Being a pedestrian these days I’m spending more time noticing the insane behaviour of road users. There’s something about people locking themselves into a metal and plastic box that creates a massive personal space and a concomitant righteous indignation at others intruding on “your rightful property”, the road. I’m come to more or less expect this attitude from drivers, but… from a cyclist?

Seriously people. Sure, you can imagine that your petrol taxes pay for the roads, but that doesn’t mean you own them. It only means that you’re paying for all the wear, tear, (and eventually) pollution you’re causing.

And again, how can a cyclist have this same attitude?

So here’s the senario. I was crossing Taranaki Street here in Wellington, at night. I checked to see if there were any cars coming on my side of the street, and then walked to the median strip. If you’re not familiar with Taranaki Street it’s four lanes wide.

And yes, I am crossing ‘illegally’ against a green light. But hey, I checked if there were no lights bearing down on me, and there wasn’t, then I’m safe to cross. Now, I’m just about all the way across the street, when out of the dark looms a cyclist, yelling at the top of his voice about pedestrians getting in his way!

The dude’s lucky I didn’t push him off his bike. I swear, some people need to just chill the hell out. The guy didn’t have any lights on his 10-speed, didn’t have any reflective gear on, and had all of 7-10 metres of the street to choose from, and only 1 metre occupied by me. But, apparently, I’m cramping his style, and he needed to swerve towards me to make his point. In fact, he might have even crossed a lane to do so?!

You Mr. Stranger on a crappy bike, are either a whinger, or a fool.

Addedum: I know that this was a slightly fatuous use of the whinger label, but… it’s better than a post entitled, The Mentally Ill – Annoying.

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