DOTD

[cycleman]

Today's dotd is a unlit mtb cyclist heading towards on the wrong side of the road who told me to watch where I was going  . I informed him that I was watching where I was going or he would be picking tarmac out of his teeth 

[SteveC]

Classic one this evening. Unlit NSL road, with puddles and debris. What looked like a BMX bike, with the only light being a white one attached to a back pack, so as well as being the wrong colour, it was bouncing around all over the place, most confusing. As well as the lack of lights, there were no pedal reflectors, no other reflectors and, of course, the rider was in dark clothing.
That road is not particularly fun to ride on with decent kit. It's my commute (although I'm going the other way when it's dark) and back in the day when my lighting was not so reliable¹, I've had some very uncomfortable moments in the gloom.

1: I've never had a complete failure, but a fading Ni-Cad was close enough.

[JellyLegs]

I nominate the gent riding the totally unlit MTB along the minor road through Bacon End this evening whilst wearing a dark coat and swinging a carrier bag with unknown contents around.  Luckily for him, his lack of lights and reflectors was not enough to stop the Tesco bag for life design glinting slightly in the light of my front bike light as he wobbled violently across my path because up until that point I hadn’t seen him.

[pumpkin]

E-scooterist this am darting out across the main road. how the oncoming car missed him I don't know but it did (luckily)

[Cudzoziemiec]

On Sunday morning a group of half a dozen of us were standing on the pavement on the left-hand side of the Portway, geeking at the geology on the other side of the road:
https://maps.app.goo.gl/EPwuoupwsum5yD5Y7

A mamily (middle-aged man in luminous yellow) on an mtb, coming towards the camera, honked his displeasure as we were too slow to disperse for his liking, admiring as we were the buckling strata of red sandstone under the mass of grey limestone. A minute later, he doubled back so he could honk again (he had a big bulb horn on his bars) and tell us to "Fucking get out of the way". 

[Kim]

If you're going to honk a clown horn while dressed as a space lemon, you really ought to have a sense of humour...

[grams]

Years ago I bought a cheapo motorbike horn to use on my bike. It lasted exactly one ride because I could feel myself turning into the kind of angry arsehole that has a horn on their bike.

(cameras have some of the same effect)

[markcjagar]

On Sunday morning a group of half a dozen of us were standing on the pavement on the left-hand side of the Portway, geeking at the geology on the other side of the road:
https://maps.app.goo.gl/EPwuoupwsum5yD5Y7

A mamily (middle-aged man in luminous yellow) on an mtb, coming towards the camera, honked his displeasure as we were too slow to disperse for his liking, admiring as we were the buckling strata of red sandstone under the mass of grey limestone. A minute later, he doubled back so he could honk again (he had a big bulb horn on his bars) and tell us to "Fucking get out of the way".

I encountered someone who matches that description at the Bristol of the path from Bath in July, we were blocking the path but getting out the way before he was close enough for it to be a problem. His similar outburst was met with laughter.

[tom_e]

Years ago I bought a cheapo motorbike horn to use on my bike. It lasted exactly one ride because I could feel myself turning into the kind of angry arsehole that has a horn on their bike.

(cameras have some of the same effect)

Sounds familiar.  I had an additional bright light on the handlebars at one point, and I found myself waiting for car drivers to leave their headlights on full beam so that I would turn it on in return.  Once I realised I was behaving like that I decided to take the light off instead.

[Cudzoziemiec]

"Poop-poop!" and all that.

[Gattopardo]

Why can't London motorists keepoff their phones?

[pumpkin]

Why can't London motorists keepoff their phones?

Why can't motorists keepoff their phones? FTFY

[The Family Cyclist]

Possibly me, cycling to work this morning and a vans entering the roundabout I'm approaching so they have ROW, nay bothers I'll give it some beans and be out their way before they cross the roundabout. Oh bugger they're going round the roundabout and leaving at same exit as me. Bearing in mind I'd cut it fine they're behaviour was exemplary and they passed nice and wide

[Deano]

Special shout out to the rider going down my street with one of the most outrageously dazzling front lights I've ever seen, but no rear light. 

[Cudzoziemiec]

Can we put pedestrians in here? I nominate the one who stepped off the kerb right in front of me while looking the wrong way. I just managed to emergency stop before hitting him and to my surprise, the word that I reflexively bellowed was "IDIOT!" which caused him to turn his head and look at me as if he still couldn't see me. I think he was a Chinese student, but that's probably not why he was looking the wrong way; it's a one-way street with contraflow cycle lane. I've never felt entirely comfortable with this concept.

[Mr Larrington]

Had to ding my bell at the local USAnian Car Nut just now as he crossed the road under the influence of Vic Edelbrock, though he did say sorry.

[rogerzilla]

A MAMIL with all the gear heading off down my road at 0630 with just a weak rear light and no front light at all.  Sunrise is at 0813.  Still, he was wearing a helmet, so he's invulnerable.

[CrazyEnglishTriathlete]

Can we put pedestrians in here? I nominate the one who stepped off the kerb right in front of me while looking the wrong way. I just managed to emergency stop before hitting him and to my surprise, the word that I reflexively bellowed was "IDIOT!" which caused him to turn his head and look at me as if he still couldn't see me. I think he was a Chinese student, but that's probably not why he was looking the wrong way; it's a one-way street with contraflow cycle lane. I've never felt entirely comfortable with this concept.

I'd nominated the designer of that concept.  There's one I use in Oxford, but I treat it as if I was riding down a fully pedestrianised street - the pedestrians haven't seen me.  I only use it to avoid two moronic sets of traffic lights.

[CrazyEnglishTriathlete]

We've just been reassigned to a different parliamentary constituency, so democratic that if you pinned the right colour rosette on a monkey it would get elected (actually that might have happened).  They posted their political newspaper through our door, so I thought I would see what messages my new MP wanted to present.  One of them caught my eye - from a local councillor.

"We believe you should be able to go where you want, when you want, in the vehicle you want."

[Cudzoziemiec]

Can we put pedestrians in here? I nominate the one who stepped off the kerb right in front of me while looking the wrong way. I just managed to emergency stop before hitting him and to my surprise, the word that I reflexively bellowed was "IDIOT!" which caused him to turn his head and look at me as if he still couldn't see me. I think he was a Chinese student, but that's probably not why he was looking the wrong way; it's a one-way street with contraflow cycle lane. I've never felt entirely comfortable with this concept.

I'd nominated the designer of that concept.  There's one I use in Oxford, but I treat it as if I was riding down a fully pedestrianised street - the pedestrians haven't seen me.  I only use it to avoid two moronic sets of traffic lights.

Yes, it's a dodgy concept. And yet it's surprisingly popular with (at least some) cyclists and cycling campaign groups. I think it can work well when it allows cycle access to an area or avoiding what would be a laborious one-way system, but design is (as always) important. There's a narrow bridge here with a gurt barrier between the one-way car section and the two-way bikes and pedestrians section, and it works well because you're effectively riding in a constricted but short pedestrian zone. People walk in front of you but not in a sudden way. The "barrier" is actually a structural part of the bridge for Victorian engineering reasons but it functions as a barrier too.

[Cudzoziemiec]

We've just been reassigned to a different parliamentary constituency, so democratic that if you pinned the right colour rosette on a monkey it would get elected (actually that might have happened).  They posted their political newspaper through our door, so I thought I would see what messages my new MP wanted to present.  One of them caught my eye - from a local councillor.

"We believe you should be able to go where you want, when you want, in the vehicle you want."

Do they actually mean it?

[markcjagar]

Can we put pedestrians in here?

If we are, I nominate the older fella who after looking right at me whilst I was indicating left (by very obviously sticking my arm out) still stepped into the road. This caused braking and I nearly got rear ended by the moton who was following too close, again, whilst I was very obviously indicating that I was turning left.

[Kim]

Can we put pedestrians in here? I nominate the one who stepped off the kerb right in front of me while looking the wrong way. I just managed to emergency stop before hitting him and to my surprise, the word that I reflexively bellowed was "IDIOT!" which caused him to turn his head and look at me as if he still couldn't see me. I think he was a Chinese student, but that's probably not why he was looking the wrong way; it's a one-way street with contraflow cycle lane. I've never felt entirely comfortable with this concept.

I'd nominated the designer of that concept.  There's one I use in Oxford, but I treat it as if I was riding down a fully pedestrianised street - the pedestrians haven't seen me.  I only use it to avoid two moronic sets of traffic lights.

Yes, it's a dodgy concept. And yet it's surprisingly popular with (at least some) cyclists and cycling campaign groups. I think it can work well when it allows cycle access to an area or avoiding what would be a laborious one-way system, but design is (as always) important.

IIRC the PushBikes line on the subject is that two-way streets with "no entry (except cycles)" are preferable to contraflow cycle lanes, and that the concept only works if it's the default for an entire area, so that road users get used to it.

This makes sense, but with low volumes of cyclists you still have the risk of motorists thinking you're breaking the rules (IIRC clarion got assaulted for this) and city centres are always going to be full of pedestrians who've never driven/cycled around the area and are oblivious to road signs.

On the gripping hand, you're only going to increase the volume of cyclists if you do something to make the roads easier to cycle on, so it's better than an impenetrable maze of one-way streets, or (arguably) having everything jammed up with two-way motor traffic.  I think a better solution is to reduce the motor traffic with modal filters and removing parking, but that would be politically courageous.

[CrazyEnglishTriathlete]

We've just been reassigned to a different parliamentary constituency, so democratic that if you pinned the right colour rosette on a monkey it would get elected (actually that might have happened).  They posted their political newspaper through our door, so I thought I would see what messages my new MP wanted to present.  One of them caught my eye - from a local councillor.

"We believe you should be able to go where you want, when you want, in the vehicle you want."

Do they actually mean it?

I decided that it gave me carte blanche to ride anywhere I want at any speed I want and when he is stuck behind my in (probably his monstrous Range Rover) I could remind him that I was following the desires of his campaign literature.  After all my bicycle is deemed a vehicle.

[Cudzoziemiec]

We've just been reassigned to a different parliamentary constituency, so democratic that if you pinned the right colour rosette on a monkey it would get elected (actually that might have happened).  They posted their political newspaper through our door, so I thought I would see what messages my new MP wanted to present.  One of them caught my eye - from a local councillor.

"We believe you should be able to go where you want, when you want, in the vehicle you want."

Do they actually mean it?

I decided that it gave me carte blanche to ride anywhere I want at any speed I want and when he is stuck behind my in (probably his monstrous Range Rover) I could remind him that I was following the desires of his campaign literature.  After all my bicycle is deemed a vehicle.