I must admit I really like to get out on the bike in the early morning and enjoy the fresh air and chit chat with my buddies. Now I ride with some really intelligent guys who are all professionally qualified in their own right. Until it comes to red robots. It seems when they see a red robot all intelligence disappears into thin air and the race to see who is the most stupid is on.
I have always maintained that we are soft and squishy and that cars and trucks are tough and hard. I have yet to see a human being hit by a car win the battle. Here in South Africa there is traditionally agro between motorists and cyclists alike which results in huge discussions on Forums and ultimately no solutions. Bottom line is that common sense should always prevail. Laws are in place to mostly protect the stupid as well the intelligent who have moments of stupidity.
I have heard the argument used that if it is early in the morning then going through a red robot is acceptable, well it's not, it is breaking the law and breaking the law is never acceptable or excusable. I have never been able to understand the mentality of people who can obey the law when driving a car and forget all the basic concepts of self preservation when riding a bicycle.
A few weeks ago at around 8am when traffic had picked up my group continued with their ritual of disobeying the law and dodging traffic to get through the red robot. I was at the back of the bunch and stopped as per normal and looked at the mayhem unfold. I can see the motorists in the vicinity blood starting to boil. They guy in the car next to me rolled down his window and said "Clearly you are the only one who has a brain in his head". Well not really, I don't believe this is true, I hang out with these guys not only because they are nice guys but because they are more intelligent than I and have something to offer in terms of me being able to evolve. I just don't seem to be able to get it into their skulls that jumping red robots irritates the crap out of everyone and is looking for a one way ticket to a coffin.
I have often said to members of our group and expressed my views strongly that I don't want to be the one to have to explain to wives and kids that Daddy is dead because he could not stop for two minutes, I don't want to loose friends because of downright stupidity. Last time I checked there were no prizes for winning a training ride!!
Invariably what happens is I stop at the robot they ride through and slow down to wait for me in any case. What a pointless risk of your life to basically stop on the other side of the road. There is no other way to describe this other than stupid.
Come on guys and gals let's just all obey the law, stop when the robot is red, it gives you time to catch your breath and appreciate the nicety of being alive.
I must say that from a motorists point of view, I have to agree with what you say. We are so busy trying to get to where we are going, generally very frustrated already because of road works, traffic and taxi’s, that we either don’t notice cyclists or just expect them to stay out of our way. We are often racing through an orange robot and the last thing on our mind it watching out for cyclists.
ReplyDeleteApart from us ‘normal’, rule obeying motorists, you cyclist also have to contend with taxi’s who don’t pay much attention to the laws that we follow, so even going through a ‘green’ can be dangerous.
In my opinion, cycling is dangerous at the best of times on our roads, so you guys should do anything that might make it even slightly safer.
Happy, safe riding.
Winning a training ride! Love that.....see it lots around the Lido....
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