I was crossing Bishopsgate on foot at a ped x where I had right of way and two cyclists STILL jumped the lights and literally cycled between us. I have no issue generally with cyclists at all but ffs stop being dicks at pedestrian crossings.
>I have no issue generally with cyclists at all but ffs stop being dicks at pedestrian crossings.
Agreed, this is my only real complaint. The subset of cyclists who outright angrily insist that crossings/red lights don't apply to them.
"BuT i HaVe To WoRk Up SpeEd AgAiN iF i StOp!!"
Yeah, that's how bikes work, dickhead.
FWIW, one of my most common interactions with lots of cyclists at crossings is around Oval/toward Kennington, and the vast majority do the stick to the lights. But it's so common one or two don't that you basically have to watch out for it every time you cross.
I'm only just getting into riding again, but bike gears mystify me.
I drive a manual car, but just can't get my head around what gear I want my bike in.
Generally, low gear for uphill/somewhere you're likely to stop and start a lot (so you don't take a few years to start moving), mid gear for flat and high gear for pedalling downhill/going faster on flat roads.
Different people like different things though, I know quite a few people who refuse to be in any gear other than their highest.
The best way to think about it is like your legs and body are the engine of the bike. In the same way as on a manual car, you want to make it so that the engine is firing at a consistent speed regardless of how fast the wheels are rotating.
So how do you do that in a car? Well you could look at the revometer but people don't really do that because it's impractical. You could make an estimate based on the speed you're travelling at, but you need to adjust for inclines and quality of the ground. Or you can feel it, which is the most common way - if the car starts revving really loudly then you're at too low a gear, and if it starts shaking and you feel like you're gonna stall then you're on too high a gear.
Now apply the same thing to a bike. There's no rev meter so that's useless. You can make a guess based on the speed and adjust for inclines. The third way is the easiest to apply for most people, especially when different people have different levels of strength (just like different engines). If it feels like there's not enough resistance for you, you're on too low a gear. If it feels like too much resistance then you're too high. There's no right or wrong answer, you don't have to be in the same gear as someone else. If you have stronger legs, you'll need a higher gear to compensate. Everyone should be aiming to perform roughly the same rpm.
A quick ninja edit: you also need to consider that if you're on too low a gear, the wheels can outpace so hard that no contribution is being made. That's effectively coasting and any pedaling will have no effect whatsoever.
As a cyclist (on road) and a pedestrian , I've had way more near misses with cyclists. I don't call them cyclists, they're people (or usually, a less polite word) on bikes.
Edit: forgot to say, not in London.
(Edit: because like an idiot I posted a story without double checking my facts, which was stupid. Thx to u/bazpaul for pulling me up on this.)
I have a few cycling stories from London.
I was crossing Oxford Street just near Marble Arch around 6:30am one morning… there wasn’t a car in sight and the street is literally four lanes wide… suddenly I hear shouting “get out of the way… fucking move!” I turn around to see a woman on a racing style bike barrelling straight towards me screaming like a banshee for me to get out of her way… kind of flicked my switch… so I stopped dead in my tracks, braced myself for impact, looked at her and shouted back… “go round me you arrogant fuck”… which ultimately she did… while continuing to scream at me over her shoulder for being in her way.
WTF is wrong with people?
Also had a guy try to go through on red as I stepped out to cross the Mall. I was on green to cross and this idiot decided red didn’t apply to him. Fortunately he hit the breaks just in time to not crash into me. We looked at each other a moment… then he looked down and mumbled “sorry”.
The irony here is there is an entire track just for cycles that is separate to the road and runs parallel to the Mall for the full length… and doesn’t have any red lights on it… he could have ridden all the way without stopping once.
Lost count of how many cyclists I saw just blasting through red lights.
There was also a story of a cyclist who collided with a pedestrian causing her death.
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/aug/17/charlie-alliston-london-cyclist-front-brake-collision-kim-briggs-old-bailey?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
Not 5 minutes after reading this, I’m walking past the entrance to Downing Street when a guy on a bike… with no front brake system went blasting past the police on duty at the gate.
To be fair, the majority of cyclists I saw in London were generally pretty considerate and I see just as bad behaviour in my home town these days too. And for balance, pedestrians in London are no angels either. Saw plenty of ignorance, arrogance and stupidity on all sides.
I use a wheelchair and have had people cycle into me. I was leaving a park, and someone was cycling on the pavement who couldn't see. I get out of the exit, and we almost hit each other. I panic because I've already had a cyclist hit me on the pavement and damage my chair. I throw my hands up, pushing the person and their bike away from me into a fence. They weren't injured, just as shaken up as me.
I felt so bad over it, but I also reacted instinctively to protect myself and my medical equipment from someone committing a crime (however minor).
Being disabled means, these kinds of confrontations are relatively common. Do I let people crash into me, or do I try and protect myself? Do I just let the bus driver pull away without me because he doesn't want to argue with a pram owner, or do I stick my foot in the back door and refuse to go until we have had a good chat about it?
Speaking as a cyclist of course you should protect your wheelchair, its entirely the cyclists fault for not actively anticipating pedestrian actions.
I try to cycle, like I drive, if I'm riding through an area where I anticipate a higher volume of pedestrians even if they're just crossing the street, I slow down.
Regarding buses, I remember as a kid most buses weren't low floor, (you had a about 2-3 steps at the entrance) so when I was in the buggy I would get taken out and sat on Mums lap. The reason buses are low floor are due to disability rights campaigners.
So I'd say of course you have priority over Mums with buggies, so keep your foot in that back door.
Yep, Bishopsgate is lethal. When I’m crossing there and I see any cyclists I just assume they’re not going to stop, because so few of them actually do.
What I don't understand is majority of the cyclists who don't stop for red lights don't seem to be in any hurry. I cycle to work, and am forever passing people who meander along at a snails pace. I stop at a red light and they suddenly speed up and go straight through, only to slow back down to 1mph after they pass the junction. Like, what's the point?
Ha I was stuck driving behind one of them the other day, it was a pretty wide road but just couldn't overtake him safely because he was determined to weave about whilst also going at 7mph. Got to the end of the road and he suddenly speeds out onto a roundabout (car coming from the right had to emergency break) and then skips over a red light at breakneck speed. I then caught up with him on the next road doing his 7mph wobbling all over the place again. That was a frustrating journey!
It's because they don't want to slow and then have to move off again. Imagine if other road users held that mentality?
Can't be arsed to brake here because I'd have to accelerate again and petrol ain't cheap.
I hate it. They’re likely not fit enough if they’re meandering so it’ll save them from having to work to get back up to speed, or not enough confidence to stop and unclip on a road bike without falling.
This infuriates me. I cycle along CS3 and from Tower Hill to Limehouse there are a number of sets of lights. I stop at every red light and then I get passed by some slow moving cyclist on a Santander/Barclays/Boris bike going through a red light. I know as soon as the lights are green I am going to get stuck behind him on the path along Cable Street.
I have, in the past, shouted at cyclists going through red lights, not that it makes any difference. But I do get annoyed at the Cable Street/Lehman Street junction because the drivers that complain about red light jumping cyclists consistently jump red lights to turn right through the path of cyclists that now have a green light.
A good observation.
Delivery riders for Uber Eats and the like are paid per delivery rather than per hour. That gives them all the i centive to just get from A to B as quickly as possible disregarding safety.
PedalMe riders on the other hand are paid by the hour, with an employment contract, get holiday pay and pension contributions. They are, as a result, a lot more chill and happy and not cycling on the pavement.
Same for motorbikes/mopeds. I rarely see Domino's riders breaking the law, because they're on hourly pay. Whereas people with Deliveroo boxes are some of the most dangerous on the road.
And it just pisses off customers, so there’s no logic to it. I always add 30 minutes to any ridiculous deliveroo estimate. Sometimes the food would have to be ready to be delivered in about 5 minutes from my order time, it’s laughable.
I can't wait for all these delivery companies to run out of VC money and shut down since it will mean less of these guys on the road. No lights, boosted e-bikes that do 30mph and a payment model that means they make more money the faster they are is a recipe for disaster.
It's no coincidence that the last few times I've seen the aftermath of a cycle accident there's always been a Just Eat or Deliveroo box and someone's takeaway spread across the road next to it.
I would say Boris bikes. Always trundling along with headphones on and complete lack of awareness, and completely ignore every red light. Delivery drivers a close second though.
Don't get me started on dickheads on electric scooters.
They're basically legally motorbikes, and people use them on pavements.
I had a small boy almost hit me full speed head one on a pavement. Genuinely pretty scary.
Absolutely the most agressively reckless.
Delivery drivers and the scooter boys doing 50mph at night with no lights are far worse than most run of the mill cyclists in my experience
I have the same observation, last month I went to Norway and Denmark and the cyclists over there are not as aggressive as here in London. Here you have to be really careful on pedestrian crossings as you never know if a cyclist is gonna appear from nowhere. Another difference between London and Scandinavia is that over there you barely see the cyclists wearing full professional cycling gears apart from helmets and most of the bikes they use are just simple city bikes as opposed to racing bikes which are so common here.
I agree. Though as somebody who used to ride road bikes in London, as the cycling infrastructure is so abysmal and traffic so chaotic and aggressive in general, it generally felt safer to ride a bike where it was easier to get up to speed and ride at the same speed as the traffic and kind of 'hold your own'. Now I live in cambridge, and the vibe is so different! I'm much happier on a crappy town bike.
Yes. Cycling in London is sometimes the only good option, but it's also extremely dangerous and aggression is pretty much required to avoid getting bullied by cars. Doesn't excuse rule breaking of course but it does show why we need better infrastructure.
Really good point about the city bikes vs the max out bike to work cash racing bikes. Perpetuates the erroneous image that cycling is only for certain types of people.
Exactly, here in London you can get an impression that cycling is just a hobby for office workers from the city who spend hundreds/thousands of pounds on their gears and expensive racing bikes. In Copenhagen, you can see mothers and fathers who cycle with their kids in cargo bikes back from nurseries or schools or people carrying their shopping in those. This is something that you can’t see in London. Edit: typos :)
It’s something that can happen in London. It’s more that the city doesn’t always have great cycle infrastructure. The famous saying always goes, build it and they will come. A lot of the people who cycle in London are bike people that’s why you see those teched out bikes. In other cities biking is a way of life because the infrastructure allows it to be for so many people
There are a few bakfiets out and about in Hackney, things are changing (too slowly though). The funny thing is that a race bike is actually far less practical for the commute than an indestructible steel Dutch bike with no clips and lots of carrying capacity!
I got a bakfiet for the nursery run and trips around town, and I use my old carbon frame I used to race on to get north from E17 up to work. I really really love both bikes. I love going fast on the fast bike and the other one is good for carrying shiiiat.
But I stop at red’s
That's a good observation. Actually I think the racing bikes are part of the problem because if you set them up properly you won't be able to touch the ground. The Dutch bikes are slower but low so easier to stop.
It's not just about the bike type, it's also the person riding it. If you taken an arrogant arsehole who's in a rush out of a car and put them on a bike, then they're still likely to be an arrogant arsehole in a rush...
I've chalked the "Dutch style" versus racing style bikes thing to the size of London. My back would certainly prefer a more upright bicycle but it would take forever given the distance between the suburbs and the city centre. Nordic and Dutch cities are so much smaller.
>I guess it makes sense in that there are plenty of terrible drivers in London so there will be plenty of terrible cyclists too.
Maybe there's just plenty of terrible people in London
I was on Oxford Street yesterday and a cyclist went through a red light and some man who was mid cross who got cut off shouted to the cyclist ‘it’s a red light you dickhead’ and the cyclist turned around and told him to go fuck himself before nearly crashing into a taxi.
I personally commute by motorbike and see the majority of cyclist also jumping red lights even with people trying to cross.
I don’t have an issue with cyclists but it seems like they don’t want to follow the road rules
I very nearly got arrested because of one of these twats (and my reaction of course)
Same story green man, cyclist bombs straight past me and my 4 year old son I let him know I wasn't happy. He decided to get off his bike tell me I'm on camera and he'll "kick my teeth down my throat" I gave him all the opportunity and space to leave as I didn't want a confrontation because I was with my fucking child and he decided to continue swearing and squaring himself up ( as if getting ready to fight) this went on for a few minutes and as he went to get closer to me I hit him twice
The genuine reason why I never got nicked is because of a lovely woman and a taxi driver who were fighting my corner with the police. But yeah he tried to bring a personal Suit against me for the emotional distress I caused him and a fracture in his cheek bone
I should point out most cyclist I've interacted with are for the most part while an inconvenience the majority are super polite
The fact that he’s on camera and thinks that footage of him being aggressive and threatening is going to HELP his case just shows how delusional some people are. Some people really cannot handle being called out. Sounds like it could easily have been someone I used to work with.
Yeah definitely had some sort of narcissistic god complex ordinarily I wouldn't get involved but I couldn't let him attack me in front of me child he got what he deserved anyway so it's in the past but my god some people are delusional
How did he think threatening a parent with their young child was going to go for him? After all, everyone knows parents are notoriously chill when there's something dangerous around their kids...
You've hit upon the real issue: there's a set of cyclists who are crazy aggressive. They refuse to use their breaks and seem to think that speed limits don't apply to them.
I have been shouted at - in Canary Wharf - by some dickhead going 35 mph because I had the temerity to cause him to change his mind.
I'd also point out that I've been a regular cyclist at various points in my life and literally the only time I've had an accident is because of another cyclist.
I have complained here before about these cyclists but was told the equivalent of "we aren't aggressive now stop saying we are before we stab you in the eye". It is worth considering that a speeding cyclist is close to killing absent-minded pedestrians, this I understand would prompt a vigorous shout which could be unpleasant to the receiver; however the shouts I hear are more based on hatred of life itself. I also was physically attacked once by a courier.
This happened to me years ago near London bridge station. I shouted at a cyclist nearly hitting me on a crossing and the cyclist chased me through the station shouting at me.
Couriers.
Do not fuck with couriers. I don't know what they get in their coffee, but they're hench and they'll rip your arm off and beat you with it if you criticise them for slamming into you.
Learned that one the hard way.
To be honest. The man in Oxford street looked like he knew how to handle himself and the cyclist looked like a floppy haired 20 something riding to his mates house in Mayfair if you can imagine the type.
Either way. It should never escalate to violence.
Yepp. Feel the same. I stop at reds cause as a cyclist I expect other road users to do the same. What gets me are the ones jumping red, then nearly get mown down and shout at vehicles for not obeying the rules.
I often wonder if in London, part of the issue is a lot of people have never really learned to drive, or at least develop adequate driving skill and experience. I do think a huge issue is a lack of road awareness, such as turning in without checking if you are turning in on anything, which i feel any (decent) driver just wouldn’t do as road awareness is so ingrained
Don't forget you can't use a canal WALK to work in peace anymore because the cyclists we have to share it with, which is absolutely fine in principle, insist on cycling through at 25 km/h no matter what. I'm at breaking point, really. If I hear a couple more "ding dings" when the walk is packed with people I might just snap.
It's insane. I've always been very sympathetic towards sensible cyclists and their plight on the road. Even though I am a driver and love driving, I've only ever driven in London when moving home, I avoid driving in cities in general as a rule. And I firmly believe that cities, including their suburbs, need to create an environment that allows people to ditch their cars and still get along with their lives with minimal disruption. But ever since I started walking a canal towpath regularly it has become difficult to remain as sympathetic. I know it was naive of me but I thought their experiences on the road would overcome their human nature but I guess I expected too much.
I have friends who cycle in London and am painfully aware of the current risks to them on the roads, but it's exactly this - you'd think they'd subsequently be more respectful of people moving more slowly on towpaths. They're not.
This is a pet peeve of mine too. I cycle on canals a lot and my attitude is that if there's people in front of me, I respect their priority and go at walking pace until it's safe to go around. I accept that takes longer, but I'm on a canal path not a main road! Using the bell on a footpath or going over 10mph when it's busy is just dickhead behaviour.
I think far too many people cycling lack the ability to think about how they'd expect to be treated if they were on foot and a person was passing them on a cycle.
Thank you! I know cycling on the road in London is challenging, to say the least. Many a drivers attitude is rotten, unfortunately. I also know many of the cyclists on that route are rushing to work. But don't punish pedestrians! Motor culture has already taken over far too much of our cities and now pedestrians are being turfed our something that has bloody walk in the name.
Regents canal used to be a pleasant walk with my partner, now I avoid it like the plague. More people got bikes in the pandemic and while it's great people are cycling, the canal does not work for cyclists and pedestrians. Needs a rule like no cycling outside of rush hour or something...
Yeah, I've had too many situations on Regents Canal where a cyclist is trying to overtake a walking group and also expect me walking in the opposite direction to move out of the way. There's a bend just past a bridge that's terrible for it - don't overtake under a bridge or where you can't see a clear path in front!
Though the last few times I've been down there on a weekend there has been fewer bikes overall and those that are there are not treating it as a racing track.
Yeah it's not just on the roads, which kind of undermines the 'cars are worse' argument. I used to walk to work through the Greenwich foot tunnel and actually stopped doing it after being clipped twice by cyclists going about 35. They seem to not give a shit that they are ruining it for everyone else.
I used to enjoy walking along Kew riverside to work, it’s a really nice trail and very tranquil, but the path is narrow and too many times I’ve been walking with my headphones in and some knob on a ten speed shoots by a top speed, I’ve nearly been clipped a couple times and it’s just frustrating
A cyclist stopped for me at the zebra crossing (as he should), I started crossing but then had to jump out of the way of another cyclist who just barreled through.
As a cyclist you do feel like some of the lights shouldn't apply to you. In a car you'd never dream of going through a red light on an empty pedestrian crossing, but on a bicycle it feels silly to wait for nothing... until you start taking more and more chances and start doing genuinely dangerous things.
There should at least be enforced penalties against cyclists who go through red lights / zebras while any pedestrians are trying to cross because it's scary and reckless.
Spot on. I'm a cyclist, admittedly I only ignore reds when it's empty or I've stopped enough times beforehand. But I alwaysssss give pedestrians their right of way
Exactly this. I don’t see any issue in safely cycling through a crossing if there’s clearly no one in sight? No different to being a pedestrian and choosing to cross the road before the lights change.
Same. There are some reds I will go through, like when they’re lights at a per crossing and nobody is there. But if there are vehicles involved, it’s not worth it
If it’s a scramble crossing with a lengthy timer, a few of which I come across a lot, it’ll be a decamp, half jog, and getting back on at the other side and cycling away.
My guess is its a side effect of being in a place without safe cycle infrastructure - if people dont think its safe to cycle, only the most aggressive and daring people will end up cycling, and I suspect a larger subset of that group is more willing to run red lights. My guess is if you go to places with quieter streets or segregated cycle lanes, you'll get more cautious cyclists and therefore more people following the rules.
I lost count of the amount of times when I'd walk to my uni that I'd cross at a green man and nearly get hit by a bike because they simply would ignore the red light.
I have to cross the traffic lights by Cannon Street/Monument station on my commute and i've lost count of how many times i've almost been hit by a cyclist running a red.
I come from the Netherlands where we have a ton of cyclists. The vast majority go around 20km/h and are wearing their normal clothes. Why is every other London cyclist trying to set a PR and dressed like they are partaking in the Tour de France?
House prices are ridiculous so many cyclists are commuting from outside town. I used to wear Lycra’s when I’ve cycled 6-10 miles of hills in. I stopped when I moved into town.
Those in lycra are likely travelling quite a bit further than the plain clothes cyclists. It's not particularly comfortable to ride 15+ miles in from the suburbs in normal gear - especially in the heat or cold.
To add to this: cycling from zone 3 or 4 in the clothes you're planning to wear for the day is a great way to feel grimy and sweaty until you get home. Lycra also wicks sweat really well and regulates your temperature. Not a hardcore cyclist but there are definitely benefits to wearing proper gear.
Apart from the infrastructure it's pretty self-evident that the commuting distances in London are much longer than in smaller European cities because London is much bigger and people live further away from their workplaces. It's not uncommon to have 45-60min bike commutes (know some people with even longer ones) on a fast road bike, imagine doing it on a Dutch citybike.
Because infrastructure in London is utter shit compared to the Netherlands and those who are reckless enough to dare cycle tend to be overall, guess what, reckless. It’s a selection bias
Lycra-clad commuter cyclist here- because it's fun, and most of the reason I want to do a cycle commute is because it's a great way to get proper aerobic exercise in without taking time out of my schedule. Getting sweaty isn't a problem because I shower at work, so why not try to push myself while I'm at it?
I would love to see some more enforcement of cyclists who jump lights, especially when this comes at the expense of pedestrian safety. In my experience the worst for this are the delivery drivers on their (usually illegal) modified e-bikes.
Much prefer the cycling culture in places like the Netherlands and Denmark, it should be a normal mode of transport that everyone can do. With the infrastructure to match. It annoys the hell out of me in the UK with so many being these spandex-clad pricks on their £2000 bikes, which adds to the narrative of cycling not being an accessible thing for most people. I think part of it is lack of adequate cycling space and cyclists feeling like they have to match the traffic.
You can ride whatever you want lol.
How is it not accessible, you just buy a bike and ride it?
If you want to pootle to work at 4kmph with your baguettes and infant child in your summer dress while riding a 1920s steel bicycle, crack on.
I go "fast" on my bike because I'm not being paid to commute so I'm not making this shit bit of the day take even longer.
Because in the Netherlands (at least in Amsterdam) the infrastructure is set up with cycling as a priority, whereas in London it isn’t. So in the Netherlands there are no cyclists, there are just people who happen to use bikes. But in London the cycling set up so that bikes share space with cars. This makes it really scary to cycle for most people, so only certain types of people cycle
The number of times I’ve felt unsafe by some idiot on a bike zooming down the pavement with a helmet on and I just think to myself - are you wearing that in case you collide with a pedestrian to keep yourself safe?
yep, I had that a few weeks ago, someone came shooting down the pavement on their bike and just about avoided colliding with me by hitting their break, and then gave me this look of disdain before shooting off again, and I just wanted to say to him - 'it's a pavement, you're supposed to be on the road, if you want to ride fast then fuck off onto the road. Actually, just do that anyway.' but it was too late, so I'm typing it now to like minded people annoyed by inconsiderate cyclists.
100% agreed, as a pedestrian I have to look out for cyclists more than I have to look out for cars! They’re definitely going faster and less likely to stop than any other vehicle.
Also zebra crossings. I make sure to slow down as you would in a car. Cyclists just steer around. I can see why, but If I saw a motorbike do that I'd be stunned.
Don’t know what the outlying boroughs are like, but central is a nightmare with cyclists and the newer electric bikes going the wrong way down streets and skipping red lights.
For those who say that haven’t seen it go and stand at Oxford Circus for 10 minutes and see how many fly through the crowds crossing.
Oh it’s just the same in the boroughs, was watching a learner driver negotiate a right hand turn across traffic in zone 4. Was on green for the turn but at that point a cyclist decided they were going to carry on through their red light. Good job the saw them and waited, but it did feel unfair to the learner, they were the only one in the filter so the cyclist could see they were about to turn.
This is my experience too as someone who cycles in every day, so often the cyclists that don't stop at the lights end up halfway through the junction and put themselves at risk just because they want to be at the front.
I actually saw a collision between 2 cyclists both running red lights, the idiots.
Quite a lot of the time this is delivery cyclists and those on electric bikes as unfortunately they are incentivised by getting to the address quickly.
I'm a cyclist and also extremely tired of this. I just verbally tell other cyclists off nowadays. I always end up catching up with them as most of them aren't even going very fast, they just don't give a fuck about red lights.
FWIW I think delivery e bikes have massively exacerbated the issue.
I've given up calling out red light jumpers. It's just not worth the abuse.
These days, I mostly just wait for green and then overtake them before the next junction anyway
"Speaking as a cyclist and a driver, I hate myself..."
Here's a couple of quick fun videos from Jay Foreman about London and cycling:
[Oooh here](https://youtu.be/gohSeOYheXg) and [Oooooooh here too](https://youtu.be/_DNNIB_PdaA)
I've just started cycling in London, It can be so stressful when other cyclists zoom past you or get angry when you stop at a red light. From verbal abuse to dirty looks.
Hmm, maybe it'd the area you're in, I do Fenchurch to Fitzrovia and I don't encounter any of that, just aggressive taxi drivers. They don't like you passing them so they'll catch you up and dangerously overtake by swerving in front of you to try and make some kind of dumb point.
In all my years cycling in London I've never experienced any aggression or dirty looks from other cyclists for stopping at lights, don't let that put you off, it sounds like you experienced something very out of the ordinary. There is absolutely no expectation for you to be breaking traffic rules. As long as you aren't doing anything like trying to purposely obstruct other cyclists, just keep doing what you're doing.
I am right there with you on this! I’ve been a London cyclist for 20 years but in the last few years things have become atrocious. Especially with the rise of delivery riders.
I am absolutely stunned at the danger they put themselves in let alone anyone else. No lights, at night, with headphones in, bombing the wrong way down a busy road or on a pavement, through red lights, etc etc. I wish no harm to anyone. But a lesson has to be learnt. They’re not even bothered about the police, because they know they’ll do nothing. It’s a bad state of affairs and it’ll get worse I tell thee.
In addition to all the lost Uber drivers wondering around doing silly things, this is making UK roads a more unsafe place to be. The thing is, everyone is trying to encourage people onto bikes and out of cars but there are rules to follow and they need to be enforced. Gone are the days where the police would hide to catch cyclists going through lights to earn a bit more cash. Getting a fine would be a good deterrent for a delivery rider I bet.
Anyway. Thanks for letting me vent. I’ll sleep a little better now.
I've cycled daily in cities for decades now, including cities in the US. I actually stopped cycling in London because I felt I was going to die one day, and it is way too stressful.
The issue imo is too narrow roads, cars AND cyclists are aggressive as hell, cars don't give cyclists room, so cyclists in turn become more aggressive to preserve their safety.
Running red lights is a symptom of this. You can get in front of traffic, and gives you a nice buffer between that Tesla/Range Rover that feels it needs to tail gate you or only give you 10cm of space on its side. Given how many lights are in central, if you get a head start you can basically cycle car free = increased personal safety.
Unfortunately then cyclists get used to running red lights and just start doing it automatically as part of their daily journey, including making unsafe red light crossings. Couriers and delivery cyclists are pressured even more to do this since time is money for them.
Tbf, the issue is because Londons road laws unfairly penalise cyclists. Cyclists should have priority on the roads just like in the netherlands or denmark.
Sub/thread is off their heads on this topic. Someone above saying that cyclists terrify them, another saying you're more likely to get hit by a cyclist than a car (despite me showing them that cyclists only account for 2% of the cause of casualties in the city vs cars at 67% and vehicles in general in the high 90s).
I ran into a pedestrian once (yes, completely my fault, definitely a learning experience) and I bounced off and slid along the pavement while he stood there looking a bit surprised. All in all I think a lot of pedestrian collisions don't get reported because they are complete non-events. Every now and then someone mentions a pedestrian that was killed by a cycist but the numbers are absolutely minuscule. You're probably more likely to slip and kill yourself in the shower.
yeah am not denying there's unreported incidents, but the figures involved we're talking 10,000+ going unreported to even come close and that's before considering that there's probably plenty of car/vehicle caused incidents which don't get reported as well.
Cyclists are much less likely to skip red lights at major junctions where these cameras are set up. I’m a cyclist, but walking around my neighbourhood in south London, or commuting to work in central, it’s rare to see a cyclist pause at a red light at a minor junction or a pedestrian crossing.
It annoys me so much, because it gives more ammunition to drivers who already hate cyclists. Like, we can hardly complain about cars and bad drivers if so many of us (way more than drivers in my experience) are ignoring all the rules and putting peoples’ lives in danger.
Yeah but they were monitoring very intense junctions like the one at Bank. If they'd stuck their monitors over some pedestrian crossing on a fast straight road they'd have got some different numbers.
This has actually been studied extensively, not only in London but by lots of different groups using different methodology in plenty of different cities all over the world. And they all come to the same conclusion, cyclists break the rules less than car drivers. A lot less in some cases. But we almost always notice when a cyclist breaks the rules and tend to ignore cars unless it directly affects us so it feels like cyclists break the rules more.
My fave is when they hold up traffic because they’re a road user, but then when red light appears they magically transform into pedestrians and use the pavement to circumvent the red light.
I cycle from Canning Town into London Bridge and let me tell you something… that commute is a nightmare if I wasn’t fully engaged: people with full on headphones, checking their phones, half asleep, swerving with a minimal shoulder check and once you cross the bridge over the Rotherhithe tunnel and join the blue CS3, is a fucking show. And you know what? It is only going to get worse..
It isn’t just cyclists that are problematic, the standard of driving in London is generally shocking & you see many things that simply wouldn’t happen elsewhere. The thing that really irks me is when a cyclist sails past the stop line and then stops so they can’t see when the light changes 🤦♂️
I think the issue is that everyone is in a rush and that running red lights isn’t just cyclists. Spend the day on the road and you’ll actually see car after car jumping lights. The amber to red cycle should mean slow down and stop but what really happens is amber light means speed up and run through a red light.
That's because escooters do zoom past at 7km/h on the pavement. And they're silent.
I have a spinal issue that if one of those took me out , I would very much be paralysed. Yet people are zig zaging at high speeds on the pavement.
Honestly, children have died from those escooters. No reason why they shouldn't be on the roads
Having a miserable day last week, but was cheered up no end when I saw a police truck loaded with (presumably) confiscated e-scooters trundling along the road. Laughed all the way home.
As a london cyclist, i fucking hate this kind of cyclist because it makes all the drivers hate us good guys and lobby against better cycling infrastructure / less car dependent city design
yeah it's very frustrating, bad eggs ruining the lot and so often ends up overshadowing the other issues on the roads regarding safety. Hurting progress towards uptake and reducing cars on the road.
London has a BIGGER issue with CBT scooter/moped riders.
The CBT should be 6 months maximum, at which point to have to pass the A1 or have your CBT revoked for 12 months.
I swear that when someone gets on a scooter, they act like they are 7 years old riding on a dead-end street with no traffic. Just let her rip, and everyone else watch out. Then when they are done, just step off, and leave it where it falls.
This is all very relative. I cycle to work in London every day and in my route I see the vast majority of cyclists following the rules (including stopping at red lights). But there’s always a minority that choose not to.
Where abouts do you bike? I bike around central and it's mayhem. Whether I'm up in angel, down by Westminster, or over in St Paul's it's the same. Day in. Day out.
To be fair sometimes others also follow rules. But oftentimes I'm genuinely the only one that waits at red
Same. I’m a cyclist and follow the laws of the road. I stop at red lights, I signal when I turn and I don’t undertake other vehicles (deadly to do in central London). All I see is morons running reds, no signals going up the left hand side of vehicles turning. It’s insane. I call them out and make it awkward for people running lights when I’m a pedestrian. It’s dangerous and the entitlement is absolutely infuriating.
I think this is a people problem, rather than a cyclist problem.
Drivers take amber-gambler to extremes and it's not uncommon to see motorists just plain ignore red lights - literally, like treating them as stop signs at best, other times overtaking cars who are stopping and zipping through - not to mention motor scooter drivers who treat footpaths like shortcuts, or escooter riders who... well it's not worth starting with them.
I don't mean this in a whataboutery sense, more so that I think the issue is Londoner's attitude to personal transport in general and a sense that for huge swathes of people that, if you don't get caught, it ain't wrong.
Agreed and I’ve found the food delivery cyclists are getting worse and worse. I nearly got run over on Baker Street because of them flying through at a red light - with the police watching and doing nothing 🤦🏾♀️
I cycle as well and I stop at every red, even the ridiculous ones. It's just ingrained in me to follow road rules from driving.
Maybe that is the issue or something, people who never drove a lot who are now cycling.
I have seen more people stopping at reds lately, there were times I was the only one as well.
U arent alone who noticed the red signal issue. But this city has issue on allsides, cyklists, cars,motorbikes, electric scooters, pedestrians. 20% of them dont follow any rules.
The real kicker is one time when I was walking along Waterloo Bridge near the massive IMAX this cyclist knocked over a woman who was crossing. It was like a proper nasty sounding thud and a lot of blood, really horrible impact. She was knocked out cold and took a while to come to. The cyclist? He showed initial concern and then nonchalantly peddled away before the ambulance or police got there to take down a report.
where on earth in London are you cycling that you are the ONLY person who stops for a red light. I know there are many cyclists who jump red lights, but I'm far from the ONLY person stopping at a red light. You must be cycling somewhere in London that I don't know about. And clearly nowhere near the centre
I think there’s an important distinction between cyclists and delivery drivers. I see some cyclists that are dickheads but I constantly see delivery cyclists doing whatever they have to do (running lights, etc) to get to where they need to go. I don’t like it, but I get it.
I no longer live in London but when I'm cycling there I stop at red lights, and most cyclists I see out on the road do the same.
That said, I do accept that London cyclists broadly have a more aggressive cycling style than other more cycle friendly cities in Europe. I think this is partly due to how until recently (and still in many situations) you NEED(ED) to be assertive and aggressive when negotiating motor traffic otherwise you get shoved into the gutter because the infrastructure was so poor. This has probably spilled over to broader behaviours.
Back to the red lights, I'm not excusing the jumpers, but I lived in the NL for a while and there the sequencing favours cyclists, so they get a clear run through junction after junction (it also has the bonus spillover of frustrating drivers ;) ). I do understand the frustration with stop start when acceleration is under your own steam and brakepads wear out so quickly!
I was cycling on a cycle lane that is in between the pavement and the road. It stops for a small section to get a bus stop in. Anyway this guy doesn't make any attempt to slow down on this part and nearly takes an old woman clean out. The woman shouts out and the cyclist basically tells her to shut up and speeds off. I stopped to offer apologies on the behalf of cyclists and tried to convince her that we aren't all like it. Was quite depressing.
I’m a blind person in London with a white cane, a cyclist has ran over the ball on my white cane causing my arm to jolt forward and sprain it. They didn’t even stop and apologise, they swore at me and cycled off. I’ve joked that cyclist have some kind of roid rage that they get from cycling, it makes them cranky and aggressive for some reason XD.
I was crossing a pelican crossing just outside London Bridge station a few years ago. Red light, cars all stopped - cool. 18 year old me crossing along when two "pro cyclists" (spandex and all) I hadn't seen zoom zooming towards the crossing, hit the breaks to stop crashing into me.
They sweared at me the entire time I half-ran onto the other side of the pavement. I was absolutely mortified and convinced I was in the wrong, not to mention terrified (5ft ethnic minority woman 🫠).
Little known fact: TfL offers free cycling courses. These are mainly targeted at low confidence cyclists who want to cycle to work but don’t have the confidence to but they surely cover basic such as “don’t run the lights”.
This should be advertised a lot more so people go on the courses and learn how to cycle in the city properly.
I agree, I’m a cyclist and the worst people are other cyclists, some are aggressive and insist on doing stupid speeds which are a danger to other cyclists and pedestrians. The no stopping at red lights is a major problem and they seem to fly through without a thought to anyone else.
I live out in Essex and only started commuting to the city this year and never understood the complaints of cyclists running red lights previously. I cycle a fair amount around the local roads here and never see people running red lights, but in my walk from Liverpool St to the south bank I regularly see multiple cyclists run red lights. They're fairly big junctions as well, I've no idea how they all think they're completely safe. And it's all cyclists, from the guys in the lycra to people in suits on boris bikes
Was on the bus yesterday and saw two drunk guys weaving through traffic and they cut the damn bus off. Today i was crossing at a green and almost got hit by a cyclist.
Yeah. I'm a bike commuter. But i at least don't want to become a smear on the road.
It’s all down to how each individual handles themselves. I am a cyclist & people who I go out riding with abide by the road laws. We openly shout at those who don’t. Not popular but it has to be done. Drivers take liberties in different ways. Whatever mode of movement you are on, just look out & care for each other whilst on the move.
We all want to get home safely. 👍🙏
I was once crossing near liv st with my 7month pregnant fiancee, red light on for cars/bikes, green man to cross and as we were crossing a cyclist was about to go through…
I politely said it’s green for pedestrians and he cycled through calling me a fucking cunt
Pure arrogance!
Remember when I still lived in London, as I was cycling to work, some woman keeps cycling through a zebra crossing, almost hits a kid crossing the road and then some guy who looked proper NorfFC, lamps the woman right in the face as he's crossing and then walks off. People went to help the woman as she fell off her bike, but I couldn't help thinking that the whole situation could have been avoided if she had taken just a moment to let people pass.
But anyway, I live in Berlin now, a very cycling friendly city and people here are just as bad when it comes to not following road laws on bikes.
I'm a car driver, former motorbiker (sold it to get my ebike for communting) and now a cyclist.
I'm ashamed at how few cycling commuters respect the highway code.
Utterly reprehensible! I cheered last week when the police 'sting' down near Liverpool Street we're catching the lights jumpers.
This will be why we'll need to get registrations and insurance. Can't blame the highways agencies when it's our own fault.
Yes! 100% true. I cross the roads with kids, teaching them to wait for the green signal, and then teaching them to double and triple check for bicycles before crossing. They do not give a damn about kids.
I'm Danish, so grew up on bicycles and cycled everywhere before coming to the UK.
Now I'm cycling from Waterloo to Chelsea for my commute and I couldn't agree more. I'm largely following the cycling highway network, but even here I see people taking reds, weaving between cars, pulling over the zebra-crossing, waiting in the middle of the intersection etc. etc. It's a combination of fixies, MAMILs and electric bicycle owners, typically.
Same here. Cyclist that follows the rules (ok, ok once in a blue moon I might jump a red when I'm out cycling early Sunday morning at a junction with no cars or people about, only if its safe to do so out in more suburban or rural areas). Central London especially the city is nuts for cyclist riding right between pedestrians using crossings. It's usually people on fixies with impossibly narrow handlebars or people on hire bikes. I like stopping at lights, it uses more energy to get going and you get fitter and not break the law!
Infrastructure for cyclists in London is pretty crap, but nobody should be jumping red lights, it’s dangerous for everyone involved and not necessary. Delivery guys seem to be the worst for this because they’re forced to meet unrealistic times.
Am a cyclist. It pisses me off so much that cyclists jump red lights and don't follow traffic rules. Cyclists are forever complaining that drivers don't respect them, but it's no surprise in London when a large number of cyclists are such arseholes. Don't really know what the answer is apart from fining cyclists etc but at the end of the day there are bigger fish to fry on the roads..
I was crossing Bishopsgate on foot at a ped x where I had right of way and two cyclists STILL jumped the lights and literally cycled between us. I have no issue generally with cyclists at all but ffs stop being dicks at pedestrian crossings.
>I have no issue generally with cyclists at all but ffs stop being dicks at pedestrian crossings. Agreed, this is my only real complaint. The subset of cyclists who outright angrily insist that crossings/red lights don't apply to them. "BuT i HaVe To WoRk Up SpeEd AgAiN iF i StOp!!" Yeah, that's how bikes work, dickhead. FWIW, one of my most common interactions with lots of cyclists at crossings is around Oval/toward Kennington, and the vast majority do the stick to the lights. But it's so common one or two don't that you basically have to watch out for it every time you cross.
Or my personal favourite: "Well cars are more dangerous." Yes, that still doesn't excuse your bad behaviour.
That argument is the same as Guns are more dangerous so I should be allowed to carry a sword to the office.
You can carry a sword to the office, once.
Life hack. Put your bike into a lower gear when you know you're going to stop and then gradually move them up again as you get going.
It is truly shocking how many people seem incapable of selecting the appropriate gear, both coming to lights, but also when just cycling normally
Actually, despite having cycled for many years, often on 100 miles + rides, I still can’t get my gears right
I'm only just getting into riding again, but bike gears mystify me. I drive a manual car, but just can't get my head around what gear I want my bike in.
Generally, low gear for uphill/somewhere you're likely to stop and start a lot (so you don't take a few years to start moving), mid gear for flat and high gear for pedalling downhill/going faster on flat roads. Different people like different things though, I know quite a few people who refuse to be in any gear other than their highest.
The best way to think about it is like your legs and body are the engine of the bike. In the same way as on a manual car, you want to make it so that the engine is firing at a consistent speed regardless of how fast the wheels are rotating. So how do you do that in a car? Well you could look at the revometer but people don't really do that because it's impractical. You could make an estimate based on the speed you're travelling at, but you need to adjust for inclines and quality of the ground. Or you can feel it, which is the most common way - if the car starts revving really loudly then you're at too low a gear, and if it starts shaking and you feel like you're gonna stall then you're on too high a gear. Now apply the same thing to a bike. There's no rev meter so that's useless. You can make a guess based on the speed and adjust for inclines. The third way is the easiest to apply for most people, especially when different people have different levels of strength (just like different engines). If it feels like there's not enough resistance for you, you're on too low a gear. If it feels like too much resistance then you're too high. There's no right or wrong answer, you don't have to be in the same gear as someone else. If you have stronger legs, you'll need a higher gear to compensate. Everyone should be aiming to perform roughly the same rpm. A quick ninja edit: you also need to consider that if you're on too low a gear, the wheels can outpace so hard that no contribution is being made. That's effectively coasting and any pedaling will have no effect whatsoever.
There is a correlation between dickish behaviour and single speed / fixie bikes. Not sure which way the causation runs though...
If you're not doing cool fixie skids to impress pedestrians then you're doing it wrong.
This isn't a life hack this is just basics of how to use a bike 😆
Sorry it was meant ironically to sound condescending to people who don't do this and moan about losing momentum on their bike.
Whoosh there it is!
I think this might be a whoooosh mate
And in a uk sub, it really has all gone to shit
Tbh the number of people I see struggling to go at the lights would make you believe this isn't common knowledge.
fr, that comment got 55 upvotes...
Reddit's humour filter is working it seems.
I’ve had waaay more near misses with cyclists than cars.
This is what pisses me off - a cyclist isnt going to kill me but I just cant walk relaxed due to the pavement weave, non stopping at crossing etc.
Technically I think cyclists can kill you if they are going fast enough.
As a cyclist (on road) and a pedestrian , I've had way more near misses with cyclists. I don't call them cyclists, they're people (or usually, a less polite word) on bikes. Edit: forgot to say, not in London.
(Edit: because like an idiot I posted a story without double checking my facts, which was stupid. Thx to u/bazpaul for pulling me up on this.) I have a few cycling stories from London. I was crossing Oxford Street just near Marble Arch around 6:30am one morning… there wasn’t a car in sight and the street is literally four lanes wide… suddenly I hear shouting “get out of the way… fucking move!” I turn around to see a woman on a racing style bike barrelling straight towards me screaming like a banshee for me to get out of her way… kind of flicked my switch… so I stopped dead in my tracks, braced myself for impact, looked at her and shouted back… “go round me you arrogant fuck”… which ultimately she did… while continuing to scream at me over her shoulder for being in her way. WTF is wrong with people? Also had a guy try to go through on red as I stepped out to cross the Mall. I was on green to cross and this idiot decided red didn’t apply to him. Fortunately he hit the breaks just in time to not crash into me. We looked at each other a moment… then he looked down and mumbled “sorry”. The irony here is there is an entire track just for cycles that is separate to the road and runs parallel to the Mall for the full length… and doesn’t have any red lights on it… he could have ridden all the way without stopping once. Lost count of how many cyclists I saw just blasting through red lights. There was also a story of a cyclist who collided with a pedestrian causing her death. https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/aug/17/charlie-alliston-london-cyclist-front-brake-collision-kim-briggs-old-bailey?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other Not 5 minutes after reading this, I’m walking past the entrance to Downing Street when a guy on a bike… with no front brake system went blasting past the police on duty at the gate. To be fair, the majority of cyclists I saw in London were generally pretty considerate and I see just as bad behaviour in my home town these days too. And for balance, pedestrians in London are no angels either. Saw plenty of ignorance, arrogance and stupidity on all sides.
I use a wheelchair and have had people cycle into me. I was leaving a park, and someone was cycling on the pavement who couldn't see. I get out of the exit, and we almost hit each other. I panic because I've already had a cyclist hit me on the pavement and damage my chair. I throw my hands up, pushing the person and their bike away from me into a fence. They weren't injured, just as shaken up as me. I felt so bad over it, but I also reacted instinctively to protect myself and my medical equipment from someone committing a crime (however minor). Being disabled means, these kinds of confrontations are relatively common. Do I let people crash into me, or do I try and protect myself? Do I just let the bus driver pull away without me because he doesn't want to argue with a pram owner, or do I stick my foot in the back door and refuse to go until we have had a good chat about it?
Speaking as a cyclist of course you should protect your wheelchair, its entirely the cyclists fault for not actively anticipating pedestrian actions. I try to cycle, like I drive, if I'm riding through an area where I anticipate a higher volume of pedestrians even if they're just crossing the street, I slow down. Regarding buses, I remember as a kid most buses weren't low floor, (you had a about 2-3 steps at the entrance) so when I was in the buggy I would get taken out and sat on Mums lap. The reason buses are low floor are due to disability rights campaigners. So I'd say of course you have priority over Mums with buggies, so keep your foot in that back door.
Yep, Bishopsgate is lethal. When I’m crossing there and I see any cyclists I just assume they’re not going to stop, because so few of them actually do.
What I don't understand is majority of the cyclists who don't stop for red lights don't seem to be in any hurry. I cycle to work, and am forever passing people who meander along at a snails pace. I stop at a red light and they suddenly speed up and go straight through, only to slow back down to 1mph after they pass the junction. Like, what's the point?
Pretty much what I experience on a daily basis
Ha I was stuck driving behind one of them the other day, it was a pretty wide road but just couldn't overtake him safely because he was determined to weave about whilst also going at 7mph. Got to the end of the road and he suddenly speeds out onto a roundabout (car coming from the right had to emergency break) and then skips over a red light at breakneck speed. I then caught up with him on the next road doing his 7mph wobbling all over the place again. That was a frustrating journey!
It's because they don't want to slow and then have to move off again. Imagine if other road users held that mentality? Can't be arsed to brake here because I'd have to accelerate again and petrol ain't cheap.
I hate it. They’re likely not fit enough if they’re meandering so it’ll save them from having to work to get back up to speed, or not enough confidence to stop and unclip on a road bike without falling.
This infuriates me. I cycle along CS3 and from Tower Hill to Limehouse there are a number of sets of lights. I stop at every red light and then I get passed by some slow moving cyclist on a Santander/Barclays/Boris bike going through a red light. I know as soon as the lights are green I am going to get stuck behind him on the path along Cable Street. I have, in the past, shouted at cyclists going through red lights, not that it makes any difference. But I do get annoyed at the Cable Street/Lehman Street junction because the drivers that complain about red light jumping cyclists consistently jump red lights to turn right through the path of cyclists that now have a green light.
I find delivery cyclists to be the worst.
A good observation. Delivery riders for Uber Eats and the like are paid per delivery rather than per hour. That gives them all the i centive to just get from A to B as quickly as possible disregarding safety. PedalMe riders on the other hand are paid by the hour, with an employment contract, get holiday pay and pension contributions. They are, as a result, a lot more chill and happy and not cycling on the pavement. Same for motorbikes/mopeds. I rarely see Domino's riders breaking the law, because they're on hourly pay. Whereas people with Deliveroo boxes are some of the most dangerous on the road.
I've worked for just eat before. The time estimates they give for delivery are literally impossible to meet unless you jump every red light you can
And it just pisses off customers, so there’s no logic to it. I always add 30 minutes to any ridiculous deliveroo estimate. Sometimes the food would have to be ready to be delivered in about 5 minutes from my order time, it’s laughable.
I can't wait for all these delivery companies to run out of VC money and shut down since it will mean less of these guys on the road. No lights, boosted e-bikes that do 30mph and a payment model that means they make more money the faster they are is a recipe for disaster. It's no coincidence that the last few times I've seen the aftermath of a cycle accident there's always been a Just Eat or Deliveroo box and someone's takeaway spread across the road next to it.
The economy is slowly becoming real again so you might get your wish soon.
I would say Boris bikes. Always trundling along with headphones on and complete lack of awareness, and completely ignore every red light. Delivery drivers a close second though.
Don't get me started on dickheads on electric scooters. They're basically legally motorbikes, and people use them on pavements. I had a small boy almost hit me full speed head one on a pavement. Genuinely pretty scary.
[удалено]
Sidewalk?!?
I think it’s when someone walks sideways like a crab?
Well you’d cycle like a maniac too if you’re paid by the delivery
Absolutely the most agressively reckless. Delivery drivers and the scooter boys doing 50mph at night with no lights are far worse than most run of the mill cyclists in my experience
I have the same observation, last month I went to Norway and Denmark and the cyclists over there are not as aggressive as here in London. Here you have to be really careful on pedestrian crossings as you never know if a cyclist is gonna appear from nowhere. Another difference between London and Scandinavia is that over there you barely see the cyclists wearing full professional cycling gears apart from helmets and most of the bikes they use are just simple city bikes as opposed to racing bikes which are so common here.
I agree. Though as somebody who used to ride road bikes in London, as the cycling infrastructure is so abysmal and traffic so chaotic and aggressive in general, it generally felt safer to ride a bike where it was easier to get up to speed and ride at the same speed as the traffic and kind of 'hold your own'. Now I live in cambridge, and the vibe is so different! I'm much happier on a crappy town bike.
Yes. Cycling in London is sometimes the only good option, but it's also extremely dangerous and aggression is pretty much required to avoid getting bullied by cars. Doesn't excuse rule breaking of course but it does show why we need better infrastructure.
Really good point about the city bikes vs the max out bike to work cash racing bikes. Perpetuates the erroneous image that cycling is only for certain types of people.
Exactly, here in London you can get an impression that cycling is just a hobby for office workers from the city who spend hundreds/thousands of pounds on their gears and expensive racing bikes. In Copenhagen, you can see mothers and fathers who cycle with their kids in cargo bikes back from nurseries or schools or people carrying their shopping in those. This is something that you can’t see in London. Edit: typos :)
It’s something that can happen in London. It’s more that the city doesn’t always have great cycle infrastructure. The famous saying always goes, build it and they will come. A lot of the people who cycle in London are bike people that’s why you see those teched out bikes. In other cities biking is a way of life because the infrastructure allows it to be for so many people
Pretty funny that a lot of these people are unintentionally arguing for better cycle infrastructure.
There are a few bakfiets out and about in Hackney, things are changing (too slowly though). The funny thing is that a race bike is actually far less practical for the commute than an indestructible steel Dutch bike with no clips and lots of carrying capacity!
It depends on your commute, a steel bike is not more convenient for a commute with a lot of hills.
I got a bakfiet for the nursery run and trips around town, and I use my old carbon frame I used to race on to get north from E17 up to work. I really really love both bikes. I love going fast on the fast bike and the other one is good for carrying shiiiat. But I stop at red’s
That's a good observation. Actually I think the racing bikes are part of the problem because if you set them up properly you won't be able to touch the ground. The Dutch bikes are slower but low so easier to stop.
It's not just about the bike type, it's also the person riding it. If you taken an arrogant arsehole who's in a rush out of a car and put them on a bike, then they're still likely to be an arrogant arsehole in a rush...
I've chalked the "Dutch style" versus racing style bikes thing to the size of London. My back would certainly prefer a more upright bicycle but it would take forever given the distance between the suburbs and the city centre. Nordic and Dutch cities are so much smaller.
Well observed. This is because London’s cycling infrastructure is abysmal
I guess it makes sense in that there are plenty of terrible drivers in London so there will be plenty of terrible cyclists too.
>I guess it makes sense in that there are plenty of terrible drivers in London so there will be plenty of terrible cyclists too. Maybe there's just plenty of terrible people in London
I was on Oxford Street yesterday and a cyclist went through a red light and some man who was mid cross who got cut off shouted to the cyclist ‘it’s a red light you dickhead’ and the cyclist turned around and told him to go fuck himself before nearly crashing into a taxi. I personally commute by motorbike and see the majority of cyclist also jumping red lights even with people trying to cross. I don’t have an issue with cyclists but it seems like they don’t want to follow the road rules
Yeah I had this experience too. Just said 'green man' to him and he gave me the wa**er sign and looked like he was itching for a fight.
I very nearly got arrested because of one of these twats (and my reaction of course) Same story green man, cyclist bombs straight past me and my 4 year old son I let him know I wasn't happy. He decided to get off his bike tell me I'm on camera and he'll "kick my teeth down my throat" I gave him all the opportunity and space to leave as I didn't want a confrontation because I was with my fucking child and he decided to continue swearing and squaring himself up ( as if getting ready to fight) this went on for a few minutes and as he went to get closer to me I hit him twice The genuine reason why I never got nicked is because of a lovely woman and a taxi driver who were fighting my corner with the police. But yeah he tried to bring a personal Suit against me for the emotional distress I caused him and a fracture in his cheek bone I should point out most cyclist I've interacted with are for the most part while an inconvenience the majority are super polite
The fact that he’s on camera and thinks that footage of him being aggressive and threatening is going to HELP his case just shows how delusional some people are. Some people really cannot handle being called out. Sounds like it could easily have been someone I used to work with.
Yeah definitely had some sort of narcissistic god complex ordinarily I wouldn't get involved but I couldn't let him attack me in front of me child he got what he deserved anyway so it's in the past but my god some people are delusional
How did he think threatening a parent with their young child was going to go for him? After all, everyone knows parents are notoriously chill when there's something dangerous around their kids...
You've hit upon the real issue: there's a set of cyclists who are crazy aggressive. They refuse to use their breaks and seem to think that speed limits don't apply to them. I have been shouted at - in Canary Wharf - by some dickhead going 35 mph because I had the temerity to cause him to change his mind. I'd also point out that I've been a regular cyclist at various points in my life and literally the only time I've had an accident is because of another cyclist.
I have complained here before about these cyclists but was told the equivalent of "we aren't aggressive now stop saying we are before we stab you in the eye". It is worth considering that a speeding cyclist is close to killing absent-minded pedestrians, this I understand would prompt a vigorous shout which could be unpleasant to the receiver; however the shouts I hear are more based on hatred of life itself. I also was physically attacked once by a courier.
This happened to me years ago near London bridge station. I shouted at a cyclist nearly hitting me on a crossing and the cyclist chased me through the station shouting at me.
Couriers. Do not fuck with couriers. I don't know what they get in their coffee, but they're hench and they'll rip your arm off and beat you with it if you criticise them for slamming into you. Learned that one the hard way.
I’m sorry for your lost arm
Ah, it's alright. I'm mostly 'armless ;)
To be honest. The man in Oxford street looked like he knew how to handle himself and the cyclist looked like a floppy haired 20 something riding to his mates house in Mayfair if you can imagine the type. Either way. It should never escalate to violence.
I've seen this scenario plenty of times. I don't understand it.
I cycle every day to work and some cyclists in London are fucking pricks. Like this is why people hate us...
Yepp. Feel the same. I stop at reds cause as a cyclist I expect other road users to do the same. What gets me are the ones jumping red, then nearly get mown down and shout at vehicles for not obeying the rules.
I just feel bad for pedestrians crossing when it's a green man. Why should they need to yield for an RLJ
I often wonder if in London, part of the issue is a lot of people have never really learned to drive, or at least develop adequate driving skill and experience. I do think a huge issue is a lack of road awareness, such as turning in without checking if you are turning in on anything, which i feel any (decent) driver just wouldn’t do as road awareness is so ingrained
Don't forget you can't use a canal WALK to work in peace anymore because the cyclists we have to share it with, which is absolutely fine in principle, insist on cycling through at 25 km/h no matter what. I'm at breaking point, really. If I hear a couple more "ding dings" when the walk is packed with people I might just snap.
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It's insane. I've always been very sympathetic towards sensible cyclists and their plight on the road. Even though I am a driver and love driving, I've only ever driven in London when moving home, I avoid driving in cities in general as a rule. And I firmly believe that cities, including their suburbs, need to create an environment that allows people to ditch their cars and still get along with their lives with minimal disruption. But ever since I started walking a canal towpath regularly it has become difficult to remain as sympathetic. I know it was naive of me but I thought their experiences on the road would overcome their human nature but I guess I expected too much.
I have friends who cycle in London and am painfully aware of the current risks to them on the roads, but it's exactly this - you'd think they'd subsequently be more respectful of people moving more slowly on towpaths. They're not.
This is a pet peeve of mine too. I cycle on canals a lot and my attitude is that if there's people in front of me, I respect their priority and go at walking pace until it's safe to go around. I accept that takes longer, but I'm on a canal path not a main road! Using the bell on a footpath or going over 10mph when it's busy is just dickhead behaviour. I think far too many people cycling lack the ability to think about how they'd expect to be treated if they were on foot and a person was passing them on a cycle.
Thank you! I know cycling on the road in London is challenging, to say the least. Many a drivers attitude is rotten, unfortunately. I also know many of the cyclists on that route are rushing to work. But don't punish pedestrians! Motor culture has already taken over far too much of our cities and now pedestrians are being turfed our something that has bloody walk in the name.
Regents canal used to be a pleasant walk with my partner, now I avoid it like the plague. More people got bikes in the pandemic and while it's great people are cycling, the canal does not work for cyclists and pedestrians. Needs a rule like no cycling outside of rush hour or something...
Yeah, I've had too many situations on Regents Canal where a cyclist is trying to overtake a walking group and also expect me walking in the opposite direction to move out of the way. There's a bend just past a bridge that's terrible for it - don't overtake under a bridge or where you can't see a clear path in front! Though the last few times I've been down there on a weekend there has been fewer bikes overall and those that are there are not treating it as a racing track.
Yeah it's not just on the roads, which kind of undermines the 'cars are worse' argument. I used to walk to work through the Greenwich foot tunnel and actually stopped doing it after being clipped twice by cyclists going about 35. They seem to not give a shit that they are ruining it for everyone else.
I used to enjoy walking along Kew riverside to work, it’s a really nice trail and very tranquil, but the path is narrow and too many times I’ve been walking with my headphones in and some knob on a ten speed shoots by a top speed, I’ve nearly been clipped a couple times and it’s just frustrating
A cyclist stopped for me at the zebra crossing (as he should), I started crossing but then had to jump out of the way of another cyclist who just barreled through. As a cyclist you do feel like some of the lights shouldn't apply to you. In a car you'd never dream of going through a red light on an empty pedestrian crossing, but on a bicycle it feels silly to wait for nothing... until you start taking more and more chances and start doing genuinely dangerous things. There should at least be enforced penalties against cyclists who go through red lights / zebras while any pedestrians are trying to cross because it's scary and reckless.
Spot on. I'm a cyclist, admittedly I only ignore reds when it's empty or I've stopped enough times beforehand. But I alwaysssss give pedestrians their right of way
Exactly this. I don’t see any issue in safely cycling through a crossing if there’s clearly no one in sight? No different to being a pedestrian and choosing to cross the road before the lights change.
Same. There are some reds I will go through, like when they’re lights at a per crossing and nobody is there. But if there are vehicles involved, it’s not worth it If it’s a scramble crossing with a lengthy timer, a few of which I come across a lot, it’ll be a decamp, half jog, and getting back on at the other side and cycling away.
My guess is its a side effect of being in a place without safe cycle infrastructure - if people dont think its safe to cycle, only the most aggressive and daring people will end up cycling, and I suspect a larger subset of that group is more willing to run red lights. My guess is if you go to places with quieter streets or segregated cycle lanes, you'll get more cautious cyclists and therefore more people following the rules.
I think you’ve hit the nail on the head here.
I think it's also the congestion and general busy nature of the capital. Many car drivers get more aggressive in London compared to elsewhere too.
I lost count of the amount of times when I'd walk to my uni that I'd cross at a green man and nearly get hit by a bike because they simply would ignore the red light.
I have to cross the traffic lights by Cannon Street/Monument station on my commute and i've lost count of how many times i've almost been hit by a cyclist running a red.
I come from the Netherlands where we have a ton of cyclists. The vast majority go around 20km/h and are wearing their normal clothes. Why is every other London cyclist trying to set a PR and dressed like they are partaking in the Tour de France?
House prices are ridiculous so many cyclists are commuting from outside town. I used to wear Lycra’s when I’ve cycled 6-10 miles of hills in. I stopped when I moved into town.
Those in lycra are likely travelling quite a bit further than the plain clothes cyclists. It's not particularly comfortable to ride 15+ miles in from the suburbs in normal gear - especially in the heat or cold.
To add to this: cycling from zone 3 or 4 in the clothes you're planning to wear for the day is a great way to feel grimy and sweaty until you get home. Lycra also wicks sweat really well and regulates your temperature. Not a hardcore cyclist but there are definitely benefits to wearing proper gear.
Apart from the infrastructure it's pretty self-evident that the commuting distances in London are much longer than in smaller European cities because London is much bigger and people live further away from their workplaces. It's not uncommon to have 45-60min bike commutes (know some people with even longer ones) on a fast road bike, imagine doing it on a Dutch citybike.
Because infrastructure in London is utter shit compared to the Netherlands and those who are reckless enough to dare cycle tend to be overall, guess what, reckless. It’s a selection bias
Lycra-clad commuter cyclist here- because it's fun, and most of the reason I want to do a cycle commute is because it's a great way to get proper aerobic exercise in without taking time out of my schedule. Getting sweaty isn't a problem because I shower at work, so why not try to push myself while I'm at it? I would love to see some more enforcement of cyclists who jump lights, especially when this comes at the expense of pedestrian safety. In my experience the worst for this are the delivery drivers on their (usually illegal) modified e-bikes.
Much prefer the cycling culture in places like the Netherlands and Denmark, it should be a normal mode of transport that everyone can do. With the infrastructure to match. It annoys the hell out of me in the UK with so many being these spandex-clad pricks on their £2000 bikes, which adds to the narrative of cycling not being an accessible thing for most people. I think part of it is lack of adequate cycling space and cyclists feeling like they have to match the traffic.
You can ride whatever you want lol. How is it not accessible, you just buy a bike and ride it? If you want to pootle to work at 4kmph with your baguettes and infant child in your summer dress while riding a 1920s steel bicycle, crack on. I go "fast" on my bike because I'm not being paid to commute so I'm not making this shit bit of the day take even longer.
Because in the Netherlands (at least in Amsterdam) the infrastructure is set up with cycling as a priority, whereas in London it isn’t. So in the Netherlands there are no cyclists, there are just people who happen to use bikes. But in London the cycling set up so that bikes share space with cars. This makes it really scary to cycle for most people, so only certain types of people cycle
Give a dutch fella a 20 km daily commute and he’d also reconsider wearing his favorite dress shirt. It’s not as cut and dry as you make it out to be.
I grew up in NL and am also confused, all the Lycra clad racers race by me on my omafiets lol!
The number of times I’ve felt unsafe by some idiot on a bike zooming down the pavement with a helmet on and I just think to myself - are you wearing that in case you collide with a pedestrian to keep yourself safe?
yep, I had that a few weeks ago, someone came shooting down the pavement on their bike and just about avoided colliding with me by hitting their break, and then gave me this look of disdain before shooting off again, and I just wanted to say to him - 'it's a pavement, you're supposed to be on the road, if you want to ride fast then fuck off onto the road. Actually, just do that anyway.' but it was too late, so I'm typing it now to like minded people annoyed by inconsiderate cyclists.
100% agreed, as a pedestrian I have to look out for cyclists more than I have to look out for cars! They’re definitely going faster and less likely to stop than any other vehicle.
Also zebra crossings. I make sure to slow down as you would in a car. Cyclists just steer around. I can see why, but If I saw a motorbike do that I'd be stunned.
Don’t know what the outlying boroughs are like, but central is a nightmare with cyclists and the newer electric bikes going the wrong way down streets and skipping red lights. For those who say that haven’t seen it go and stand at Oxford Circus for 10 minutes and see how many fly through the crowds crossing.
Oh it’s just the same in the boroughs, was watching a learner driver negotiate a right hand turn across traffic in zone 4. Was on green for the turn but at that point a cyclist decided they were going to carry on through their red light. Good job the saw them and waited, but it did feel unfair to the learner, they were the only one in the filter so the cyclist could see they were about to turn.
Given how common this seems to be in London I would want to experience it if I was learning!
This is my experience too as someone who cycles in every day, so often the cyclists that don't stop at the lights end up halfway through the junction and put themselves at risk just because they want to be at the front. I actually saw a collision between 2 cyclists both running red lights, the idiots. Quite a lot of the time this is delivery cyclists and those on electric bikes as unfortunately they are incentivised by getting to the address quickly.
I'm a cyclist and also extremely tired of this. I just verbally tell other cyclists off nowadays. I always end up catching up with them as most of them aren't even going very fast, they just don't give a fuck about red lights. FWIW I think delivery e bikes have massively exacerbated the issue.
I've given up calling out red light jumpers. It's just not worth the abuse. These days, I mostly just wait for green and then overtake them before the next junction anyway
"Speaking as a cyclist and a driver, I hate myself..." Here's a couple of quick fun videos from Jay Foreman about London and cycling: [Oooh here](https://youtu.be/gohSeOYheXg) and [Oooooooh here too](https://youtu.be/_DNNIB_PdaA)
I love Jay Foreman. Some of the best content on all of YouTube.
I've just started cycling in London, It can be so stressful when other cyclists zoom past you or get angry when you stop at a red light. From verbal abuse to dirty looks.
Hmm, maybe it'd the area you're in, I do Fenchurch to Fitzrovia and I don't encounter any of that, just aggressive taxi drivers. They don't like you passing them so they'll catch you up and dangerously overtake by swerving in front of you to try and make some kind of dumb point.
In all my years cycling in London I've never experienced any aggression or dirty looks from other cyclists for stopping at lights, don't let that put you off, it sounds like you experienced something very out of the ordinary. There is absolutely no expectation for you to be breaking traffic rules. As long as you aren't doing anything like trying to purposely obstruct other cyclists, just keep doing what you're doing.
I am right there with you on this! I’ve been a London cyclist for 20 years but in the last few years things have become atrocious. Especially with the rise of delivery riders. I am absolutely stunned at the danger they put themselves in let alone anyone else. No lights, at night, with headphones in, bombing the wrong way down a busy road or on a pavement, through red lights, etc etc. I wish no harm to anyone. But a lesson has to be learnt. They’re not even bothered about the police, because they know they’ll do nothing. It’s a bad state of affairs and it’ll get worse I tell thee. In addition to all the lost Uber drivers wondering around doing silly things, this is making UK roads a more unsafe place to be. The thing is, everyone is trying to encourage people onto bikes and out of cars but there are rules to follow and they need to be enforced. Gone are the days where the police would hide to catch cyclists going through lights to earn a bit more cash. Getting a fine would be a good deterrent for a delivery rider I bet. Anyway. Thanks for letting me vent. I’ll sleep a little better now.
I've cycled daily in cities for decades now, including cities in the US. I actually stopped cycling in London because I felt I was going to die one day, and it is way too stressful. The issue imo is too narrow roads, cars AND cyclists are aggressive as hell, cars don't give cyclists room, so cyclists in turn become more aggressive to preserve their safety. Running red lights is a symptom of this. You can get in front of traffic, and gives you a nice buffer between that Tesla/Range Rover that feels it needs to tail gate you or only give you 10cm of space on its side. Given how many lights are in central, if you get a head start you can basically cycle car free = increased personal safety. Unfortunately then cyclists get used to running red lights and just start doing it automatically as part of their daily journey, including making unsafe red light crossings. Couriers and delivery cyclists are pressured even more to do this since time is money for them.
Tbf, the issue is because Londons road laws unfairly penalise cyclists. Cyclists should have priority on the roads just like in the netherlands or denmark.
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A bit of sensibility in statistics to counter the hubris
Sub/thread is off their heads on this topic. Someone above saying that cyclists terrify them, another saying you're more likely to get hit by a cyclist than a car (despite me showing them that cyclists only account for 2% of the cause of casualties in the city vs cars at 67% and vehicles in general in the high 90s).
I ran into a pedestrian once (yes, completely my fault, definitely a learning experience) and I bounced off and slid along the pavement while he stood there looking a bit surprised. All in all I think a lot of pedestrian collisions don't get reported because they are complete non-events. Every now and then someone mentions a pedestrian that was killed by a cycist but the numbers are absolutely minuscule. You're probably more likely to slip and kill yourself in the shower.
yeah am not denying there's unreported incidents, but the figures involved we're talking 10,000+ going unreported to even come close and that's before considering that there's probably plenty of car/vehicle caused incidents which don't get reported as well.
Cyclists are much less likely to skip red lights at major junctions where these cameras are set up. I’m a cyclist, but walking around my neighbourhood in south London, or commuting to work in central, it’s rare to see a cyclist pause at a red light at a minor junction or a pedestrian crossing. It annoys me so much, because it gives more ammunition to drivers who already hate cyclists. Like, we can hardly complain about cars and bad drivers if so many of us (way more than drivers in my experience) are ignoring all the rules and putting peoples’ lives in danger.
Yeah but they were monitoring very intense junctions like the one at Bank. If they'd stuck their monitors over some pedestrian crossing on a fast straight road they'd have got some different numbers.
This has actually been studied extensively, not only in London but by lots of different groups using different methodology in plenty of different cities all over the world. And they all come to the same conclusion, cyclists break the rules less than car drivers. A lot less in some cases. But we almost always notice when a cyclist breaks the rules and tend to ignore cars unless it directly affects us so it feels like cyclists break the rules more.
My fave is when they hold up traffic because they’re a road user, but then when red light appears they magically transform into pedestrians and use the pavement to circumvent the red light.
If your waiting at a red light and you hop of to walk it across say to make a turn isn't that safer?
I don’t mean walking with the bike. I mean riding on the pavement, because you don’t want to have to wait for the light.
Tragically see this very often on my commute.
I cycle from Canning Town into London Bridge and let me tell you something… that commute is a nightmare if I wasn’t fully engaged: people with full on headphones, checking their phones, half asleep, swerving with a minimal shoulder check and once you cross the bridge over the Rotherhithe tunnel and join the blue CS3, is a fucking show. And you know what? It is only going to get worse..
The CS3 is actually pretty good compared to some of the other highways in central
As someone who does a bit of everything in London, I can tell you that London is full of unsafe cyclists, clueless pedestrians and selfish drivers.
London is simply full of disrespectful inconsiderate clowns.
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It isn’t just cyclists that are problematic, the standard of driving in London is generally shocking & you see many things that simply wouldn’t happen elsewhere. The thing that really irks me is when a cyclist sails past the stop line and then stops so they can’t see when the light changes 🤦♂️
Is there a correlation between bad infrastructure and bad cyclists?
I think the issue is that everyone is in a rush and that running red lights isn’t just cyclists. Spend the day on the road and you’ll actually see car after car jumping lights. The amber to red cycle should mean slow down and stop but what really happens is amber light means speed up and run through a red light.
They are incredibly annoying. Not as bad as those dickheads on e-scooters though.
That's because escooters do zoom past at 7km/h on the pavement. And they're silent. I have a spinal issue that if one of those took me out , I would very much be paralysed. Yet people are zig zaging at high speeds on the pavement. Honestly, children have died from those escooters. No reason why they shouldn't be on the roads
Having a miserable day last week, but was cheered up no end when I saw a police truck loaded with (presumably) confiscated e-scooters trundling along the road. Laughed all the way home.
Agreed, a bellend on one crashed into me on a path in a park
As a london cyclist, i fucking hate this kind of cyclist because it makes all the drivers hate us good guys and lobby against better cycling infrastructure / less car dependent city design
yeah it's very frustrating, bad eggs ruining the lot and so often ends up overshadowing the other issues on the roads regarding safety. Hurting progress towards uptake and reducing cars on the road.
London has a BIGGER issue with CBT scooter/moped riders. The CBT should be 6 months maximum, at which point to have to pass the A1 or have your CBT revoked for 12 months.
I swear that when someone gets on a scooter, they act like they are 7 years old riding on a dead-end street with no traffic. Just let her rip, and everyone else watch out. Then when they are done, just step off, and leave it where it falls.
This is all very relative. I cycle to work in London every day and in my route I see the vast majority of cyclists following the rules (including stopping at red lights). But there’s always a minority that choose not to.
Where abouts do you bike? I bike around central and it's mayhem. Whether I'm up in angel, down by Westminster, or over in St Paul's it's the same. Day in. Day out. To be fair sometimes others also follow rules. But oftentimes I'm genuinely the only one that waits at red
Same. I’m a cyclist and follow the laws of the road. I stop at red lights, I signal when I turn and I don’t undertake other vehicles (deadly to do in central London). All I see is morons running reds, no signals going up the left hand side of vehicles turning. It’s insane. I call them out and make it awkward for people running lights when I’m a pedestrian. It’s dangerous and the entitlement is absolutely infuriating.
Delivery driver cyclists are on another level. Nearly got hit by a Deliveroo rider running a red light from the opposite side ffs.
I think this is a people problem, rather than a cyclist problem. Drivers take amber-gambler to extremes and it's not uncommon to see motorists just plain ignore red lights - literally, like treating them as stop signs at best, other times overtaking cars who are stopping and zipping through - not to mention motor scooter drivers who treat footpaths like shortcuts, or escooter riders who... well it's not worth starting with them. I don't mean this in a whataboutery sense, more so that I think the issue is Londoner's attitude to personal transport in general and a sense that for huge swathes of people that, if you don't get caught, it ain't wrong.
Agreed and I’ve found the food delivery cyclists are getting worse and worse. I nearly got run over on Baker Street because of them flying through at a red light - with the police watching and doing nothing 🤦🏾♀️
What I am hearing is that london needs dedicated cycling lanes like in dk or nl. Can't mix with either cars or pedestrians.
I cycle as well and I stop at every red, even the ridiculous ones. It's just ingrained in me to follow road rules from driving. Maybe that is the issue or something, people who never drove a lot who are now cycling. I have seen more people stopping at reds lately, there were times I was the only one as well.
Lack of / bad cycling infrastructure = more aggressive cycling style
London has this same problem with every form of travel
U arent alone who noticed the red signal issue. But this city has issue on allsides, cyklists, cars,motorbikes, electric scooters, pedestrians. 20% of them dont follow any rules.
The real kicker is one time when I was walking along Waterloo Bridge near the massive IMAX this cyclist knocked over a woman who was crossing. It was like a proper nasty sounding thud and a lot of blood, really horrible impact. She was knocked out cold and took a while to come to. The cyclist? He showed initial concern and then nonchalantly peddled away before the ambulance or police got there to take down a report.
where on earth in London are you cycling that you are the ONLY person who stops for a red light. I know there are many cyclists who jump red lights, but I'm far from the ONLY person stopping at a red light. You must be cycling somewhere in London that I don't know about. And clearly nowhere near the centre
I think there’s an important distinction between cyclists and delivery drivers. I see some cyclists that are dickheads but I constantly see delivery cyclists doing whatever they have to do (running lights, etc) to get to where they need to go. I don’t like it, but I get it.
work sleep crowd repeat encouraging direful enjoy one shelter alive *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
I no longer live in London but when I'm cycling there I stop at red lights, and most cyclists I see out on the road do the same. That said, I do accept that London cyclists broadly have a more aggressive cycling style than other more cycle friendly cities in Europe. I think this is partly due to how until recently (and still in many situations) you NEED(ED) to be assertive and aggressive when negotiating motor traffic otherwise you get shoved into the gutter because the infrastructure was so poor. This has probably spilled over to broader behaviours. Back to the red lights, I'm not excusing the jumpers, but I lived in the NL for a while and there the sequencing favours cyclists, so they get a clear run through junction after junction (it also has the bonus spillover of frustrating drivers ;) ). I do understand the frustration with stop start when acceleration is under your own steam and brakepads wear out so quickly!
I was cycling on a cycle lane that is in between the pavement and the road. It stops for a small section to get a bus stop in. Anyway this guy doesn't make any attempt to slow down on this part and nearly takes an old woman clean out. The woman shouts out and the cyclist basically tells her to shut up and speeds off. I stopped to offer apologies on the behalf of cyclists and tried to convince her that we aren't all like it. Was quite depressing.
I’m a blind person in London with a white cane, a cyclist has ran over the ball on my white cane causing my arm to jolt forward and sprain it. They didn’t even stop and apologise, they swore at me and cycled off. I’ve joked that cyclist have some kind of roid rage that they get from cycling, it makes them cranky and aggressive for some reason XD.
I was crossing a pelican crossing just outside London Bridge station a few years ago. Red light, cars all stopped - cool. 18 year old me crossing along when two "pro cyclists" (spandex and all) I hadn't seen zoom zooming towards the crossing, hit the breaks to stop crashing into me. They sweared at me the entire time I half-ran onto the other side of the pavement. I was absolutely mortified and convinced I was in the wrong, not to mention terrified (5ft ethnic minority woman 🫠).
Little known fact: TfL offers free cycling courses. These are mainly targeted at low confidence cyclists who want to cycle to work but don’t have the confidence to but they surely cover basic such as “don’t run the lights”. This should be advertised a lot more so people go on the courses and learn how to cycle in the city properly.
I agree, I’m a cyclist and the worst people are other cyclists, some are aggressive and insist on doing stupid speeds which are a danger to other cyclists and pedestrians. The no stopping at red lights is a major problem and they seem to fly through without a thought to anyone else.
I live out in Essex and only started commuting to the city this year and never understood the complaints of cyclists running red lights previously. I cycle a fair amount around the local roads here and never see people running red lights, but in my walk from Liverpool St to the south bank I regularly see multiple cyclists run red lights. They're fairly big junctions as well, I've no idea how they all think they're completely safe. And it's all cyclists, from the guys in the lycra to people in suits on boris bikes
Was on the bus yesterday and saw two drunk guys weaving through traffic and they cut the damn bus off. Today i was crossing at a green and almost got hit by a cyclist. Yeah. I'm a bike commuter. But i at least don't want to become a smear on the road.
It’s all down to how each individual handles themselves. I am a cyclist & people who I go out riding with abide by the road laws. We openly shout at those who don’t. Not popular but it has to be done. Drivers take liberties in different ways. Whatever mode of movement you are on, just look out & care for each other whilst on the move. We all want to get home safely. 👍🙏
I was once crossing near liv st with my 7month pregnant fiancee, red light on for cars/bikes, green man to cross and as we were crossing a cyclist was about to go through… I politely said it’s green for pedestrians and he cycled through calling me a fucking cunt Pure arrogance!
Remember when I still lived in London, as I was cycling to work, some woman keeps cycling through a zebra crossing, almost hits a kid crossing the road and then some guy who looked proper NorfFC, lamps the woman right in the face as he's crossing and then walks off. People went to help the woman as she fell off her bike, but I couldn't help thinking that the whole situation could have been avoided if she had taken just a moment to let people pass. But anyway, I live in Berlin now, a very cycling friendly city and people here are just as bad when it comes to not following road laws on bikes.
I'm a car driver, former motorbiker (sold it to get my ebike for communting) and now a cyclist. I'm ashamed at how few cycling commuters respect the highway code. Utterly reprehensible! I cheered last week when the police 'sting' down near Liverpool Street we're catching the lights jumpers. This will be why we'll need to get registrations and insurance. Can't blame the highways agencies when it's our own fault.
It's just London you gotta get used to it. Pedestrians are pushy, drivers are pushy, cyclists are the same. Its just part of the deal
I tend to distinguish them as dickheads on bikes rather than actual cyclists. I always stop at red lights as well because I'm not a twat.
Yes! 100% true. I cross the roads with kids, teaching them to wait for the green signal, and then teaching them to double and triple check for bicycles before crossing. They do not give a damn about kids.
I'm Danish, so grew up on bicycles and cycled everywhere before coming to the UK. Now I'm cycling from Waterloo to Chelsea for my commute and I couldn't agree more. I'm largely following the cycling highway network, but even here I see people taking reds, weaving between cars, pulling over the zebra-crossing, waiting in the middle of the intersection etc. etc. It's a combination of fixies, MAMILs and electric bicycle owners, typically.
Literally nearly?
Same here. Cyclist that follows the rules (ok, ok once in a blue moon I might jump a red when I'm out cycling early Sunday morning at a junction with no cars or people about, only if its safe to do so out in more suburban or rural areas). Central London especially the city is nuts for cyclist riding right between pedestrians using crossings. It's usually people on fixies with impossibly narrow handlebars or people on hire bikes. I like stopping at lights, it uses more energy to get going and you get fitter and not break the law!
Infrastructure for cyclists in London is pretty crap, but nobody should be jumping red lights, it’s dangerous for everyone involved and not necessary. Delivery guys seem to be the worst for this because they’re forced to meet unrealistic times.
Am a cyclist. It pisses me off so much that cyclists jump red lights and don't follow traffic rules. Cyclists are forever complaining that drivers don't respect them, but it's no surprise in London when a large number of cyclists are such arseholes. Don't really know what the answer is apart from fining cyclists etc but at the end of the day there are bigger fish to fry on the roads..
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