Good nick this afternoon. Swiped an I-pod as some daft bitch walked out in front of me crossing from Vere to Bond, tapping away on her screen with plugs in her ears. Left-handed grab. Well pleased with the manoeuvre. Made my day. Earphones came off though. Got the lights at Brook and Grosvenor en route to a Grosvenor Hill pick-up. Just dumped it down a drain after turning into Grosvenor. I think we should have a competition to see who can nick the most phones off jaywalking lemmings next year. Whadya think?
bravo. i would have done the same. after all, jaywalking is a crime in the UK and deserves to be punished by people who like to take the law into their own hands. this country is going down the drain and its about time people like you started standing up for us. i bet she was foreign as well
Well, normally I just smack 'em round the head as I pass, but I usually only do that to blokes. As for being foreign, that's unlikely. People from other countries generally know how to cross the road. It's only the English who are thick enough to have problems differentiating between the pavement and the carriageway. I reckon all cyclists should start swiping phones from jaywalkers. It'd be a good way of raising awareness of the problems lemmings present. Drivers and riders in London now have to drive with the ever present consideration that some twat might be about to dash out from behind a bus or run off a kerb without looking. That's not acceptable. I'm fucked off with having to filter down the outside of buses at about 5mph to allow for the possibilty of some moron running into the road. It's even worse on a motorbike. Something needs to be done about the irresponsibility of pedestrians in London. Cutting speed limits to 20mph is costly and doesn't address the problem. Teaching people to stay on the pavement until they've looked at the fucking traffic - something every 7-year-old was taught when I was at school - would cut pedestrian casualties in urban areas by 95%+... so why the fuck can't we do it?
Teaching people to look at the traffic before they step off the kerb is wrong!???!! What are you? A member of a death cult? Not one of those who believed the Rev. Jimmy Jones was God, are you?
Toby when you were a kid did you ever hear the phrase "Two wrongs don't make a right." I'm not going to pretend to be perfect over the last fourteen years I've yelled at few peds even shoulder checked a couple. When you start stealing peoples stuff that takes it to a whole different level.
I ran over a homeless alkie jaywalker up Holborn way whilst filtering stopped traffic at good speed, he stopped me dead and i head butted him in the face with my helmet knocking his nose to some crazy angle. We both stood still for a second, I wanted to say sorry but he apologised first. Cunt broke my helmet and he was more concerned about the smashed bottle of merrydown on the floor.
I ran over a respectable looking lady whilst dooing a similiar manouvre on the Strand heading east. Silly girl stepped between the buses and took the full force of me coming to a standing stop. She flew and bounced some yards and sat looking a little dazed. Jon Snow was right behind me on my wheels, with his Brompton. The most gutting feeling was that i overtook him to get the gap. If I had just let him be he would have collected this lady and i would of had a nice laugh at this cunts expense.
A silly man tried to use the crossing against the lights whilst the traffic had stopped which also had a clearly marked cycle lane on it. He started walking and i this time was able to stop but I gave no shout, instead i stopped just mm's away from his face. He casually turned, saw me and shat himself. I chuckled, sat quitly and watched the moron, in front of a dozen or so other peds who were patiently waiting for the green man.
run them over, or scare the shit out of jaywalkers is the best deterrant.(in my opinion)
Most 'lemming' crashes I've had have been my fault partly - riding too close to the curb coming up to blind junctions where they can pop out from behind a wall etc etc. You live and learn.
Its easy to get angry doing our job though, especially at the stupidity of others. Whereas before I was reacting to everything and spending all day angry and shouting, now I just chill and ride on as I feel its a waste of much needed life and energy bothering with every little incident.
On good days, my perception of the road ahead is better and anticipation skills are up there to help me avoid crashing into 'lemmings'.
I certainly appreciated seeing everyone at FullCity last night after work as I had had an 'angry' Friday with lots of frustrating incidents and unhelpful people, and just went to sleep when I got home!
Toby Wong, you are a massive, MASSIVE wanker. I've been a courier for nearly ten years, and I've met all sorts of riders, and you fit neatly into the group named "Embarrassment to all others". People always step on to the road without looking, if you're such a crap rider that you can neither anticipate, prepare or deal with this, then do something else. As for stealing other peoples property, that just makes you a thieving, lowlife scumbag. Who made you judge, jury and executioner? No one did. But evidently your parents made you a cunt.
"Toby Wong, you are a massive, MASSIVE wanker. I've been a courier for nearly ten years, and I've met all sorts of riders, and you fit neatly into the group named "Embarrassment to all others". People always step on to the road without looking, if you're such a crap rider that you can neither anticipate, prepare or deal with this, then do something else. As for stealing other peoples property, that just makes you a thieving, lowlife scumbag. Who made you judge, jury and executioner? No one did. But evidently your parents made you a cunt. "
Bum, where did I say that I couldn't anticipate lemmings running into the road? I haven't actually hit a lemming since before you started as a courier. I think my anticipation's as spot on as anyone's out there. As for your opinion that "People always step into the road without looking", well, that's your opinion. There are a lot of places where it's very rare for anyone to step off the kerb without looking. It's quite funny in parts of Scandinavia or Germany to see lots of pedestrians waiting for the green "walk" signal, when there's fuck all moving within 400 yards, but it is standard procedure in those places. There is nowhere in this country where people step into the road without looking with the frequency with which they do it in London. Do you think that the idiot who drove up Bond Street this week - northbound - causing it to be closed, pays any more attention to what's going on around them when they're on foot? Do you really believe that the pedestrian who steps off the kerb whilst texting on a mobile phone displays any more of a tendency to observe what's going on around them when they're turining left in their day job as an HGV driver? A twat who pays no attention to what's happening around them on the road is simply a twat who pays no attention to what's happening around them on the road. They don't "switch on" when they jump into a car. Besides, nicking a mobile phone or cuffing someone around the lughole is a wake-up call. You can bet your arse the bitch didn't step off a kerb again last week. Just riding around the twats is OK... but it means they'll keep walking into the road without looking. It could be argued that I was doing her a favour. One "road safety charity" advocates the confiscation of mobile phones from drivers who use them whilst behind the wheel. I'm just adapting that approach a little.
Bill! Chill out, man! As I've said before, it must be hard for you to accept that you no longer run the country, but Cameron is simply "BlairLite" and you'll get used to him, just as you'll get over Noo Layba losing their hold on administration.
I'll second what bum just said, and I'll also say that I think it very sad that such an educated (at least it looks that way) individual such as Toby is such a cunt...then again, a lot of fucking nazis were educated too. That chip on your shoulder, Toby, looks like a wornout TimBuk digging into your collar bone. Dump the shit and chill, I bet you weren't born with a fucking bike between your legs as your mum spread hers in order to give us the honour of your presence. Surely you must be a pedestrian at times, and not a holier than thou one either. You see, about 7 years ago, my partner made the fatal mistake of walking into the cycle lane just before the waterloo junction. Some cunt of a courier (she could tell at the time given the absence of fakengers then) just thought it would be a good idea to teach her a lesson and ran into her from behind....she didn't have a chance to even step out of his cold calculated cunt of a "I'm gonna teach you a lesson" idea...she was pregnant at the time! Fuck wit, arsehole, self righteous scum...a bit like you, hey!?
"Bill! Chill out, man! As I've said before, it must be hard for you to accept that you no longer run the country, but Cameron is simply "BlairLite" and you'll get used to him, just as you'll get over Noo Layba losing their hold on administration."
Wrong, you are either a troll, or simply haven't read any part of this site apart from your own rants.
@ XX-DIABOLIC-XX SORRY SORRY SORRY....................... honestly my worst nightmare, everytime i cut thru traffic, the thing that stops me going all out, im so sorry, is ur story for real? makes me sad either way my sister rides every day, god knows if anything happened to her, my parents too, they're old, will say this once and only once, cos most of us know the rules: 1:dont get hit 2:dont hit anyone 3:dont indirectly cause anyone to get hit
peace, and just understand that everyone is just trying to get somewhere, the roads are to be shared equally
OK, XX - DIABOLIC - XX. She just jaywalks into cycle lanes, does she? Or did. She's very lucky the cycle lane was there or she might have walked straight into the road and been hit by a truck. (Please don't say she had the baby. The ghost of Keith Joseph would be most displeased.) As it happens, one of my favourite relatives was killed when walking down the street. She was walking down a country road. No such luxury as pavements. Or crossings. Or 30mph speed limits. Usual crap: accident. Filth looked into it and arrested a driver. They actually charged him! Miracle. Minimal punishment, however. Friends and relatives still do a memorial walk every year on the anniversary of her death. Yeah, I am a pedestrian a lot of the time... and when I'm a fucking pedestrian, I look where the fuck I'm going before I step off a kerb. Same degree of observation, anticpiation and attention as when I'm on a bike, or at the controls of a motor vehicle. Learner drivers can be made to understand what a "Stop" line is in their first lesson ... and the reasons they should stop at it, rather than coast forward and have a casual gander when they're half way out. Where the degree of difficulty lies in teaching pedestrians to treat a kerb in the same way drivers treat a "Stop" line is something I can't understand. As it happens, I left school at 15, my Dad robbed banks and my Mum was a waitress. Impeccable White Trash credentials. As for not knowing the basics of traffic law, Bill, one of the worst value investments I ever made was to go through Cardington and qualify as a bike instructor. Only stuck it a couple of months. Worst job I ever had. That was a lo-o-o-o-ng time ago and I concede that I haven't kept current. However, I still reckon I know a hell of a lot more about traffic law and traffic in London than ther "professionals" you refer to. "Professionals" were responsible for the Death Zone "cycle lane" over Blackfriars' Bridge. I can think of two current "cycle lanes" not far from the bridge that are almost as lethal: the fucking thing on the inside as you head north up Farringdon at the Charterhouse junction, which is inside a left-turning lane at a junction where cars can turn at a relatively high speed; and the man trap that's islanded-off as you head east along Queen Victoria - it keeps cyclists on the inside of traffic (mainly cabbies) that's all going to be turning left into Friday Street at 40mph. They don't even have to brake. They're just two example of lethal "cycle lanes" in London. "Professionals" are responsible for removing pedestrian lights at junctions all over London. (N.B. A "pedestrian light" is a traffic light placed on the far side of a junction. It's there to allow pedestrians crossing perpendicular to the traffic flow to see what colour the light at 90 degrees to them is, so that they can tell if the traffic in the road they're about to cross is about to move. Strange though it may seem, "pedestrian lights" are not there for the convenience of drivers who stop two car lengths over the stop line.) Regent / Gt. Marlborough is a case in point. It's a joke... or it is until someone gets killed. There's no pedestrian light, meaning pedestrians are always going to guess, and they've taken the central island out as well. The thinking behind this seems to be that if there are pedestrains in the road as traffic approaches, traffic will have to slow down. That argument might have some merit in countries with some respect for social convention, but it doesn't work here - where the universal attitude adopted by pedestrians is that if there's a pedestrian crossing the road in front of you, it's safe for you to step into the road as well. "Professionals" are taking out kerbs as well. A kerb is the most effective road safety device a pedestrian has. The RNIB and RLSB are up in arms about kerbs being removed. So should everyone else be. The Sloane Square / Holbein Place farce is potentially lethal. I've even written to the Filth about that. They agree... but it's not their responsibility. It seems the digging up of Mount Street for the past six months has been for the same purpose: to take out the kerbs and disguise the carriageway as a pavement. The thinking again being that drivers will slow down if there's a high likelihood of pedestrians stepping into the road. By this logic, we might as well ban motorcycle helmets and seatbelts, as people will inevitably drive more safely as the level of risk increases. Why not go the whole hog and adopt T E Lawrence's great road safety proposal: that every car shoud have a metal bar attached to the front bumper, pointing back and coming through the centre of the steering wheel, with the end sharpened to a spike. That'd concentrate the minds of those who were tempted to drive too fast. (Lawrence, of course, died whilst gunning a Brough Superior at close to 100mph round a bend on an inter-war country road.) "Professionals" are responsible for the redesigning of Piccadilly Circus, which is now very uncomfortable for cyclists. The Exhibition / Cromwell / Old Brompton / Harrington farce is the same deal, only worse. Ridiculously confusing, un-necesssary numbers of lights and filters and - most crucially - phasing of lights that seems designed for "Stop" lines that are a standard four or five yards from the actual junction... not for a situation where the "Stop" lines are 30yds+ back from the junction, meaning there's plenty of perpendicular traffic still heading across the bow of vehicles that move when a light goes green. Traffic "Professionals", at least those working for TfL, haven't got a fucking clue. You could do a far better job, Bill. As could I... or any of the other three people on here with a brain.
"In the town of Drachten, the removal of traffic lights at one major junction has resulted in accidents falling from thirty-six in the four years before the scheme was introduced to two in the next two years. The average time for each vehicle to cross the junction fell from 50 seconds to 30 seconds, despite a rise in the volume of traffic. "
Who are these tree-hugging neo-Blairites? Leftie scum etc etc
Bill, that's Germany. Not England. Certainly not London. Different culture. Like the 24-hour drinking thing. Great idea. Bring a civilised continental-style cafe culture to England. Except, England is populated by the English. Who drink to get drunk. It hasn't worked. It won't work. As it happens, I agree with taking traffic lights out. But taking pedestrian lights out where traffic light remain in place is dangerous. It has apparantly been agreed that no more traffic lights are to be installed in central London for the foreseeable future and that is a Tory scheme. (Incidentally, I've never voted Tory and almost certainly never will. The Labour Party is the only political party I've ever voted for. The Labour Party now exists in the same way some "ethnic" cultures exist: for all intents and purposes, in name only, but symbolism and triviality disguise that uncomfortable reality for many people. Blair is not left-wing. Nor are Blairites. I'd classify Blair as one of three most right-wing PM's this country's had in the past sixty-five years. I don't object to left-wingers. Michael Foot, who snuffed it earlier this year, was the last British politician I had any time for. He might have been seen as left-wing. The Parasitocracy that runs this country is not "left-wing". Nor is the Bolshevik Bullshitting Collective. "Guilt-ridden, apologetic, tokenist and conscience-salving", yes... but not left-wing.) Unfortunately the removal of lights is being offset here by the continual narrowing of roads... which slows the traffic and encourages pedestrians to dash into the carriageway.
Has Lisa really banned you from browsing this site at work? That's a bit mean. <nasty, unnecessary & vile remark removed> but there's no need to take it out on you, is there? It's a bit sad you being on here at weekends. (pot... kettle... etc.)
a theft of phone by cyclist would no doubt be reported to police, for an insurance claim if nothing else. might be worth informing plod of TW's IP address?
Now Bill's a Company Man Of eloquence and elan. He'll say what he thinks: That the industry stinks, But Bill's still a Company Man.
We're due for a heavy snowfall And the riders will earn fuck all. With his little brown snout, He'll be paid to do nowt, Though he'll take an occasional call.
Ohhhhhhhh! Ohhhhhhhhhhhh! (Altogether now!)
You don't get Bill, he's part of the Company! You don't get Bill, he's part of the Company! You don't get Bill, he's part of the Company! Til the day he rides. Til the day he rides.
Drachten being in Holland, rather than Germany, makes it an even less appropriate comparison. And there's nothing vile or nasty about a whimsical remark on the topic of what two lesbians might get up to... especially Lisa, who's allegedly well into that type of action.
Oooh! What a bounder! What a cad! I've changed IP address again. Internet cafes are great, aren't they? Warm as well. Good thinking, Sleepy. Let's make sure everyone wears a tag and tracker 24/7, so that The State can track down all the nasty people who aren't like us - Ists, Phobes, Tories, Enemies of the People, Thought Criminals, Blokes with Beards, Papes, Jews, Blacks, Gays, etc. - and protect our righteous arses in the Valley of Darkness, for truly are they their brother's keeper and the finder of lost children, and they will strike down with great vengeance and furious anger those who attempt to poison and destroy our brothers, and we shall know their name is The State when they lay their vengeance upon them.
tucked up in a fair trade hemp blanket, a copy of the Communist Handbook and a warm mug of lentil and tofu soup, genesis playing quietly in the background dreaming of long gone summer days, no doubt.
I think the coalition's dept. for the environment should pedestrianise Toby/Basie's mind.The quantity of poisonous emissions spewing onto the internet from there has now reached critical levels. Or maybe just ban the cnut.
XX DIABOLIC XX gave us perhaps the quote of 2010 in this thread:
"I bet you weren't born with a fucking bike between your legs as your mum spread hers in order to give us the honour of your presence"
Now thats a fucking T Shirt slogan. Av that arrogant couriers (the ones that dont say wassup on the road when I try to be all WAHEYYYY!! in passing) and av that fakengers with more Aerospoke than quick poke on Clerkenwell Rd. Come on Pistard, I'll buy one, if I dont already print my own up (of course with DIABOLIC's name underneath - credit where credits due dude)
NOTE: My post here has nothing to do with Toby Wong, whom I've never met.
I disagree, Charles. The best quote of this thread is:
"People always step on to the road without looking, if you're such a crap rider that you can neither anticipate, prepare or deal with this, then do something else."
Alter that slightly to:
"People always turn left without looking, if you're such a crap rider that you can neither anticipate, prepare or deal with this, then do something else."
Then put the quote on a thread about Seb or Emma Foa and see how long the queue to join the lynch mob will be. What's the difference between the two? Don't tell me that people in a totally invulnerable position - driving a HGV - ought to pay more attention than those in a vulnerable situation - cyclists and pedestrians. Human nature dictates that the opposite applies. If drivers can't indicate turns, they shouldn't have a licence. If pedestrians can't understand what a kerb is for, they shouldn't be allowed out of care institutions unaccompanied.