Arrogant, abusive and oh-so smug – why do so many cyclists/white van drivers/ lorry drivers/boy-girl racers/cabbies/motorbike riders/ mobile text reader walkers/ and politicians/journalists think they’re above the law?
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-2242003/Arrogant-abusive-oh-smug--cyclists-think-theyre-law.html#ixzz2DzbtuilR
Part of cycling's/ motor industry huge boost in popularity was
caused by the events of the summer/ invention of the combustion engine, when Bradley Wiggins won the Tour de
France and the Olympic time trial and Ford became a pioneerof the motor car selling dreams.
Although I am a driver, I have long all but given up driving in London and now travel instead mainly by bus or Tube. I have also discovered the delights of walking and enjoying the city’s stunning architecture and views — as well as literally rubbing shoulders with the rest of the human race, instead of sitting in solitary splendour within a motorised bubble.
Accordingly, I have welcomed the pedestrianisation of many streets, silently cursed the noisy, smelly cars — and also welcomed the arrival of the ‘Boris bikes’, the cycles for hire around the city that were an inspired idea.
Although I do not own a bicycle, I enjoy and approve of cycling. Like many others, I have for years observed and admired those Continental cities where half the population seems to be on a bike and where the traffic seems tamed as a result.
So getting more people on to bikes in London seemed to me to be a good idea — encouraging health-giving exercise, reducing traffic congestion and generally turning the city into a calmer, gentler and more civilised place.
and now after the preamble then start becoming a bigoted anti cyclist and introduce you to the buzzwords.....
As a pedestrian, I have encountered this on innumerable occasions. A few weeks ago, at a major intersection in Central London I started to cross the road when the green man flashed up at the lights.
Out of the corner of my eye, whilst engrossed reading my texts I saw something hurtling towards me and sprang backwards just in time. A cyclist/car/lorry/taxi (there the worst in rochdale) bus driver had jumped the red light and almost knocked me down as he sped across the junction.
Furious, I shouted after him that he had jumped the lights. To my astonishment, he stopped and/waved the hand in the air / beeped horn/ flashed hazards , looking back over his shoulder, shouted abuse at me for having dared try to interrupt his progress by crossing the road.
You can understand why cyclists become enraged by motorists( considering a car weighs over a ton and can cause damage to anything it comes into contact with) who they may well fear have the capacity to kill them.
But what possible justification could there be for abusing a pedestrian — and when the cyclist/driver himself /herself had just put her/him whilst probably texting and not looking in danger by breaking the law? Surely an apology to me was in order rather than a tirade?
But it seems that, while obeying the law or the rules of the road may be obligatory for lesser mortals such as car drivers,....
http://waronthemotorist.wordpress.com/2011/04/28/is-this-the-most-car-sick-town-in-britain/
http://www.southyorkshiretimes.co.uk/news/local/busy-road-is-accident-in-the-making-1-4996423
http://pavementparking.blogspot.co.uk/
http://www.guardian-series.co.uk/news/9550891.WOODFORD_GREEN__More_residents_voice_anger_at_Council__spy__car/
cyclists believe that they themselves are above such irritating trifles. As many others have also protested, cyclists regularly ride through red lights or fail to stop at pedestrian crossings — even when a car automatically ? really cars just stop has just done so.
They ride the wrong way up one-way streets.
They ride on the pavement,
http://menmedia.co.uk/manchestereveningnews/news/crime/s/1490352_withington-man-jailed-for-driving-along-pavement-towards-clubbers-in-city-centre
http://www.caeraugreens.com/2012_05_01_archive.html
causing pedestrians to move sharply out of the way — sometimes into the road! — to avoid being knocked down.
In short, they general selfish people who use all forms of transport/ politicians/ solicitors/ people who think they should be on the only way is essex behave as if they are lords of the universe.
Small wonder, when they are generally treated with veneration as the harbingers of a morally elevated society. One particular campaign by The Times champions them as such unimpeachable icons of progress that it seems to suggest the entire road network should be reconfigured for their convenience.
Two days ago, it triumphantly reported an unprecedented £913 million initiative by local councils to put cycling at the heart of public transport.
Certainly, the toll of cyclists killed on the roads is alarmingly high, and it is only right that attention should be paid to making cycling safer.
Nevertheless, at least some of the time these accidents are caused by cyclistsdrivers/girl boy racers / taking astonishing chances with their own lives — riding at night without any lights, cutting up cars or buses or overtaking on the inside this is called filtering and is legal within moderation so drivers cannot see them when forced to to thie inside of the kerb
But none of these things is ever deemed to be their fault. The blame is always laid on others.
is all too often met with obscene gestures, swearing or other abuse.
This arrogance is not confined to behaviour on the road. It is part of a particular lifestyle. For this is the era of cycling-chic.
Once upon a time, alpha males roared around on motor bikes. Now leather has been exchanged for Lycra; the streets are thronged by other-worldly creatures dubbed ‘Mamils’ — middle aged men in Lycra shorts.
The marketing wonk who coined this term discovered that ‘Mamils’ are mainly men in their 30s and 40s from the upper social classes, who read broadsheet newspapers and shop at Waitrose — and may spend thousands of pounds on buying a bike. so some bikes are worth more than some cars and can sell for £9499 and contributing a massive £1899 in tax.
http://www.wheelies.co.uk/p49112/Scott-Foil-Premium.aspx?utm_source=googleps
In other words, the cycle has become the must-have or need a bike to get to work as getting a job that requires someone to spend £2000 per annum (insurance /mot/ servicing) to have a car is quite slim these days accessory of choice for our old friends, the progressive metropolitan intelligentsia.or for people who want to get fit and not rely on our health service to put them right after doing bugger all all thier life and becoming obese sitting in thier cars eating pasties, and winging about people on bikes getting through the traffic quicker and becoming stressed and ending up on ramipril.
For some pretentious range rover driving, triple / double pram
look at how much room is taken here on a pavement ,wannabe essex vijazle , want to be middle class, keeping up with the jones' folk, every single aspect of
their lives is a statement — about themselves, of course, and in
particular how worthy and progressive they are.
So for them, the cycle is not just a machine for getting about with two wheels, a saddle and a handlebar. No, it is a badge of unimpeachable virtue as most journalists like to think they are and spout a load of shit on the web
It effectively says of its rider: look how environmentally conscious I am, how socially responsible, how clean-living, humble and powerless how i take a bit of pride in my health whilst working and contributing to the nhs and the uk i choose to try and enjoy myself whilst feeling the benefit of being healthy and by the time i ride to work and back today i can scoff down a massive tea as i have earned it — compared to the dreadful Mr Toads behind the wheels of their powerful, filthy, hmm not to sure about filthy there are some nice clean cars out there , like to ones that dont pay road tax , you know the prius, blue motion golf, smart car , leaf, anti-social cars (never seen a car wearing an ASBO tag yet )which are all going to destroy the planet or push a red button if they don’t choke us all to death first!
That’s why politicians such as David Cameron, George Osborne and Boris Johnson have used the image of themselves on their cycles to burnish their progressive credentials (slightly dampened in the case of Mr Cameron, when it was discovered he was being followed on his cycle by a car with his official papers on the back seat).
This assumption of superior virtue
confers an air of effortless entitlement, which causes certain cyclists and people who use other forms of transport
to believe they can break laws with impunity — and if they mow down any
pedestrians, well it’s the pedestrians’ own fault for what standing in front of a mower ? , how many pedestrians text walked, now hitting a person on a bike does injure the rider as well as the pedestrain and is not something you aim for as unlike a car the driver will hardly get injured.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-13040607
In 2008, pedal bikes made up 1.8% of urban, non-motorway traffic but were involved in just 0.25% of pedestrian deaths and below 1% of serious pedestrian injuries
in 2009, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reported that 4,092 pedestrians were killed in crashes with motor vehicles and 59,000 were injured.
It is sanctimonious self-righteousness sealed in Spandex — and the rest of us not sure who us actually is , the reader , well i am reading this and i am not an us i also cycle and drive a car, not at the same time but usually when i am making a short journey and in a rush or just for fun on my days off contributing to society just have to get out of the damned way.
Part of cycling’s huge boost in popularity was caused by the events of the summer, when Bradley Wiggins won the Tour de France and the Olympic time trial, which engendered huge excitement over Team GB’s performance in Olympic cycling.
One effect of this was the transformation of cycling from its association with wicker baskets, bicycle clips and a leisurely way of life to competition, winning and aggressively getting an edge over the other chap / or girl as they cycle too you know and the same could be said for when parents chastise the referee of a school football from the sidelines , school football match now come on ...
In addition to this harsher image, it lost its claim to intrinsic virtue when one of its icons, Lance Armstrong, was stripped of his seven Tour de France victories amid allegations (still denied) of doping.
In other words, cyclists are no better or worse than the rest of us. But when their faults are pointed out, they react as if they really think they are untouchable. sounds like most people who can note take any critisism, like bad motor vehicle drivers
One journalist wrote recently that after criticising and pidgeon holing cyclists insert any other reason to be trolled here for their behaviour, she received death threats, vile insults and obscene abuse.from idiots and trolls on websites ,
It’s high time such cyclo-fascists whats wrong with Fascism = s a form of radical authoritarian nationalism.[1][2] Fascists seek to unify their nation based upon suprapersonal connections of ancestry and culture through a totalitarian state that seeks the mass mobilization of the national community through discipline, were brought down off their towering saddles and made to observe the same laws (see discipline) and social conventions as the rest of us again who is this us are we reffering too, as i have proven some motor vehicles break the same laws. Inspiring sportsmen they may be; demi-gods behind handlebarsor football boots they are not.
Menace
How wrong can you be! For far from being calm, gentle or civilised, many cyclists/boy,girl racers,taxi /bus drivers,van drivers,motorbike riders,large exhausted punto /fiesta/corsa/honda drivers and some church goers, you can tell by the fish badge on the back have proved to be the exact opposite. While of course this by no means applies to all of them, large numbers of cyclists/ motor vehicle owners have brought a new level of aggression and indeed menace to our city streets.As a pedestrian, I have encountered this on innumerable occasions. A few weeks ago, at a major intersection in Central London I started to cross the road when the green man flashed up at the lights.
Out of the corner of my eye, whilst engrossed reading my texts I saw something hurtling towards me and sprang backwards just in time. A cyclist/car/lorry/taxi (there the worst in rochdale) bus driver had jumped the red light and almost knocked me down as he sped across the junction.
Furious, I shouted after him that he had jumped the lights. To my astonishment, he stopped and/waved the hand in the air / beeped horn/ flashed hazards , looking back over his shoulder, shouted abuse at me for having dared try to interrupt his progress by crossing the road.
You can understand why cyclists become enraged by motorists( considering a car weighs over a ton and can cause damage to anything it comes into contact with) who they may well fear have the capacity to kill them.
But what possible justification could there be for abusing a pedestrian — and when the cyclist/driver himself /herself had just put her/him whilst probably texting and not looking in danger by breaking the law? Surely an apology to me was in order rather than a tirade?
But it seems that, while obeying the law or the rules of the road may be obligatory for lesser mortals such as car drivers,....
http://waronthemotorist.wordpress.com/2011/04/28/is-this-the-most-car-sick-town-in-britain/
http://www.southyorkshiretimes.co.uk/news/local/busy-road-is-accident-in-the-making-1-4996423
http://pavementparking.blogspot.co.uk/
http://www.guardian-series.co.uk/news/9550891.WOODFORD_GREEN__More_residents_voice_anger_at_Council__spy__car/
cyclists believe that they themselves are above such irritating trifles. As many others have also protested, cyclists regularly ride through red lights or fail to stop at pedestrian crossings — even when a car automatically ? really cars just stop has just done so.
They ride the wrong way up one-way streets.
They ride on the pavement,
http://menmedia.co.uk/manchestereveningnews/news/crime/s/1490352_withington-man-jailed-for-driving-along-pavement-towards-clubbers-in-city-centre
http://www.caeraugreens.com/2012_05_01_archive.html
causing pedestrians to move sharply out of the way — sometimes into the road! — to avoid being knocked down.
In short, they general selfish people who use all forms of transport/ politicians/ solicitors/ people who think they should be on the only way is essex behave as if they are lords of the universe.
Small wonder, when they are generally treated with veneration as the harbingers of a morally elevated society. One particular campaign by The Times champions them as such unimpeachable icons of progress that it seems to suggest the entire road network should be reconfigured for their convenience.
Two days ago, it triumphantly reported an unprecedented £913 million initiative by local councils to put cycling at the heart of public transport.
Certainly, the toll of cyclists killed on the roads is alarmingly high, and it is only right that attention should be paid to making cycling safer.
Nevertheless, at least some of the time these accidents are caused by cyclistsdrivers/girl boy racers / taking astonishing chances with their own lives — riding at night without any lights, cutting up cars or buses or overtaking on the inside this is called filtering and is legal within moderation so drivers cannot see them when forced to to thie inside of the kerb
But none of these things is ever deemed to be their fault. The blame is always laid on others.
Worthy
What sticks in the craw is the monumental arrogance accompanying such irresponsibility. For legitimate remonstration with them ( who ? selfish people who use any form of transport and pedestrians who read mobile phones whilst walking and having to jump out the way because they dont look) is all too often met with obscene gestures, swearing or other abuse.
This arrogance is not confined to behaviour on the road. It is part of a particular lifestyle. For this is the era of cycling-chic.
Once upon a time, alpha males roared around on motor bikes. Now leather has been exchanged for Lycra; the streets are thronged by other-worldly creatures dubbed ‘Mamils’ — middle aged men in Lycra shorts.
The marketing wonk who coined this term discovered that ‘Mamils’ are mainly men in their 30s and 40s from the upper social classes, who read broadsheet newspapers and shop at Waitrose — and may spend thousands of pounds on buying a bike. so some bikes are worth more than some cars and can sell for £9499 and contributing a massive £1899 in tax.
http://www.wheelies.co.uk/p49112/Scott-Foil-Premium.aspx?utm_source=googleps
In other words, the cycle has become the must-have or need a bike to get to work as getting a job that requires someone to spend £2000 per annum (insurance /mot/ servicing) to have a car is quite slim these days accessory of choice for our old friends, the progressive metropolitan intelligentsia.or for people who want to get fit and not rely on our health service to put them right after doing bugger all all thier life and becoming obese sitting in thier cars eating pasties, and winging about people on bikes getting through the traffic quicker and becoming stressed and ending up on ramipril.
For some pretentious range rover driving, triple / double pram
So for them, the cycle is not just a machine for getting about with two wheels, a saddle and a handlebar. No, it is a badge of unimpeachable virtue as most journalists like to think they are and spout a load of shit on the web
It effectively says of its rider: look how environmentally conscious I am, how socially responsible, how clean-living, humble and powerless how i take a bit of pride in my health whilst working and contributing to the nhs and the uk i choose to try and enjoy myself whilst feeling the benefit of being healthy and by the time i ride to work and back today i can scoff down a massive tea as i have earned it — compared to the dreadful Mr Toads behind the wheels of their powerful, filthy, hmm not to sure about filthy there are some nice clean cars out there , like to ones that dont pay road tax , you know the prius, blue motion golf, smart car , leaf, anti-social cars (never seen a car wearing an ASBO tag yet )which are all going to destroy the planet or push a red button if they don’t choke us all to death first!
That’s why politicians such as David Cameron, George Osborne and Boris Johnson have used the image of themselves on their cycles to burnish their progressive credentials (slightly dampened in the case of Mr Cameron, when it was discovered he was being followed on his cycle by a car with his official papers on the back seat).
Impunity
An unprecedented £913 million initiative by local councils to put cycling at the heart of public transport
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-13040607
In 2008, pedal bikes made up 1.8% of urban, non-motorway traffic but were involved in just 0.25% of pedestrian deaths and below 1% of serious pedestrian injuries
in 2009, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reported that 4,092 pedestrians were killed in crashes with motor vehicles and 59,000 were injured.
It is sanctimonious self-righteousness sealed in Spandex — and the rest of us not sure who us actually is , the reader , well i am reading this and i am not an us i also cycle and drive a car, not at the same time but usually when i am making a short journey and in a rush or just for fun on my days off contributing to society just have to get out of the damned way.
Part of cycling’s huge boost in popularity was caused by the events of the summer, when Bradley Wiggins won the Tour de France and the Olympic time trial, which engendered huge excitement over Team GB’s performance in Olympic cycling.
One effect of this was the transformation of cycling from its association with wicker baskets, bicycle clips and a leisurely way of life to competition, winning and aggressively getting an edge over the other chap / or girl as they cycle too you know and the same could be said for when parents chastise the referee of a school football from the sidelines , school football match now come on ...
In addition to this harsher image, it lost its claim to intrinsic virtue when one of its icons, Lance Armstrong, was stripped of his seven Tour de France victories amid allegations (still denied) of doping.
In other words, cyclists are no better or worse than the rest of us. But when their faults are pointed out, they react as if they really think they are untouchable. sounds like most people who can note take any critisism, like bad motor vehicle drivers
One journalist wrote recently that after criticising and pidgeon holing cyclists insert any other reason to be trolled here for their behaviour, she received death threats, vile insults and obscene abuse.from idiots and trolls on websites ,
It’s high time such cyclo-fascists whats wrong with Fascism = s a form of radical authoritarian nationalism.[1][2] Fascists seek to unify their nation based upon suprapersonal connections of ancestry and culture through a totalitarian state that seeks the mass mobilization of the national community through discipline, were brought down off their towering saddles and made to observe the same laws (see discipline) and social conventions as the rest of us again who is this us are we reffering too, as i have proven some motor vehicles break the same laws. Inspiring sportsmen they may be; demi-gods behind handlebarsor football boots they are not.
m.phillips@dailymail.co.uk with some extra bits in by me , now thats a better article
