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https://www.mumsnet.com/Talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/3580438-Cyclists-and-the-Highway-Code
Huh. Just Huh.
And Wow, too.
So now we have to be careful not to knock cyclists over, when driving past them.
Of course, they don't have to be careful not to knock anyone over when they go through red traffic lights, do they?
As if they need more legislation in their favour. It absolutely enrages me.
It's a hopefully clearly trolling take...
TBF, she/he is getting a fairly universal kicking.
Most of the responses are refreshingly rational. Makes a nice change.
Bunch of loons on that forum.
Yeah, proud of (most) Mumsnetters!
As an aside, every time I read Mumsnet I'm amused by the total absence of a swear filter. Whilst other forums have the most ridiculous filter to protect teh wiminz and kidz.
Bunch of loons on that forum.
Can I clarify if you mean STW or Mumsnet?
I am not clicking that link! A few months ago there was a link to something similar and I made the mistake of looking around the forum, I lost about 3 hours and I now think most mums are batshit crazy.
HGH.
As an aside, every time I read Mumsnet I’m amused by the total absence of a swear filter.
I'm convinced Mumsnet has a swear-bot that just adds the effin and jeffin into whatever gets posted.
Whilst other forums have the most ridiculous filter to protect teh wiminz and kidz.
I just did the sensible things like: "Peaks" => "Peak" and "gnar" => "mildly exciting". 😉
Think the sub forum is called "sporner corner", it's the most disgusting forum I've ever read. It's amazing.
Sporner Corner?
What does that even mean?!
No idea, it's where they talk about (and post videos of) cysts/spots/infected body parts etc.
It's the fact that cyclists run people over and kill them
Come on, you know we all* do it guys.
*the cyclists among us.
Think the sub forum is called “sporner corner”, it’s the most disgusting forum I’ve ever read. It’s amazing
I bloody love that sub forum 🙂
There's some exceptional confirmation bias going on there, isn't there.
Claim: "98% of cyclists run red lights."
Actual figure: 5.9% of cyclists run red lights (with motorists at 5.6%).
Claim: “98% of cyclists run red lights.”
Actual figure: 5.9% of cyclists run red lights (with motorists at 5.6%).
Realllllllllyyyýy !!
I know the danger cyclists represent when they do the "carefull look both ways before" they jump the lights is minimal. But that 5.9% is absolutely a load of rubbish. Come to Cardiff its almost 100% amongst the just riding a bike rather than the commited cyclist group. I couldn't care less if cyclists safely go through red lights (I do on occasion) but to say only a tiny percentage do is 😂😂😂😂😂
P.s
Around here anyway, other places might differ.
It always amazes me that threads on Mumsnet generally seem to stand up for cyclists a lot better and more regularly than the threads here.
It always amazes me that threads on Mumsnet generally seem to stand up for cyclists a lot better and more regularly than the threads here.
Something to do with the testosterone levels?
My favourite argument against cycling was "do you realise how much those bikes cost?". I assume it was meant as "don't feel sorry for them, they aren't cycling because they can't afford a car, they just do it to annoy car drivers". This was from a woman in a Mercedes SUV.
Yeah, I'm forever knocking cars over when I get to lights.
My favourite argument against cycling was “do you realise how much those bikes cost?”
When our work was setting up the cycle to work scheme, someone in senior HR suggested that nobody needs a £500 bike to commute on. The riposte was that she doesn't need a Q7...
that 5.9% is absolutely a load of rubbish. Come to Cardiff its almost 100%
The figure comes from a (frankly questionable) survey done by Auto Express a few years ago. It was done at Highbury Corner, they counted 974 cyclists 58 of whom jumped the light. That was 5.955% when I went to school.
I don't doubt the figure may be higher or lower at a given different junction, it's hardly a rigorous survey (though still more rigorous than your anecdote where you've already cherry-picked "some cyclists" from the total) and there's no reason to believe that that one junction is representative of the country as a whole. I do sincerely doubt however that it's "almost 100%" wherever you are.
Zero cyclists jump red lights here (Shetland)!
We have no light controlled junctions and the few pedestrian crossings we have hardly ever actually work lol!
When our work was setting up the cycle to work scheme, someone in senior HR suggested that nobody needs a £500 bike to commute on.
I totally agree with them. £500 gets you bugger all these days. £1k minimum.
So, if the figure (red light jumpers) is 5.9% in a part of London, then countrywide it must be something really negligible!
Bastards!
I wonder actually whether London has a larger-than-average percentage of regular actual cyclists, commuters who have a degree of road awareness, whereas elsewhere in the country there's a greater number of kids-on-bikes and other casual riders. It wouldn't surprise me if outside of London the incidence of RLJing as a percentage of riders were actually higher.
Purely speculating, OFC.
I've just signed up on Mumsnet to reply to that thread, incidentally. It came as no surprise whatsoever to me that the username "Cougar" was already taken.
It came as no surprise whatsoever to me that the username “Cougar” was already taken.
Drac will lend you his FunSponge login if you ask nicely.
I am fairly sure "funsponge" has a different meaning on Mumsnet.
That t-shirt is excellent. Where can I get one?
In the past 🙂
I might do a re-run if I can find a reliable on-demand T-shirt printer. The one I used for the original run went under, and when I tried a second one I had to pull the whole thing rapidly because they were a total shambles.
Bez, perhaps you could produce it in collaboration with Sick!
Or as seems to be the current trend "Bez X Sick!"
I am fairly sure “funsponge” has a different meaning on Mumsnet.
Goes in the penis beaker, right?
Sporner Corner?
What does that even mean?!
It means that they can't spell "spawner"
I’d just like to say that this thread and the latter stages of the Sick! one have thoroughly reinvigorated the forum for me.
I am fairly sure “funsponge” has a different meaning on Mumsnet.
Thanks. I've just had a monumental flashback to the story in "This is Going to Hurt: Diaries of a Junior Doctor" about the lady of the night losing a sponge up, er, her... chuff.
I won't spoil the punchline for anyone who hasn't read it.
Bez, perhaps you could produce it in collaboration with Sick!
I’ll take all the pre-orders you can throw at me.
I always thought a good slogan for a cycling t shirt would be:
The only time I get treated as traffic..
...is at a red light
The riposte was that she doesn’t need a Q7…
Is there a government funded scheme for discounted Q7s in tick? Deets please!
I quite enjoyed the semi-hysterical rant from one person terrified that a cyclist filtering past them in slow traffic would result in a fine and three points. Disguised, obviously, in a concern that a bike clipping their car might damage it or injure them.
I assume the same people don’t walk close to parked cars in car parks.
the lady of the night losing a sponge up, er, her… chuff.
IIRC 'sponge' doesn't convey 95% of the true horror of that story does it? Let's bow our heads for Pontypandy's finest.
Good video linked in that thread
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/video/2019/may/09/do-cyclists-think-theyre-above-the-law-and-does-it-even-matter-video
Cyclists should just be allowed to go through red lights anyway.
In the US *everyone* can make a right on a red (and yet the sky doesn't fall in). And they have laws in a few states allowing cyclists to go through a Stop sign or a red if it's safe to do so. Again, the sky doesn't fall in as a result.
Meanwhile car drivers seem to be perfectly OK with parking on double-yellows, and right on junctions, not to mention doing the overtake-and-immediately-turn-left manoeuvre - all of which are actually dangerous.
So I think the real reason car drivers get cross with cyclists jumping red lights is that they're sat in their little tin boxes, destroying the environment, making themselves unhealthy, breathing shitty air. And who wouldn't get cross with that - we're just a convenient excuse.
It's bullshit.
Good video that. 👍
Who's "Tojv"?
So I think the real reason car drivers get cross with cyclists jumping red lights is that they’re sat in their little tin boxes, destroying the environment, making themselves unhealthy, breathing shitty air. And who wouldn’t get cross with that – we’re just a convenient excuse.
Sat in their boxes, obeying the law.
Well, the ones that matter.
This obviously excludes the ones about running red lights (when they want to), speeding, staying off bike lanes and bus lanes... etc. etc.
- Parking in cycle lanes
- Speeding
- Clogging up the roads
- Overtaking on narrow roads with bikes in both directions
- Spewing out NOx and particulates (just because you can't see it doesn't mean it's not happening)
- Driving into me because you weren't paying attention
When car drivers stop doing those things perhaps we can talk about cyclists jumping red lights.
Did you mean to post that on the Mumsnet forum?
Oh, yes, sorry.
And relax.
I just get a bit tired of being hassled by self-entitled car drivers. On road that has room for one car, parked cars along one side, I was overtaken yesterday while there was another a cyclist coming the other way.
I guess they figured if they went fast enough it would be fine; er, no, it wasn't. I passed them about 15 seconds later at the next junction when we caught up with the other people clogging up the roads. What absolute numbskulls drivers are.
I bet car drivers don't even pay road tax.
Overtaking a cyclist whilst texting
Overtaking a cyclist when there's not a gap in front to pull into so simply moving left while level with the cyclist
Being so oblivious to the 50 lumen flashing rear light, the bright yellow shoes, the bright yellow gloves and the orange gilet that you have to lock your front wheels to avoid driving into the back of a cyclist
I'm that cyclist but someone on a bike jumped a red light so it's all fair.
Can you tell I am about sick of absolute throbbers behind the wheel treating me like I don't matter or even exist?
In the US *everyone* can make a right on a red (and yet the sky doesn’t fall in).
Different situation. In most of the US the buildings are way back from the roads and there's good sight all around you. In the cases where there isn't, the junctions are set up with filters or 'no turn on red' signs which are relatively common.
In the UK, the default is no left turn on red, but in the cases where you can safely do it you get filters. So it's not that different, it's just the default that is different because of the general environment.
Who’s “Tojv”?
never heard of him. What context?
Aha. My mistake, as you were.
Went to mumsnet. Didn’t like it.
Sweary Cougs was weirding me out. 😉
Ignore. Linking failure.
I'm never sweary.
I don't consider myself a cyclist. Just someone who loves riding bikes and does it a lot.
On my commute each way I jump 19 red lights, ride 4 pavements and hop on and off a few more and on the way in I ride one quiet one way street (Lane) the wrong way.
All of the above is done safely. No one is ever in danger from my actions and no one is inconvenienced in the slightest.
**** blindly obeying the law when the law is stupid, ill thought out and actually more dangerous than not obeying it.
Cycle lane planning is a complete joke here and quite a few are just plain dangerous if you stick to the advised cycle lanes/filters etc.
From every thread I've ever seen there Mums net is far more honest and fair than this place. Not that I've bothered looking at the link. Why would I care?
TBH the swear filter here is pretty ridiculous considering there are no children on the forum.
Whether the moderators here swear or not is irrelevant.
**** blindly obeying the law when the law is stupid, ill thought out and actually more dangerous than not obeying it.
Says every motorist doing 35 in a 20 because <insert ill-thought-out justification here>...
I'm a woman and I'm ashamed of the way they (over on mumsnet) talk about stuff they know nothing about.
Pop them all on a bike is my opinion and see how they get on.
Oh and as mentioned above we are people who ride bikes.
there are no children on the forum
Do you have some sort of device for detecting children on the internet?
I don't actually care what anyone else says 13thfloormonk
nothing about my ride is ill thought out.
how is it absurd Bez
No children read STW
Look who it's full of and what they talk about. Why would a child be interested in anything they type?
That's right.
They wouldn't.
The swear filter is absurd.
no other bike furum I use has one.
No other forum is as constantly "offended" as here though. I honestly can't imagine how some of the worst for it on here even manage to get through a single day in real life.
borrowed from another forum but I read it today and it seems to fit with this thread:
Nick Day of Chris Knott Insurance said an analysis of his firm's crash data showed that cyclists make less than half the number of insurance claims as non-cyclists.
13% of the firm’s insured drivers make at least one claim per year, found Day, but this fell to 6% for cyclists who were insured on the firm’s cyclist-driver policy.
Day believes cyclists tend to be more aware of their surroundings than motorists.
...and just for the sake of clarity, anytime anyone ever raises issues relating to compulsory helmet wearing, insurance, hi-viz, whatever you can guarantee that they aren't interested in promoting safer cycling. They simply want cyclists off the road.
The swear filter is absurd.
no other bike furum I use has one.
No other forum is as constantly “offended” as here though. I honestly can’t imagine how some of the worst for it on here even manage to get through a single day in real life.
You’re upset that you can’t put some rude words on this particular corner of the internet, and you’re dissing other people for getting upset too easily?
I’m never sweary.
Yeah but what if we put two of you in a room?
Does 13 still count as a child? Because, if so, I know for sure there's at least 1 on here fairly regularly...
Yeah but what if we put two of you in a room?
What, there are 2 cougars??
I wonder who would win in a cat fight, Cougar or Panther???
I don’t actually care what anyone else says 13thfloormonk
nothing about my ride is ill thought out.
When you run a red light and get hit you may change your view.
Only joking, of course you won't you are awesome at all times. Everybody knows that.
I wonder who would win in a cat fight, Cougar or Panther???
Cougar would win easily.
What, there are 2 cougars??
I understand they are planning an expedition to climb the twin peaks of Mt Killimanjaro later this summer.
No children read STW
Can you show me your stats for that please?
no other bike furum I use has one.
Then **** off and use those. You're long overdue your 85th lifetime banning so wind your neck in.
No other forum is as constantly “offended” as here though. I honestly can’t imagine how some of the worst for it on here even manage to get through a single day in real life.
Because being offended doesn't stop you living life?
You don't really think that when we point out someone's said something bad, we go and cry in a dark room all day after that?
No Bez. I'm not upset. I'm a big boy.
I just find it absurd.
I did say.
The red light thing is tricky. There are quite a few roads near me where visibility is much better when you’re on a bike. You can stop further forwards than a car and are generally sat a bit higher. I don’t jump lights, but often think why am I sat here when I can see nothing is coming. That’s a long winded way of saying I can understand why some cyclists jump red lights.
Cougar.
My neck isn't wound in or out.
Calm down and stop throwing your weight around.
It's not your forum so please stop taking what others think about it personally.
If it really does make you feel big go ahead and ban me and everyone else who has different viewpoint to your own.
Kerley.
I already said every red light I jump I do so safely so I'm not sure how you think it's ever going to get me "hit".
Any 13yr old who hasn't ever experienced swearing is leading an extremely sheltered upbringing.
I have to say that @geex comes across as the most ill-mannered, self-centred, condescending prat on here. I thought, giving him the benefit of doubt, it might just be an internet persona but the post above about red light jumping indicates otherwise.
Assuming the post wasn't just trolling then he's doing all cyclists a disservice.
Any 13yr old who hasn’t ever experienced swearing is leading an extremely sheltered upbringing.
But that doesn’t mean it’s good business sense to host a forum full of effing and jeffing.
My 9 year old’s been exposed to swearing. That doesn’t mean I speak in front of him the way I do down the pub.
Why do you feel it’s important for 13 year olds to read sweary messages from you?
In the US *everyone* can make a right on a red (and yet the sky doesn’t fall in).
There are a fair number of places where that is true. But you do have to stop first. If it goes wrong the turner is more likely to be found at fault. They also quite sensible put in filter lanes with yield signs so right (in their case) turners aren't controlled at all by the lights. It all works pretty well. Except they tend to ignore cyclists and pedestrians. You pretty much have to walk out in front of a car to get them to (you hope) yield to you, as they are required to do.