispy]

*shrug* doesn't help anyone. but this is a cylcists vs. motorists thread, so what can you do eh?

 

[tommers]

*shrug* doesn't help anyone. but this is a cylcists vs. motorists thread, so what can you do eh?

neither does knocking people off bikes if the way they pass your car offends you.

My ribs are still fucked from being knocked off 3 years ago. I still hurt from being knocked off last month. If I thought somebody did that deliberately then abuse would be the least they could expect.

 

[Agent Sparrow]

neither does knocking people off bikes if the way they pass your car offends you.

My ribs are still fucked from being knocked off 3 years ago. I still hurt from being knocked off last month. If I thought somebody did that deliberately then abuse would be the least they could expect.

Tbf, I hoped she was talking about the fantasy of knocking them over.

If she was actually talking about real temptation...

 

[tommers]

*shrug* doesn't help anyone. but this is a cylcists vs. motorists thread, so what can you do eh?

nah. it's various cyclists vs one particular motorist.

Actually, I drove to work today so I'm a motorist too.

 

[Sigmund Fraud]

*shrug* doesn't help anyone. but this is a cylcists vs. motorists thread, so what can you do eh?

No, its a twats versus reasonable people thread.

 

[Agent Sparrow]

Actually, I drove to work today so I'm a motorist too.

Which hopefully makes you a better cyclist, and vice versa. I only started cycling a few months ago, I reckon it's made me more thoughtful of cyclists as a pedestrian. Having experience of different roles in the road hopefully makes people more considerate of other road users. That's not to say that some cyclists don't act like twats, but then some pedestrians and motorists also act like twats. Can't change humanity.

 

[citygirl]

No, its a twats versus reasonable people thread.

reasonable being to cross the RED light on foot, just cus it makes them a pedestrian. (as herbsman was suggesting was ok in his original post, no mention of using footpath in a careful considerate manner. k?!)

yeah, it was more fantasy than actual fact, cus i'm not that much of an inconsiderate twat...but the reaction was worth it ...you boys(and girls) play birds of a feather now. i have to go do important stuff, right

 

[Paulie Tandoori]

What, you never cross the road on the red man?

I quite often use the 'dismount, cross on the green man, remount' tactic. It would be equally safe for me to trundle over the junction riding my bike, but that's illegal (and it really pisses other people off) so I don't.

I think that is the main reason not to encourage cyclists to cycle through ped priority lights as a rule of thumb. I think herbsman has got a point to a degree but the trouble is that some cyclists are completely selfish fuckwits who endanger the health of other cyclists and peds. And unfortunately, as has been evidenced here to a degree, that means all cyclists being regarded as pondlife who are fair game to be knocked off.

 

[tommers]

yeah, it was more fantasy than actual fact, cus i'm not that much of an inconsiderate twat...

yeah. you come across as being really considerate of others.

 

[High Voltage]

I was under the impression that, even whilst pushing a push bike certain traffic laws applied. eg pushing a bike across a zebra crossing

BUT

if picked up and carried, the bike became a parcel and the laws no longer applied.

I'd question the take on laws not applying if not being ridden or driven, what about being pissed and sleeping in the back of a car, I'm sure that I've heard of people being done for DD in cases like this, because they had the keys on them.

But I may be wrong.

 

[citygirl]

how not so, then? just because i could *imagine* doing it. doesn't make me inconsiderate in the slightest...DOING it would. does it make you inconsiderate to imagine cheating on your other half? so long as you don't DO it. right?

 

[Biddlybee]

I was under the impression that, even whilst pushing a push bike certain traffic laws applied. eg pushing a bike across a zebra crossing

No. If you're not on your bike and are pushing it, then you're a pedestrian pushing a bike, simple as that

Imagine if someone had broken their bike or were hurt so couldn't cycle the rest of their journey... would they not be allowed to wheel their bike home on the pavement and across a zebra crossing?

 

[Agent Sparrow]

I was under the impression that, even whilst pushing a push bike certain traffic laws applied. eg pushing a bike across a zebra crossing

BUT

if picked up and carried, the bike became a parcel and the laws no longer applied.

Do you mean crossing to the other side of the pavement at the crossing, or walking a bike over a crossing to continue on the road? If you meant the first one, then a prior post from DB would contradict that.

If you are a pedestrian pushing a bike the laws applicable to pedestrians (or the lack of them, in this context) apply to you.

(If you are a pedestrian pushing a car, likewise)

Traffic laws only apply to cars, bikes and other vehicles being driven or ridden.

However, if it is a commonly held belief that you have no right to cross a zebra crossing wheeling your bike across, this may explain why not 1 but 3 cars didn't stop for me at one the other day, with me dismounted from my bike and one foot firmly on the crossing (all giving me the right to cross from my understanding). The other explanation of course is that they were all being selfish cunts!

 

[mauvais]

then i should be going down the middle of the traffic with my shopping trolley, then, right? it has wheels don't it?


stupid MAN thinking, innit

Cars can go at 70mph, but on my bike I've only ever managed 36 downhill on a good day (today in fact), so cars should be limited to 36mph.

Either way, no overtaking me at any speed, ever, cos that wouldn't be equal.

I can't go on motorways, so let's get rid of those.

I can't fill up with petrol, at least not if I want to live, so I'm afraid that has to go too. Sorry.

Aces! Now everything's fair

 

[Crispy]

I heart mauvais tagline

 

[mauvais]

Hee! The board upgrades have allowed it back - it used to truncate the HTML, not the Unicode, which broke it

 

[Agent Sparrow]

I however am distressed that mauvais only considers themselves worth enough to have two stars out of 5.

 

[mauvais]

Well, we can't all have praise and recognition immediately heaped upon us. Just you wait for my new solo album which critics have called 'mechanically recovered' and 'with the disembodied voice of a startled goose'

 

[co-op]

this really pisses me off as a car driver..one rule for us - another for the cyclists. same for motorbikes. since when as it anywhere near fair that they get to drive down between 2 lanes of traffic to be first off at lights?

why can't they wait at the lights like the rest of us? one of my BIGGEST bug-bears...

everyone should use the roads in consideration of ALL road users, surely??!

citygirl, if you want cyclists to stay in lane then you are going to have to yield a lane to cyclists all the time, not just when you want it (ie when you are sitting in traffic and getting all wound up). I sometimes think I'd swap the right to coast down between lanes for the right to be treated with respect in my lane. But I ain't having the worst of both worlds.

My guess is that you are the sort of person who wouldn't show much respect or patience for a cyclist cycling in the middle of a lane...

Your fantasies about knocking a cyclist down are pretty sick by the way.