"Cyclists need good manners"

From this week's Wynnum Herald:

http://paper.questnews.com.au/QST_WRH/wrh008.pdf

-LAST Sunday (Feb 18) I was crossing the road by the Manly markets with
my dog, who is old and very slow.
We were being approached by a cyclist who was speeding towards us.
Instead of slowing down he yelled at us to ‘‘hurry up’’.
I felt immediate anger towards this individual and responded
accordingly. I
now pose the question as to how would he have reacted if it had been an
elderly person crossing the road.
I would suggest that his reaction would have been the same. The
cyclists that ride along the foreshore need to
be taught some manners, as often they ride in groups of three or more
abreast making it impossible for cars to go past them without swerving.
These people do not pay to use the roads, (even my dog is registered)
and I personally feel that someone should inform them that these are
resources to be shared and they are no more special than anyone else.
Tina East,
Wynnum West-

I wrote back suggesting Ms Tina East does something about her anger
management issues .... I'm not going to hold my breath for publication



--
Duracell Bunny

Duracell Bunny Wrote:
From this week's Wynnum Herald:

http://paper.questnews.com.au/QST_WRH/wrh008.pdf

-LAST Sunday (Feb 18) I was crossing the road by the Manly markets with
my dog, who is old and very slow.
We were being approached by a cyclist who was speeding towards us.
Instead of slowing down he yelled at us to ‘‘hurry up’’.
I felt immediate anger towards this individual and responded
accordingly. I
now pose the question as to how would he have reacted if it had been an
elderly person crossing the road.
I would suggest that his reaction would have been the same. The
cyclists that ride along the foreshore need to
be taught some manners, as often they ride in groups of three or more
abreast making it impossible for cars to go past them without
swerving.
These people do not pay to use the roads, (even my dog is registered)
and I personally feel that someone should inform them that these are
resources to be shared and they are no more special than anyone else.
Tina East,
Wynnum West-

I wrote back suggesting Ms Tina East does something about her anger
management issues .... I'm not going to hold my breath for publication


Brisbane drivers are not the best - this is evidenced by the need to
"swerve' as the only option when passing cyclists.


--
warrwych

warrwych Wrote:
Brisbane drivers are not the best - this is evidenced by the need to
"swerve' as the only option when passing cyclists.

Heh no they are not.

Here's the full text of my letter to the editor:

May I take Tina East (28 Feb Opinion) to task for her inconsiderate
article concerning a cyclist? She does not say whether or not she was
crossing the road on a pedestrian crossing, nor whether she checked
that the road was clear before she slowly meandered across the road
with her lame dog. Cyclists are not required to pay to use the roads,
and nor is her dog - but all the cyclists I know pay a great deal to
register their cars, but chose to use bicycles as much as possible,
using cars only when needed, so yes we DO pay for roads.
She freely admits to an anger management problem towards this cyclist,
therefore I would strongly suggest it is her that "needs to be taught
some manners". Brisbane is unusually hostile to cyclists, always has
been in the 25 years I've been cycling here, and as a result most of us
ride pretty defensively. Acting aggressively is never the answer to
problems.


--
Duracell Bunny

Duracell Bunny wrote:
From this week's Wynnum Herald:

http://paper.questnews.com.au/QST_WRH/wrh008.pdf

-LAST Sunday (Feb 18) I was crossing the road by the Manly markets
with my dog, who is old and very slow.
We were being approached by a cyclist who was speeding towards us.
Instead of slowing down he yelled at us to ''hurry up''.

I wrote back suggesting Ms Tina East does something about her anger
management issues .... I'm not going to hold my breath for publication

I think it was indeed the cyclist who "lacked manners". Tina responded as a
lot of people would have. Maybe they could do an anger management course
together. Wouldn't you like to join them?

Theo

Theo Bekkers Wrote:
Duracell Bunny wrote:
From this week's Wynnum Herald:

http://paper.questnews.com.au/QST_WRH/wrh008.pdf

-LAST Sunday (Feb 18) I was crossing the road by the Manly markets
with my dog, who is old and very slow.
We were being approached by a cyclist who was speeding towards us.
Instead of slowing down he yelled at us to ''hurry up''.

I wrote back suggesting Ms Tina East does something about her anger
management issues .... I'm not going to hold my breath for
publication

I think it was indeed the cyclist who "lacked manners". Tina responded
as a
lot of people would have. Maybe they could do an anger management
course
together. Wouldn't you like to join them?

Theo


Whatever makes you think I'm angry about it?

DB


--
Duracell Bunny

Duracell Bunny wrote:
Theo Bekkers Wrote:
Duracell Bunny wrote:
From this week's Wynnum Herald:

http://paper.questnews.com.au/QST_WRH/wrh008.pdf

-LAST Sunday (Feb 18) I was crossing the road by the Manly markets
with my dog, who is old and very slow.
We were being approached by a cyclist who was speeding towards us.
Instead of slowing down he yelled at us to ''hurry up''.

I wrote back suggesting Ms Tina East does something about her anger
management issues .... I'm not going to hold my breath for
publication

I think it was indeed the cyclist who "lacked manners". Tina
responded as a
lot of people would have. Maybe they could do an anger management
course
together. Wouldn't you like to join them?

confused:

Whatever makes you think I'm angry about it?

You certainly appear to be steamed up enough to write to the newspaper. You
also appear to be one-eyed enough to not be able to grasp that it was the
inconsiderate cyclist who instigated the altercation between said cyclist
and Tina, who appeared only to want to cross the road with her dog, which
you profess to be owned in some greater way by the cyclist than by Tina. Why
did you assume or profess to know that the cyclist was paying rego on a car
the or she was not then using, but gave no thought to what was sitting in
Tina's garage unused?

Cheers

Theo

Duracell Bunny Wrote:
Cyclists are not required to pay to use the roads, and nor is her dog -
but all the cyclists I know pay a great deal to register their cars,
but chose to use bicycles as much as possible, using cars only when
needed, so yes we DO pay for roads.

IMO this is the wrong tack to take. Roads are funded by consolodated
revenue, in other words taxes. Registration does not fund roads, taxes
do.

I'm in the top tax bracket (not that hard these days) and I spend my
money so yes I do pay for roads. I put a lot less wear and tear on
roads as my default mode of transport is cycling, if anything I should
get a rebate!

Local roads are paid for by rates, same argument applies.

Pursuing the arguement that most cyclists own a car which they pay rego
for buys in to the false `user pays' mentality.


--
EuanB

Theo Bekkers Wrote:


You certainly appear to be steamed up enough to write to the
newspaper. You
also appear to be one-eyed enough to not be able to grasp that it was
the
inconsiderate cyclist who instigated the altercation between said
cyclist
and Tina, who appeared only to want to cross the road with her dog,
which
you profess to be owned in some greater way by the cyclist than by
Tina. Why
did you assume or profess to know that the cyclist was paying rego on
a car
the or she was not then using, but gave no thought to what was sitting
in
Tina's garage unused?

Cheers

TheoDid you actually read what I wrote to the paper? You infer an awful lot
from what I said & what I didn't say.

I kept my letter to the editor brief, as otherwise it'd have no chance
of publication. Sorry if you don't agree with what I said ... I ride
the Wynnum/Manly foreshore roads a great deal, but I do avoid it on
market day (Sunday) because of all the jaywalkers.

DB


--
Duracell Bunny

Duracell Bunny wrote:

TheoDid you actually read what I wrote to the paper? You infer an
awful lot from what I said & what I didn't say.

I kept my letter to the editor brief, as otherwise it'd have no chance
of publication. Sorry if you don't agree with what I said ... I ride
the Wynnum/Manly foreshore roads a great deal, but I do avoid it on
market day (Sunday) because of all the jaywalkers.

Are you saying she was jaywalking? What makes you assume that?

Theo

Theo Bekkers Wrote:
Duracell Bunny wrote:

TheoDid you actually read what I wrote to the paper? You infer an
awful lot from what I said & what I didn't say.

I kept my letter to the editor brief, as otherwise it'd have no
chance
of publication. Sorry if you don't agree with what I said ... I ride
the Wynnum/Manly foreshore roads a great deal, but I do avoid it on
market day (Sunday) because of all the jaywalkers.

Are you saying she was jaywalking? What makes you assume that?

Theo
Thank you for answering my earlier question - clearly you did NOT read
my letter to the paper.

Pay attention, there's a good chap.

**Plonk**


--
Duracell Bunny