Banned drivers, are they tomorrows rouge cyclists?

Just watched 1/2 a dozen drivers ignoring red lights - until one driver
decided to block the junction.( A regular occurrence unfortunately,
especially at roadworks)
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/men/recre...kill-cyclists/

“If we are to prevent these deaths before they occur, then we must focus
the minds of drivers�
Joe Shute

colwyn wrote:
Just watched 1/2 a dozen drivers ignoring red lights - until one
driver decided to block the junction.( A regular occurrence
unfortunately, especially at roadworks)
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/men/recre...kill-cyclists/


The only people who give a flying **** about cyclists, are cyclists.
Nobody else gives a **** about cyclists.
Why can't you understand this?

On Tuesday, 31 May 2016 20:45:05 UTC+2, colwyn wrote:
Just watched 1/2 a dozen drivers ignoring red lights - until one driver
decided to block the junction.( A regular occurrence unfortunately,
especially at roadworks)
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/men/recre...kill-cyclists/

They're all at it.

https://t.co/iqRZT8sERF

On Tue, 31 May 2016 20:01:00 +0100, Mr Pounder Esquire
wrote:

colwyn wrote:
Just watched 1/2 a dozen drivers ignoring red lights - until one
driver decided to block the junction.( A regular occurrence
unfortunately, especially at roadworks)
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/men/recre...kill-cyclists/


The only people who give a flying **** about cyclists, are cyclists.

no he didn't

Nobody else gives a **** about cyclists.
Why can't you understand this?

You seem to be talking to the wrong audience.
PS you seem to have misattributed. And used rude words; please wipe the
phlegm off your screen. But if it makes you happy, don't worry about your
blood pressure.

(There will now follow some irrelevant nonsense about driving lessons)

--
Bah, and indeed, Humbug

On 01.06.2016 07:01, Mr Pounder Esquire wrote:
colwyn wrote:
Just watched 1/2 a dozen drivers ignoring red lights - until one
driver decided to block the junction.( A regular occurrence
unfortunately, especially at roadworks)
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/men/recre...kill-cyclists/


The only people who give a flying **** about cyclists, are cyclists.
Nobody else gives a **** about cyclists.
Why can't you understand this?


Thank god for that.
I do not care if you do not give a **** about me.

colwyn wrote:

Just watched 1/2 a dozen drivers ignoring red lights - until one driver
decided to block the junction.( A regular occurrence unfortunately,
especially at roadworks)
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/men/recre...kill-cyclists/

The UK is a sick place - and by that, I mean 'ill' rather than 'perverse'.

The hatred directed at cyclists in the UK is akin to racism and
anti-Semitism in that it is out of all proportion to any 'nuisance' real or
perceived - and it is also completely immune to reason, education or
persuasion.

For example, no other class of road user is constantly told that it does
not have the 'right' to be on the public highway because it does not pay a
'tax' that in fact does not exist and has not existed for almost eighty
years. In other words, no one pays this 'tax' but because cyclists don't
pay this 'tax', they can't get to use the roads that motorists use, despite
the fact that they don't pay this 'tax' either.

No other class of road user is constantly told that it is must 'behave'
before it gets infrastructure paid for from council tax and central
taxation (to which of course, every wage earner contributes).

Fatal or near-fatal collisions involving cyclists and pedestrians are
treated as national scandals and an affront to the British way of life only
one step down from assassination of the Queen, thus fuelling more the
hatred directed at cyclists. Fatal or near-fatal collisions involving
drivers usually don't make the media, unless there are special
circumstances worthy of reporting, like drugs, alcohol or a large number of
victims (or a famous victim).

There are two possible ways to combat this. Eventually, things will
change. It will take decades - perhaps even generations. But eventually,
the witch hunt will be over, and cycling will no longer equate to taking
one's life in one's hands. Sadly, that will probably have to wait for
driverless cars, since car drivers have demonstrated all too amply that
they cannot be trusted to be in control of a ton or more of metal, glass
and plastic - or that on the rare occasions when their innate psychopathy
is not exposed by the machine, they simply lack the ability to control that
vehicle safely.

But - as my savage put-downs of the trolls and idiots on this and other
newsgroups demonstrate all too amply - I am not the most patient of men.

The other option is a bit quicker, and it involves making drivers pay a
high price for their aggression. A price so high that many of them will
quite simply be unwilling to pay it. The police, CPS and courts have sent
a clear message: cyclists do not matter.

Cyclists thus have to send an equally clear message to drivers: respect my
rights, or I am going to hurt you.

The law is clear in that no person has to wait to be assaulted, before
defending himself. The legal definition of common assault is any act which
intentionally or recklessly, causes another person to apprehend immediate
and unlawful personal violence (_Fagan v. _ _Metropolitan Police
Commissioner_ [1969] 1 QB 439).

If a driver shouts at you, gesticulates, threatens you whilst in his car,
leave the scene. Do not engage him.

If a driver gets out of his car after a verbal altercation, he is quite
obviously intending to punch you, and you do not have to wait for him to do
so, before defending yourself. As soon as his foot touches the ground, hit
the door with all of your weight, trapping his leg between it and the body
of the car. With your other arm, which has now removed the D-lock from
your belt, hit him hard in the head.

Once he goes down, do NOT hit him again. The last thing you need is a
conviction for ABH or murder. If he is unconscious, place him in the
recovery position, remove the keys from his vehicle, and cycle away.

Unfortunately, this is a cultural change. It is like asking the Spanish to
stop bullfighting, or the French to stop eating meat. It will take time,
but if you do not start to safeguard - and defend - your rights, the state
will not do it for you. They have left no one in any doubt on that score.

“If we are to prevent these deaths before they occur, then we must focus
the minds of drivers�

Nothing focuses the mind of a psychopath like a 1 kg D-lock travelling at
50 m/s.

--
john smith |MA (Hons)|MPhil (Hons)|CAPES (mention très bien)|LLB (Hons)
'It never gets any easier. You just get faster'
(Greg LeMond (1961 - ))