Some cyclists get what they deserve - Latest Ottawa crash 2017-07-15

[ravencroft]

I'm sure most people have seen the news from Ottawa of this ass that nearly got himself killed and was completely At Fault for the accident by running a red light, in a BUSY intersection of all places! Some people simply have no sense of decency/self-preservation. +1 point for Dash Cams...

Now I am an enthusiastic cyclist, pedestrian and casual motorist and believe we can all share the road without being jerks, though I do practice the Idaho Stop and make no apologies for it: a bicycle (not an e-bike or any other lazy motorized bastardization thereof) is not the same as a car, so breaking/bending traffic laws without screwing/endangering motorists, pedestrians or other cyclists isn't harming anyone in my opinion... but this person was just nuts and had no regard for anyone, and is the luckiest S.O.B. alive this week that didn't wind up with a Darwin Award.

Heck I'll even run a red light if I'm by myself on an empty street or I can clearly see that there is no oncoming traffic for at least a km in any direction I have to cross over, but I CHECK first and if it's not clear, I stop and wait for the light.

I'm sure there are plenty of pissed off motorists that wish he was dead, and quite frankly, I don't blame you. Heck I kind of wish he got more severely injured too, if only to drive the lesson home: don't fuck with busy intersections / respect lawful traffic.

Side Topic on Cyclists v. Motorists in General (especially Toronto):
The one thing I don't understand is motorists that get pissed off at cyclists that share/squeeze the lane in multi-lane streets during rush hour: you are clearly land-locked and not going anywhere faster than a start & stop 20-40 km/h, and a fit cyclist (such as myself) can maintain that cruising speed easily. Don't hate on us that we can squeeze ahead and keep on going while you're stuck behind hundreds of cars: that's no reason to "hug the curb" in a passive-aggressive attempt to squeeze out the bike traffic and have more suffering with you.

Please feel free to share your thoughts/opinions on either subject! opcorn:

 

[Aardvark154]

Read that there was an Ottawa Police Cruiser that also witnessed this.

 

[Mable]

I am an enthusiastic cyclist as well and just looked at the video you provided. Yes, this guy, a cyclist jerk, gives us all bad names and causes a lot of conflict with car jerks. I do take issue with some of your statements indicating when you think it is alright to breach the highway traffic act, though. If you can, so can others, and then we are all left to suffer the consequences of their judgement, or lack thereof. The fact of the matter is, bicycles are vehicles under the highway traffic act and the rules apply to the use of them as well as motorized vehicles. If we all followed the rules situations such as the above would be rare. In the meantime I wish the cops would vigorously enforce the laws and nail idiots like the above.

 

[Brill]

I hate it when I see cyclists running red lights while the rest of us are stopped.

BTW, the witness in the video pulled over into the bike lane, it's not for emergency parking. It can be dangerous for other cyclists.

 

[Twister]

People don't want to stop because they're lazy to restart.

 

[SkyRider]

There was another incident where 4 motorcyclists (2 killed) were hit by a car going the wrong way.

 

[rhuarc29]

Nah, he doesn't deserve to get hit. He DOES deserve a ticket, as do hundreds of Toronto cyclists every day. Yet officers turn a blind eye until something serious happens.

 

[thischrisguy]

Couldn't agree more. I cycle and walk most places, and remain astonished at many if not most cyclists' behaviour. They are rude and drive incredibly dangerously.

 

[SkyRider]

Couldn't agree more. I cycle and walk most places, and remain astonished at many if not most cyclists' behaviour. They are rude and drive incredibly dangerously.

Some of these cyclists act like taxi/Uber drivers because they use their bikes to earn an income delivering food and/or documents. Maybe they are the ones that should be licensed?

 

[trucker269]

until cyclists begin to obey they rules of the road like stopping at red lights and stop signs. I Have NO respect for them. the police need to start enforcing traffic laws for cyclists

 

[james t kirk]

I hope the car was not too badly damaged.

 

[james t kirk]

I've seen this exact same kind of stupidity over and over in Toronto.

I had it happen to me when an entitled twat of cyclist did exactly the same thing to me. Just flew right through a red when I had a green. Fortunately, I managed to stop.

With the huge increase in cyclists, I think it's about time that the cops start ticketing the flagrant violators. I'm not talking about a cyclist who goes through a stop sign when he can see that there are no cars coming, but I'm talking about the ones who ride on sidewalks, who run lights like in the video above, and especially those without lights on their bikes.

 

[basketcase]

...

Side Topic on Cyclists v. Motorists in General (especially Toronto):
The one thing I don't understand is motorists that get pissed off at cyclists that share/squeeze the lane in multi-lane streets during rush hour: you are clearly land-locked and not going anywhere faster than a start & stop 20-40 km/h, and a fit cyclist (such as myself) can maintain that cruising speed easily. Don't hate on us that we can squeeze ahead and keep on going while you're stuck behind hundreds of cars: that's no reason to "hug the curb" in a passive-aggressive attempt to squeeze out the bike traffic and have more suffering with you.

Please feel free to share your thoughts/opinions on either subject! opcorn:

As a cyclist and motorist downtown, my issue with cyclists trying to squeeze by (and even more so when they ride between lanes of traffic) is they are stupidly putting themselves at risk. Traffic starts moving when they are coming up on a car from behind and they suddenly have no room. Even more of an issue when they're somewhere with no bail out option. And rules of the road say cars and bikes need to SHARE lanes. If a car is already in the lane then the cyclist would be at fault if they get hit while trying to pass a slow moving car. If it's a tight situation, narrow lanes, or nowhere for me to escape, I'll take the full lane while cycling. The solution for cars slowing you down is to advocate for more bike lanes (where you only have to worry about idiot cyclists).

Two keys for staying alive: be predictable and always assume others will be idiots.


p.s. biggest peeve cycling: you'rein a bike lane, find a gap in car traffic to pass a very slow cyclist, get to a red light and line up behind other bikes. Then the slow idiot skips to the front of the line and you have to do the same thing all over again

 

[basketcase]

People don't want to stop because they're lazy to restart.

That's my thought. Cyclists complain about the added effort - if you're not fit enough to start from a stop then maybe you shouldn't be cycling on the roads. Drivers could use the same kind of argument "as an environmentalist I don't stop because it uses extra gas to start moving again and I don't want to produce more CO2 or pollution".

 

[MissCroft]

I had it happen to me when an entitled twat of cyclist did exactly the same thing to me. Just flew right through a red when I had a green. Fortunately, I managed to stop.

I was once crossing an intersection on a green/walk signal and a cyclist flew through the red and came a few inches from hitting me. At the speed he was going, I could have easily been seriously injured or worse.

 

[ravencroft]

I am an enthusiastic cyclist as well and just looked at the video you provided. Yes, this guy, a cyclist jerk, gives us all bad names and causes a lot of conflict with car jerks. I do take issue with some of your statements indicating when you think it is alright to breach the highway traffic act, though. If you can, so can others, and then we are all left to suffer the consequences of their judgement, or lack thereof. The fact of the matter is, bicycles are vehicles under the highway traffic act and the rules apply to the use of them as well as motorized vehicles. If we all followed the rules situations such as the above would be rare. In the meantime I wish the cops would vigorously enforce the laws and nail idiots like the above.

Thanks for the polite debate Mable, while I do not share your belief I certainly can understand your argument because it goes without saying that if everyone (cyclists included) respected their respective rules of the road, incidents like this would not occur. However let me ask you this: if you're walking home / downtown at night and you arrive at a red/stop light at a clearly empty intersection, do you stop and wait for the Walk Sign?

a) If you do, then clearly you're a 100% law-abiding citizen and my hat's off to you as there's nothing left for us to discuss. (You're in the "right", I freely admit that)

b) If not, then clearly you do think the rules can bend under some circumstances, and we are now simply quibbling over what means of transport qualify.

The reason I blow through clearly empty intersections is that the risk is entirely upon ME: short of hitting a pedestrian or other cyclist (which would have been terrible and shameful), or somehow causing a car to swerve/crash into something (once again not actually possible at an empty intersection), the only risk of my misjudgment (i.e. somehow an unseen vehicle bears down on me) is to myself and I'm the person that will be harmed, which is a calculated risk I'm willing to take at that point. If I did that in a car and misjudged, I could kill a pedestrian/cyclist and do much more than dent someone's door paneling / hood.

I will always look first as my safety is in MY hands, as is my recklessness, but a bike is not a car and doesn't pose the same magnitude of risk to others, hence why I think cops only bother to nail flagrant violators (like this one) instead of every cyclist that rolls through a stop sign when no harm is being done.

 

[basketcase]

...
The reason I blow through clearly empty intersections is that the risk is entirely upon ME: ....

Not quite. It would mess me up if I killed another person even if it was through no fault of my own. And with downtown streets fairly narrow, a car can easily swerve into a pole or even a building.

No, I don't come to a complete stop (as in foot down) at stop signs if it is clear but read lights are a completely different story (and I believe it's still 3 points on your license even if cycling).

 

[drstrangelove]

If I'm driving and come across a red light and there is no traffic to be seen in any direction, I stop for the red light then proceed through without waiting for the green. There is zero chance I will cause an accident, and by not needlessly waiting for the green, I'm doing my small part to reduce air pollution and help save the planet. That would be my argument if I got stopped for doing this, hopefully the cop would be understanding and let me off with a warning.

 

[ravencroft]

As a cyclist and motorist downtown, my issue with cyclists trying to squeeze by (and even more so when they ride between lanes of traffic) is they are stupidly putting themselves at risk. Traffic starts moving when they are coming up on a car from behind and they suddenly have no room. Even more of an issue when they're somewhere with no bail out option. And rules of the road say cars and bikes need to SHARE lanes. If a car is already in the lane then the cyclist would be at fault if they get hit while trying to pass a slow moving car.

So you would actually stop and wait twenty cars back from the light because one guy decided to hug the curb and be a douche? Personally I can squeeze by even with 8 inches of space so long as my pedals are floating at the right height and I tilt a little towards the sidewalk (which I'll do). What I WON'T do is pull all the way ahead of the lead vehicle stopped at the red light line: I will wait behind them, especially if they're indicating to turn right as they were there first and I don't want to impede their ability to turn before the light changes. Everyone else further behind has the time/room to adjust if they're also planning to turn right, and if they're going straight, they'll be able to pass me in the intersection without having to float into the next lane since I keep as right as possible through intersections.

p.s. biggest peeve cycling: you'rein a bike lane, find a gap in car traffic to pass a very slow cyclist, get to a red light and line up behind other bikes. Then the slow idiot skips to the front of the line and you have to do the same thing all over again

Amen to that Brother. Even though I'm a "reckless" cyclist I of course stop at busy intersections, especially downtown. Suddenly the slow-poke I passed a km back thinks themselves Lance Armstrong and doesn't want to wait for the light, shoots through (causing car honks / pedestrian shouts), and then not only do I have to pass them again, but also now have to deal with pissed off drivers near me when they flew through...

 

[Mable]

Thanks for the polite debate Mable, while I do not share your belief I certainly can understand your argument because it goes without saying that if everyone (cyclists included) respected their respective rules of the road, incidents like this would not occur. However let me ask you this: if you're walking home / downtown at night and you arrive at a red/stop light at a clearly empty intersection, do you stop and wait for the Walk Sign?

a) If you do, then clearly you're a 100% law-abiding citizen and my hat's off to you as there's nothing left for us to discuss. (You're in the "right", I freely admit that)

b) If not, then clearly you do think the rules can bend under some circumstances, and we are now simply quibbling over what means of transport qualify.

The reason I blow through clearly empty intersections is that the risk is entirely upon ME: short of hitting a pedestrian or other cyclist (which would have been terrible and shameful), or somehow causing a car to swerve/crash into something (once again not actually possible at an empty intersection), the only risk of my misjudgment (i.e. somehow an unseen vehicle bears down on me) is to myself and I'm the person that will be harmed, which is a calculated risk I'm willing to take at that point. If I did that in a car and misjudged, I could kill a pedestrian/cyclist and do much more than dent someone's door paneling / hood.

I will always look first as my safety is in MY hands, as is my recklessness, but a bike is not a car and doesn't pose the same magnitude of risk to others, hence why I think cops only bother to nail flagrant violators (like this one) instead of every cyclist that rolls through a stop sign when no harm is being done.

If I am walking downtown I am not a vehicle under the highway traffic act; but your point is well taken, as I do cross against the light from time to time. If I am riding, however, then I do stop and follow the rules. I do not want to sound self aggrandizing here and have breached the rules from time to time, but I am always thinking I do not ever want to be one of those cycle jerks. Regarding your other point, somehow cars just seem to come out of nowhere, fast, at the least opportune moment; I use to get caught all the time as a kid, read jerk. Perhaps I am overly cautious, but I take great care on the bike as one mistake can kill you and I do not think it fair to put the drivers in peril either. For what it's worth, and I acknowledge, you make reasonable points.

My pet peeve is when cyclists ride on the sidewalk. I have almost been killed several times coming out of a restaurant, distracted with my mate and not expecting some idiot to be coming past me at 30 Km/hr.