Moron Motorists #3

[Summernight]

Can't see the first video, it comes up as private?

Same here.

[VRE]

Can't see the first video, it comes up as private?

Same here.

I watched it last week, so it must have been updated.

[Lukeyboy]

sigh...

[ldrcycles]

crikey, heart in mouth stuff there...

[kenwstr]

Not very surprising at all. Though everyone is required to give way when changing lanes, passing on the left is always a hazardous operation, especially when your invisible.

The really big point from this video is really the overwealmingly major bike safety issue of all time. The most dangerous factor for cyclists is unpredictable changes in conditions. By this I mean verge, cycle lane, parked cars, broken edges etc forcing cyclists to merge with normal traffic lanes. Interesting that it occurred at exactly such a location. Why do councils always do this at intersections? It's almost as if they want to cause cyclist injuries and deaths.

Ken

[myforwik]

sigh...

wowzers... did they stop when they saw you?

[myforwik]

x lots

Wow that water stop sign is pretty incredible. Maybe in 50 years time this will at every stop sign.

[jules21]

sigh...

that's crap. semi-related story. i was at work one day when my boss(!) came in and told me there'd been an accusation made against me by an ex-colleague of thumping on her car boot in traffic. apparently she'd just been "moving around a RH turner, when this cyclist (me, apparently) took offence and slammed his/my fist on the boot". it wasn't me and i didn't see it as useful to argue on behalf of the cyclist, but honestly...

we get angry at these drivers, and easily forget just how clueless some of them are.

[find_bruce]

Wow that water stop sign is pretty incredible. Maybe in 50 years time this will at every stop sign.

Never mind stop signs, I want to know how to fit one to my commuter bike

[Rhubarb]

wowzers... did they stop when they saw you?

They saw him 10 secs earlier as they passed him. It was a SMIDGAF not a SMIDSY.

[Lukeyboy]

wowzers... did they stop when they saw you?

Nooooooooooooope. Just a quick brake check after I had gone past the front wheel and she overtook me again on the crest of the next corner that you can see towards the end of the video

[jules21]

via Aushiker...

/thread

“I knocked a cyclist off his bike. I have right of way, he doesn’t even pay road tax”



You have to be a special kind of dumb to post that kind of comment to Twitter, but, sadly, the UK driving test doesn’t examine emotional intelligence and @EmmaWay20 is speeding around Norfolk with these sort of sick, mistaken thoughts rattling around her head. (She has since deleted her account – more UPDATES below).

Presumably she thought her comments would be read by only her 100 or so Twitter followers. She must have been surprised, then, when she received the following message from Norwich Police:



The police had been alerted to Emma Way’s comments by twitter users shocked at her hate comment against cyclists. Ms Way was quickly identified from her Facebook page and the police were sent other examples of her poor driving: she had taken taking photographs of herself tailgating other motorists, and even photographed her speedometer showing a speed of 95mph.

Ms Way may have been joking when she boasted she had knocked a cyclist from his bike [SHE WASN"T, SEE UPDATE BELOW] but the fact she felt able, among her friends, to make such a joke, and that she based her funny on the seemingly lesser road rights of her target, is worrying. The tweets collected by @cyclehatred have shown that a surprising number of anti-cyclist comments are not coming from traditional ‘white van man’ but from young women, many of them clearly new to driving. What is it that’s making these otherwise unremarkable young women say such hateful things about cyclists? Perhaps it’s that young female motorists feel safe in their cars and often rely on them to get everywhere? For such women, perhaps the thought of being a cyclist – unprotected from ‘stranger danger’ and open to the elements – makes them shudder, and the way to reject and despoil this “other” is to vilify and mock it?

Perhaps the driving test could help out here? Maybe motorists should have to read and absorb a compulsory section on the highway access rights of all road users, not just the motorised ones? As I write elsewhere, Roads Were Not Built For Cars…

Cyclists, pedestrians, horse-riders, and others, should not be portrayed as obstacles – things to avoid, as though they’re stray and alien – but as fellow road users to be accorded the same civility as expected to be given to motorised road users. And it would also be good if new drivers were taught that roads are not paid for by motorists but by general and local taxation. (The fact that the majority of cyclists own cars, too, doesn’t seem to filter through to some people, it’s as if we’re still in the 1930s when cycling was “poor mans’ transport”).

The belief that “motorists pay for roads, cyclists don’t” is ludicrously mistaken but fervently held by a shocking number of people; people with the power of hundreds of horses under one of their tippity toes. How many deliberate close-calls on cyclists delivered by some motorists, so-called “punishment passes”, are the result of thinking roads are just for cars? Roads believed to be paid for by “road tax”? Ms Way’s tweet shows that some motorists really do believe their little tax discs give them superior rights on the road. Frightening.

UPDATE 1:
It’s becoming increasingly probable that Ms Day did hit a cyclist. An Iceni Velo cycling club member said he was knocked from his bike:



Club member @RabAusten said: “Police are on the case. They had already located her and were just waiting for the victim to come forward. He has contacted them…”

If Ms Way left a collision scene without reporting it to the police, she’s in deep do-dah. And boasting about it on Twitter and claiming she had “right of way” because she believes she pays for the use of the road doesn’t exactly help her case. Ms Way is believed to be a trainee accountant. Twitter users have already alerted her employer about her tweets.

UPDATE 2
Emma Way’s employer is now involved, too (in an earlier tweet she had mentioned who she worked for and Google cache knows all…):

“Thank you for taking the time to email Larking Gowen regarding the tweets posted by one of our employees on their personal twitter account.

“Please be assured that this is not a view held by the firm and we most certainly do not condone this behaviour. We are taking the incidents very seriously, and a full and detailed investigation will be carried out and appropriate action taken. We have already spoken to Norfolk Police.”

And, Norwich North MP, Chloe Smith , has also chimed in: “This may sound like a bit of dirty laundry being aired in public but actually it’s really important – road safety is crucial for all road users as is civility on the road.”

UPDATE 3
The cyclist knocked from his bike was Toby Hockley, who was riding the Boudicca Sportive on Sunday, reports The Telegraph, basing its story on the Iceni club Facebook postings.

[arkle]

From Toby Hockley...

"I was riding on a country B-road with a friend, and descending a hill on a blind right hand corner", Toby told us. "I was sticking to the left as the corner was blind. A car came round in the opposite direction going much too quickly to make the corner safely. It missed the rider in front of me but hit me, my right leg caught the front right wing. I was thrown up onto the bonnet, I hit the side of windsrceen and the wing mirror. I bounced back off the car and went through a hedge for about 20 metres. I managed to keep control of the bike; the back brake had locked on but I managed to rejoin the road and stop in the middle of it"

Amazingly Toby made it through the incident with only minor damage to himself and the bike. "I have a sore elbow, a bruised knee, nettle stings from riding through the hedge, but nothing serious", he told us. "The headset of the bike is loose from the collision, one of the levers got knocked round the bars and there's bits of nettle in the chain, but I think the bike is intact."

Here she is, we should send her a greeting

https://www.facebook.com/emma.way.581" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

arkle

[Aushiker]

More details/Police tweets on the @EmmaWay incident at the YACF forums.

Andrew

[ldrcycles]

Insane, absolutely insane.

So when is someone like that cyclist going to sue the government for allowing people like that to be in a car on a public road?

[bychosis]

Here she is, we should send her a greeting

arkle

Probably not necessary, there have already been consequences and there is enough hate out there in 'net land already. Sufficient to post the story for others to learn from.

Facebook and twitter are obviously used well by the stupid, we see plenty of similar stories.

[find_bruce]

The really scary thing abut that story is that she thinks it is normal & acceptable to hit a cyclist and drive off & she is not alone

[hannos]

Apparently, 75-100m is not enough room to stop safely for an Amber traffic light....




Video taken at approximately 8:15am, Tuesday 21st May 2013 at the intersection of Parramatta Rd and Concord Rd, near Burwood, Sydney.
A shame I wasn't close enough to capture the numberplates.

[Howzat]

She evidently also thinks it's fine to speed and to tailgate. Attitudes on display are not just anti-cyclist, they are closer to sociopathic. Or is that redundant?

[warthog1]

The really scary thing abut that story is that she thinks it is normal & acceptable to hit a cyclist and drive off & she is not alone

Is this an English language/western attitude only?
As far as OS travel goes I've only been to Asia/India and over 20 years ago. I wouldn't ride on the road there, but that was down to chaos, not hatred.
Are European countries as full of road rage and a selfish sense of entitlement?

[jules21]

Are European countries as full of road rage and a selfish sense of entitlement?

some studies have found a link between social inequality and a lack of social fabric.

i.e. the slum-dwellers in india, despite living in appalling conditions, have fantastic social support systems. they bond closely and look after each other, so making the quality of their collective lives better.

this doesn't happen as much in more capitalist societies, which tend to emphasise self-sufficiency and viewing other members of society as competitors, rather than part of a human collective. the US, britain and australia are examples of such societies. we don't necessarily look at others and see them as one of us, dealing with the same daily struggles. rather, we are more likely look at them and think "that BMW driving so-and-so" or "that cyclist - get a car you clown!" increasingly, we don't identify with each other. the same theory is applied to appallingly vicious cases of violence in pubs and clubs - people just don't empathise with strangers as much anymore.

[KonaCommuter]

Wow - I spent some time reading those links. I honestly wish I hadn't. What a thug culture we are living in.




Just today I was subjected to a close shave. It wasn't so close that my heart stopped for a second, rather it was close enough that I noted it. The worst thing was that it was on a WIDE private road, on a slight corner in the early hours (so it was dark and the motorist could have seen if there were oncoming vehicles) and the motorist (a delivery driver that works for my employer) pulled up a scant 50 metres from the pass. I wasn't angry or emotional. If anything I was in a great mood (brisk ride, endorphins pumping). So I politely said (with a smile on my face, a friendly smile) "Good morning. You were a little close when you passed me back there" and then this guy just turned on the aggression. He treated my friendly "I'd have been seriously hurt if you'd misjudged that sub 50cm gap you allowed me" as whinging.

It left a sour taste in my mouth as I bit back from retaliating. I didn't get it on camera and there's no real recourse to take it further.

[arkle]

I have to take some kind of evasive action on every single ride I do, and I don't even ride in the city.

And I get deliberately buzzed once every couple of rides. They usually have their foot flat to the floor so the exhaust is as loud and scary as possible.

arkle

[twizzle]

I have to take some kind of evasive action on every single ride I do, and I don't even ride in the city.

And I get deliberately buzzed once every couple of rides. They usually have their foot flat to the floor so the exhaust is as loud and scary as possible.

arkle

... and we still aren't allowed to carry guns.

Probably a good thing in my case - some days I reckon I'd use one.


Sent from my iThingy...

[InTheWoods]

Tonight came across 2 cars playing chicken in a single lane traffic calming chicane (atthow ave). 4wd seemed to think the give way sign he was facing didn't apply to 4wd's and he was trying to intimidate a car into reversing out of the chicane and let him through first. I just stayed behind leaving enough room for the 4wd to eventually reverse while admiring the moronness of it all...