Is it time to start calling out bad cyclists?

^Thanks. I know the sections you mean.
I may stick more closely to the highway code than normal during those dates ;-)
It's a real rat run for cars and vans through there.
Few of them give any thought or room to cyclists.
The Royal Mail vans and mums on the school run in the morning are particularly aggressive.
But I suppose they are unlikely to be the target of the operation...

A contraflow should make things safer for cyclists.

Where do you live? Would you like to get more involved with council liaison - so commenting on plans/infrastructure/mapping new safe routes etc?

@ OVPokeman How very astute. Indeed the Policewoman was riding at a snails pace. I only ride with headphones after working the night shift. On no sleep I ride very predictably and very very slowly. The music stops me nodding off.

Today a yummy daddy on a dutch bike with babyseat and real baby came clattering through a junction without so much as a "Charlie says stop, look & listen" causing me to perform one god alright emergency skid. The baby was most amused !!!!

^Thanks. I know the sections you mean.
I may stick more closely to the highway code than normal during those dates ;-)
It's a real rat run for cars and vans through there.
Few of them give any thought or room to cyclists.
The Royal Mail vans and mums on the school run in the morning are particularly aggressive.
But I suppose they are unlikely to be the target of the operation...

A contraflow should make things safer for cyclists.

when I lived there, there was a plan put forward for that - a cycle contraflow on the one way between Ganapati and the Prince Albert. It involved removing locals' parking so sunk without trace, probably.
I (almost) never cycled against the flow on that one way although I lived almost at one end of it, I kind of enjoyed swooping round the corners on Lyndhurst Way.

Has there ever been an accident involving a salmoning cyclist there, wouldn't there be much better places for plod to do a 'Crime Swoop'?

The post office vans are a bitch there, particularly at the mini roundabout on Highshore Road. School rum mummies are a bitch everywhere (with the obvious exception of Mrs Absurdbird).

I've been trying to keep quiet and not let other people's shitty riding annoy me too much, but yesterday I saw something too ridiculous to let go - at a pedestrian crossing on Blackfriars Bridge Road, a lady in a wheelchair and her heavily pregnant friend were waiting to cross. The lights changed to let them cross, and from nowhere some chunt on a mountain bike zooms through the red, brushing past them, closely followed by a bus. I shouted "are you fucking blind, it's fucking RED" - I think the peds appreciated the sentiment if not the actual words...

I wish I'd taken note of the reg plate of the bus but that's another story.

Can we clear one thing up once and for all: THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH USING HEADPHONES WHILST CYCLING.

The issue is the overwhelming majority that choose to use them fail to make up for their loss of sense by looking back more often (than normal*).

• if anyone can define what normal is for these types....
  

I'm not sure about there being nothing wrong with using them. However, I'd be much happier with attentive headphone wearers than non-attentive non headphone wearers fucking about the place.

I think a lot of the hate stems from cyclists ability to flow through the traffic instead of being stuck, surprising that drivers don't have the same negative attitude towards motorbikers.

They do.

"Organ Donors" that always ride too fast, cut up motorists etc are typical attitudes I hear, especially from people who don't realise filtering is legal.

They do.

"Organ Donors" that always ride too fast, cut up motorists etc are typical attitudes I hear, especially from people who don't realise filtering is legal.

I can also agree with this, if anything I have experienced more malice on a motorbike that a bicycle.

People deliberately pulling over while you are trying to filter past, being pushed out of lanes at motorway speed is interesting.

I've found myself 'calling out' the odd dick move lately, having looked at this thread recently.

Wac. Me, I mean.

:)

Chap on a Boris Bike this a.m. trying to slide up the inside of a lorry on the St Pauls one way system/roundabout heading west. I was all 'Oi! Don't undertake the lorry!' There was a big fucking sticker on the side of the lorry as well. Anyway, he held back, let the lorry pass and was sort of apologetic and sheepish. I tried to smile and give a little thumbs up as I headed past so as not to be seen as a dick about it.

I don't expect this reaction every time but I'm glad I said something and I'll continue to do so.

^Nice result

On that topic, the other week I got to see close-up the potential for serious injury/death due to undertaking large vehicles from a different perspective. We were on a bus sat at traffic-lights as a rider came up the inside, only to find their gamble fail as the lights turned to green and the gap closed suddenly as the bus moved off.

It was a real 'look away' moment - highly unpleasant, but a potent reminder of the obvious risk. Nobody was injured, although the driver was shaken-up - it was a useful exercise though, if I can call it that.

the prize for the most consistently abject cycling has to go to the twunts on foldables who race each other up Grays Inn Road to Kings Cross train station. Today some fuckwit who thought he was brompton's answer to a new Lucas Brunelle film almost flattened a woman who couldn't have imagined anyone would try and fit through the gap in front of her. When I caught up to him to discuss the matter, he was grinning with pride at the danger he had created and eluded. But at least he made his train no doubt. Dick.

The lights changed to let them cross, and from nowhere some chunt on a mountain bike zooms through the red, brushing past them, closely followed by a bus. I shouted "are you fucking blind, it's fucking RED" - I think the peds appreciated the sentiment if not the actual words...

I wish I'd taken note of the reg plate of the bus but that's another story.

Haven't looked into this, but I'm pretty sure buses no longer have to stop at red (if it's a pedestrian crossing) or take notice of box junctions.

It must be in a revised version of the highway code somewhere.

I'm pretty sure buses no longer have to stop at red (if it's a pedestrian crossing)

If that's true, how many people are gonna be mown down before [appropriate organisation] realise that's stupid?

If that's true, how many people are gonna be mown down before [appropriate organisation] realise that's stupid?

TBF, most people scramble out of the way pretty quick when something as big and obvious as a bus is comin' through.

It must be the law though, I mean (laughs), otherwise they wouldn't ALL be doing it ALL the time.

TBF, most people scramble out of the way pretty quick when something as big and obvious as a bus is comin' through.

Not so obvious if you're blind, or a five-year-old making the 300yard journey home from school.

Not so obvious if you're blind, or a five-year-old making the 300yard journey home from school.

But these people are not as important as the reinforcement of an outdated and staggeringly inefficient mode of public transport.
I mean, Boris has just spent £8000,0000 on new ones, plus there's all those bus drivers on the payroll with empty vehicles who desperately need to get out and clog the roads up.

Hehehe.

I watched a woman (pedestrian) launch herself in front of a bus at a ped crossing at lunchtime today. The bus had a green light and she waited until it was about 5 feet away from the crossing before commencing her amazing dive into the road. She actually jumped into the road in front of it and dashed madly for the other side after waiting patiently for several minutes. She had a walking stick and everything! Bus driver looked nonplussed. But you would be, wouldn't you?

probably because motorbike riders know how to ride - they do comprehensive training to be able to use the road legally and not ride like an idiot.

i personally think everyone on a bike should do a motorbike test. having done it myself - i ride my bike on the road like i do my motorbike, and have never had a single issue. i honestly cant think of one, and thats since 2001.

if anyone is actually serious about being a good rider its a good investment, ive seen loads of riders who think they know what theyre doing. but they really dont.

Still get gits buzzing you in cars.

TBF, most people scramble out of the way pretty quick when something as big and obvious as a bus is comin' through.

It must be the law though, I mean (laughs), otherwise they wouldn't ALL be doing it ALL the time.

Nope, the bigger and more unlikely the vehicle the brain says its a figment of your imagination.

^ I'd be interested to read up on this theory. Never heard of it before.