Should good cyclists do more to stop bad cyclists

I’ve told a couple off & I
I’ve told a couple off & I either get abuse or blank stares… there is no hope ~X(

Scoob_84 wrote:
So this

Scoob_84 wrote:

So this morning along Camberwell rd, I’m patiently waiting at a red light pedestrian crossing with around 7 other cyclists when some Herbert tries to undertake us all on the pavement and then rejoins the road at the crossing startling the old lady crossing the road, then peddles on through the red light as if nothing had happened.

Now GKam84, maybe you don’t see anything wrong with that in your eyes but some people do.

See, as a citizen like everyone else, you are perfectly entitled to object to something like that. Sounds like the guy was being an arse. But please give the ‘bad name’ rubbish a rest.

Behaviour is either anti-social/dangerous or it isn’t, the whole ‘giving us a bad name’ thing makes me grind my teeth. In employing that concept you are engaging in a kind of forlock-tugging that I find objectionable.

Scoob_84 wrote: its a bit one

Scoob_84 wrote:

its a bit one eyed to think that we don’t need to get our own house in order as well.

Don’t know about you, but while I certainly need to get my house in order (oh Lord, do I!) there are no other cyclists living in it, so I’m not sure what point you are trying to make.
You aren’t suggesting everyone who has a bike lives in one big metaphorical house-share are you? Because that would be a daft thing to suggest.

So I’ve started a fun game on
So I’ve started a fun game on my ride in/out of nottingham every day. we have a pair of junctions 50m apart, both with ASL attache to them.

If a vehicle is turning right (as I do) and stops illegitimately in the ASL I nonchalantly ride my bike in front of it, a take the lane.

I indicate right and upon the green light I pull away slowly, sometimes very slowly, knowing full well that because of the light timings we will get stopped in 50m anyway.

If the car overtakes in the 50m then you can bet your butt it won’t encroach into the ASL again!

NO-ONE has ever said anything about it……

Two things for me, of which
Two things for me, of which only one is directly related to the original question.

1. We are not part of a big club, or a religious group, or anything else, we are just individual people who each choose to ride bikes for whatever reason. Therefore, why should we need to look out for each other, why should we feel any responsibility for other cyclists actions, why is it up to us, to get our ‘collective’ house in order? etc etc?

If another riders actions directly impact on me, then yes I’ll say something, otherwise good luck to them.

2. This thread made me think… does all the publicity surrounding red light jumping ultimately encourage or discourage red light jumping? Personally I think it encourages it.

As a society, we work to the rules of fear of getting caught, and directly associated with that, the fear of the implications of being caught. It would be nice to think we’re all good, dutiful folk, but actually we are wild animals controlled by societal restraints and enforced rules. That doesn’t make us bad people, it’s just as it is.

So… every time someone says, ‘gosh, look at all those cyclists jumping lights, they are all doing it’ it merely reaffirms that everyone gets away with red light jumping, that its the norm, its what the majority are doing.

So yes, those evangelists out there may get more frustrated and resolute, whilst everyone else will just think the decision to run the light is a little less significant, and more acceptable/normal.

Scoob_84 wrote:oldstrath

Scoob_84 wrote:

oldstrath wrote:

Given that most of them are less likely to hurt anyone but themselves than are crap drivers, I assume you’ve posted something similar on petrolhead fora to ask them to stop bad drivers.

So you deny that bad cyclists cause a problem for the rest of us? Today i saw an old lady nearly run down by a cyclist going through a red light.

The car debate is separate debate.

I disagree. If everyone who was nearly run over or nearly knocked off by a car, using your definition, posted on the web, we’d have more posts even than cats. But you don’t expect me to conclude that all car drivers are law breaking eejits because one woman passed too close last week, so why believe it of cyclists? Why accept close passes as just one of those things, whereas a close pass by a cyclist must be evidence of poor skills or lack of moral fibre?

But if you must harangue other cyclists, let’s spread the love and demand that carists harangue all the shit drivers. That would slow the traffic down nicely.

It’s a difficult one, seeing
It’s a difficult one, seeing as you don’t know what might happen next. Sometimes I comment and sometimes I don’t. However, on one occassion I slowed down and stopped to allow a woman to cross the road at a zebra crossing, but she was hesitating and did not cross so I waved at her trying to gesticulate that she should cross. The next thing two guys flew past me at a decent speed, I could not help but shout out advising them that they should have waited for the pedestrian. What got me a bit miffed was the fact that it was the last couple of kilometers of a sportive, so these guys were obviously not concerned for anyone else except their own times.