I tried this on my way into work this morning:
Ride towards zebra/pedestrian crossing. Spot pedestrian loitering, showing some intent to cross.
Come to gradual halt before you reach the crossing. Nod, even smile encouragingly at pedestrian to let them know you have actually stopped for them, and they can actually cross.
They get to other side of road.
This actually becomes rewarding as the pedestrian is first astonished, then normally thankful, and more often than not, you get a nice smile.
Don't go overboard though. The pedestrian does not want to be hugged or kissed.
Showing posts with label pedestrian crossing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label pedestrian crossing. Show all posts
Thursday, 28 October 2010
Thursday, 17 September 2009
Is it possible to overcome an irrational hatred for a fellow cyclist?
Does anyone else get this? Another cyclist does something (normally bad) and you develop an instant - and totally irrational - but big - feeling of intense dislike?
It happened this morning on my morning commute - I had stopped at a pedestrian crossing to let a few people over, and this guy wearing an orange jumper (a cyclist, of course) careered over the crossing at top speed, dodging the pedestrians as he went. I just thought - "what a selfish git" or words to that effect - and found myself dwelling on how annoying he is for a large part of the rest of my journey.
What to do? I suppose the grown-up thing to do is have a word with him immediately afterwards, but this is likely to end in a big row and frankly you don't need that first thing. In the end, I think I'd just about reached a state of some karmic equality by thinking that this could have been his first trip along that road, perhaps even in London - he could have not known there would be a crossing and not corrected himself in time - and I did later spot him waiting very nicely at some other red lights, so he's clearly not a monster.
In fact, I almost like him. No, let's not go that far. He's clearly not a good cyclist, but it's never worth the energy of hating ...
It happened this morning on my morning commute - I had stopped at a pedestrian crossing to let a few people over, and this guy wearing an orange jumper (a cyclist, of course) careered over the crossing at top speed, dodging the pedestrians as he went. I just thought - "what a selfish git" or words to that effect - and found myself dwelling on how annoying he is for a large part of the rest of my journey.
What to do? I suppose the grown-up thing to do is have a word with him immediately afterwards, but this is likely to end in a big row and frankly you don't need that first thing. In the end, I think I'd just about reached a state of some karmic equality by thinking that this could have been his first trip along that road, perhaps even in London - he could have not known there would be a crossing and not corrected himself in time - and I did later spot him waiting very nicely at some other red lights, so he's clearly not a monster.
In fact, I almost like him. No, let's not go that far. He's clearly not a good cyclist, but it's never worth the energy of hating ...
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