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CarefulCyclist - how not to change your jacket while riding a bike.pngVideo: Cyclists behaving badly - helmetcam cyclist turns his lens on other cyclists
Cyclists’ helmet cam videos of reckless road users behaving badly or breaking the law are a Youtube staple, but here’s one with a difference those caught on camera are cyclists and it ends with a truly spectacular demonstration of how not to take your jacket off while cycling.
York Cyclists Episode 1, shot over a three week period was posted to Youtube on April 1st ago by a long time cycle commuter calling himself CarefulCyclist, but it's no joke.
Red light jumping, pavement cycling, red light jumping, riding no handed, red light jumping, texting while cycling, phoning while cycling and red light jumping (a bit like Groundhog Day) are all here.
It’s a catalogue of the sort of behaviour that irritates and angers other road users and that divides opinion amongst cyclists between those who believe that the rules of the road apply to everyone and those who say they are the product of a car-centric approach to traffic management and that as long as no-one is harmed the independent minded cyclist should be free to ignore them. Watch the video and judge for yourself.
“Cyclists are taking more risks”, CarefulCyclist told YorkMix explaining his reason for posting his films to Youtube: “I hope the families of those cyclists will see what those cyclists are doing, putting themselves and other road users at risk and prevent them.
“The cyclists involved should stop and think, is this risk I am taking worth it?”
He also explained why he started filming his journeys.
“I have, on a number of occasions nearly been hit by inattentive or poor drivers. if you combine poor driving with reckless cycling more and more people are going to get injured. Some fatally.”
He described those riding badly as “a small proportion of repeat offenders, I see the same faces over and over again.
“Young men seem prepared to take the greatest risks, but all types of road users flout the Highway Code.
“I see cyclists running red lights, weaving in and out of traffic, but even the most minor indiscretions like cycling on the pavement can have potentially severe consequences if the cyclist is in collision with someone elderly or a child.
“Pedestrians have been killed by cyclists.”
While some of the cycling on display is certainly of the eye-brow raising variety some may also raise an eyebrow at the inclusion of a woman using her mobile phone while cycling along a near empty bike path - on the other hand the chap briefly glimpsed riding no handed on the pavement was lucky a hapless pedestrian didn’t step out of a doorway.
The penultimate incident would seem to be an example of both rider and driver inattention although had things played out differently it is certainly the cyclist who would have paid the higher price, and that last crash? Well, according to CarefulCyclist the man got up afterwards apparently unharmed.
While his film highlights some risk taking individual in his conversation with YorkMix CarefulCyclist reserves some of the blame for poor cycling infrastructure too:
“Some of the cycling infrastructure is poorly designed and poorly maintained, cycle lanes are too narrow and sometimes bring road users in to conflict”.
The recklessness of York’s drivers and pedestrians are the subjects of his next two videos.
road.cc's founder and first editor, nowadays to be found riding a spreadsheet. Tony's journey in cycling media started in 1997 as production editor and then deputy editor of Total Bike, acting editor of Total Mountain Bike and then seven years as editor of Cycling Plus. He launched his first cycling website - the Cycling Plus Forum at the turn of the century. In 2006 he left C+ to head up the launch team for Bike Radar which he edited until 2008, when he co-launched the multi-award winning road.cc - finally handing on the reins in 2021 to Jack Sexty. His favourite ride is his ‘commute’ - which he does most days inc weekends and he’s been cycle-commuting since 1994. His favourite bikes are titanium and have disc brakes, though he'd like to own a carbon bike one day.
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107 comments
Yes, a higher standard of riding. There are a large number of KSI RTC's on the road involving cars, but they are big ponderous and hard (as in metal). By riding like morons we only increase the risk to ourselves.
By making sure that our riding is to the highest standards possible we minimize the risks (you can never eliminate them). We should be trying to set a good example, not show the car drivers that we are just as bad as they think!
I'm a very experienced rider, but since I started riding with my child I use the pavements (considerately) more and more as the roads around us are to busy, too unsafe and too complex for a child to manage. There is also one junction on my work commute that is generally far safer for me to go through on red, which is exactly what I do if there aren't any pedestrians crossing.
The vast majority of the time you see a rider on the pavement, going through reds, you're looking at a rider let down by the infrastructure available
What a load of cack- jump a red light and it's illegal pure and simple any way you try to justify it, I would love someone to show me where it says you can go through a red light if you think it's generally safer.
This attitude is part if the reason why drivers get wound up and start doing things them selves, where do we draw the line on justifying doing illegal things? Can I carry an automatic rifle cos I walk in places where I feel generally safer with one?I never have and never will jump a red light as I value my life too much. How can it be safer to put yourself at risk crossing a junction when it's red than with the traffic on green? I bet if you did jump a red light and get hit by a car you would say it's their fault,
The majority of the time you see a rider going through a red light or riding on the path is because they don't want to held up by the inconvenience of traffic. God the naff reasoning does my head in. As for respect how about just common courtesy?
I see dozens and dozens of cyclists every day breaking the law by going through red lights, cycling on pavements to save time, coming out of side roads without giving way, weaving in and out of traffic etc, as if somehow the law does not apply to them just because they can get away with it.
They are often a danger to other cyclists and not just to pedestrians. It's no wonder we don't get taken seriously enough when we complain about motorists.
Mmmm....person on bike shouts at other people on bikes.
Not likely to achieve much positive change.
Surely this all boils down to whether cyclist and/or people who ride bikes want to be seen as an equal user of the road systems or as an entity that shouldn't be on the roads unless absolutely necessary (in the same vein as pedestrians).
Personally, when I ride my bike on the road I'm a road user and therefore follow the laws and rules of the road. Personally, I don't like shared use paths where pedestrians are put in harms way, as their safety becomes my responsibility, with them being the more vulnerable user.
I particularly liked seeing Darwin's Law in full effect at the end though!
I feel awful because I laughed at the final clip of the guy going over the bars...that must've really hurt. Do hope he's okay.
Can't believe I watched that all the way through.
Yes the RLJ's are annoying but the only people they endangered were themselves.
The pavement cyclists were all travelling slowly and represented no danger to pedestrians.
The wrong way cyclists should have walked their bikes of found a way to cycle legally.
Mr Jacket should have read Dr Hutch's item on removing a jacket in Cycling Weekly a couple of months ago. Only real harm was to his ego.
'Look no hands' - look so what!
Mobile phone users. Quiet route, no harm.
In fact the only truly 'dangerous' manoeuvre that endangered anyone else was committed by the left-hooking car driver!
Carefulcyclist needs to stop being so anal retentive and get himself a life.
Meh. Having watched the video I don't really see what the point is supposed to be. I regularly see pavement cyclists and red-light-jumpers like some of those, and I usually scowl and think something along the lines of 'coward!' (in the first case) or 'tsk tsk' (in the second) and then forget it.
Some people don't behave that well. We know that. And? Is there a point in here anywhere?
In the absence of an explicit one, I can only find one of my own.
A lot of the pavement jockeys would probably not be there if there was better infrastructure. Those going the wrong way down one way roads wouldn't do it if the one-way layouts weren't designed for the needs and problems of motor traffic, making cycle trips unnecessarily indirect. And so on.
I think I'd take that as the point - that as things are, (a) its designed to select for young, risk-taking males in the first place, and (b) its designed to incentivise rule-breaking by making cycling fully lawfully both dangerous and inconvenient.
Pavement cyclists, for example, have made the (selfish) choice to reduce their risk at the expense of pedestrians. Sadly that's human nature, just as motorists will always try and reduce their risk at the expense of those outside the vehicle. If you want to stop that happening you need better law enforcement but most of all a correctly designed physical environment.
York looks nice.
Didn't take long for the Daily Fail to latch onto this video... you should see the frothing at the mouth in the comments... first class daily fail anti-cyclist comments...
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2600627/Cyclist-outraged-fellow-...
Yeah, CarefulCyclist comes across as a bit more of an arse than most cyclists in that video.
Last clip was a funny one, surely this guy has something better to do with his time.
The first junction is obviously used all the time for cyclists filtering as a bypass to those lights, because the grass has failed to grow. Why not just put a small section of road there to let cyclists go through. They are going to do it anyway and I agree with it, as long as they are not just jumping out in front of cars.
As for people riding on the pavement, this has been covered to death, it is almost becoming like the helmet debate.
There are a couple of people using their phone's while on a footpath, ok, its not wise to be using your phone, but they are not in a built up area with vehicles around. Get over it.
To me red light = stop when in a car, but give way carefully when on a bike.
Sorry but that is utter bollocks. Read here as to why:
http://beyondthekerb.wordpress.com/2013/10/11/the-most-basic-respect/#mo...
Thanks fot that crazy-legs, it has done nothing to change my opinion. It has helped me understand why people think they can do as they want and generally treat people badly.
Interestingly, the least respectful bunch I come across on the local cycle paths are other cyclist.
Now I know where this idea is being fuelled.
You keep jumping red lights, blossom, and I'll not, OK?
If you cant give somebody you've never meet before a degree of respect just because their a fellow human being you sound like a very dangerous individual, I hope you don't drive a car.
Respect must be earned.
I recall that idea being a constant bone of contention between teachers and pupils at my old school. Comes up with relation to the police also.
I think its really about the ambiguous meaning of the word "respect". Everyone deserves a certain type of respect whether they've "earned" it or not.
Edit - there's also the related slight-of-hand involved in suggesting that respect for someone with a given trait depends on all the other people with that trait 'earning it'. Cyclists are not MPs, we don't have the capacity to be 'self policing' or have a standards committee (that we then ignore!).
Clearly some people feel quite strongly both ways. For my money, very few people were doing a great deal of harm here. Random thoughts.
- Jacket guy was foolish and learnt his lesson. Ouch.
- 1:49 red light jumper was one of the biggest examples of behaving recklessly. He is an idiot.
- The recently confirmed home office advice makes it clear that pavement cycling shouldn't be considered an offence if no pedestrians are in harm's way and the cyclist is doing it out of fear of busy traffic - I think most examples here could argue that defence, so where's the big deal?
- I can understand why drivers aren't allowed to use mobiles while driving, but pedestrians are absolutely allowed to use them while walking and therefore I really don't think the phone users away from a road are a big issue.
- In many countries cyclists get a free left on a red light (or a right, depending on the country). It's not a big deal.
- No-hands-guy was nowhere near any doorways, and wasn't going that fast. Get over it.
- At 2:29 the DRIVER was turning without checking; yes you should take care but srsly, blaming the cyclist?
CarefulCyclist is a sanctimonious wally. Judging all cyclists on the perceived misbehaviour of a few miscreants is prejudice, and prejudice is ugly, but CarefulCyclist, road.cc, and some commenters here fuel that prejudice and are complicit. The day I consider that the legislation and the infrastructure affords cyclists the respect and protection they deserve, I will have a lot more respect for the letter of the law.
I'm also surprised, and less than impressed that road.cc considers this news.
I notice this numptie who says anything when right on top of the cyclist giving them no chance to respond, I'd tell the tit to eff off.
Integrity is doing the right thing, even when no one is watching.
C.S. Lewis
Is this really someone complaining about cyclists in York? Honestly, after having moved here from Bristol 6 months ago, cyclists here behave like saints, which says a lot considering how crap most of the infrastructure is.
Sorry but I disagree. I don't "lose respect" for all motorists when I see one on a phone, speeding, RLJing, failing to indicate or any of the other thousands of misdemeanors that motorists commit daily. Do you "lose respect" for all pedestrians if you see one cross the road on a red man when there's nothing around?
If my actions don't impede theirs, don't have an effect on their day then it's no concern of theirs. Most of the pavement riding and RLJing in that video was done safely and with consideration to the prevailing conditions. In fact the reason they are doing it in the first place suggests that the infrastructure/junction design is too shit to properly and safely cater for cyclists.
The reason you can do it on a bike is cos you're effectively an upwardly mobile pedestrian. Cars can't do it (or bloody shouldn't) for the simple reason that they're too big. The fact that I can safely jump a light and get out of the way doesn't make the blindest bit of difference to the driver stuck 5 cars back.
To be honest, him posting that video is yet another step back for the cycling campaign, another excuse for every Daily Mail reading mouth-breather to have a go (while simultaneously ignoring the hundreds of deaths per year caused by drivers or the general atrocious driving standards in this country).
But the jacket guy was very funny.
Going through red is very black and white. When someone does, it's a very visible transgression, so no wonder it raises the heckles of everyone sitting patiently/legally at the lights. What's not so visible, are the countless cars that might be driving at 35-40 in a 30 zone. Equally illegal, but very difficult for the untrained eye (especially if they're in a moving car themselves) to detect. Most importantly, it's also far more lethal.
I think you mean green and red... with a bit of orange in between.
I think you mean green and red... with a bit of orange in between.
Black and white is zebra crossings...
Oh look here's another brainwashed it seems:
It's not illegal so step down off your phony perch, would you castigate someone for walking the "wrong way" down the "road"? No? Yes?.
I agree with the guy & standards of cycling need to improve. But like there are bad drivers, there are bad cyclists & this video is now on the Daily Mail website for everyone to rant & rave about road tax & "cyclists deserve what they get"... not a smart idea to post this vid...
Mixed views. I do feel the head cam is generating becoming a bit bike nazi. Every day you see crap drivers, the same applies to bikes, what is different.
I occasionally ride on the pavement at certain pinch points - for safety - Ride safely and with consideration, what is the problem?
Riding non handed - I do it all the time -when safe- as I need to stretch a knackered spine. I am good at riding non handed, those that moan about are usually poor bike handlers.
Jacket man - quality, what a turnip, watch dem sleeves!
Red light jumpers, I would happily batter you to death with my carbon soles. high proportion of skinny jeaned hipster, fixie bunglec**ts seem to be the culprits
Wrong way down the one way - you sir are an arse. I have slapped someone for doing this
How much worse is using a mobile to fiddling with your poxy garmin?
The difference is crap drivers kill people a lot. Crap cyclists get killed and then get the blame for it. I know I'm probably not going to get much agreement, but in my view the responsibility not to kill a cyclist - even a crappy one that allegedly appeared "from nowhere" - still rests with the driver.
Reason: it's convenient to forget this, but there is such a thing as safe stopping distance, which varies depending on your speed. The vast majority of drivers, even those otherwise decent and considerate, simply cannot be bothered to allow for said safe stopping distance between themselves and the rest of the traffic.
Unless the "crap cyclist" literally teleports him- or herself right in front of your car, you are still responsible for not killing them no matter how crappy their riding was.
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