A nurse in Manchester was cycling to work this morning when he was almost hit by a motorist who drove through red lights at a pedestrian crossing, and then went on to swear at the cyclist and deny that the light was red. Unfortunately for him, the cyclist had got it on camera.

Alex has been cycling to work ever since he became a nurse 10 years ago — and the route he was on today has been part of his daily Monday to Friday commute for almost a year now.

Coming up to Rochdale Road from Russet Road in Greater Manchester at just past 8AM today, he stopped and waited for the light to turn red at the pedestrian crossing, so he could join the main road safely. But as he was about to do so, an Audi driver jumped the light and came very close to hitting him.

When he let out an exclaim pointing at the state of events to the motorist, he was met with a deluge on abuse and denial.

"I'm unfortunately used to it, but in my opinion this was very good footage of someone doing something very naughty," Alex told road.cc.

As visible in the video, the Audi driver is stationary and waiting for the drivers in front of him to pass. When the light turns amber, there's still another vehicle in front of him, which goes straight ahead just as the red light comes on.

"When I turned they decided to run the red light and almost hit me," he said.

He can be heard saying: "It's a red light mate!"

The driver replies with: "Oh f*** off! No, it f****** wasn't!"

Alex said: "The thing I think is a bit different about this is that the offending car is so clearly captured being stationary behind the red light and so they have very intentionally driven through it. It was no simple accident or episode of inattention."

He told road.cc that he has submitted the footage to Greater Manchester police and is awaiting a response, but his experience with them has been "hit and miss" so far.

"If I had to describe their responses in one word it would be opaque," said Alex.

https://road.cc/content/news/near-miss-day-875-303873

A bad image? Is that like how all the speeding drivers give ALL drivers a bad image?

Isn't it strange that if you specify a group of people to be an out-group, that you can them blame them all for the actions of some of them? I saw an angry, red-headed, jeans clad BMW driver the other day who didn't indicate when turning and then used a rude gesture at me as I was trying to cross the road (as a ped). It's people like that who give all red-heads a bad name

swldx...@gmail.com <swldxer1958@gmail.com> wrote:

> A bad image? Is that like how all the speeding drivers give ALL drivers a bad image?

> Isn't it strange that if you specify a group of people to be an
> out-group, that you can them blame them all for the actions of some of
> them? I saw an angry, red-headed, jeans clad BMW driver the other day who
> didn't indicate when turning and then used a rude gesture at me as I was
> trying to cross the road (as a ped). It's people like that who give all
> red-heads a bad name

95% of cyclists give the rest a bad name.

--
Spike

AlsoSomniloquism replied to Osram | 4317 posts | 3 hours ago
3 likes

Why did you run a red light to speak to a cyclist?

As you seem to imply you were in a car (cycle slowly in front of me), do you go and chase down other drivers who run red lights as well and ask them whether they will do it again?

Also can you explain the roundabout story better. It seems you were on the right of the island as you are turning right, surely if he was coming from the left (onto the island), there would be plenty of room for both of you? I might also point you to UK Dashcam on youtube. Normally a third of all videos are cars entering a roundabout and either colliding or almost colliding with other vehicles. Unfortunately it is these idiots who give drivers a bad image, because the selfish individuals who have no regards for roads safety and pedestrians (and cyclists).

swldx...@gmail.com <swldxer1958@gmail.com> wrote:
> BalladOfStruth replied to Osram | 414 posts | 9 hours ago

> Secondly – this whole “giving other cyclists a bad name” nonsense. Not
> only is collective responsibility total rubbish, it apparently only
> applies to cyclists. The average driver behaves worse and more
> dangerously than the average cyclist by every metric we have access to –
> KSI fault, speed compliance, rule breaking, etc.

ROFL!!

Cyclists mustn’t be grouped together, says the author, who then immediately
groups drivers together!

Cyclists, eh? Not the sharpest tool in the box…

--
Spike

swldx...@gmail.com <swldxer1958@gmail.com> wrote:
> AlsoSomniloquism replied to Osram | 4317 posts | 3 hours ago
> 3 likes
>
> Why did you run a red light to speak to a cyclist?
>
> As you seem to imply you were in a car (cycle slowly in front of me), do
> you go and chase down other drivers who run red lights as well and ask
> them whether they will do it again?
>
> Also can you explain the roundabout story better. It seems you were on
> the right of the island as you are turning right, surely if he was coming
> from the left (onto the island), there would be plenty of room for both
> of you? I might also point you to UK Dashcam on youtube. Normally a third
> of all videos are cars entering a roundabout and either colliding or
> almost colliding with other vehicles. Unfortunately it is these idiots
> who give drivers a bad image, because the selfish individuals who have no
> regards for roads safety and pedestrians (and cyclists).

Could someone explain what this is about?

--
Spike

Over estimating how many cyclists go through red lights to the extent you say is obviously a load of nonsense. There are a few bad cyclists who go through red lights, but there are significantly more bad drivers who do it and they pose a much bigger danger to all other road users.
Over 80% of cyclists also drive. They know and put into practice good cycling because their lives depend on it. Drivers take more risks because they are safe in their metal cocoons.
I see more cars mount pavements than cyclists. Drivers also block footpaths so people in wheelchairs and buggies etc have to go into the road, with the cars, who statistically are very likely to be speeding, looking at their phones or distracted.
We need to see entitled bad drivers like this Audi driver penalised for going through the red light, being abusive and close passing.

On 16/09/2023 03:34, Spike wrote:
> swldx...@gmail.com <swldxer1958@gmail.com> wrote:
>> AlsoSomniloquism replied to Osram | 4317 posts | 3 hours ago
>> 3 likes
>>
>> Why did you run a red light to speak to a cyclist?
>>
>> As you seem to imply you were in a car (cycle slowly in front of me), do
>> you go and chase down other drivers who run red lights as well and ask
>> them whether they will do it again?
>>
>> Also can you explain the roundabout story better. It seems you were on
>> the right of the island as you are turning right, surely if he was coming
>> from the left (onto the island), there would be plenty of room for both
>> of you? I might also point you to UK Dashcam on youtube. Normally a third
>> of all videos are cars entering a roundabout and either colliding or
>> almost colliding with other vehicles. Unfortunately it is these idiots
>> who give drivers a bad image, because the selfish individuals who have no
>> regards for roads safety and pedestrians (and cyclists).
>
> Could someone explain what this is about?

<shrug>

It's May Sun.

It doesn't have to make sense, and as in the instant case (as we say in
the trade), it usually doesn't.

When reading this self-serving piece about the angelic nature of cyclists,
keep in mind the road.cc video surveys of the types of bicycles being
ridden in London.

The three 15-minute videos showed some 120 out circa 240 cyclists blithely
ignoring red lights. And they wonder why they are disliked.

Cyclists, eh? Not the sharpest tools in the box.

swldx...@gmail.com <swldxer1958@gmail.com> wrote:
> Over estimating how many cyclists go through red lights to the extent you
> say is obviously a load of nonsense. There are a few bad cyclists who go
> through red lights, but there are significantly more bad drivers who do
> it and they pose a much bigger danger to all other road users.
> Over 80% of cyclists also drive. They know and put into practice good
> cycling because their lives depend on it. Drivers take more risks because
> they are safe in their metal cocoons.
> I see more cars mount pavements than cyclists. Drivers also block
> footpaths so people in wheelchairs and buggies etc have to go into the
> road, with the cars, who statistically are very likely to be speeding,
> looking at their phones or distracted.
> We need to see entitled bad drivers like this Audi driver penalised for
> going through the red light, being abusive and close passing.
>

--
Spike

Avatar
perce replied to Wheelywheelygood | 485 posts | 17 hours ago
6 likes

In the last five years if I had a pound for every time I had to avoid a cyclist doing 15/20 on the pavement I'd probably have a pound. Not even enough to buy a copy of the Beano. When did comics get so expensive?

"Right... well... t'other day I saw a peleton of ... 60 of them, 30-abreast, doing 100mph wrong way down a maternity unit corridor with a dozen babies impaled on their tri-bars, they sliced a ward sister's leg clean off and the lycra and flashing lights caused 3 cases of epilepsy. And on the way out every man jack of them stopped to pee in some baby's crib. And they didn't even give a wave!

:-0