Cyclists

Bails · **Joined:** Tue Jun 08, 2010 10:16 am **Posts:** 957

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... -road.html

The comments....oh, the comments.

The article was originally titled "The AMAZING moment a bus driver 'used vehicle as a weapon' to ram cyclist off road". Yeah, brill, innit.

Bails · **Joined:** Tue Jun 08, 2010 10:16 am **Posts:** 957

Quote:

From these comments I can see that if a cyclist goes too fast then they're aggressive, but if they go too slow then they're holding up traffic. If they cycle up the inside lane that's bad because drivers can't see them, but if they cycle in the middle of the road that's also bad because they're taking up the space of a car. Maybe they should all buy cars & double the length of traffic jams, then we'll really have something to moan about.
- Helene, Wilts, 17/2/2012 11:50

Nicely put!

davidjay · **Joined:** Tue Feb 17, 2009 8:24 pm **Posts:** 3837

The cyclist was in the middle of the lane, which makes it alright to drive a bus at him. Again we have the fundamental ethos of the Mailte - it's not a proper law if it affects a motorist.

Bails · **Joined:** Tue Jun 08, 2010 10:16 am **Posts:** 957

davidjay wrote:

The cyclist was in the middle of the lane, which makes it alright to drive a bus at him. Again we have the fundamental ethos of the Mailte - it's not a proper law if it affects a motorist.

Yep. Also "I learnt to drive 40 years ago and haven't looked at the highway code since, so I'll just make up rules about cyclists not being allowed to be in the middle of the lane".

They are allowed to be there, but as you say, even if they weren't it doesn't justify the attack at all.

Lord Brett · **Posted:** Fri Feb 17, 2012 8:33 pm

Quote:

As a cyclist myself I know from personal experience that this is not an isolated incident. The bus and taxi drivers of the Capital seem to regard terrorising cyclists as an occupational bonus. I just wish Mr Hill could have been left to rot in prison, the utter coward - just like the lorry driver who killed my brother
- smdt, LDN, 16/2/2012 20:51

This one, perhaps not surprisingly considering Mail Online's mentally challenged readership, is currently 37 in the red.

Tom_UK · **Joined:** Tue Oct 27, 2009 3:14 pm **Posts:** 3168

This comment is leading me towards a head/wall scenario:

Quote:

The cyclist was clearly at fault. Watch video from 4 seconds in to 9 seconds before the collision. The cyclist was deliberately putting himself in harm's way by riding directly in front of the bus, and, just inches from the front of the bus at that. I strongly believe it was his goal to have a collision with the bus and then win a huge insurance award from the bus company. Pedestrians have been deliberately colliding with cars for years to collect huge insurance awards. Drivers work in tandem to create accidents and collect insurance money. This has been occurring for decades. The cyclist in this story was doing the same thing. I want to know how much he collected from the insurance company. I feel sad for the bus driver who got very poor advice from his lawyer. He should never have pleaded guilty. So much for the justice system. Justice certainly did not prevail on that sorry day in court.

- Robert Vergas, Oakland, CA USA, 18/2/2012 01:50

I don't know about the other cyclists on this forum, but when I'm out on my bicycle I can think of nothing I'd rather do than risk possible death by deliberately colliding with a fucking enormous great bus in order to collect a compensation cheque, so Robert has got this spot on.

Malcolm Armsteen · **Posted:** Mon Feb 20, 2012 1:41 pm

It would be a short career...

How Mr Vergas can reach those conclusions from that video escapes me. Whatever the rights and wrongs of the earlier altercation (and given the bus driver's reaction we can imagine what was going on there) he clearly uses the bus as a weapon.

bluebellnutter · **Posted:** Mon Feb 20, 2012 1:54 pm

He is not watching the events of the video. he is trying to work out how the events in the video match up with his pre-existing prejudices. There's a massive difference.

Carlos The Badger · **Posted:** Mon Feb 20, 2012 1:54 pm

Also the bit about the legal advice. Given the damning video evidence I'd say it was far from poor - but Bobby from Oakland thinks he should have pleaded not guilty and risked a longer sentence. Bobby is a twat!

oboogie · **Posted:** Thu Feb 23, 2012 4:21 pm

Had an incident on my bike this morning.

I wanted to turn left at a junction. The lights were red. Just before the lights there was a dip in the pavement to allow cyclists up on to the pavement/cycle path (the cycle path is marked out by painting half the pavement rust red). I was following the path round to the left when a motorist started shouting abuse at me. As I was doing nothing wrong I was at first indignant but realised from his low vantage point, sitting in a car on the other side of the road, it must appear that I'd just jumped a red light and was now cycling on the pavement. I shouted back that it was a cycle path - this enraged him even more. On reflection I recall an incident in a lecture when a student misheard me using the word and thought I said "psychopath" - this may explain his anger.
Whatever.
I have no doubt he is, even as I type, regaling anyone who will listen with his tale of the rude arrogant cyclist who flagrantly breached the Highway Code.

I wonder how many of the anti-cyclist comments in the Mail might stem from such simple misunderstandings.

ezinra · **Posted:** Thu Feb 23, 2012 4:27 pm

That's the thing, isn't it? One half-mistaken example is all a Mailite needs to have his prejudice reinforced for eternity as an incontrovertible FACT.

oboogie · **Posted:** Thu Feb 23, 2012 5:21 pm

Of course. Just as a handful of arseholes burning poppies and shouting abuse at soldiers justifies the demonisation of ALL Muslims etc etc.

Bails · **Joined:** Tue Jun 08, 2010 10:16 am **Posts:** 957

oboogie: And yet a few drug driving, joyriding boy racers never tar all drivers....how odd.

I'm always worried that "indicate" looks like "dick 'ead" when lip read by a motorist who doesn't know what the little orange lights are for. I may well think that they're a dick head, but I'll keep that to myself.

I think I enraged a driver today actually. I was overtaking stationary traffic on a one way street, as I passed a Bentley (posh round 'ere) it started to roll forward, and moved right, towards me, pushing me towards the parked cars. So I slowed down, let it reach the back of the car in front, then when it stopped I started to overtake again. I looked in and the driver had a phone in one hand and was opening a bottle of water with the other. So I gave him the withering "I'm not angry, I'm just disappointed" stare as I went past. Disappointed in him for not looking in his mirrors before pulling away and for not holding the steering wheel. Then I heard him start beeping his horn, I assume at me for daring to look at him, but the driver of the car in front had, by sheer coincidence, stopped for a few seconds to let a very elderly woman get out of the car, so it looked like Mr Bentley was beeping his horn at the struggling elderly woman.....which meant all the pedestrians and other drivers also gave him the "shut up, you idiot" look :lol:

As for the insurance scam conspiracy above......how exactly do you deliberately ride inches in front of a bus? The bus driver is following, he's the one deciding the distance.

oboogie · **Posted:** Fri Feb 24, 2012 6:04 pm

Bails wrote:

the driver had a phone in one hand and was opening a bottle of water with the other

But he was still able to beep his horn - that's a proud boast.

Gourami · **Joined:** Wed Jul 20, 2011 10:51 pm **Posts:** 2005

I saw a chap today cycling towards me down the pavement. I don't mind that in the slightest as long as people aren't reckless. Anyway, this guy had his hands off the handlebars and was theatrically leaning back and pouring a can of Stella down his throat. So determined was he to project a devil may care attitude that he insisted on sailing at some speed through a narrow gap between a lamp-post and a bollard. He even cocked his head back in a "Me cool, innit?" slack-jawed leer as he passed me at this juncture.

Got me thinking, how strong the need to be admired can be. This guy could have slammed his face full tilt into a variety of immovable objects but took the risk anyway. Even if he is a shit for brains he is probably au fait with the idea of physical pain. I am a stranger to him, yet he needed my attention so much that he did this. It wasn't me, anyone who looked would have given him an audience. Curious.

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