Humans really baffle me. If I were an betting man I wouldn’t put money on us lot passing our 30th year. And yet we quite often pass the average age of 70-odd years. The amount of stupid things I see people do, on the roads when they are rushing to and fro in their daily grind, really shocks me.

Cyclist :

– Red light jumping, is against the law and not even safe for you or others.
A good example: you as a cyclist come up to the red light, see it is clear, only one car around 100 or so yards down the way and you have plenty of time to cross before they arrive. But see it from their angle, they see you rushing across their GREEN light where they have right of way. They will tap their brakes since they don’t know if others are following you. The road user behind them will just see the car in front of them hitting the brakes for no apparent reason. They will hit the brakes rather hard and therefore get the following car parked right up their back.

– Not looking where you are going or looking behind you.
I see that every day and for some reason which escapes me you still manage to miss all the obstacles which are around you.

– Not telling others where you are going.
See the first example in this post “Look and see“. She was very close to getting knocked off her bike and causing a crash between two cars, simply because she didn’t tell others what she was doing.

Car/bus/van/taxi/etc users :

– Not telling others where you are going.
You have indicators, so please use them, it does help others to know where you want to go.

– Pulling out from from a side road over the Give Way line without looking.
Yes sometimes you do look and give way, though quite often you just zoom right out without any due care. And when you are giving way at the give way line please don’t edge out when you see a cyclist coming, because it scares the heebie jeebies out of us.

– Not looking where you are going.
You’ve got mirrors. It would be a big upgrade if you actually used them. Though don’t rely on these as they will not give you a full view of what is going on around you. Plenty of blind spots so please turn your head and check around you, you will spot that cyclist that are just about to turn into.

– Overtaking just for the heck of it.
Quite often when you are stuck in traffic and you have a little gap between you and the road user in front of you. And then a cyclist over take you on the outside and you just have to floor it and race along for that three metres gap, why ? It didn’t get you anywhere did it ?

Other times a little looking ahead of you you can see either a red light or a traffic queue. Why do you have to overtake us, zoom past pull right in and squeeze us against the kerb. What did you gain? Nothing since you are still stuck in traffic and we will filter past you seconds after.

Here is a good example of when are car user have just been dangerous, Sillydriver I, how the heck do you think it is a good idea to drive fast and over take when you got children on the road?

– Advanced Stop Lines (ASL) and bicycle lanes.
Is not a place for you to park, it is for us cyclists so that we can get in front of you so that you can see us before you pull away from the light.

Pedestrians :

– Crossing the road without looking.
Remember the Green Cross Code? So please do look before you cross the road, even getting hit by a bicycle will hurt. I heard the other day that a fellow cyclist hit a runner who had stepped out in front of the cyclist. Cyclist ended up in A&E with a cut on the elbow but the runner had a broken finger and a very sore set of ribs.

When you see the traffic at a standstill, don’t just walk right out onto the roads. Even if the traffic isn’t moving their light is still green, not red, and there may be motorbikes or cyclist filtering along. So do look before you cross, see the third example in this post, Look and see

– Not using the pedestrian crossing.
Other road users WILL give way for you when you use the pedestrian crossing, so why not use it ? Quite often you just have to walk 20 yards down the road to find one, instead of standing and waiting at some random point and then start sneaking out with the risk of getting hit.

For the life of me I can’t understand why a parent would have the bright idea of crossing a busy dual carriage way and then lifting their two loved ones over the fence in the middle reservation and continue on the other side.

– Red man
Yes the red man or red light does mean stop.

So as you can see we all are doing it. Even though I have split these very few examples up this is the case for everyone. Everyone forgets to look around them or communicate to others what they’re doing: just blindly heading for an early grave. But still we survive, it’s mind boggling.

Pretty much no regard to the highway code more like “I want to be over there” and I don’t care how I get over there and if I get in the way of others, they can move out of the way, not me.

I’m only saying that it is in your own best interest to be a more aware of what is going on around you and take care of yourself and others. Because it will save your life one day.