Today's numpty count

Commuting, Day rides, Audax, Incidents, etc.
TonyR
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Today's numpty count

Post by TonyR »

Three.

1. Waiting at the centre line to pull out and turn right at a t-junction. Driver pulls up on the left of me and tries to turn right with me

2. In the middle of the lane arm out signalling to turn right and as I get to the junction driver overtakes me.

3. Pedestrian strides out from behind parked van, phone in hand, headphones in, looking the wrong way. Fortunately I was not a car and could swerve round him.

Otherwise a glorious ride with fog and autumn leaves.
RideToWorky
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Re: Today's numpty count

Post by RideToWorky »

Half awake Sunday morning pedestrians and drivers!

Well done for avoiding accidents there.

Cheers
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Mick F
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Re: Today's numpty count

Post by Mick F »

Well done for surviving.

No 3 seems to happen with monotonous regularity round here.

Last week, I was riding through Tavistock when a lady just walks out from between parked cars. Good job I was keeping my eyes open and actually watched her do it and saw her not looking at all. I deliberately passed her closely and shouted at her. I wonder if she has a dicky heart, because she didn't half jump! :lol:

Peds these days "look" with their ears only, instead of using ears plus eyes.
Mick F. Cornwall
TonyR
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Re: Today's numpty count

Post by TonyR »

Mick F wrote:Well done for surviving.

No 3 seems to happen with monotonous regularity round here.

Last week, I was riding through Tavistock when a lady just walks out from between parked cars. Good job I was keeping my eyes open and actually watched her do it and saw her not looking at all. I deliberately passed her closely and shouted at her. I wonder if she has a dicky heart, because she didn't half jump! :lol:


Probably writing to the papers right now about the menace of lycra louts :wink:
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gaz
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Re: Today's numpty count

Post by gaz »

Mick F wrote:... I deliberately passed her closely and shouted at her. ...

So you were paying attention, anticipated an incident, took avoiding action then made a punishment pass :roll:
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loch eck steve
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Re: Today's numpty count

Post by loch eck steve »

I,ve just had the young mum pushing the baby buggy into the road THEN looks to see if anything was coming ! luckily nothing else was in the road so i could swerve to avoid her , she went pretty red in the face when i passed very close by her !!
axel_knutt
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Re: Today's numpty count

Post by axel_knutt »

TonyR wrote:1. Waiting at the centre line to pull out and turn right at a t-junction. Driver pulls up on the left of me and tries to turn right with me

I've had the converse of that. Waiting to turn left at a T junction, a driver pulls up on my right signalling left. When the traffic clears I set off and so does he, so he then honks at me for forcing him to swing wide onto the wrong side of the road.

2. In the middle of the lane arm out signalling to turn right and as I get to the junction driver overtakes me.


Riding on the crest of the road about to turn right, I thought there was something wrong about the sound of the car behind. At the last second, just before I leant beyond the point of no return, a woman overtook on the wrong side of the road because she couldn't be bothered to put the mobile phone down and change gear.
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GrumpyCyclist
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Re: Today's numpty count

Post by GrumpyCyclist »

At the risk of upsetting any of the "cyclists do no wrong" crowd I'd like to relate a story from the other side of the tracks from yesterday.

Me and Mrs Grumpy were out on a gentle bimble around yesterday morning and as I was waiting for her to catch up (I'd just let it go down a hill and up the other side leaving her behind, I'm a bad man) a car pulled alongside. The bloke in it was perfectly fine but asked if we were with two cyclists they'd just passed. These cyclists had swerved across the front of him barely missing the front of his car, shot up the inside of a line of traffic at two sets of lights, proceeded through both sets while still on red, and in one instance forced a bus to brake as it came through the lights legally from the other direction. He wasn't ranting or raving, but he did say (as they cycled past us while talking) that he strongly advises us not to associate with them as they are idiots. I paraphrase slightly. Admittedly I can't vouch for how his attitude would have been if we'd said we were with them but his main concern was that we shouldn't throw our lot in with them. Numptyism isn't exclusive to motorised forms of transport and it would do us all good to remember this.

Also, on the same ride, we encountered half a dozen careful, courteous, considerate drivers who held back on narrow roads and didn't even attempt to pass unless the road ahead was visibly clear. Or, in one case, when I signalled back to them that it was now safe to pass. There are cyclist friendly drivers out there, it's not all bad. On the whole my experiences are much more good than bad. So far anyway.
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TonyR
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Re: Today's numpty count

Post by TonyR »

Yes, there are good drivers and bad drivers, good cyclists and bad cyclists. But only one of those is likely to cause you serious harm.
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Mick F
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Re: Today's numpty count

Post by Mick F »

gaz wrote:
Mick F wrote:... I deliberately passed her closely and shouted at her. ...

So you were paying attention, anticipated an incident, took avoiding action then made a punishment pass :roll:
No, of course not! :lol:

I'm aware of wot I sed could have sounded like that, but what I didn't do was slow to a crawl and go past gently and slowly and smile at her.

I carried on and made sure she saw and heard me, and saw how near she got to being hit.

It wasn't a punishment at all.
Mick F. Cornwall
reohn2
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Re: Today's numpty count

Post by reohn2 »

Mick F wrote:Well done for surviving.

No 3 seems to happen with monotonous regularity round here.

Last week, I was riding through Tavistock when a lady just walks out from between parked cars. Good job I was keeping my eyes open and actually watched her do it and saw her not looking at all. I deliberately passed her closely and shouted at her. I wonder if she has a dicky heart, because she didn't half jump! :lol:

Peds these days "look" with their ears only, instead of using ears plus eyes.


A chap once walked out in front of us(tandem) without looking,he was walking diagonally in the same direction as us,I went behind him and as we passed him I said "you didn't look then" Mrs R2 looking behind said he nearly jumped out of his skin :roll:
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LollyKat
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Re: Today's numpty count

Post by LollyKat »

A man once did the same to me - there was time for him to get across but then he stopped right in my path to light a cigarette. My new brake blocks were very noisy....he jumped a good foot into the air. :lol:

Then there was the smartly dressed woman who walked right into the side of my front wheel while I was stopped at traffic lights (this was the days before mobile phones). I just managed to stay upright and she was very apologetic - I hope that the large smear left on her pale Barbour raincoat reminded her to be more careful in future.
Postboxer
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Re: Today's numpty count

Post by Postboxer »

Regarding number 3., in similar circumstances, if you aren't entirely certain there isn't a car overtaking closely, do you gamble and swerve around or brake and hit them? You can't always be 100% certain of what is behind you.
Phil Fouracre
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Re: Today's numpty count

Post by Phil Fouracre »

I hope that the large smear left on her pale Barbour raincoat

Too much information :-) do we really want to know what you were doing?
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661-Pete
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Re: Today's numpty count

Post by 661-Pete »

Well, here's an encounter from a few days ago, that probably qualifies as a 'numpty'. But to do him credit, the driver did hold back after I yelled:
[youtube]rFALJE2XIbs[/youtube]
So I'll call it: "thanks for stopping in time and NOT being a numpty"!

If he had done the left-hook, well it so happens that the road on the left leads into a small industrial estate with no other exit. So, assuming I survived the encounter, I'd have had no trouble chasing him down..... 8)
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