Is it time to start calling out bad cyclists?

Again, missing the point completely mate. The law and your appropriate people wont either. Its general attitude in this country towards cycling that needs to change and people will continue to do things like use this boxes regardless. This is also a discussion board and somewhere to have a natter. Which we are doing.

I'm with Atticus on this. I think ASLs (and a good deal of bike lanes) do nothing but cause problems. They make people who aren't really thinking about their relationship with their immediate environment or the folks they share it with even less receptive to what might be going on around them or what the appropriate approach to navigating it might be.

Don't shout at Joe Blue while he's in his shitbox on the street and then act all surprised when he gets a bit Sweeney on you. Talk to his boss. Or his boss's boss or ......

Your average fuzzy bob isn't a customer complaints department for the Met, he's a government sanctioned bouncer who stops larry gary and harry from bouncing off each other outside Wetherspoons of a thursday afternoon.

You are correct Wrongcog. I think that this is time to buy a helmet camera and make myself a familiar character at the local popo station....

I agree ASLs are a poor bit of infrastructure, and this is in part because the rules around them are obscure and poorly enforced. But while they exist we can make an effort to help them be implemented.

Why do the police enforce RLJ rules for cyclists? Because people complain about it. How can we get ASLs enforced? Complain about it.

When drink driving laws first came in many people ignored them and it took concerted efforts to educate the public and enforce the rules but it has decreased.

Preaching to the perverted on here will not make any difference, we will all agree that some drivers attitudes are not great, the question is what do you want to do to help facilitate change? A lot of people are morally ambivalent, but averse to financial costs, so if they are concerned of a fine for encroaching into the ASL this will affect their attitude.

I'm with you on this James, but I actually don't agree about whining on this thread being a waste of time. It helps developing cyclists (like myself) learn about what is and isn't acceptable out there. Sounds sarcy I know, but I've genuinely improved my rising as a result of tuning in to perceived etiquette hereabouts.

^Must say I agree with WC here. Without this thread I wouldn't think about road positioning and the like; this thread is definitely a good place to complain, as long as it isn't the sole place you do so.

But these complaints are about cars in ASLs, not cyclists! Whining on this thread will not have any impact on this.

Though I can see how the thread helps people become more aware as to what makes a good or safer cyclist.

if you are just 1or 2 cars behind the ASL why bother to jump on the queue.. i'd rather queue & wait for the green than filter & get doored. was my experience.

I suppose you're right. Complaining about drivers and their behaviour should be done in a place that either the drivers themselves, or the authorities that govern them will see. This isn't, generally, that place.

I mean, I'd like to think any drivers on the forum steer clear of ASZs when stopped anyway.

Agreed. And yeah - filtering to steal two spots at the lights is daft. Everyone pulls away a bit quicker if I'm in the flow than if I'm at the front anyway.

Not filtering past one or two cars for the sake of being at the front is admirable. Shame it's often a pointless gesture because if the lights are red for any length of time, someone else will.

Not filtering past one or two cars for the sake of being at the front is admirable. Shame it's often a pointless gesture because if the lights are red for any length of time, someone else will.

And then you are trapped behind a slow cyclist and can't overtake because there is a car/bus/whatever in the way and they're being courteous to the cyclist in front.

^ those delays to your journey are negligible compared to the stopped waiting time at junctions. Feel free to measure it & report back if different.

I don't mind when another cyclist is at the front and I'm in the queue, because then I know I'm not delaying, or perceived to be delaying, the car behind me as I'm 2' behind the car in front. I don't think this is a very rational thought process, but it makes me feel slightly less harassed as the lights go green, then the car in front is a useful way of overtaking said cyclist again without causing (in this case, more perceived than actual) delay to car behind as they don't have hold back to allow me to pull out and overtake...

I think the cars further back in the queue don't see a big clear space in front of them and are therefore are in less of a hurry. Plus it gives me more time to get up to speed if I'm in the queue rather than at the front.

Had an interesting exchange just outside camden tube station yesterday.

Me: a pedestrian, crossing a pedestrian crossing with a bunch of other pedestrians crossing on a green man, whilst shovelling crisps into my face.

Him: some art student type on an old road bike, having jumped the lights and going straight through all of the pedestrians while they cross and heading straight at me.

Me: "It's red, dickhead (munch munch)"
Him: "Shut the fuck up"
Me: (enraged by this affront) "Fuck you!"

Shakespeare.

Soggy lumps of chewed crisp were furiously expelled as you shouted this I hope?

This morning I approached a red light. Slowed down and stopped, leaving a half metre gap between myself and the curb. I put my left left down. Several seconds later fluro dickhead undertakes me into the tiny gap, straight through the red light and whacks my left calf with his pedal in the process.

It hurt. I was furious. I shouted something in the lines of "oi cunt, get back here". He turned, looked at me and then started pedelling even faster to escape. I tried to catch him but he then jumped the lights at the south side of tower bridge (no less into the construction zone that is closed off for west bound traffic, but that doesnt

I'm still raging. Buts its probably a good thing I didn't catch him. All I could see was red. (pun unintentional)

You're just not appreciating how busy and important he is.

Was it Boris on his way to work? It was wasn't it.

Fella with one leg in Brixton. If you really want some 'well being' you'll stop riding like a prick.

Don't scream and swear at cars when you are in the wrong.
Don't ride through school kids crossing with a green man.
Don't ride on the pavement.

Have a word with yourself.

Was it Boris on his way to work? It was wasn't it.

I don't think Boris has gone anywhere by bike since becoming mayor.

Fella with one leg in Brixton. If you really want some 'well being' you'll stop riding like a prick.

Don't scream and swear at cars when you are in the wrong.
Don't ride through school kids crossing with a green man.
Don't ride on the pavement.

Have a word with yourself.

Saw the guy too, made me think (probably very unfairly) how he lost the leg.

He very nearly almost got sandwiched between a bus and van

^ those delays to your journey are negligible compared to the stopped waiting time at junctions. Feel free to measure it & report back if different.

Depends.

I don't care if there is eventually space for the car (and me) to get past but during a lot of my commute the road is very narrow and the queue is travelling traffic light to traffic light. There are certain points with very short green lights, where if you get held up you miss the green and hit every subsequent red too.

I don't think Boris has gone anywhere by bike since becoming mayor.

I've seen him on it three times. .