The daily Close Call

You've obviously never studied Suzu Ki Lim Tao (What's the Big Idea form).

my preferred form is Kun Lian Guoshi.... and woe betide any moped rider who messes with me

this morning, mini cab indicating right, but pulls in to park on the left... comes to a pretty much stop, then swings fully round to the right, he stopped as i was next to his window, shouting in his face from about 30cm's away ''YOUR INDICATING RIGHT BUT TURNING LEFT AND YOUR ON YOUR PHONE, YOU FUCKING PRICK"

this morning, mini cab indicating right, but pulls in to park on the left... comes to a pretty much stop, then swings fully round to the right, he stopped as i was next to his window, shouting in his face from about 30cm's away ''YOUR INDICATING RIGHT BUT TURNING LEFT AND YOUR ON YOUR PHONE, YOU FUCKING PRICK"

Thats a pretty funny image you've given me, there.

Not a close call but earlier today someone pulled alongside me, beeped a lot, shouted a lot (didn't hear what, windows were closed. Who has their windows closed on a day like this?), gesticulated a lot, and drove off. The only thing I can think of that I was doing wrong was having the nerve to be on the road!

no, it appear that the bad apples I encounter seemed to be at least 40+ (white van, taxi, etc.), and nearly always appear to be on a nervous breakdown.

It's gonna depend on what most people on the road are, surely? e.g. round here it's boy racers to watch out for, in the city it'll be older people...

Having said that, I do have an irrational fear (?) of minicab drivers. Combination of being in the back of one in the middle of the night and knocked a pedestrian down, and having an old man who's a cabbie (not in London, before the lynch mob starts...)

You've obviously never studied Suzu Ki Lim Tao

I did spend time studying Suzi Quatro back in the day...
YouTube - Suzi Quatro - Can The Can

that clarifys things a little.
(could you please write your posts in a grammaticaly correct fashion; an s here, some punctuation there. just makes it so much easier to read)

I always have a little chuckle when people who are shit at spelling and/or grammar pull other people up about it.

half my post are perfect because I tend to either constantly edit them till it appear fine or actually concentrate a lots on writing it down, whether some of my post that are usually of little importance is when I tend not to, or simply because I really don't want to concentrate on it at certain time.

not trying to kiss your ass ed but don't bother too much about spending ages on your posts, your use of the language is far more enjoyable than a lot of people's.

we've been here before...

This sunny afternoon, Islington. I ride at leisurely pace when I hear a police siren behind me. I slow down a bit, next thing I know a police car is turning left at speed (right in front of me), I brake hard but hit its side nonetheless. The coppers stop the vehicule and ask me if I am OK. Then they apologize, enquire about the bike and potential damage. I tell them the front wheel did not hit their car too hard but they certainly should be a bit more careful in the future. They took my details and called a colleague to inform him they won't be at their intended destination and why.
As the driver was truly apologetic and owning up to his mistake and I or my bike didn't suffer any damage things did not go any further and we parted ways.
Retrospectively I'm wondering if I have been too nice too the guy, if I should have told him off more vehemently.

r

This sunny afternoon, Islington. I ride at leisurely pace when I hear a police siren behind me. I slow down a bit, next thing I know a police car is turning left at speed (right in front of me), I brake hard but hit its side nonetheless. The coppers stop the vehicule and ask me if I am OK. Then they apologize, enquire about the bike and potential damage. I tell them the front wheel did not hit their car too hard but they certainly should be a bit more careful in the future. They took my details and called a colleague to inform him they won't be at their intended destination and why.
As the driver was truly apologetic and owning up to his mistake and I or my bike didn't suffer any damage things did not go any further and we parted ways.
Retrospectively I'm wondering if I have been too nice too the guy, if I should have told him off more vehemently.

Everyone else tends to get out of the fucking way when they hear an emergency vehicle's siren. How long did your hissy fit delay them from getting to the emergency? FFS...

I was not on " their fucking way" , Platini. I DID slow down and was real close to the kerb.
Moreover when they stopped I made a hand sign to tell them I was OK and they could/should go. It's not like I was in the middle of the road wasting valuable police time.

police today were mental! i think that they drive without care when they are with the lights on.

That's OK then. As you were...
'kerb'.

When was the last time you got free Champagne in an Addisson Lee ?

Is this an hilarious reference to the rapist cab driver? If so then you've really done yourself proud.

r
Everyone else tends to get out of the fucking way when they hear an emergency vehicle's siren. How long did your hissy fit delay them from getting to the emergency? FFS...

you have a point sir, but reckless, even dangerous, driving by the rozzers isn't unusual. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7000318.stm

...i'm slightly more bemused by the fact that they apologised, as opposed to throwing lolo across the bonnet, cuffing and nicking him/her for obstructing them in the line of duty. and throwing in a kicking for good measure.

oops, late contribution... must check updates before going off to google...

Got a midnight call from a friend last night (her close call not mine). She crashed her car into a bus load of.... wait for it..... policemen :OOO She called from her car just after it happened. I could hear her cops banging on the car shouting at her to open the door.... she was totally in shock... spent the night with her at the cop shop.

More of a hit than a close call - remember Google Street View is watching!!
http://bit.ly/Cl19i

Nodder vs. Hipster in a battle to the death.

How the hell did you find that? Or were you one of those involved and knew the google car was there?

htfu
was chatting with my neighbour just this morning and she told me how she used to ride to southend and back during her youth ( the war )
she actually got straffed by a german fighter near wanstead flats ( again during the war )
as she told it the bullets actally hit her wheel and tacoed it
she has drunk a fair few bottles of vodka since those days so the tacoed wheel might be a slight exageration but hey who am i to say

Trouble is with black cabs, they're stroppy buggers. They break every rule and cut every corner and they HATE that someone breaks more rules than them (bikes running reds). So they take it out on every cyclist. I tried contacting the LTO but they aren't interested in anything that isn't a violation of their licence. Road traffic issues are irrelevant to them.

BUT...

I've often thought of reporting them for not stopping when they have their light on (a minor fib LOL). The LTO can slap them for that. If they get three black marks in the register book, they get a rap across the knuckles and have their licence removed and have to reapply for it. So rather than argue with the cabbie, stick your head in the back and tell the passengers to report them to the LTO. I'm not sure what the LTO think of a cabbie getting out to argue whilst he has passengers - that one I don't know. But they might consider that a bad-mark offence. Just get the cab number from the plate at the back and let's see if we can slap them into shape a bit.

The worst drivers on the road though are without question the LT Licenced Minicab people. Just one look at that blue badge in the back window and I give them a seriously wide berth. Like about two counties, if I could. They change lanes without looking, drive on the phone, etc. Now they should also be reportable to TfL as well.

Speaking of which, it's not necessarily a waste of time to flood Boris's inbox with email after email about leary cabbie behaviour (including cab numbers won't hurt at all). He runs Transport for London who "own" both the London Taxi Office (who run the black cabs) and the licenced minicabs too. It might get a few arses kicked...

Black Cabs are 'run' by The Public Carraige Office. The PCO come down heavily on cab owners who fail to maintain the vehicle and its appearance but generally come across as a 'club for cabbies'

An aggregate tipper truck overtook me early this morning a little on the close side ( I was at most a foot from the kerb),as he did this alarm bells rung and I moved right in to the kerb and just as he was going past, he moved hard left towards the kerb with rear wheels of tipper brushing past - I took down details of the truck/company - they were apologetic & I asked that they speak to their drivers, as aside from the turning left issue, some general common sense around cyclists could save lives...

In future if there is a tipper near me/passing I will get out the away even more sharply

My workmate arrived today on his 2 week old Condor Cross bike. Buckled front wheel and snapped fork. Some bird in a Jag had done a U-turn in front of him without looking. He's got all her details and will follow it up.

over the years, I've learned to admit that all close calls/accidents i've been involved in have somehow been *partially *my fault. Always catalyzed by the driver, but somehow I'm not prepared for a way out, or considering the worst case scenario, etc...

lately I average about 2-3 close calls a month and I've been in 2 (traffic) accidents in my life.

the only interesting, truly unexpected one, was one of the accidents. i was pulling up on a two lanes of maybe 200 feet of stopped traffic at a light. I pull into the oncoming lane because the oncoming traffic is totally clear, and there are no driveways for any of the stopped cars to pull across into. I figure i'm safe. I'm not.

It's pouring rain, and i'm bombing towards the light to turn left (right in your country). I get to about the twelfth car from the light and the tenth car pulls out to the left (again, right in the UK) to make a U-Turn (aka "flip a bitch" in the States). I do my best, but it's wet, etc. Go flying over the hood of the car.

sure he was pulling an illegal move out of nowhere, but i was riding like a fucking turd. I should have been splitting the lanes, but i was being lazy and didn't want to ride heads up looking for changes/people/doors. I wanted the open lane.

If you don't learn from your close calls, you'll end up fucked. Now I am always on the lookout for this type of scenario, and i've seen it twice since then.

The driver immediately bought me a new wheel. Drove me to the local bike store and everything. I actually felt guilty about it, but I was broke.