Top Gear bike advert

[alessandro]

Don't think this has been posted here before:
http://youtu.be/Q5ZuvmyQ_p4

A work colleague sent it to me. I'm not sure he meant it as a PSA.

[MattTuck]

Could be applied equally to cyclists, drivers and pedestrians. Cyclists just an easy target because we wear spandex.

[Bradford]

Originally Posted by MattTuck

Could be applied equally to cyclists, drivers and pedestrians. Cyclists just an easy target because we wear spandex.

Maybe in the country, but in the city it's not equal...not even close.

Cyclists are an easy target because so many completely ignore red lights. I commute into Denver and watch cyclist blow through almost every red light while I'm stopped waiting for it to turn green. The ratio of bikes to cars blowing through red lights is at least 10 to 1.

[Gummee]

Taken in context with the rest of their 'PSAs' in the last show, it was actually pretty farging funny.

There're more of em. Don't know if they've been posted separately, but if you DL the latest episode, you'll see what I mean

M

[Ti Designs]

Originally Posted by Bradford

Cyclists are an easy target because so many completely ignore red lights.

The other day I was on my way to work by bike. I was stopped on Mass Ave, waiting for the light to change when a woman drove up next to me, rolled down her window and started in with "you cyclists never follow the rules of the road!" She then told me I never stopped at lights and I ride on the wrong side of the road and I never have proper lighting and... All this while I was stopped at a red light. The only reply I could come up with was my blank expression as I looked at where I was, stopped with a foot down, then I looked at the light, then I looked at her.

Talk about being an easy target...

[oldpotatoe]

Originally Posted by Ti Designs

The other day I was on my way to work by bike. I was stopped on Mass Ave, waiting for the light to change when a woman drove up next to me, rolled down her window and started in with "you cyclists never follow the rules of the road!" She then told me I never stopped at lights and I ride on the wrong side of the road and I never have proper lighting and... All this while I was stopped at a red light. The only reply I could come up with was my blank expression as I looked at where I was, stopped with a foot down, then I looked at the light, then I looked at her.

Talk about being an easy target...

The best 'solution' is for 'cyclists' to cleanse our our dirty laundry..ya know, while on a bike, see a knob run a red light and politely mention that 'cyclists should stop at red lights'..not saying 'ti design's' doesn't do that but as many of us people who rides bikes know-

-car drivers are unhappy with us already, running red lights doesn't help.

-car divers vote and when a cycling friendly measure comes up on the ballot, don't expect pissed off car drivers to vote for it..because of above.

-and a lot of us know what the response is when cyclists mentions to another cyclist to please not run red lights, it's never, 'good idea, thanks for that'...

And for Gummee, below, I know, but I still try..I guess I'm insane, ya know, do the same thing and expect different results.

[Gummee]

Originally Posted by oldpotatoe

The best 'solution' is for 'cyclists' to cleanse our our dirty laundry..ya know, while on a bike, see a knob run a red light and politely mention that 'cyclists should stop at red lights'..not saying 'ti design's' doesn't do that but as many of us people who rides bikes know-

-car drivers are unhappy with us already, running red lights doesn't help.

-car divers vote and when a cycling friendly measure comes up on the ballot, don't expect pissed off car drivers to vote for it..because of above.

-and a lot of us know what the response is when cyclists mentions to another cyclist to please not run red lights, it's never, 'good idea, thanks for that'...

Godd luck w/ that. I've tried. ...and tried...

Its like bashing your head against a wall as much good as it seems to do.

M

[leooooo]

And people tell me racism is dead...
Like most things some people will pick and choose what they see to reinforce their own negative/positive stereotypes.
Choose to pay them no mind

Originally Posted by Ti Designs

The other day I was on my way to work by bike. I was stopped on Mass Ave, waiting for the light to change when a woman drove up next to me, rolled down her window and started in with "you cyclists never follow the rules of the road!" She then told me I never stopped at lights and I ride on the wrong side of the road and I never have proper lighting and... All this while I was stopped at a red light. The only reply I could come up with was my blank expression as I looked at where I was, stopped with a foot down, then I looked at the light, then I looked at her.

Talk about being an easy target...

[Ti Designs]

Originally Posted by oldpotatoe

-and a lot of us know what the response is when cyclists mentions to another cyclist to please not run red lights, it's never, 'good idea, thanks for that'...

I got run into from behind by another cyclist while stopped for a light. He offered no apology, just swore at me a lot and gestured with one finger. Once in a while the Cambridge police crack down on cyclists for a few hours at one or two busy intersections. Each time they do there's this huge outcry because it's so unfair. There's also a huge outcry when a cyclist gets killed. Somehow nobody puts the two together...

[oldpotatoe]

Originally Posted by Ti Designs

I got run into from behind by another cyclist while stopped for a light. He offered no apology, just swore at me a lot and gestured with one finger. Once in a while the Cambridge police crack down on cyclists for a few hours at one or two busy intersections. Each time they do there's this huge outcry because it's so unfair. There's also a huge outcry when a cyclist gets killed. Somehow nobody puts the two together...

Yep..one thing I do is if the light is red, but the road I am on has no road intersecting it from the right, just left..I still stop at the red light. Get dusted off all the time by knuckleheads who run the light then swear at me for stopping...

[velotel]

Originally Posted by oldpotatoe

Yep..one thing I do is if the light is red, but the road I am on has no road intersecting it from the right, just left..I still stop at the red light. Get dusted off all the time by knuckleheads who run the light then swear at me for stopping...

Another reason why I love living on this side of what the Brits like to call the pond. In France in general red lights in the thinking of cyclists just mean slow down and look to see if a car is coming, then go. From time to time apparently in cities a cop has been known to stop a cyclist for running a light and even known to give the cyclist a ticket. Probably only on a day that the cop had an attitude for whatever reason. Where I ride stop lights are pretty rare actually. Down in the valley there are a couple of rides I do that at the end on returning to the car I have to go through a light and lots of times that's when there's a small traffic jam, people going home at the end of the day. I ride the center paint, pass them all, get to the light, check out if anyone's coming, if no one's coming, I go. Never seen a driver get upset. Life is different here. And probably, no certainly, even more different in Italy, Peter, where rules are made with the bends already built-in.

[oldpotatoe]

Originally Posted by velotel

Another reason why I love living on this side of what the Brits like to call the pond. In France in general red lights in the thinking of cyclists just mean slow down and look to see if a car is coming, then go. From time to time apparently in cities a cop has been known to stop a cyclist for running a light and even known to give the cyclist a ticket. Probably only on a day that the cop had an attitude for whatever reason. Where I ride stop lights are pretty rare actually. Down in the valley there are a couple of rides I do that at the end on returning to the car I have to go through a light and lots of times that's when there's a small traffic jam, people going home at the end of the day. I ride the center paint, pass them all, get to the light, check out if anyone's coming, if no one's coming, I go. Never seen a driver get upset. Life is different here. And probably, no certainly, even more different in Italy, Peter, where rules are made with the bends already built-in.

When I win the lottery...

Winter home in Sicily....summer home further north up the boot...Maybe around Lovorno/Pisa....

[Vinci]

In the context of Top Gear, that's pretty funny.

In the real world, I can easily understand motorists being frustrated. On my commutes, I regularly encounter other cyclists ignoring traffic laws and being a general nuisance on the road.

I do my best to show that not all of us do this, but who knows if it gets through to anyone. Negative encounters weigh a lot more heavily in memory than positive ones.