Cyclist ignores red light, gets hit, driver is prosecuted...

[Halb]

Tannedbaldhead said:

I had a lorry driver claim I had damaged his load by forcing him to emergency stop at a red light. According to him I was in the more wrong pulling out in front of him on green light than he was running the red. He wanted my details and was looking for me to pay for the damage. I told him there hadn't been an accident, his running the red light was on CCTV and if he had a problem he should phone the police. I then made off. My excuse was he was so angry I thought he was going to kill me.

I had a green filter to make a right turn. I recon the chancer saw there were no cars emerging from the road to his left (the road I turned into) and didn't realise traffic turning across him from his right had a green filter so decided to go for it. Just as I made the turn I remember thinking "that bugger doesn't look like he's wanting to stop".

When he braked it sounded like a car crash inside the lorry.

That's good.

The amount of people going through on lights have have been red long enough for your lights to go green is increasing in my mind.

[hairyben]

Halb said:

That's good.

The amount of people going through on lights have have been red long enough for your lights to go green is increasing in my mind.

Yup. Thats the effect of allowing one group of road users carte blanch to get away with flouting the law... all the other road users observing them start to diminish the danger of the same action.

[Pachydermus]

crankedup said:

But why do some cycle riders blatantly ignore so much traffic legislation and plain common sense

let's see:
constantly exceed speed limits.
park on the wrong side of the road or just wherever the hell you like.
don't cede priority where you're supposed to.
don't give way to pedestrians when turning left.
don't indicate correctly.
run red lights.
MLM
kill and seriously injure a few hundred thousand every year.


how am I doing so far?

ps - I'm not talking about cyclists.

[Mr GrimNasty]

Pachydermus said:

crankedup said:

But why do some cycle riders blatantly ignore so much traffic legislation and plain common sense

let's see:
constantly exceed speed limits.
park on the wrong side of the road or just wherever the hell you like.
don't cede priority where you're supposed to.
don't give way to pedestrians when turning left.
don't indicate correctly.
run red lights.
MLM
kill and seriously injure a few hundred thousand every year.


how am I doing so far?

ps - I'm not talking about cyclists.

I've absolutely no doubt that on a per mile traveled basis, cyclists blow car drivers away for illegal/dangerous acts.

[Pachydermus]

Mr GrimNasty said:

I've absolutely no doubt that on a per mile traveled basis, cyclists blow car drivers away for illegal/dangerous acts.

given that the majority of motorists exceed 30 limits regardless of conditions I'd say you're wrong and the KSI figures would agree.

[heebeegeetee]

Mr GrimNasty said:

I've absolutely no doubt that on a per mile traveled basis, cyclists blow car drivers away for illegal/dangerous acts.

That's just one of those statements that takes my breath away. Totally and utterly barking.

In nigh on 40 years of driving I can't recall having any journey time ever lengthened due to cyclists, have most certainly never been placed in any danger by one, struggling to recall anything detrimental happening to me caused by a cyclist.

I can recall as a child being brought off my bike by cars on a number of occasions, all left-turners iirc, but as a driver, just about every single journey I've ever done I've been delayed by other drivers, but when you just think of what's going on out there - the high level of utterly st driving that is just a constant, on an hourly basis.

Think of all those traffic bulletins - I wonder, how many radio stations are there in the UK now, how many traffic bulletins do they make collectively, and for what? 90 - 95% of delays caused by accidents?

I can't recall a single one being because cyclist.

[alock]

Parsnip said:

That is exactly what the law is saying. If a cyclist/pedestrian/child/horse appears in front of your car when they shouldn't then it is your responsibility as a driver not to hit them. Doesn't mean they are right and doesn't mean they won't be prosecuted, but it does (rightly or wrongly - rightly IMO) mean you will get the book thrown at you if you hit them.

In this 'Think Bike' advert, do you think the motorcyclist should have the book thrown at them for failing to not hit the car?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXI8-_9FrB4

[Europa1]

Halb said:

That's good.

The amount of people going through on lights have have been red long enough for your lights to go green is increasing in my mind.

Certainly seems to be the case in Cambridge - yellow used to mean slow down and stop, now it seems to mean "nail it and go through regardless" and red is "absolutely boot it, it's only recently gone red, what could possibly go wrong?"

[WinstonWolf]

Pachydermus said:

crankedup said:

But why do some cycle riders blatantly ignore so much traffic legislation and plain common sense

let's see:
constantly exceed speed limits.
park on the wrong side of the road or just wherever the hell you like.
don't cede priority where you're supposed to.
don't give way to pedestrians when turning left.
don't indicate correctly.
run red lights.
MLM
kill and seriously injure a few hundred thousand every year.


how am I doing so far?

ps - I'm not talking about cyclists.

Park on the zig-zags outside school. Oh wait, that's not cyclists either

[Pachydermus]

WinstonWolf said:

Pachydermus said:

crankedup said:

But why do some cycle riders blatantly ignore so much traffic legislation and plain common sense

let's see:
constantly exceed speed limits.
park on the wrong side of the road or just wherever the hell you like.
don't cede priority where you're supposed to.
don't give way to pedestrians when turning left.
don't indicate correctly.
run red lights.
MLM
kill and seriously injure a few hundred thousand every year.


how am I doing so far?

ps - I'm not talking about cyclists.

Park on the zig-zags outside school. Oh wait, that's not cyclists either

I forgot the new biggy - updating ttface.

[crankedup]

Pachydermus said:

crankedup said:

But why do some cycle riders blatantly ignore so much traffic legislation and plain common sense

let's see:
constantly exceed speed limits.
park on the wrong side of the road or just wherever the hell you like.
don't cede priority where you're supposed to.
don't give way to pedestrians when turning left.
don't indicate correctly.
run red lights.
MLM
kill and seriously injure a few hundred thousand every year.


how am I doing so far?

ps - I'm not talking about cyclists.

What a daft response, honestly. The point is the pedal biker is so vulnerable I would have though self preservation may have been higher up the priority list when on the road, rather than riding like silly beggars.

Of course you are correct in your appraisal of motorised vehicle driver behaviour, but that isn't likely to change much as drivers rarely get killed carrying out the bad habits you list

[WinstonWolf]

crankedup said:

Pachydermus said:

crankedup said:

But why do some cycle riders blatantly ignore so much traffic legislation and plain common sense

let's see:
constantly exceed speed limits.
park on the wrong side of the road or just wherever the hell you like.
don't cede priority where you're supposed to.
don't give way to pedestrians when turning left.
don't indicate correctly.
run red lights.
MLM
kill and seriously injure a few hundred thousand every year.


how am I doing so far?

ps - I'm not talking about cyclists.

What a daft response, honestly. The point is the pedal biker is so vulnerable I would have though self preservation may have been higher up the priority list when on the road, rather than riding like silly beggars.

Of course you are correct in your appraisal of motorised vehicle driver behaviour, but that isn't likely to change much as drivers rarely get killed carrying out the bad habits you list

That's the point, a cyclist fks up they get squished. Driver fks up, the cyclist still gets squished.

[Murph7355]

Pachydermus said:

let's see:
constantly exceed speed limits.
park on the wrong side of the road or just wherever the hell you like.
don't cede priority where you're supposed to.
don't give way to pedestrians when turning left.
don't indicate correctly.
run red lights.
MLM
kill and seriously injure a few hundred thousand every year.


how am I doing so far?

ps - I'm not talking about cyclists.

You may not be talking about cyclists but the majority of these apply to cyclists just as much, perhaps more so. Especially in London.

Pachydermus said:

given that the majority of motorists exceed 30 limits regardless of conditions I'd say you're wrong and the KSI figures would agree.

Assuming "KSI" is Killed/Seriously Injured, the stats mean nothing. All they tell you is who is most likely to come off worst in the event of an issue, not who was at fault and why. You may as well say Nissan Micra drivers are evidently Angelic compared to Volvo drivers because more people die in the Nissan.

This is not a one or other argument. There are bellend cyclists and there are bellend motorists. Penalties should be applied in proportion to fault and jumping a red light is the worst "offence" IMO in this instance.

Yes, the driver admitted some fault here but on what basis? Yes the cyclist came off worst physically, but so what. It was all in his control.

[Murph7355]

PS if it had been 2 cars, who would you have said should shoulder most blame? Especially as it's possibly less likely the green lit driver would have admitted anything...

[Moonhawk]

Pachydermus said:

let's see:
constantly exceed speed limits.
park on the wrong side of the road or just wherever the hell you like.
don't cede priority where you're supposed to.
don't give way to pedestrians when turning left.
don't indicate correctly.
run red lights.
MLM
kill and seriously injure a few hundred thousand every year.

And that answers the question that was asked how exactly?

As for your statement on KSI stats - assuming you are talking about the UK, you are way off. The KSI stat for 2015 was 8,642.

Even factoring in slight injuries - that only takes it to 111,707 which is quite a way off a "few hundred thousand" (where a "few" in common vernacular is usually taken to mean 3 or more)

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploa...

Edited by Moonhawk on Thursday 16th February 15:00

[PurpleMoonlight]

WinstonWolf said:

That's the point, a cyclist fks up they get squished. Driver fks up, the cyclist still gets squished.

Best ban cycling on roads on health and safety grounds then.

[hairyben]

Pachydermus said:

crankedup said:

But why do some cycle riders blatantly ignore so much traffic legislation and plain common sense

let's see:
constantly exceed speed limits.
park on the wrong side of the road or just wherever the hell you like.
don't cede priority where you're supposed to.
don't give way to pedestrians when turning left.
don't indicate correctly.
run red lights.
MLM
kill and seriously injure a few hundred thousand every year.


how am I doing so far?

ps - I'm not talking about cyclists.

There are lots of crap motorists yes, and very many threads discussing their flaws.

Every crap cyclist thread gets "wah wah wah motorists are crap wah" and it's like, yeah, theres crap plumbers, doctors, shop assistants out there too but it's not pertinent. the existence of crap motorists doesnt absolve you of anything, if anything it should make cyclists more cautious...

[WinstonWolf]

PurpleMoonlight said:

WinstonWolf said:

That's the point, a cyclist fks up they get squished. Driver fks up, the cyclist still gets squished.

Best ban cycling on roads on health and safety grounds then.

Or sort out the st drivers we all encounter every day...

[kingston12]

Mr GrimNasty said:

I've absolutely no doubt that on a per mile traveled basis, cyclists blow car drivers away for illegal/dangerous acts.

I think you have to separate illegal and dangerous.

In my experience, cyclists definitely break the law more than motorists. When I am a pedestrian in central London (about 40 minutes a day) I see cyclists going through red lights, going the wrong way up one way streets etc multiple times every day. I might see a driver do that once every couple of days, and there are several times the amount of cars on the road as cycles.

I appreciate that this isn't an entirely fair comparison because drivers don't get the chance to break speed limits here which they could and undoubtedly would do in other areas.

Danger is something else entirely, though. In all of those incidents I witness daily over the years I have only seen a cyclist cause injury to themselves or others on a couple of occasions.

Riding a bike is not as dangerous (to others) as driving a car. Unfortunately, this is one of the reasons that some cyclists use as carte blanche to break the law in the first place.

[PurpleMoonlight]

WinstonWolf said:

Or sort out the st drivers we all encounter every day...

Leaving the st cyclists?