Why does being on a bike in London cause so much conflict? (this time, a jaywalker)

It's your autonomic nervous system, but I quite like the sound of an autonomous one - like it decided to declare independence from your body, and now rides around on a bike like a bunch of myelin coated brake cables, being all impulsive and reflexive in London's tourist hotspots.

:)

Whoops, my smelling mistake.

:)

Whoops, my smelling mistake.

I have god attention to detail.

If you hurl abuse at them they won't think about the fact that they are wrong - they will just think the cyclist is a wanker. Yep you have to give up the satisfaction of yelling at them if you want them to remember for the next time, but that's the deal. Anger will resolve nothing, however satisfying it may feel in the heat of an argument.

If people were all just that little bit nicer to each other instead of grabbing the first opportunity to lose their temper then maybe peds would have more consideration in turn and not make the mistake in the first place.

More importantly, they won't just the think "the cyclist is a wanker", maybe he is? They may also think "cyclists are wankers" whereas a lot of us try and control our anger, and expect similar from others be they pedestrians, taxi drivers, other cyclists or whoever.

I need my patio relaying. Wheels, do you need to lose your 5th.

I could do with some help!!

If you hurl abuse at them they won't think about the fact that they are wrong - they will just think the cyclist is a wanker. Yep you have to give up the satisfaction of yelling at them if you want them to remember for the next time, but that's the deal. Anger will resolve nothing, however satisfying it may feel in the heat of an argument.

If people were all just that little bit nicer to each other instead of grabbing the first opportunity to lose their temper then maybe peds would have more consideration in turn and not make the mistake in the first place.

Being nicer means padestrians make less mistakes ?

Yelling stifles the memory ?

Any of this is about people grabbing opportunities to lose their temper ?

We will just have to agree to disagree on just about every point.

Stay safe.

I need my patio relaying. Wheels, do you need to lose your 5th.

I could do with some help!!

My fifth was used as ballast on a concreting job up in Enfield, but she has a sister.

Kill 'em all and smear their faces with runny shit.

yeah.
twice

ah it's hard. in theory i totally agree with trying to stay calm but i can't always manage it. i'm a very easy going guy most of the time but when i'm cycling in the centre of town i have to say i lose my rag on a fairly regular basis. i probably yell at someone most days. i just get incandescent with rage. i think a lot of it has to do with adrenaline. cycling hard though heavy traffic is physically and mentally intense. your heart is goinng, you're brain is racing and you're generally wound pretty tight. more often than not you're running to a deadline and have in any given journey let dozens of others off with minor indiscretions. by the time someone does something that actually causes you to crash, bail or even have a near miss i tend to properly boil over. ESPECIALLY if they or anyone then tries to give me any shit about it. back when i was pedicabbing in the late 90s i remember actually pounding with my fists on the windscreen and bonet of a minicab who'd just pulled out in front of me.

it does work both ways though and i'm pretty sure lot of abuse that pedestrians hurl at cyclists is driven my that same "fight or flight" response to having had a nasty fright. It just baffles me how they don't seem to expect that when stepping blindly into the road. anyway, a while back now i was heading down st john's street towards smithfields going pretty fast and in front of a stream of traffic. this guy steps out into the road talking on his phone without looking at all. i saw him just in time but had to swerve hard to avoid him and i'm thinking - shit he's going to get mowed down by the cars coming up behind me. i did what i usually do in these situation and yelled panicky wordless warning to him something along the lines of "Oi-oi-oi-oi-oi-oi!" - i swerved round the swaggering blokey cock standing in the middle of a busy road blindly yakking into his phone and he turns to me as i pass by and shouts "PRICK!". it really isn't like me to square up to anyone (let alone a swaggering blokey cock clearly much bigger, harder and more aggressive than me) but i was so insanely furious at the injustice of the situationthat i slammed on the brakes, took a deep breath and bellowed FUUUUUCK YOU! at him. he thought about it for a bit and hollered back a sneeringly dismissive-"CUNT!" i realised then that despite having the moral high ground he'd comprehensively out manouvered me in debate so i saddled up and rode off literally shaking and dizy with fury.

sorry i've rambled there...

Did you go back and kill him, smearing his face with runny feaces?

no he was bigger than me.

i'm basically a coward.

i wonder if being on a bike (and being able to get away from any pedestrian) might also affect my readiness to unleash abuse when i'm riding?

ah it's hard. in theory i totally agree with trying to stay calm but i can't always manage it. i'm a very easy going guy most of the time but when i'm cycling in the centre of town i have to say i lose my rag on a fairly regular basis. i probably yell at someone most days. i just get incandescent with rage. .

Seriously, this isn't good. I used to be a courier years ago, but gave up as the stress was making act in a similar way. You don't want to spend every day being angry, it's not worth it.

Seriously, this isn't good. I used to be a courier years ago, but gave up as the stress was making act in a similar way. You don't want to spend every day being angry, it's not worth it.

i'm not an angry guy. i'm not a courier either, just a commuter. but i do tend to shout when riding. it's better than storign it all up surely? it's usually just a flash thing though and seconds later it's forgotten about. that's what i mean i think it's just adrenaline. i'm really not an angry person.

I learned from my courier days that it's the adrenaline talking! I very rarely hit anybody or anything but when I do if I can't say something nice I try not to say anything at all, at the end of the day if you ride away from the curb and keep your eyes open you really shouldn't be knocking people down. Having said that last summer I knocked down a girl in slow motion on a wide empty street, she went one way, so did I , she went the other, so did I, again she went the other way, so did I, skidding, skidding, skidding - bang - see was standing in the middle of the road talking on her cell - I scowled, said sorry, rode off

Being nicer means padestrians make less mistakes ?

Yelling stifles the memory ?

Any of this is about people grabbing opportunities to lose their temper ?

We will just have to agree to disagree on just about every point.

Stay safe.

You're advocating intimidating pedestrians to 'learn 'em'. I'm reminded of your attempt to browbeat people into accepting your views on religion. Why exactly do you want so badly to punish the rest of the world for not meeting your exacting standards?

You're advocating intimidating pedestrians to 'learn 'em'. I'm reminded of your attempt to browbeat people into accepting your views on religion. Why exactly do you want so badly to punish the rest of the world for not meeting your exacting standards?

Maybe he just wants to save us all from ourselves. After all, if someone was in the wrong wouldn't you feel it your duty to point it out and help them on the correct path?

Of course the problem is the subjectivity of the correct path according to your experience and beliefs. That's where all the trouble comes from.

I don't think it's the bike that might be causing conflict, it's probably a mix of a load of things. Count to ten and carry on, I find that works best.

Speaking of trouble, have you seen what Max Mosley has been up to?

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/formula_1/article3649197.ece

Kinky bastard..

I treat stupidity and consideration on the road the same way I treat my 3 year old's behaviour. Only praise the good, ignore the bad. Just call me Supernanny. I ostentatiously wave and 'cheers' and thank anyone who seems to be aware of my existence on the road and behaves with consideration. I do tend to mutter 'cunt' at some people but I think getting all pissed off and shouty does make you look like a twat and raises your heart rate. I got this approach from commuting by long skateboard for some years, where I was the target of much more ire than as a cyclist. Nobody likes a longboarder.

I'm one of those that feel fine walking away from a situation with the moral high ground, but will question myself and replay an incident ad nauseum if it all gets a bit agro.

I can still play though the last argument I had with someone and it make me feel crap ( a mix of should have had a better turn in swear words / annoyance at myself for not just letting it go).

Different folks and all that.

One other thing, are some of us in danger of turning into what we accuse car drivers of being IE focused on soley ourselves and screw everyone else?

a friend of mine has gobbed a couple of times through windows of (particularly) drivers of white vans following close calls. however, he's now taken to blowing them a kiss and saying thank you whenever they try to run him off the road, and says that this tactic seems to be far more effective at neutralising the enemy!

personally, i think we've all had experiences of someone stepping blindly out into the road and either knocking or nearly knocking us off. 25 years ago, a postie stepped out from between 2 cars and knocked my dad off his bike and he (my dad) broke his arm and has never ridden since. of course, can't blame that on a mobile - just pure stupidity by someone not looking or being sensible in crossing the road. i am like dooks in that i often shout at people when i'm wound up cycling (and, actually quite enjoy it!!) although i don't think that it serves much purpose. the one ped i knocked over (her fault - and she admitted it, having played a game of dodgems with me in the middle of the road when the light was against her and she lost) fortunately bounced back up with those majick words "it was my fault" and i didn't have to say anything other than "are you alright?". my impression was that it was totally sufficient for her to realise that next time she needed to look - and probably wait for a green signal, too. i think if i'd have shouted at her, she'd have just been pissed off and angry at cyclists and not be thinking again next time she tried to cross the road.

grr.!

You're advocating intimidating pedestrians to 'learn 'em'.

Regardless of how the proposition is framed to make it appear ugly, basically yes. Those pedestrians who walk into the road paying little or no attention to the safety of both themselves and others should be reminded that to do so is dangerous and unacceptable.

I'm reminded of your attempt to browbeat people into accepting your views on religion.

Silly boy ! :) Your memory is poor.

Why exactly do you want so badly to punish the rest of the world for not meeting your exacting standards?

We seemed to have drifted from shouting at idiots who wonder into the road to punishing the world !? And not just punishing the world but wanting it 'so badly' for not meeting my 'exacting standards'.

Marvelous recourse to demagoguery, I sound a lot like Adolf Hitler don't I :)

Maybe he just wants to save us all from ourselves. After all, if someone was in the wrong wouldn't you feel it your duty to point it out and help them on the correct path?

I am simply putting my view forward, I demand nobody follows it in any way.

Let me recap:

If someone wonders out into the road carelessly and threatens both their own and my safety I will likely shout at them, this is an entirely natural response and serves a purpose.

:)

"demagoguery"

Nice word.

I'll raise you a fecund.

pedestrians to Adolf Hitler in 2 pages.

what would you do if Adolf hitler walked out in front of you?

pedestrians to Adolf Hitler in 2 pages.

what would you do if Adolf hitler walked out in front of you?

Salute ?