Boris. What a hero.

[Al C-F]

Bicycling Boris comes a cropper
By Stephanie Condron
(Filed: 17/03/2006)

Boris Johnson, the Tory MP who is one of the country's greatest cycling
enthusiasts, has fallen from his bicycle and badly sprained his wrist.

The 41-year-old member for Henley-on-Thames was trying to avoid a
tourist who ran straight at him after crossing his path at a traffic light.


Boris Johnson sprained his wrist in the fall
He was treated at St Thomas's Hospital after the accident near the
Houses of Parliament at lunchtime yesterday.

Mr Johnson, who rides his mountain bike every day from his north London
home to the Commons, will not be back in the saddle for weeks.

He said: "I would like to say it was all my fault but it was not. There
was a bunch of tourists crossing the road when there was a red man. It
was on the crossing and I had a green light and they were still crossing
and I shouted at them to get out of the way.

"One poor chap was transfixed and stood on the spot so I started going
around him and he leapt in my path. He completely went in the wrong
direction and I came off."

Mr Johnson said of the tourists: "They were all looking in the wrong
direction."

But the Conservative spokesman on higher education, said his accident
"in no way diminishes my love of cycling".

This is not the first time the former Spectator editor has fallen off
his bike. He once went over the handlebars in Trafalgar Square while
talking on his mobile telephone.

 

[Mark Thompson]

> He said: "I would like to say it was all my fault but it was not.

Heh, might not be his fault but he could still have avoided it. If he'd
had slowed to a safe speed(TM) he'd have been able to keep control of his
bike.

<SS-mode> It's prolly the 30 limit that provided both a target and a
distraction. Without that he'd have been more inclined to adjust his speed
to the conditions</SS-mode>.

 

[Mr R@t \(2.30 zulu-india\)]

"Al C-F" <[email protected]> wrote in
message news:[email protected]...

> Mr Johnson, who rides his mountain bike every day from his north London
> home to the Commons, will not be back in the saddle for weeks.
>
> He said: "I would like to say it was all my fault but it was not. There
> was a bunch of tourists crossing the road when there was a red man. It was
> on the crossing and I had a green light and they were still crossing and I
> shouted at them to get out of the way.


Gadzooks!

its unfortunate he injured himself and won't be able to ride for a while;
but surely he *was* in the wrong? I thought the law was once pedestrians are
on a crossing the lights didn't matter; you *have* to wait for them to
finish crossing and have no right to shout at them to move, whether they are
foreign or not.

Clearly this was very counterproductive anyway and he paid for it as
panicked the chap and confused him into forgetting which side the road
traffic was on (an easy thing to do if you are in another country), hence
the prang.

Alex
--
Mr R@T aka General Lighting
Ipswich, Suffolk, Untied Kingdom
http://www.partyvibe.com

 

[Tony Raven]

Al C-F wrote:

>
> Mr Johnson said of the tourists: "They were all looking in the wrong
> direction."
>

In London tonight a guy walked straight off the pavement into the road
in front of me without looking, mobile phone clamped to his ear. I
steered behind him where he still didn't see me so I said "ding ding" as
I passed. At which he took his phone from his ear, looked at it
strangely and shook it.

--
Tony

"The best way I know of to win an argument is to start by being in the
right."
- Lord Hailsham

 

[Zog The Undeniable]

Al C-F wrote:

> Bicycling Boris comes a cropper
> By Stephanie Condron
> (Filed: 17/03/2006)
>
> Boris Johnson, the Tory MP who is one of the country's greatest cycling
> enthusiasts, has fallen from his bicycle and badly sprained his wrist.
> <snip>
> He said: "I would like to say it was all my fault but it was not. There
> was a bunch of tourists crossing the road when there was a red man. It
> was on the crossing and I had a green light and they were still crossing
> and I shouted at them to get out of the way.
>
> "One poor chap was transfixed and stood on the spot so I started going
> around him and he leapt in my path. He completely went in the wrong
> direction and I came off."

I think Boris needs to re-read his Highway Code!

 

[Al C-F]

Mr R@t (2.30 zulu-india) wrote:


>I thought the law was once pedestrians are
> on a crossing the lights didn't matter; you *have* to wait for them to
> finish crossing and have no right to shout at them to move, whether they are
> foreign or not.
>

"There was a bunch of tourists crossing the road when there was a red man."

" I had a green light and they were still crossing"

I think the law is that peds have priority if they start crossing whilst
a constant green man is showing.

I don't think that walking across on red gives peds the same priority.
I believe the term used around here is 'pavement lemming'.

I hope Boris is back in the saddle soon, he's a good example.

 

[elyob]

"Al C-F" <[email protected]> wrote in
message news:[email protected]...
> He said: "I would like to say it was all my fault but it was not. There
> was a bunch of tourists crossing the road when there was a red man. It was
> on the crossing and I had a green light and they were still crossing and I
> shouted at them to get out of the way.
>
> "One poor chap was transfixed and stood on the spot so I started going
> around him and he leapt in my path. He completely went in the wrong
> direction and I came off."

I've had a very similar situation. Just one person though, but still
crossing on a red man. She was walking straight across the road without
looking. However, I didn't shout I just aimed for behind her. Suddenly she
realised I was approaching, rabbit & headlights moment, then jumped
backwards. Right into my path. I swear rabbits are more predictable.

 

[Phil Cook]

Al C-F wrote:

>"There was a bunch of tourists crossing the road when there was a red man."
>
>" I had a green light and they were still crossing"
>
>I think the law is that peds have priority if they start crossing whilst
>a constant green man is showing.
>
>I don't think that walking across on red gives peds the same priority.
>I believe the term used around here is 'pavement lemming'.

It's a grey area. Traffic must stop for a red light and must give way
to pedestrians who have started to cross on a flashing green man. But
pedestrians should not cross on a red man. However there is no
comulsion on the pedestrians to not cross on a red man. Unlike in some
countries we have no law governing jaywalking.
--
Phil Cook looking north over the park to the "Westminster Gasworks"

 

[Tony Raven]

elyob wrote:
>
> I've had a very similar situation. Just one person though, but still
> crossing on a red man. She was walking straight across the road without
> looking. However, I didn't shout I just aimed for behind her. Suddenly she
> realised I was approaching, rabbit & headlights moment, then jumped
> backwards. Right into my path. I swear rabbits are more predictable.
>

My experience is such situations is that the first rule of
pedestrian-cyclist interactions is that the pedestrian will always move
to counter any avoiding action by the cyclist. I have occasionally
observed it happening to others and its almost as if its choreographed
to end in a collision.


--
Tony

"The best way I know of to win an argument is to start by being in the
right."
- Lord Hailsham

 

[Tony W]

"Al C-F" <[email protected]> wrote in
message news:[email protected]...

>
> I think the law is that peds have priority if they start crossing whilst a
> constant green man is showing.


I thought they generally had priority whatever -- it being damned uncivil to
run them down -- on a bike or, particularly, in a 4x4 with bull bars.

T

 

[Mike the Unshavable]

Al C-F <[email protected]> writed in
news:[email protected]:

> Bicycling Boris comes a cropper
> By Stephanie Condron
> (Filed: 17/03/2006)
>
> Boris Johnson, the Tory MP who is one of the country's greatest
> cycling enthusiasts, has fallen from his bicycle and badly sprained
> his wrist.
>
The question still remains to be answered - was the right hon member
wearing a hel*et or not, and would this have prevented etc etc etc....

 

[John Clayton]

If bloke was Japansese, "sidedness" will be same as in his own nation.

Anyhow, I side with the cyclist.


--
John "not biased or nuffink" Clayton
www.calder-clarion.co.uk

> Gadzooks!
>
> its unfortunate he injured himself and won't be able to ride for a while;
> but surely he *was* in the wrong? I thought the law was once pedestrians
> are on a crossing the lights didn't matter; you *have* to wait for them to
> finish crossing and have no right to shout at them to move, whether they
> are foreign or not.
>
> Clearly this was very counterproductive anyway and he paid for it as
> panicked the chap and confused him into forgetting which side the road
> traffic was on (an easy thing to do if you are in another country), hence
> the prang.
>
> Alex
> --
> Mr R@T aka General Lighting
> Ipswich, Suffolk, Untied Kingdom
> http://www.partyvibe.com
>
>
>

 

[Terry]

In article <[email protected]>, [email protected] (Tony
Raven) wrote:

> In London tonight a guy walked straight off the pavement into the road
> in front of me without looking

They do that all the time. It's always wise to be prepared.

 

[[email protected]]

Al C-F wrote:
> Bicycling Boris comes a cropper
> By Stephanie Condron
> (Filed: 17/03/2006)
>
> Boris Johnson, the Tory MP who is one of the country's greatest cycling
> enthusiasts, has fallen from his bicycle and badly sprained his wrist.
>
> The 41-year-old member for Henley-on-Thames was trying to avoid a
> tourist who ran straight at him after crossing his path at a traffic light.

see also:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,1733817,00.html

best wishes
james

 

[dkahn400]

Tony Raven wrote:

> My experience is such situations is that the first rule of
> pedestrian-cyclist interactions is that the pedestrian will always move
> to counter any avoiding action by the cyclist. I have occasionally
> observed it happening to others and its almost as if its choreographed
> to end in a collision.

In my saloon car racing days I used to follow the rule that when
another car spun in front of you, you should aim directly at him
because he wouldn't be there by the time you reached him. It always
worked. Not that I'm suggesting anyone should deliberately aim for a
spinning pedestrian.

I think the pedestrian collision dance is a product of human reaction
time. Both cyclist and ped decide to take avoiding action at around the
same time. There is a 50% chance they will both move the same way. One
will do so before the other, not at precisely the same time but with a
time difference less than their reaction times. They then both realise
their mistake and make a correction, and repeat and repeat. Because
they don't move at precisely the same time it looks as if one is
intentionally following the other.

--
Dave...