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Zelda looks lonely
Today's question: Would you, as a pedestrian, expect a cyclist to stop at a zebra crossing?
(Yes, I know a cyclist on a road should behave like traffic and is therefore legally obliged to stop for a zebra[*]. I'm asking about what you expect, in the real world, to actually happen. And what your reaction would be if they were to stop.)
My experiences of the only zebra I interact with on my work commute with have been quite strange. The crossing is on a reasonably quiet road mostly, though not exclusively, used by buses, vans, small lorries and bikes. It happens reasonably regularly that someone approaches the crossing and I am the only item of traffic. Being well-behaved, I stop.
The crosser often looks confused or surprised. Which is fair enough, as I imagine that bikes don't always stop.
The crosser frequently steps back from the crossing, and tries to wave me across in front of them. This seems plain weird to me. It often leads to a lot of dithering as we try to decide who's going to go first.
Very occasionally, the crosser shouts vague abuse at me as they cross (along the "Why on earth are you stopping?", "What did you do that for?" lines). They do seem genuinely put out rather than pleased. This is also quite weird.
This morning, I stopped at the crossing so that someone could ride their bike over it and along the pavement. I then continued on my way and turned right to join him on the Oracle Riverside cyclepath. Ah, well.
[*] Checking this morning, I was briefly very confused by the following line in the Highway Code:
Do not ride across a pelican, puffin or zebra crossing. Dismount and wheel your cycle across.
I guess they mean that I must not ride across a zebra in a direction orthogonal to the stripes :)
(Yes, I know a cyclist on a road should behave like traffic and is therefore legally obliged to stop for a zebra[*]. I'm asking about what you expect, in the real world, to actually happen. And what your reaction would be if they were to stop.)
My experiences of the only zebra I interact with on my work commute with have been quite strange. The crossing is on a reasonably quiet road mostly, though not exclusively, used by buses, vans, small lorries and bikes. It happens reasonably regularly that someone approaches the crossing and I am the only item of traffic. Being well-behaved, I stop.
The crosser often looks confused or surprised. Which is fair enough, as I imagine that bikes don't always stop.
The crosser frequently steps back from the crossing, and tries to wave me across in front of them. This seems plain weird to me. It often leads to a lot of dithering as we try to decide who's going to go first.
Very occasionally, the crosser shouts vague abuse at me as they cross (along the "Why on earth are you stopping?", "What did you do that for?" lines). They do seem genuinely put out rather than pleased. This is also quite weird.
This morning, I stopped at the crossing so that someone could ride their bike over it and along the pavement. I then continued on my way and turned right to join him on the Oracle Riverside cyclepath. Ah, well.
[*] Checking this morning, I was briefly very confused by the following line in the Highway Code:
Do not ride across a pelican, puffin or zebra crossing. Dismount and wheel your cycle across.
I guess they mean that I must not ride across a zebra in a direction orthogonal to the stripes :)
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I do sometimes wave to exceptionally considerate cyclists, bikers or drivers.
Some pedestrians are clearly astonished to see a motorcycle stop too :)
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In the recent past, I've pulled up at a zebra crossing, to the surprise of the foot-pilot and gone "No, after you..." which makes a pleasant change from going "Oh for fuck's sake..." when another pushbiker has done something life-threatening and agin the Highway Code.
Useless bastards. Still, I guess no more useless than the idiot bloody scooterists and f-ing taxi drivers.
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(Oh, and Zebra, by the Magnetic Fields. Points please!)
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As a pedestrian I would expect cyclists to stop in that they *ought* to, but not actually expect them all to do so in practice, because bad cycling is everywhere, and this is one of the things that many cyclists seem to find it acceptable to ignore.
Edit: Having read further I *don't* always stop to allow other cyclists to abuse the crossing, though perhaps it would be polite of me to do so. I am generally too cross at them. Mostly pedestrians seem pleased that I've stopped, occasionally surprised, but I've never had the rude reactions you do, and only rarely the polite "no you first" thing.
I always feel mildly uncomfortable when people thank me for stopping though, as I don't feel you need to be thanked for following the rules!
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I kind of agree in theory, but in practice I often wave my thanks to Reading buses, who seem to be very good at according cyclists their space/right of way/etc on the roads.
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In Holland I'd expect them to do whatever the hell they felt like because they own the roads...
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Some drivers get very insistent and wave repeatedly when I elect not to plough into the oncoming cars...
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- car or bike coming, but will definitely see me if I step out and have time to stop: I step out, possibly eyeballing the said road user
- car or bike coming, but very close to the crossing, may well not have time to stop even if they see me: I wait
- car or bike coming, close to the crossing, could probably stop provided they're paying attention and preparing to stop if needed (i.e. indicating they intend to stop): I'd be nervous of stepping out and wait to see if they stop first
Note, it makes no difference here whether we're talking cyclist or driver, I don't really trust them to be paying full attention to the road.
I cycle to the station every day (2.5 miles) and stop at zebra crossings where appropriate. I do occasionally get a surprised reaction, but only mildly so, and it's more of a "thankyou" type reaction than a "WTF" type reaction.
I have never stopped at a crossing for another cyclist but I do tend to treat other cyclists with particular care when on my bike - they're all crazy law-breakers, you know.
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I expect cyclists to , but they dont.
Many cyclists and motorbike riders just seem to follow their own code :/
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(That said, I will sometimes wave a cyclist past if they're really hammering it, so they don't do the tarmac headstand.)
Then again, I would also like motorists to stop when I'm on a zebra crossing as well ... and equally, results may vary. I remember when a straight crossing, whether or not there was a little kerb bit with bollards in the middle, counted as a single crossing. These days it sometimes seems that, if you're not directly in front of the bumper, you don't count as being on the crossing ...
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I would like, but don't expect, cyclists to stop for me. I've had some very close calls when they haven't stopped, especially on the new "cycle superhighways" where they could be coming from either direction.
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I bought one from a real shop today, which isn't really an optimal box but was reasonably inexpensive, so I'll see how that one goes.
I might nose over and peer at
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In Ips we have a load of toucan crossings, and I think these have led cyclists (including me sometimes) to treat pelicans as the same.
But in answer to your main question, Not usually, but if not I will happily step out in front of them, make them swerve, and shout at them. I am turning grumpier and grumpier.
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My work commute is along a wide shared use pavement/cycle path beside the A33. Most of the crossings are toucans, but some are pelicans. I must admit I ride across the pelicans too, because it makes absolutely no sense otherwise.
If I ever meet a pedestrian on such a crossing, I promise to dismount!