Peds!

Ookay, i really wish this wasn't my first discussion and I'm sorry to be opening a can of worms that has probably seen far too much air already but i need to get this out before the days adrenalin fades and all I'm left with is an aching knee and a ton of guilt...
I'm running down Theobalds road at a fair chop, i pass a guy i kinda know on a lavoro (hi if youre on the forum by the way shame about the circumstances) swing right to pass a line of near stationary traffic and let the assorted commuters take the left.
Three cars in a couple RUN out from between traffic literally in front of me, even with the front full on and the back locked and turning i still smack right into the woman with my shoulder and come off..... as i pick myself up and get ready to give them a lashing i realise that I've fully broken this woman's nose......blood everywhere, SHIT! Anger turns to fear and sympathy pretty fast - they're really apologetic totally accept responsibility and are just trying to deal with the blood, i give them a cloth and try to get them to call an ambulance but all they want is to carry on "really sorry mate totally our fault"..... I've got a package burning a hole at the back of my mind and a fair amount of wicked road rash where i landed on my knee, plus i know i did nothing wrong BUT i just flattened a woman's nose. BUT that woman was a modern day Emily Pankhurst. Goddam i wish it'd never happened - why the hell are people so damn careless with their lives and why the fuck do i now feel so dangerous....

i'VE SAID IT BEFORE, and I'll say it again.

It's high time the gov. started getting some advertising around about how to cross the road safely.
we learnt this when we were kids, why do people in town suddenly think they are invincible and traffic doesn't hurt?

If that'd been me, I'd have been inclined to have given them a few more injuries.

Maybe now that woman might fucking LOOK in future

i really wish i thought she would, but my experiences in this job are beginning to really worry me about the state of humanity - people bombing along in a tonne of metal designed to feel like a sofa with no awareness of the world outside their bubble, who view other road users as an annoyance to their stupor. People with their heads in a conversation with someone who isnt there, who spend their lives devoid of any physicality and who frequently plug their ears with loud music when in the world outside their cubicle......its just a happy accident they dont all crash all the time. This crash almost happens ten times a day.

i get it on oxford street all the time, but i always hesitate before i say ANYTHING because of this one incident where i nearly knocked a business man over at a red light. to this day i cant believe how stupid i was but i looked up, saw it was a red light, then managed to somehow convince myself that the TRAFFIC light applied to pedestrians and not me! i managed to stop in time as he stepped out in front of me without looking, I exploded into saying "PLEASE look where your going" and he just pointed to the green light.

I cycled off genuinely scared that i could make such an insanely stupid mistake!! i still get the gitters at traffic lights now.

geezer - glad you're alright [hope that wasn't your new frame that ended on the floor]

understandable you felt bad, you'd have to have a black f**in heart not to care about someones else being that hurt.

I 'm beginning to think that the difference between cyclists and peds/cabbies/cars etc is that they seem to have abdicated all responsibility for their own welfare. It's up to 'other people' to make sure that they come to no harm and they carry own with impunity.

On the whole, as cyclists, we are painfully aware of the consequences of out actions and are continually assesing and reacting to risk

You did all that you could. They admitted fault. They're idiots. They might learn a lesson - if only everyone else could learn the same lesson.

i see these incidents as the karmic downside of all the fun i get to have in the city, red lights jumped balanced against cabbies trying to squash you, peds jumping out versus the perfect carve of a corner - its just a shame when someone is badly hurt doing something as mundane as crossing a road.
to some extent wayne old boy i'd certainly hold my hand up and say i take advantage of other peoples caution on a daily basis when the adrenalin is pumping - this just wasnt one of those times........
just pisses me off, i guess, that i couldnt stop in time. comes down to pride.

I knocked a woman over at an irritating right turn off Oxford St which is taxis/buses/cycles only - I was slowly wending my way through the peds who always cross there when the light's green for the right turn (there's no bus route through there and taxis rarely make the turn), thought I was clear and started mashing, when all of a sudden one woman steps off the kerb right in front of me without looking. Went down like a bowling pin and hit her head. She looked very upset and I managed to persuade her to get her head checked out at the Soho walkin clinic, but fortunately one of her colleagues was waling past and took her there, because she really didn't want me around (though she volunteered the fact that it was her fault).

Then some have-a-go heros decided to tell me I couldn't turn right there and get shirty...

was going to pose this question in my very own discussion but this seems as good a place as any.
Broke my leg a few years back, when on a motorbike, not doing more than 10-15mph filtering thru heavy traffic down in brixton, man steps out in front of me, looking other way eating chips, I pull hard on brake, lose front end, knee hits concrete, break leg, more concerned about bike, don't realise leg is broken until following evening. operation, on crutches for four-five months.
Now when the police came out to investigate accident I was told that pedestrians have right of way whether light is green or red, and it's upto me to prove that I was not riding dangerously (I know this conversation was in relation to a motorbike accident) but does anyone know if this legal standing is true. Because pedestrians step out like they've got god on their side, not just the law. And its been hacking me off for years, though I have mellowed somewhat, that they seem to disregard not just their safety, but mine as well.

what?! peds having right of way on the road regardless of the lights is mental :S That makes no sense, surely road traffic has right of way!

the HWC clearly defines responsibility for PEDS to look before throwing themselves in front of us:-
http://www.highwaycode.gov.uk/01.htm
hope you knees OK. hope she and her friends and all those that witnessed it learnt something.

....no eeehhhh, you can't mercilessly mow down any game PEDS who happen to wander into the road...tho it would be quite sporting. Wasn't there a Sc-Fi film about that....?

peds are like sheep they see everyone else doing it so they think it's o.k, near tube exits are the worst as they don't realise they are leaving their world and entering one of traffic.
areas around farringdon tube and the cut through at the end of the Cut(waterloo)to head up towards blackfriers are particularly bad they can't hear any cars so they just keep walking.

Someone's gonna get hurt on that new cycle lane outside Farringdon.

It's a hopeless design, no separation from the path.

Usually some pink-shirted cnut stood in the middle of it braying into his moby.

i hate moby. he makes music for bedwetters.

I hit some stupid Ali G lookalike (big anorak, baseball cap, bum fluff 'tache) on the cycle path in Hyde Park near Hyde Park Corner yesterday.

Bunch of kids meandering on and off the cycle bit (it's split - about 2/3 for peds, 1/3 for bikes). I shouted "coming through" or something - most of them moved. One had his iPod in (I guess) and didn't notice and bent over to pick something up. Couldn't avoid him as his chums were in the way so slowed as much as possible but, wham. I went over the top of him followed by the bike. Ouch.

He of course jumped up threatening to do all sort of unmentionable things to me (argh - 15 year olds). Of course easy for him to be brave in the face of 30 of his mates. Situation not helped by the fact that the girls were laughing at him and the boys taking the piss.

Anyway he decided that given the police car opposite he didn't want to chance it. Obviously I took the brave route of waiting until I was clipped in and rolling before calling him a little cnut.

God, everything aches today though. I hope he's still getting abuse from his posse (and is at least a little bit sore - although given the large age gap I suspect he has recovered...).

MrSmith i hate moby. he makes music for bedwetters.

Hah. And he looks like a hamster.

Backwardation I hit some stupid Ali G lookalike (big anorak, baseball cap, bum fluff 'tache) on the cycle path in Hyde Park near Hyde Park Corner yesterday.

Bunch of kids meandering on and off the cycle bit (it's split - about 2/3 for peds, 1/3 for bikes). I shouted "coming through" or something - most of them moved. One had his iPod in (I guess) and didn't notice and bent over to pick something up. Couldn't avoid him as his chums were in the way so slowed as much as possible but, wham. I went over the top of him followed by the bike. Ouch.

He of course jumped up threatening to do all sort of unmentionable things to me (argh - 15 year olds). Of course easy for him to be brave in the face of 30 of his mates. Situation not helped by the fact that the girls were laughing at him and the boys taking the piss.

Anyway he decided that given the police car opposite he didn't want to chance it. Obviously I took the brave route of waiting until I was clipped in and rolling before calling him a little cnut.

God, everything aches today though. I hope he's still getting abuse from his posse (and is at least a little bit sore - although given the large age gap I suspect he has recovered...).

you probably got oil on his lonsdale tracksuit of course his posse will be abusing him!

Hah. Hope so.

And tyre marks.

i see it sort of like a food chain: the faster and more powerful vehicles have the responsibility to look out for the slower, less powerful, and generally less predictable. So we (as cyclists) have every right to expect motorists to be extra careful around us, and I have no sympathy for drivers who fsck us around.
But when it comes to peds, we have the same responsibility: if you cycle on the pavement, run a red light, forget your lights one night, you're already in the wrong - I'm not saying don't do it, just accept that it's your responsibility to get through safely. We also have to accept that pedestrians just are going to walk out in front of us on charing cross road or whatever - so we just have to slow down and be ready to stop on a penny. Yes it's annoying and yes it's our right of way (or apparently not according to cornelius!) but what can you do? You have to treat them like slightly mobile street furniture...

having said that, i sympathise with socialamnesia's case - it sounds like there was genuineley no way to predict or avoid that and it's a shame that the woman's nose got squashed as a result.

I think that sums up mainly why drivers tend to dislike us. Because we can break the law and get away with it most of the time. And they can't. No-one has a go a peds for jaywalking, because everyone is a ped at some point and we all do it.

Shame about that womans nose, but I'm glad everyone involved dealt with it responsibly and nothing kicked off.

I mostly agree with Natureboy. But peds do need to pay a little attention. Whoever suggested bringing back green cross code type education for kids is bang on.

Glad it ended amicably socialamnesia.

Backwardation Whoever suggested bringing back green cross code type education for kids is bang on.

I agree, I was cycling slowish down a road near my house a month or so ago and this kid (5-6 ish) ran out from between two cars, too short to see until she ran out. I was only crusing so stopped easily but her dad who was walking along a few meters behind her did not seemed bothered at all he did not think she had done anything wrong. Well really she hadn't she was very young but he needs to keep an eye on his kid and tell them / warn them about crossing the road, I was not mad at the kid more mad at the dad for being so indifferent to it.

too true natureboy,
we sadly, as masters of our own destiny, have to mediate between the overprotected (cars) and the totally unaware (peds) and as riders of totally silent (chainline permitting) machines, we dont have the inherant warning of a growling engine - although on particularly good days i'm normally singing or whistling...... Riding a bike has given me an understanding of the road and its dangers which is sadly impossible for the average ped to comprehend...
incidentally RPM, karma has rebalanced, was just taking a corner today and looked down to see my rear wheel doing the samba - must have swung it into a car or summat when stopping 'cos there's a dent in the f$$$ing deep v rim that runs top to bottom - no guilt anymore and the next time this happens (i view it as inevitable at some point) i'm gonna have a bloody good check of my bike before choosing how to act.......... roll on black heart my patience is wearing thin

socialamnesia too true natureboy,
although on particularly good days i'm normally singing or whistling......

so true! I can always tell when I'm in a relatively good mood when I start singing while I cycle. Famous tunes with bad made up words usually, one of my favourites is 'bumpy road, take me home, to the place, etc...'