Well this is new....

I've had torrents of abuse for giving way to ambulances with their lights on. People are weird.

People are weird.

A couple of weeks ago riding around my local park.

Riding past a chap with 2 kids around 3/4 years old

Chap starts shouting at me,  why are you following me and looking at my kids? - I hadn't noticed that I had passed him previously. I slowed down to answer him, I said, this is my way home - gets more agitated, just **** off will you he shouts. I rode off. First time anything like this has happened - he was clearly a disturbed person.

Maybe i’m just a better cyclist than you

I'm going to start using this on every ride.

I bet you even pay road tax.

I've had plenty of abuse for stopping at red lights.

Usually while driving in town and from the weapons grade twit in the car/van behind that thought they could go through a red light 5 seconds plus after it became one and after I've stopped smoothly in front.  I suspect phone use may also be a contributing factor in their dismay/late braking.

Either that or red/green colour blindness is on the rise.

Did you not realise the last highway code variation changes the priorities?

green = go

amber = accelerate

red = stop but only 2-3 seconds after turning red because there’ll still be clear road.

temporary traffic lights are only temporary if theres nothing coming.  Otherwise they’re temporary so dont apply.

at least thats what idiots round me seem to have adopted! 

Cycling along a wide cycle path one day. I see a cyclist approaching me. I keep to the left, he's going to pass me on my right. Absolutely no one else around.

As we approach each other and we're just about to pass each other the guy starts screaming at me "THE WORDS YOU'RE LOOKING FOR ARE 'THANK YOU'"

Absolutely no idea what he was on about

I got shouted at while riding along a cycle path by a sweaty man with his wife and kids. He walked across in front of me to stop me so I stopped. He pointed at the sign behind him and shouted "What the F***KIK%$($£) do you think THAT says?
"Cycle Path 382" I replied
He turned and looked at the sign and actually read it. I naively thought he might apologise but instead I got "Well F*'9385t539 piss off on your bike and stop harassing my family"

It's just other people.

there is a bridge in my commute where cyclists are supposed to dismount, many don't but I do my best. Was walking across it pushing my bike when a guy walking the other way screams "there is no cycling on this bridge!!!"  Maybe illiteracy is on the rise 

So commuting home from work this evening i got abuse for stopping at a red light??!?

****ing cyclists! Following rules and stopping at lights. Bastards!

??!?

Doing that should come with a lifetimes ban and all your bikes crushing.

there is a bridge in my commute where cyclists are supposed to dismount,

This one is an utter nonsense.  No legal standing to a "cyclists dismount" sign and often actually makes the situation worse if you do as pushing a bike you are wider than riding it.  I NEVER obey these signs - they should be cyclist give way or cyclists slow down or pedestrian priority or dangerous junction.  Not cyclist dismount

What they really mean is that the thing is poorly designed, poorly laid out and the person designing it has no understanding

Crossing on a toucan crossing, the lead car that stops beckons me over by putting down his window. Oldish bloke, mid 60's

M:Yeah, what is it ? I ask.

D:You cant ride across there, its a pedestrian crossing.

M:Yes I can, its in the highway code.

D:No it isnt, no it isnt.

M:Have you read the highway code ?, because it is.

D:You're wrong.

M: Fuvk off 4r5ehole.

What they really mean is that the thing is poorly designed, poorly laid out and the person designing it has no understanding

I agree but it's a lose-lose situation for the cyclist, ignore the sign and antagonise people, or make the situation worse by being wider and thus less efficient.

The half way house of one foot clipped in on the wrong side and hop along is a bit rubbish also!

No legal standing to a “cyclists dismount” sign

Well, which is it? Do you want me to stand or cycle? 🙂

The half way house of one foot clipped in on the wrong side and hop along is a bit rubbish also!

Well yeah, clips.

Otherwise, best way to get around a station concourse, till your fork shits itself and you go down in an oily heap (only happened once)

??!?

Doing that should come with a lifetimes ban and all your bikes crushing.

what about ¯\_(ツ)_/¯   or 🤷

better ???!

😉

I bet you even pay road tax.

Damn straight i do. and because it pays for the taffic lights i reserve my right to use them to thier fullest capacity.

The council have borrowed the existing road to make the cycle lane, either by moving the parking further into the road or removing it altogether.

Sometimes the bike lane is running behind a row of parked cars, sometimes next to the road.

Because the traffic lights were on the original pavement it always runs inside those. There are several junctions with traffic lights and at some points the lane is bollarded off here. Because there are no crossings at these junctions and  joining cars can't enter the bike lane, people don't tend to stop for those lights. There is no signage to the contrary and i'm not sure of the actual rules here but it sems to be the general consensus not to stop.

This one however was a definate pedestrian crossing over both the road and the bike lane. I can only think the gentleman was confusing this for one of the other junctions.

His partner was there too and she was shaking her head and looking at me like i'd just murdered a kitten. Riding off i had to question myself a bit.

But no, now i'm not going to claim i've never skipped a red light but i do draw the line at mowing people down

tjagain
Full Member

there is a bridge in my commute where cyclists are supposed to dismount,

This one is an utter nonsense. No legal standing to a “cyclists dismount” sign and often actually makes the situation worse if you do as pushing a bike you are wider than riding it. I NEVER obey these signs – they should be cyclist give way or cyclists slow down or pedestrian priority or dangerous junction. Not cyclist dismount

What they really mean is that the thing is poorly designed, poorly laid out and the person designing it has no understanding

I was told (by someone who worked for the council) that these get put up on bridges where the railing height does not meet some traffic regulation standard for minimum safe height. So if you topple over the edge, it's on you.

I ignore those signs as well.

Years ago I was told "You're not allowed to cycle here!!"
By a bloke who was sitting in a car parked on a cycle path.
I said "This is a cycle path, it's marked"
"Where ?"Says he
"Painted on the pathway under your car"

I was told (by someone who worked for the council) that these get put up on bridges where the railing height does not meet some traffic regulation standard for minimum safe height. So if you topple over the edge, it’s on you.

Reminds me, must send a message to Sustrans about the route 5/ Chester Greenway where it passes over the A494 by Deeside industrial estate. All the fences on the ramps to the bridge have been pushed over.

Years ago I was told “You’re not allowed to cycle here!!”<br />By a bloke who was sitting in a car parked on a cycle path.<br />I said “This is a cycle path, it’s marked”<br />“Where ?”Says he<br />“Painted on the pathway under your car”

It's very satisfying when you're not only right but can prove it and also show that the aggressor is a dick.

A bunch of us had a similar one a few years ago when a golfer came charging up to tell us that we shouldn't be where we were on the edge of the golf course, right next to a bridleway sign showing bikes, horses and walkers pointing across the golf course. We roundly mocked him. 😀 

Years ago I was told “You’re not allowed to cycle here!!”
By a bloke who was sitting in a car parked on a cycle path.
I said “This is a cycle path, it’s marked”
“Where ?”Says he
“Painted on the pathway under your car”

I was following a mini_oab over one of our bridges on the cycle path. An older gentleman blocked the way and then grabbed mini_oab's bars and was shouting that we shouldn't be riding on the bridge and path - and there were signs to tell us.
Cue me pointing out the blue signs and (freshly) painted marking, and asking did he mean the other bridge in town which has a low rail and narrow so has 'please dismount' signs?
He wandered off swearing at himself for being a muppet!

red = stop but only 2-3 seconds after turning red because there’ll still be clear road.

This will bite sooner or later. I'm seeing an increasing set of lights set to change simultaneously, particularly on motorway roundabouts. As one side switches to red the other goes red-amber instantaneously. The one at the Prestwich M60 junction does it, it used to be part of my commute and I'd see people almost get their card punched on a near daily basis. Watching cyclists push their luck is particularly heart-stopping.

temporary traffic lights are only temporary if theres nothing coming. Otherwise they’re temporary so dont apply.

"They're probably broken."

I have to be quite honest and will sound like a DM reading nut job here, a lot of cycle commuters really annoy me when I am also cycling. 

I get annoyed at the crowd who have to get to the cycle box at a red light at all costs even when there are like 3 cars queued, and then proceed to bimble along at like 10kph. WHY? You are just holding everyone up, and I can guarantee a lot of those drivers will be waiting for the first opportunity to pass you dangerously.

Had an experience today on my traffic light riddled route where two folk insisted on being in front of me at all times, even though they were going incredibly slowly. Lights would turn green and I would overtake them straight away...until I got to the next traffic lights and 30 seconds later up they trot and weedle their way into the very front of the cycle box. Can't you just stay behind the very small amount of cars? The phases are looooooong, it's not like you'll miss it from 20 metres out!

And then there are the lot who zig zag in and out between parked cars spaced a couple car lengths apart, without looking behind. Just hold your line, you will get hit one day by someone on their phone! You are not magnetically attached to a point 6 inches from the curb.

Sorry for my slightly unrelated rant. Bike commuting is fantastic and more people should be doing it, but you have to take some common sense with you when you leave the door!

Had an experience today on my traffic light riddled route where two folk insisted on being in front of me at all times, even though they were going incredibly slowly.

You get this in cars also. People who want to drive slower than you, in front of you. It is frankly weird.

As ever though, the common denominator is "people."

The cycle boxes on junctions are there so that young and old cyclists and slow cyclists can ride across the junction in primary without *s in cars blazing past. I use them every day with my five and seven year old. Today we stopped up the road a little and waited for the light sequence to go red before filtering to the cycle box past the stopped traffic. Some dick in a taxi had edged half into the box on the red light, probably to make it a little more hostile without actually taking all the space. By the time the lights changed there were probably 10 cyclists of all ages waiting. It feels far safer taking primary while everyone is stopped than trying to edge out into the lane for your right turn or to safely cross the junction while impatient *heads in cars and vans are somehow desperate to get in front. Hopefully sometime soon that particular junction will get tightened up and a cyclops setup added around the outside like the other light-controlled junction on our school run.

what about ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ or 🤷

better ???!

No 😀

I have a toucan crossing on my commute and pedestrians completely ignore the bike/pedestrian segregation. I occasionally politely point this out to them and the normal reaction is hostility. Many just have no concept of bikes having their own space. Last Summer an extended family group was waiting at the crossing an the oldest male stepped out straight in front of me on my bike when the crossing lights went green and walked diagonally across the crossing. I scooted around him without him noticing me - he was staring into space - and received a load of shouts from his companions about being dangerous and riding on a pedestrian crossing. I pointed out the large outlines of bikes on my half of the crossing and the fact that the green light showed the shape of a bicycle and just received more abuse. I wonder if they would have abused a car driver in the same way if the old buffer was doddering about in the middle of a road.

temporary traffic lights are only temporary if theres nothing coming. Otherwise they’re temporary so dont apply.

TBH, if they're short enough that I can see the opposite light and there's nothing coming  I go through on red. In my van or on bike. 

Oh, unless they're 3 way controls. Too risky then. 

I have a toucan crossing on my commute and pedestrians completely ignore the bike/pedestrian segregation.

I have some sympathy: pedestrians aren't traffic yet some infrastructure asks them to behave as if they are, with predictable results.