Is it time to start calling out bad cyclists?

^to be fair the vast majority of RLJs I see are male.

The vast majority of people I see waiting at lights are male too...

The reason bad cyclists pose a risk to the rest of us is this.

The way you behave tells people how you see yourself, and thereby how you expect to be treated.

Every time a cyclist jumps a red light or rides on a pavement, that cyclist is implicitly buying into the idea that bikes are closer to toys than grown up transport. In deciding the rules of the road don't apply to them, bad cyclists reinforce the view that cyclists are not legitimate users of the roads.

RLJ thread >>>>>>>pleasegodmakeitfuckingstop>>>>>>>

+1

Next we'll be calling out wobbly grannies on bikes!

London's fourth emergency service. Well, they start out fourth, but they're 9th or 10th by the time they get there.

Myself and Benj rolling towards Blackheath after Shooters Hill following a long ish roll around Kent yesterday. We were in traffic behind a hire bus which had been stationary for yonks. The impatient gremlins took us and having sussed the road out and decided it was safer than not and that there were all the escape routes we may need we rolled down the left. Not something either of us would usually do obviously. Immediately we decided we'd rather not be doing it and hopped up onto the pavement to cruise along a wide ped area infront of some shops. Let the bus go and re joined the road... right in front of a van who was turning into the shops to park. What a couple of overtired planks. Never in any danger to be honest, but all the skills of a pair of newborn giraffes on unicycles.

This was compounded by the patience and smooth riding of the cyclist behind us, who elected not to make a tit of herself and had a wry smile on her face as she watched us fuck it up. I figure she might be on here so I thought I'd call us out before she had the chance.

+1 for good reflective practice of own riding. More of this please...

^^ that was me.. I was admiring your bikes! ... and also smiling a little at how one of you got cut off by that van ..

that was quick, ha!

Tom, read this:

http://www.adfc.de/news/2011---1-quartal/grundsatzurteil-zur-radwegebenutzungspflicht-veroeffentlicht

Hit them with their ignorance of the law--hard. The highest administrative court in the country has spoken. :)

Interesting. But (from reading the article), doesn't that mean they can still enforce it under conditions, where it's dangerous etc? So how will that work, how as a cyclist will I know where I can choose not to use the cycle lane, and where I have to?

At least it's a step up from mandatory cycle lanes everywhere.

Ha! Nice one Blowfish. I prefer to think i was observant enough to predict the vans actions and gracefully waited until he'd gone (before leaving the pavement where I shouldn't have been in the first place). I just knew you'd be on here. Tried to smile through my embarrassment but decided the best thing to do was to scuttle off into traffic with my tail between my legs.

Hope you'd had as pleasant a mornings roll as we had? I assume you were on your way back in from something fun.

^^ that was me.. I was admiring your bikes! ... and also smiling a little at how one of you got cut off by that van ..

That was me! Very poor cycling. Doubly amusing that I didn't see the van because I was turning around to comment on how how badly we'd just cycled!

Is it lame to try and claim that I think I am normally pretty good at judging those situations? Don't answer...

Anyway I was weary because I'd just climbed Shooter's like a boss, obvs...

Actually, to be fair to Reece, the whole debacle was pretty much my fault. I initiated the duff filtering and then suggested the pavement section. Sorry for making you look uncool chum!

Thread is getting even nicer...
More rep for self calling out

Heh! Perhaps in hindsight I should have just called Benj out, WAC'd him and pretended I had nothing to do with it.*

*Followed him like a puppy if I'm honest.

Interesting. But (from reading the article), doesn't that mean they can still enforce it under conditions, where it's dangerous etc? So how will that work, how as a cyclist will I know where I can choose not to use the cycle lane, and where I have to?

At least it's a step up from mandatory cycle lanes everywhere.

If all mandatory paths were fitted with the correct signs, and all non-mandatory paths did not have signs, you'd be able to tell by the presence or absence of signs. However, German local authorities are way behind on this. As the court judgement states, the requirement for them to only fit such signs in exceptional cases has in fact been in place since 1997, but they haven't complied. The new(ish) judgement now makes it crystal clear that they have to.

In the meantime, even cycle paths which do not present exceptional cases but which continue to be fitted with the signs are still mandatory until the authority has complied with the court judgement. I also think you can still be fined by police for not using such a path, although I would hope that police would use common sense if the Verwaltungsverzug (administrative delay in re-designating the path and removing the signs) by the local authority was pointed out to them.

Verwaltungsverzug (administrative delay in re-designating the path and removing the signs)

Please tell me this word means the whole thing, not just "administrative delay".

No, it only means 'administrative delay'. :)

Can I have a crack at the whole word?

Pfadumnennungs- bzw. Beschilderungsentfernungsverwaltungsverzug?

German compound nouns? I shit 'em mate.

"Benutzungspflichtgebietendefahrradwegbeschilderungsentfernungverwaltungsverzug"

That's easy for you to say.

Ay, caramba!

Geil

To the chap smoking a pipe and oscillating wildly whilst cycling down Euston Road: perhaps not smoking a pipe might improve your bike handling skills?

Oh come on man. Oscillation aside he sounds like he's a boss.

I had to do a double take as he pootled off leaving puffs of smoke in his wake.