Stuff that REALLY annoys you.

[kalmar]

What bugs me is the people who press the button, then instead of waitng, just run across the road through the traffic, after that the lights go red and the vehicles have to sit there for no reason.

What bugs me is lights that take an eternity to change after you've pressed the button. There's two like that near where I work. And there's no excuse for it: these are crossings only, on simple 2-way roads and with no other traffic controls or junctions nearby.
Honestly if I waited for the buggers to change I'd miss my lunch hour!

So, I press. I count to 3. I walk.

So it's no "no reason" that cars are waiting when you've already crossed, it's a badly designed crossing with wrong priorities.

[Governmentyard]

What bugs me is the people who press the button, then instead of waitng, just run across the road through the traffic, after that the lights go red and the vehicles have to sit there for no reason.

I cross when there's no traffic that can hit me (i.e. when it is safe to do so) but nine times out of ten when there's traffic and a crossing and I press the button, the traffic has gone or is half a mile away from the crossing before the green man comes on - should we stand there and wait for the green man, which usually coincides with the next car arriving to a halt at the lights, or cross when there's no danger of being hit, but before the green man appears, which usually seems to annoy a driver, as they are sat at a crossing with no pedestrians negotiating it.

/edit what kalmar said, basically.

[Governmentyard]

While we are at it....

Cycle lanes full of broken glass

Cycle lanes full of prams

Cycle lanes full of pedestrians waiting to cross the road

Cycle lanes full of deep water

Cycle lanes full of cars

Cycle priority points parallel with traffic lights, full of cars

Cars that stop at lights so close to the kerb you can't filter past, and either have to sit there breathing in their foul poison or mount the kerb to get into breathable air, perpetuating the myth that all cyclists are corner-cutting bastards when in reality we'd mostly be glad to follow the highway code and take corners properly but we have to be able to get to them first and we are doing so on vehicles powered by humans, wehich need to breath air in order to keep the vehicle moving. Sitting in a machine for making the opposite of clean air happen is hardly the place to be when criticising, is it?

Cars that maintain a constant distance from the kerb sufficient to cycle through, until you are at their rear left corner, whereupon they will mysteriously angle inwards trapping you.

Cars that don't bother indicating left then beep at you when you cycle into them. It's that speed iscalculation thing again. Why can't everyone assume cycle = 20mph just to be on the safe side? I do, when driving a car.

[Governmentyard]

And cycle lanes full of people cycling slower than the minimum speed at which I am able to stay on my bike. If I am able to get off my bike and walk up the cycle lane without losing ground to you, you should get on the pavement and push that fucker home because you are a selfish cunt. Why these things don't have minimum speed limits, I'll never know.

And, and, and.... cycle lanes that stop and start, thus negating the point of riding a fucking bike, the one mode of transport where stopping and starting is most inconvenient and wasteful.

[zip accident]

PVB wrote:

Most of those sets of lights may still allow another direction of traffic the right to cross all/part of the pedestrian walkway, so the answer is to always press the button and then wait until you see the green man.

That would be a lot more reasonable.

Unfortunately, the case I'm thinking of isn't like that.

It's at the Eastville junction of the M32 which comes down onto a roundabout, which is entirely traffic light controlled . The crossing from the south onto the island in the centre of the roundabout is perfectly sane, green light to cross. The crossing from the west of that central island onto the section of pavement opposite is across multiple lanes, but one set of lights controls all the lanes. Similarly, the crossing over the sliproad off the eastbound motorway onto the roundabout is multilane, but again there is just the one set of lights. At both of these, to get a green light you have to press the button before the cars in the other direct get their green light, or your light stays red. There may have been something fancier done at that junction years ago for a month or two, but it's been this way for years now.

[Portland]

OK

Wankers who pottle along at 60 in the middle/outside lane of the motorway with nothing on the inside lane.

Wankers who drive over any of the transpennine passes at 35 mph in daylight on dry roads, regardless of whether they're on a straight or a hairpin, because they're "dangerous" roads, utterly unaware of the 1/4 mile tailback behind them. Oh yes, especially if they then speed up to 55 on the one straight you are allowed to overtake. For ref, these roads all have a 60mph speed limit. I must confess to whipping past such individuals in safe, but not legal places before now.

As a variation, people who abandon their trolleys mid aisle in supermarkets.

Chavs who use their pushchairs as battering rams, especially in supermarkets.

Fuckers who throw junk out of car windows.

Chavs in general.

and breathe!

<edit> and anyone blocking cycle lanes (even though I don't cycle anymore)

[zip accident]

goatboy wrote:

the minimum speed at which I am able to stay on my bike

Get a lower bottom gear. You should be able to stay on a bike at something like 1/2 a mile per hour.

goatboy wrote:

cycle lanes that stop and start

Right on.

So often, cycle lanes are designed by car users for the benefit of car users.

[piku]

People who cycle on pavements - get the fuck back on the road. If the road scares you, walk.

People who drive at 45MPH on national speed limit roads, and who then continue to do that speed through places with speed limits. There's a needle thingy on your dashboard, look at it every so often, eh?

People who drive down the middle of single-track roads. Get out my way, back onto your side. It may only be single track, but it still has two sides.

Owning a games console that loads a game off CD quicker than my PC boots its operating system.

People who seed torrents at silly slow speeds.

[Spirit]

Unskippable trailers and anti-piracy bollox on DVDs.

Whatever cunt thought those up needs to be flayed and then rolled in salt.



Muttley

Yup, I agree, although they may not be skipable they may still be fastfowardable... just step up to the max setting and zoom in a few seconds... I've managed to do this a number of times

[Governmentyard]

Get a lower bottom gear. You should be able to stay on a bike at something like 1/2 a mile per hour.

Why would I (or anyone?) buy a bike then use it to go less than walking speed for more than a short distance? If you aren't going to cycle faster than most cyclists can walk, isn't it a bit selfish to use the cycle lane?

As for cycling on pavements - I imagine the roads would be a much les scary place if pedestrians would stop randomly stepping into cycle lanes causing us to swerve into the 'car' lanes. It all boils down to thick bastards and the rest of us, as usual.

[swith]

Unskippable trailers and anti-piracy bollox on DVDs.

Whatever cunt thought those up needs to be flayed and then rolled in salt.



Muttley

Yup, I agree, although they may not be skipable they may still be fastfowardable... just step up to the max setting and zoom in a few seconds... I've managed to do this a number of times

You should torrent movies instead of buying them, they have all the trailers and anti piracy messages removed. It's well handy

[zip accident]

goatboy wrote:

Why would I (or anyone?) buy a bike then use it to go less than walking speed for more than a short distance?

Going up long steep hills for one example. When waiting to pass other slower cyclists for another.

In theory, your pedals should go around at a constant rate (changing gear as necessary to maintain that), no matter what speed you are making over the ground, I've never found it really worked out that way in practice, particularly in top gear, but that was a long time ago on a 5-speed bike, these days your top to gears may be close enough to make that possible.

[PVB]

PVB wrote:

Most of those sets of lights may still allow another direction of traffic the right to cross all/part of the pedestrian walkway, so the answer is to always press the button and then wait until you see the green man.

That would be a lot more reasonable.

Unfortunately, the case I'm thinking of isn't like that.

It's at the Eastville junction of the M32 which comes down onto a roundabout, which is entirely traffic light controlled . The crossing from the south onto the island in the centre of the roundabout is perfectly sane, green light to cross. The crossing from the west of that central island onto the section of pavement opposite is across multiple lanes, but one set of lights controls all the lanes. Similarly, the crossing over the sliproad off the eastbound motorway onto the roundabout is multilane, but again there is just the one set of lights. At both of these, to get a green light you have to press the button before the cars in the other direct get their green light, or your light stays red. There may have been something fancier done at that junction years ago for a month or two, but it's been this way for years now.

My best suggestion would be for you to contact your local road safety department and ask why they're set like that.

@Kalmar and goatboy; both valid arguments, but I still say that you should wait until you see the green man.

In Medway we've had people killed when crossing the road and not waiting for the green man.
We also have footbridges over 'dangerous' sections of road (after receiving petitions about the problems crossing said road), then see people running through the traffic instead of using the footbridge and getting knocked down.

So, if a crossing has been provided, please use it in the correct manner. It may save your life.

[Marius]

Getting a dirty look from smokers when I light up a cigar and they get the smoke in their face. It's like they feel that regular smoking is acceptable, but that cigars is a menace.

Usually I just look at them, smile, and blow the smoke nonchalantly in their direction.

[asr4096]

1st - badly rendered fonts, both anti-aliased and pixel-based

2nd - cheesy UI-design, done just to impress, with lacking functionality

3rd - ppl who BELIEVE in computer-companies and can't use their brains

4th - double-standards in drug policy in almost any country