Irresponsible Stupidity
 

Today, a fully grown adult was cycling on the pavement. A tram pulled up at the tram stop. She didn't slow down, and her body whacked my hand as she shot past. There's no gap between the tram and the pavement. She didn't stop. Didn't apologise. Didn't, apparently react.

So stupid, so irresponsible. I hope the police catch her before she injures someone. or herself.

Fortunately, I'm uninjured except for slight bruising on my hand where I was whacked.

Re: Irresponsible Stupidity
 

Glad you're OK.

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Me too. If I'd been moving a bit quicker, it wouldn't have ended well. Not sure who would have been worse off. I'm not small.

I know most cyclists are fine. We only notice those who aren't!

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Good to hear all ok with you.

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That sucks! If you did want to try and do something about it the tram has CCTV. No idea about how or if the police would request it or would even consider investigating but it could be an option nonetheless.

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If I were you I’d report it to the police. If the culprit takes the same route around the same time of day ...

Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

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The thing to recall about public transport CCTV is that you need to report it fast, as they only keep three days of recordings.

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The trick is to catch the handlebar on one side. They will simply fall off...

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Will that be added at the end of any complaint? :rofl: :msnsarcastic:

Don't worry, you're entitled to your feelings.

I am a cyclist but I'm one of the responsible ones. Because I also drive. And walk.

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Where my wife works the police were ticketing cyclists riding the wrong way on a one-way street. They’ve stopped that, now they ride the wrong way on the sidewalk/pavement. Police have disappeared.

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Don't, it's not worth it and may lead to a lot of trouble.

Riders might be wrong in the first place, but if you take an action to harm them, rather then to avoid harm, that's on you (both legally and morally - there are some ways to get even, but not Lynching). My employee is paying (and will keep paying for a lifetime) about 3k monthly to a biker, who he decided to "teach good manners", when said biker didn't give him way and forced to step back from a pedestrian crossing, but overdone the lesson and provoked his fall and serious injuries.

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That's what my son and daughter-in-law said. It'd mean a trip into Basel... I wonder if my daughter is free. She speaks the dialect like a native.

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I have my problems with cyclists, especially those that infest Munich, seriously these buggers are totally unaware of traffic other than a bicycle and that in a one on one with a car they will get the pointy end. But Munich sells it´s self as a bicycle friendly city, so they think that the world of Munich traffic revolves around the bicycle and woe betide the poor driver who gets in the righteous way of some situation unaware rider of a wire donkey, the wrath of the law will can your ass.
First driving around Munich I joked that a Munich cyclist would have a life expectancy of around five minutes on Malta. I´m not joking anymore, amma by now paranoid when I see a bike and have whiplash of the neck from constantly looking for these two wheeled death machines.
Somehow I just know that I´ll have one as a bonnet ornament one day and that day is going to suck.

Re: Irresponsible Stupidity
 

That was a pretty dumb statement...

https://static01.nyt.com/images/2006...isable=upscale

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Aww, it didn't take long. I drive and I know from experience that some cyclists behave like shit in traffic so I avoid making the same mistakes. I'm prudent when I drive and notice them because frankly I worry for them. Like OP, I walked many times and was almost knocked down by some idiot that had no idea about rules or that there are people around. So there, perhaps before posting that you should have asked what I meant.
Slammer is right, I totally agree with him. I don't think it happens only in Munich though.

If you are a cyclist don't worry I'm not saying all are bad. lol

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It isn’t the idiot that doesn’t know the rules that is the problem. It’s the idiot that knows the rules but thinks they don’t apply to them that is the problem.

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Is this the first chapter of the adventures of the farmer from Basel-Land, who went to the big city Basel-Stadt?

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No, he got confused when changing from horse and buggy to the tram.

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You mean the cyclist, right?

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That's not quite the same as what you originally wrote.

I'm sure there are many cyclists who have never driven a car who know the rules of the road, can appreciate how it is for for other road users and are safe.

But, if I were to use your original argument - I must be a better driver than you as I have driven a lorry a few times so am very aware of how much of the road they need when they are pulling out of a side junction, for example. am also aware of their blind spots of a lorry and when I drive a car I make allowances for that.

Most car drivers don't seem to have a clue when it comes to the needs of other drivers in bigger vehicles.

I've towed a trailer a few times too....

I've ridden a motorbike too so when driving, I know to keep a sharp look out for bikes when I'm pulling out a side road as they are not always easy to see.

I bet there are loads of car drivers who are complete arses on bicycles...

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My point was that some cyclists are so self-absorbed and selfish that seem to lack any awareness of other types of vehicles in the traffic or even pedestrians. As if they never drove or walked... I'm sorry I didn't make it clear the first time. It was meant to be sarcastic btw.
I'm not saying I'm better than anyone, just more aware of the rules and people around.

It's hard to tell sometimes. ;)

That was epic. lol

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The cyclist could have been a farmer I suppose. As for me, I've been working in the smoke for 20 years. Before then I used to work in London... I still don't expect to get run over by a cyclist when getting off a tram. For the benefit of hillbillies such as you, trams are enormous green or yellow things. Kind of hard to miss. Pavements are the bit by the side of the road (or street) that are for pedestrians. Not cars or bicycles.

HTH. :rolleyes:

Re: Irresponsible Stupidity
 

when I bike I notice how many drivers are careless when overtaking.

When I drive I see that most cyclists are actually okay, except in the city there are some who don't use the lights or get on the road in stupid ways, but it's not something that ever brought me in danger of putting one on the hood.

When I walk I've had maybe one time where they were biking like criminals but they didn't swipe me.

I also saw walkers walking on the mountain bike trail beside the road (closed to traffic).

In general, I would say the car drivers have the highest percentage of risk-taking assholes.

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They're certainly the ones most likely to cause severe damage if a risk doesn't pay off. But I've never had a car driver aim his/her vehicle at me when I've been walking by the side of the road, because in his or her opinion (incorrectly) I was on the wrong side and should get out of the way. I'm talking of two past incidents.

However, with this one, hopefully the cyclist will be shocked by the near miss and will take far more care in the future. I'm ascribing incompetence, rather than malice.

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The bit in bold was certainly helpful to me as I couldn’t work out from your OP exactly what you were doing when the cyclist hit you.

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I had a car driver deliberately try and run me down in the U.K. I was on my bike.
It was in the Lake district. She was local, apoplectic with the tourist-traffic jams in her town and decided it was easier to take out her rage on a cyclist rather than the cars.

There was quite an infamous case when a driver got in a real rage over a bike with trailer and decided to reverse his SUV over the bike and trailer. He did not realise there was a young child in the trailer who was luckily not killed.

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Not surprised a bit!

Attachment 141610

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Munich, which kanton?

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You should try living in Copenhagen sometime; the first time I set foot on the pavement when descending from a bus I was almost hit by a group of cyclists and then screamed at in danish, which is scary in itself.
Turns out quite a few tram/bus stops share pavement space with a cycle lane.... and the cyclists think they have priority!
They don't, but that's another story.

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In all fairness.. there are quite a lot of bad drivers around but personally I've had more unpleasant encounters with cyclists lately. I'm not excusing any side's bad behaviour, least of all road rages and "corrections" applied vigilante style. I wish people were less selfish or get their act together, that's all.

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I think the issues that people are experiencing with bikes and motorbikes at the moment could be attributed to the fact that a lot of these vehicles are starting to come out of hibernation after the winter.

The riders have forgotten some of the lessons learnt last year, and other road users have forgotten that they exist.

No excuse for the OP's experience though.

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Tram stop is at Kirschgarten, Basel. The tram doors open directly onto the pavement which has been built higher to make life easier for less abled people.

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Of course here we have tram stops that share road space. And cars most definitely have to stop.

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It wasn't always clearly marked as such though (in Basel). I recall in a car nearly running over descending tram passengers who were just stepping into my path, where the tram had stopped in the middle of the road, with no pavement next to it. There were no signs or road markings telling me I had to stop if there was a tram there, so priority was ambiguous at best.

Thinking of some of the tram routes out on Hegenheimstrasse, possibly Bourgfeldenstrasse, Riehenring, in the early-mid noughties. They were mostly, perhaps all, later reformed such that a raised pavement area was made next to the tram, usually with lights controlling the crossing across the road.

Are there any such left like that? Or even, as suggested, where the tram passenger alights onto a shared-use cycle path? Not that it would justify the
incident even if it were so, of course.

There's no excuse for a cyclist to be cycling ( other than briefly and carefully for access, and even then they should dismount) on a pedestrian walkway (just to clarify terminology for those that may take the American meaning of pavement, which just refers to any 'paved' road, as opposed to 'sidewalk' which I've assumed was what you meant here).

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AFAIK, without an island you have to overtake a halted Tram on the left, must not overtake on the right. I'd say that's always been the rule.

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It's certainly been the rule in the 20 years I've been here. I remember being told about it on arrival.

Yes, by pavement I mean "sidewalk".

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In Berlin, someone thought that it's a great idea to have bicycle lanes on pedestrian walks on bus stops (why not like 1-2m away?).

And many cyclists also think they have a right of way just because they're on the bike lane.
Also, red light means nothing for them.
And pedestrian way over the road, zebra or whatever it's english term.

I oftentimes think that I didn't blend properly because when I'm on the bike, pedestrians must think I'm crazy for not running them over :rofl:
As a pedestrian, granted, I must say that I haven't been knocked over in these 4 years living here, but it could be because I pay a lot of attention while walking.

I joined this forum to get a feeling how things work before we make a big move, but I must say that I'm not thrilled by your comments here :msntongue:

I've seen in Potsdam here such tram stations that go directly in the road, and trams drive in the middle, but I thought that general (european) driving rule is to check if it's a stop when you see halted tram and then stop yourself if you cannot go from the left, same as with busses.

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sorry but it's kind of a funny phrase.

naughty naughty swiss chicks slapping people's hands with their bodies around town...

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I've seen a few like that around Bahnhof SBB - thinking that's because it's a cycle lane, they can do 30-50kph and pedestrians better move aside.

:D Doesn't she know there's a pandemic on!

Re: Irresponsible Stupidity
 

Nah, don't worry. It's still a fantastic and safe place to live. Like everywhere else, there are some people who believe the rules don't apply to them but they are not so many as we'd make you believe here... ;)
Welcome to the forum btw! :)