A viral video posted by cycling content creator Bob Wilkie has sparked controversy after appearing to show him attempting to ride through a red light and nearly colliding with a pedestrian.
The footage, posted on Instagram with the caption “spreading the love…”, shows Wilkie approaching the crossing at speed as a pedestrian steps out. He then sharply brakes as the man walks in front of him on the crossing.
The cyclist can be heard on the video sarcastically saying, “Thanks for the courtesy,” followed by, “I see the lights, use a bit of fucking common sense.”
In response, the pedestrian pointed out, “It’s a red light,” and asked Wilkie, “What does a red light mean?”
Wilkie then repeatedly tells the pedestrian to “fuck off” before cycling away.
View this post on Instagram
The video has received a strong reaction online, with many commenters criticising the cyclist’s actions and his decision to share the footage online.
Chris_bull commented on the video, saying: “Red light – clearly the cyclist is wrong. How is it even an argument? If the pedestrian stepped out to teach you a lesson, then good.”
Another commentor, Phil.will_no8, said: “As a keen cyclist and have been for years, you’re well out of order.
“The lights were red, the audible alarm was sounding, and the guy was starting to cross. What part of all those sights do you think you were in the right and then had the audacity to be abusive to him?”
Kmarkham1620 added: “The guy was right; you were in the wrong. He didn’t swear at you, and you swore at him four times. That was bullying tactics.”
Prodbyconscious also commented: “’Use a bit of common sense’ as he cruises through a red light. Guaranteed if a vehicle drove through a red light and hit your bike, you would be right on the phone to the police.”
Bob Wilkie regularly posts videos of his cycling, often commenting on road use and driver behaviour. In a pinned Instagram post filmed in Edinburgh, he criticises motorists’ understanding of the Highway Code.
View this post on Instagram
He captioned the video saying: “How many motorists know they can use the bus lane at this time. Answer: NONE. Perhaps there should be an awareness, comprehension, reading and understanding section in the driving test.”
In a different video, he shows himself cycling through a red light, with the caption “Nothing wrong here; however, I’m not perfect.”
When Wilkie was asked by road.cc about why the video had been posted and the reactions, he said, “…the reactions explain your question.”
The Highway Code states that unless there are separate cyclist facilities, such as small cycle traffic lights at eye-level height, then “it is recommended that you proceed as if you were driving a motor vehicle.”
In this case, there seems to be no exemption, meaning Wilkie should have stopped at the red light.
33 thoughts on “Cyclist who almost collided with pedestrian after attempting to run red light tells man to “use a bit of common sense” in viral video”
Bob’s doing no one any favours there and just stoking the hatred fellow cyclists endure 😔
Is it any wonder some pedestrians hate us?
This happens and then, later, the pedestrian is driving a car and how careful will they be to give the cyclist the room they need???
Wilkie is an attention-seeking cockwomble whose MO is to post videos of his questionable and sometimes illegal cycling and then blame drivers or pedestrians for the outcomes of his bad riding as he knows that will get ten times the responses of genuine examples of bad driver/blameless cyclist videos. Best not to give him the oxygen of publicity that he so sadly and desperately craves, in my opinion.
What a tw@t. Cretins like this give us all a bad name. Makes my p1ss boil when I see riders act like this.
I have seen several of his videos over the last year or so
He is an attention seeking idiot who rarely has anyone agree with him, don’t give him coverage
What a knob.
I see this kind of comment baiting all the time on YouTube. Do not comment, you’re just enabling him. Block the channel. I have blocked hundreds of channels. I hope there isn’t a limit 🙂
This was first about last year, ‘Boab’ is clearly a rage-baity tosser…
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/cars/news/edinburgh-cyclist-and-pedestrian-caught-in-heated-exchange-as-people-take-same-side/ar-AA1HDUK9
“The video of the cyclist breaking sharply to avoid the pedestrian has sparked criticism towards the cyclist from across the internet”
Breaking?!!
Sadly this spelling is now so widespread and commonly used that it has almost attained the status of an acceptable alternative spelling
The spelling is correct, it is the use of the wrong word that boils my pi$$!
This spilling is correct tow, bet same of the wards mote be rung.
https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1523267417727561
Someone should of spotted it.
When asked by road.cc why the word “breaking” had been used, and the reactions, Megan said, “…the reactions explain your question.”
Also, Braking News: https://road.cc/news/cycling-live-blog-9-april-2026
Q: What kind of cyclist criticises drivers, then rides through a red light, endangering a pedestrian and swearing at them?
A: A complete tosser, that’s what kind of cyclist.
Just goes to show that your mode of transport is irrelevant to your tosseriness: you can be a complete tosser on a bike. I’m at a loss as to what kind of complete tosser not only breaks the law, they film themselves doing it, and then post it for all to see, to make sure that everyone knows you’re worse than a complete tosser.
I wonder if the pedestrian was thinking ‘dam, if only I had had my phone out I could have filmed this guy being a total idiot, imagine the shame and embarrassment… Oh well.’ !
Just goes to show that your mode of transport is irrelevant to your tosseriness: you can be a complete tosser on a bike
Indeed! Only tonight I came across several as I was heading home along a 20-limit residential street. There are sporadic lights alternating on both sides of the road, but there are sizeable dark patches. I have a bright flashing front light and I made out several teenage cyclists heading towards me on the other side of the road, none of them with lights. Then, ‘out of nowhere’ from a dark patch came another one heading straight at me on my side of the road and collision was only avoided by a violent last-second swerve by me.
Now _that’s_ an entitled cyclist!
They are actually very rare (I’ve yet to observe one in the wild), but as we can see here, they do exist.
“The video of the cyclist breaking…”
Really?
Totally agree – do not watch this click-bait-content-Joker’s crap!
Thankfully I never have, and now never will, I can only assume he is related to Ronnie Pickering???
And also a huge sigh for the breaking [sic] faux pas, spell-checker is not always your friend! Especially if you state on your bio you have an MA from Cardiff University 🤔
I don’t need to comment on who is wrong as it is clear and everyone has said it.
What interests me is that this person is posting clips of itself breaking (braking?) the Highway Code rules on multiple occasions.
Clearly it doesn’t see any issue with doing both (the dangerous cycling AND posting the evidence online) so I guess the lack of apparent action by the police is a factor.
Though I would love to see a news report saying the police contacted it and asked for details of each incident to prosecute.
Please stop normalising the idea that cyclists are a homogenous group and that we are all responsible for each other. Its bollocks. Its just a shitty excuse drivers use to justify their hatred of cyclists and accepting that doesn’t help. I don’t get behind the wheel of a car and drive dangerously around other car users because they park on the pavement so I can’t get past with my pram. I don’t drive dangerously because they constantly speed, cut corners and generally behave like utter bellends a huge amount of the time.
Instead of accepting and perpetuating the idea that bad cyclists reflect on all of us, tell them to fuck off with that rubbish.
Never heard of this guy but sounds like yet another entrepreneur of the attention-via-emotion economy.
Just one more to ignore, along with other advert-draws.
However… there is a slight loss here, in that it is possible to envision a state where “red lights don’t apply to cyclists” … and indeed it could be a positive measure!
That is demonstrated by thousands of junctions in NL where eg. there is a signalised pedestrian crossing of a road but the lights stopping the motor traffic on the main road do not apply to the separate cycle path next to it.
How can this be sane or safe? Several reasons: the biggest two being design and culture (but the design sets the direction of the culture).
Design: the cycle path is clearly marked and “shared use” is not common in urban areas so everyone has their space. Cycle paths are very often narrower than a single lane for motor traffic. The same space separating the cyclists from motor vehicles (or a widened section) provides a safe spot for pedestrians to wait before dealing with the motor traffic crossing. (The Dutch also know that it’s easier to cross roads where they’re narrower…)
Culture: many or most people cycle – indeed may cycle to the town then walk.
So there’s understanding about letting “cyclists” (people currently cycling) keep momentum. But also that trying to cycle at pro-racing speed is not only antisocial but self-defeating.
Why? Quick and efficient movement in urban areas there is possible – but has been catered for by keeping cyclists steadily moving. That is in opposition to the “sprinting between long waits at traffic lights” that the UK’s vision of cyclists as “small motor vehicles” produces.
Also why most think they should be mixed with the other motor traffic (but not get “in the way of traffic”) and pedestrians often regard cyclists as dangerous as cars but worse because they’re quiet.
The cyclist is a prick, end of.
For anyone who argues that the actions of other cyclists (good or bad) do not define them or endanger them, you can be sure that videos like this absolutely DO affect them. Whether you like it or not, this is just yet more fuel for the cyclist hating crowd to justify treating us ALL like pests, even though the vast majority of us are decent human beings who DO abide by the rules.
I once caught up with a driver who had just done a deliberate and very close pass on me. His claim was “when we ‘all’ stop running red lights and start paying road tax, he would consider giving us room.” The fact that I was stopped at the red light when he said this seemed to not register. This is the type of mentality that we’re dealing with.
Please can Road.cc ensure that this Bob character does not get any more coverage on this website? It serves no-one.
You genuinely think that if every cyclist was an angel tomorrow the irrational hatred would stop? I have some beans to sell you. Its just a hat to hang their dislike of us on. If we all rode perfectly they would still complain that we held them up. If we all pulled over ever 20s to let them past they would complain about money being spent on bike lanes.
Its culture wars BS that the right wing love to stoke. There are very few groups you can outwardly and publicly hate any more and cyclists are still fair game.
The fact someone getting about on a bike makes people so irrationally angry should tell you just how bizarre it is. The fact that so many people celebrate when a cyclist is hurt or killed tells you just how pathetic and scummy some people are.
You’re victim blaming if you think that its OK for drivers to treat cyclists badly because some cyclists act badly.
My guess is there are two big factors in many drivers being angry at cyclists.
1) They are envious that people who cycle on roads may be showing they are not as scared as those drivers.
That can be thought of as emasculating.
2) Car manufacturers sell their products with adverts showing them being driven at relative speed on empty roads.
Which is exceptionally rare.
So many drivers may be wondering (and angry) that cyclists spend a fraction of the £ money to be able to move at possibly the same speed on most roads (or even faster during rush hour).
Simpler than that:
a) we’re in their way!
b) … and we’re cyclists!
Long: people get angry at people in their way all the time. That becomes much more intense when those people are “others”. Particularly those of lower status, or who “shouldn’t be there” or who are seen as “cheating” (“they don’t pay road tax and they don’t obey the rules – undertaking cars, going to slow and too fast, getting off and walking around obstructions or past a red light…”)
That’s ancient human psychology.
“You genuinely think that if every cyclist was an angel tomorrow the irrational hatred would stop?”
“You’re victim blaming if you think that its OK for drivers to treat cyclists badly because some cyclists act badly.”
While I agree with everything else you said, I’m struggling to see where the OP said either of these things?
As someone who always stops at red lights, my favourite cretinous comment is when a driver (or their passenger) says something sarcastic like ‘Oh well done for remembering red lights apply to cyclists.’ Pointing out that they’re having a go at red-light-jumping cyclists when I’m literally stopped at a red light tends to either confuse them or prompt a sneering comment along the lines of ‘Yeah, you stopped at *this* one…’
You just can’t argue with that sort of person. Best not to engage, but sometimes it’s hard not to.
And yes, fully agree that starving this Bob character of the oxygen of publicity is absolutely the way to go.
His claim was “when we ‘all’ stop running red lights and start paying road tax, he would consider giving us room”
Unfortunately, I can’t rise to this challenge! I don’t have, in my extensive collection, an RLJ-ing driver in a vehicle without VED. However, I do have them separately
All that demonstrates is that his claim wasn’t true to start with, and was just an attempt to post-rationalise an attitude that has nothing to do with what actually happens on the roads. If he hadn’t found that excuse he would just have found something else – it wouldn’t change the underlying attitude.
I’ve a nagging feeling that this utterly pathetic clown show of a human has set this whole thing up as staged clickbait.
However, in the off chance that it’s genuine, and this is how he conducts himself when he is blatantly in the wrong, then we are just bloody doomed as he’s turning the anti cyclist dial up to 11.
If anyone actually knows this guy irl then please have a word with him or just take his bike off him.
What a prick.