Rude Cyclists

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While most cyclists are nice, there are some exceptional ones who are rude and give others a bad name. Today, I encountered two such folks. One was on a real beater, brand new. But he was in good physique, going fast, not defensive and whirring in and out of the bike lane and into traffic at crossings, ignoring reds etc., Cars were slowing down seeing him.

Another had a carrier on wheels behind him. I was looking at him while cycling and tried to start a conversation. He said there is a new law if when I go straight on green and a turning car hit me on the side, then I will have to pay for repair of car, pay a $400 fine and also my bike will be held for six months. That is very strict and there is no such mention in the media. I asked him if he does delivery, he said he works for his own and speeded away.. Initially this info. scared me but later on reflection for some unknown reason I felt that he was trying to scare me.

As if any such drastic law came into place, it will be announced by the Ministry of Transport for sure. There is no such announcement.

I saw one cycle courrier almost a year ago, go fast run over a red light, he made an older woman stumble and she grabbed his bag, then he fell down among several pedestrians crossing. He quickly gotup, brushed himself up and then sped away.

Share any experience that you have with rude cyclists.

This might be a good learning experience.

Vijay

Too many to list. Seriously.

Then let us discuss the most important ones. This will be a good experience.

Problem is when mixing it with traffic and wanting to go at any reasonable speed there is a tendancy to pump up on adrenalin which causes most people to become quite agressive. One has to recognise this and try and stay happy. Yet many people who cycle at speed do it for the "adrenalin rush".

Statistics show that cyclists running red lights are actually safer than those obeying them. Blame car drivers for that wonder. Point of fact: more women cyclists get killed and injured waiting at traffic lights because females tend to obey the traffic laws. :eek:

In Denmark, in the circumstance you describe, the cyclist has the right of way, so if a car turns into you then it's their fault. In any case car owners are responsible for insuring the cyclists, so it would not make any difference.

An annoyance in Denmark is cyclists who can barely stay upright pushing in front at traffic lights. Very rude. They are then difficult to work around because they're slow and wobbly, and because you've been slowed, you get knocked off the "green wave", and caught by the next set of lights. Rinse, repeat. I've seen some cyclists, so annoyed by this after several sets of lights, they've wound up close and flipped the miscreants rear wheel lock on. If the annoyance doesn't realise this, they fall over when the lights change and cause quite a pile up. Luckily I commute a fair old distance, so can make the time up, and the irritants are generally quite pretty young ladies, so it is not such an imposition to be forced to stay behind them for a few hundred meters extra.

Rude cyclists - there has been a good number for me in NZ over the years.

Two that irk me - my racing club - most guys are stuck up arrogant, unsocial pricks. Some are not of course.
I love to race and its the best club in town for racing but its not a place to hope for good social skills from others:o

Guys I meet when I'm out training who don't wave or respond to waves(when we're the only riders on the road for miles). May be its this big city mentality. I've just about given up on trying to be friendly when I'm out riding:o

Yesterday I was riding through town on my usual commute. I was stopped at a signal-controlled crosswalk waiting for the "walk" signal, and just as the signal changed, a 20-something cyclist traveling with the traffic (and therefore stopped by the red light) blew through the intersection, forcing me to hard brake to avoid him.

He continued up the street passing between the barely moving traffic and the cars parked along the street as I crossed onto a bike path that parallels the same street. When I reached the next intersection up, the 20-something (who was wearing flip-flops on his feet and no helmet on his obviously dense cranium) also arrived and continued in the same direction I was headed, although I was riding on the street with traffic and he was on the opposite sidewalk against traffic and dodging pedestrians left and right.

We soon reached a four-way stop almost simultaneously, but of course I stopped while he blew through the crosswalk, still on the opposite side of the street. I continued up the street, and eventually he jumped the curb between parked cars and cut across, now riding the same line as me, but directly in front of me.

I called out to him, "Thanks for giving us all a bad rap." He turned and gave me the finger. About a 1/2-block later we passed a police car that was parked in a driveway to our right, lying in wait to catch speeders. The cop's window was down, so as I passed him I said, "People like that (pointing at Mr. 20-something) are what give us all a bad rap." The cop nodded at me and the punk looked back at him in fear. He then stood-up on his pedals and put everything he had into racing away up the increasingly steep grade. He probably put two blocks between us, but as I chugged up to the signal at the top of the hill there he was, panting; I had basically reeled him in again.

Seeing me, the idiot crossed against the light and charged down the hill beyond it. I turned right.

I know there's really no effective way to get through to fools like this guy, but it was nice to learn that all his cheating, illegal stunts gained him exactly nothing in terms of time. So why did he even bother?

<<snipped ... >> So why did he even bother?From your description of the style of dress and cycling style I can hazard a guess it's one of these 'fixie' fashion things. I've noticed it just started happening in Copenhagen. Seriously I wouldn't get involved, as apparently they're also taking massive amounts of steroids and other pharma and are quite off their heads.