This morning's commute and other commuting stories

London Bridge by night. Rush hour commuters can't wait to get home, and walk out blithely across Tooley St to the station across the ped crossing without regard to the fact they have a red, without looking for traffic perhaps, or, more likely, without caring that a cyclist is coming down the hill after taking the corner from the bridge. Only just swerved a guy in the very middle of the road there, calling out "For fuck's sake, mate!" A second or two after he shouts, "You had a red!" then, a second after that, on cue, the sound of the red crossing light going green for him and his fellow hurried nutters.

Dopey fools will be dopey fools

Passed the aftermaths of what must have been a really bad accident on CS8, though I could only see one 'participant', a small-ish blue car on the kerb . Its motor block was lying on the road, a good 2m away from the car. The front looked pretty squashed.

I've been knocked off my bike twice right outside london bridge in broad daylight by peds running into the side of me and basically shoulder barging me off.

one of the cunts knocked me into the path of an oncoming bus that luckily was just pulling up to a stop a few feet from where I landed (so he was also running striaght into the path of the bus if i wasnt there). he picked up his briefcase and kept running leaving me laying in the road. still have a scar on my elbow (and my bike was written off as the bb separated from the seat tube but it was a shitty cromo frame which had inexplicably rusted inside within 2 years of purchase).

the crossing at the top is ridiculous though I don't think I've ever ridden through there without a pedestrian standing somewhere in the road during the traffic phase.

Jokes on you though cos he did win the race in the end, sneaking through that red light. Don't let him catch you out like that next time.

lol he pulled a proper dick dasterdly move.

Thanks, means a lot.

6”2 when not in heels

Call me.

sneaking through that red light

DQ, not a win.

Was it you?

He was cleverer than he looked!

That's rough. The closest call I had on there was going up the hill in the morning, filtering to the right of the waiting cars, a woman walked out right in front of me from behind a van, away from the crossing, obviously not expecting me to be there, looking at her phone. I stopped within an inch of her and she looked at me briefly, looked back at her phone and continued walking.

Hey now come on just beca~~ yes, yes it was.

Better than looking cleverer than you are.

I had a similar experience earlier in the week with an unnecessarily large box lashed to my bag (think dangerous cardboard sail not dissimilar to an ironing board) - I'll accept it was a terrible idea, but actually felt much much safer on the roads as most vehicle-captains seemed to give the unknown package at large a wide berth...

I knew it! ;)
The only way to settle this is with a race.......no, hang on wait.........doh.

You are obviously the clevererest because I'm confused.

Would it be incredibly cynical of me to think that some drivers flash their lights to let other drivers through in the hope that the other driver hasn't seen you cycling alongside them and a collision results?

Yes. I genuinely don’t think any driver would do that. Occam’s razor and all that - they just haven’t seen you or even thought to look

Should think you're right.

Gotta get out of this bad cycle mindset.

Sunday ride last week, somewhere near maidenhead.
Me and 3 others where riding a fair clip but not gunning it along some country lane. A pretty significant vroom vroom sound fills that otherwise quiet surroundings. About 15 seconds later some twat in a shitty little hatchback with a wing and an exhaust with fire flys pasts us.
As he reaches a bend about 25 m ahead, he sticks his head and hand out the window and looks back at us while giving us the wanker wave and shouting something unpleasant.

I don't think he saw the approaching bend because when he finally rotated his head back towards the direction of travel, he was pretty much in the hedge that borders the road.
Somehow he managed to correct his course enough so that he didn't end up the field next door, but he scraped along the hedge, making a dodgy noise, and then sped off.
karma works fast sometimes

I was really hoping you were going to say he binned it in the field :(
But mashed up paintwork and possibly bodywork is good enough.

hah yeah that wouldve been a laugh

Looking at forecast. Showers mon-wed followed by a bit of snow and -4ºC the rest of the week... #1stworldproblems

@Biggles567 great story, did chuckle

Is this the most dangerous time of the year to cycle ? Had a serious accident a few years back at this time of year when a driver drove through me on a roundabout
This morning had one driver just miss me when they pulled out of side road and missed my back wheel by inches. Had another minutes later nearly taking me out when they drove through a junction on red whilst I was on green.

I am pretty shook up and angry at the moment.

There was some serious glare today on my commute due to a combination of wet road and low sun. So maybe that worsens visibility this time of year?

Of course drivers should adjust...