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Baronness whacked scofflaw cyclist with her handbag

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Baronness whacked scofflaw cyclist with her handbag

Old 01-17-08, 06:08 PM
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Originally Posted by atbman
Let me see, the lady (age 83) was on a signal controlled crossing with the green light in her favour. Numpty cyclist ignores his red light and sails straight across in front of her. He assaulted her, actually, since his behaviour caused her fear for her own safety, which is, in the UK at least, the definition of assault.

Unless, of course, you consider lawbreaking by cyclists to be acceptable, simply by reason of being on a bike.

He was an idiot and a selfish one at that.

Yesterday, I was interviewed on the same local radio programme as Lady Sharples and was forced to defend cyclists from the kinds of ignoramuses who commented on the Daily Mail story,including someone from the Association of British Drivers, a group who are incensed by speed cameras and believe that drivers are unfairly targeted by the law.

Since cyclists who ignore red lights and ride on the pavement (sidewalk to you) are far more visible than the idiot drivers who routinely ignore the speed limit and amber gamble, we suffer disproportionately from public disapproval. Even when I quoted the 530 pedestrians killed on crossing 1998-2005 thro' collisions with motor vehicles, as against the 3 killed in collisions with cyclists, I was fighting against the general run of phone calls and texts.

No matter how unfair this weight of criticism against us is, we need to break this too frequent habit of ignoring the law (when it suits us) or we lose the political battle. Public perception is all when you are campaigning for better treatment of riders and every pillock who does what this rider did makes it difficult for campaigners to win their case, no matter how justified it is.

I hope that you will maintain the same irate views against a lady in her position if your grandmother's safety is threatened by similar lawbreaking arrogance
you're wrong about cyclists being 'more visible', they are just a minority that's easy to pick on. Plus the motorists all have cognitive dissonance when it comes time to identify their own law breaking habits as compared to cyclists'
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Old 01-17-08, 06:19 PM
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She should have used her control over the forces of magnetism to restrain the bicycle itself.
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Old 01-17-08, 08:40 PM
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Originally Posted by oscaregg
Another reason that we Americans are lucky--we don't have a class of inbred overprivileged human breeding stock to defer to!
Goodness, Have you looked at the state of the nation lately ??
Even scarier is they are looking to go for license plates on bicycles there. Perish the thought.
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Old 01-18-08, 08:35 AM
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Originally Posted by San Rensho
As a Baroness, she got her title through an accident of sperm.
Semen wasn't involved - she's a life peer, not a hereditary peer.
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Old 01-18-08, 08:53 AM
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Originally Posted by musicsucks
Be careful with that one... You've been run by two families since 1989 and that might not end any time soon.
Hey, I was going to post that!

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Old 01-18-08, 10:05 AM
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Originally Posted by rwp
If members of the aristocracy continue to deliver handbag blows to red light runners I might have to reconsider my anti-royalist stand.

Three cheers for the Baroness!
Best post. As a London cyclist I love this lady.
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Old 01-18-08, 10:22 AM
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Originally Posted by Fear&Trembling
Semen wasn't involved - she's a life peer, not a hereditary peer.
So who votes fpor a life peer?
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Old 01-18-08, 10:42 AM
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Originally Posted by San Rensho
So who votes fpor a life peer?
The PM and the House of Lords Appointments Commission. But as a prole, I don't know much about the honours system.
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Old 01-18-08, 10:53 AM
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Originally Posted by Fear&Trembling
The PM and the House of Lords Appointments Commission. But as a prole, I don't know much about the honours system.
Oh, so the public doesn't vote for her? Ah, so its bunch of in-breds who claim political power because of an accident of sperm (because a place in the house of Lords can only be inheritied) that appoint her, right?

I was so wrong and I stand so corrected that she doesn't get her peerage through an accident of sperm, she only gets her peerage by being appointed by those who derive political power from an accident of sperm.
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Old 01-18-08, 11:09 AM
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Originally Posted by San Rensho
Oh, so the public doesn't vote for her? Ah, so its bunch of in-breds who claim political power because of an accident of sperm (because a place in the house of Lords can only be inheritied) that appoint her, right?

I was so wrong and I stand so corrected that she doesn't get her peerage through an accident of sperm, she only gets her peerage by being appointed by those who derive political power from an accident of sperm.
As previously explained, there are life peers and hereditary peers - the House of Lords is constituted of both types...

The Commission has non-partisan members and non-peers as well as representatives from the House of Lords of the three largest political parties.
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Old 01-19-08, 12:38 AM
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all cities have rude cyclists. but it's not appropriate to make cyclists scapegoats for rude behavior all the time by all kinds of people.
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Old 01-19-08, 06:43 AM
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Originally Posted by Fear&Trembling
As previously explained, there are life peers and hereditary peers - the House of Lords is constituted of both types...

The Commission has non-partisan members and non-peers as well as representatives from the House of Lords of the three largest political parties.
So which group of "peers" granted the Baroness of Hand Bag the privilege to whack anyone that offends her delicate sensibilities?

My guess is the peerage of Self Righteous No Neck Know-It-Alls; this group also has a large contingent in the US. It is found in the form of screaming, bear can throwing Jackasses, who also feel entitled to physically/verbally "inform " cyclists of their displeasure with the sight of any cyclist "in the way."
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Old 01-19-08, 09:59 AM
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I know you're serious, because you're iltb. But you do realize that you are comparing aplles to oranges, do you not? Because in the case of the Baroness, we have an 83 year old woman with the right of way who was nearly hit by a bicyclist. Now, maybe you haven't realized this, but old people are often frail. Had mister Saintly Cyclist hit the Baroness, she could have easily sustained severe injury, or even have been killed. You say somehow Saintly Cyclist here was being wronged because the Baroness essentially pelted him with beer cans and rude comments from her Ford F-150 in southern Alabama, even though he broke the law and almost caused a collision.

Do you even read your own bull****? Now, if a car had cut of the cyclist with the right of way, you'd probably say they should be shot to death. But when a cyclist does the same exact thing to a vulnerable elderly road user, it's okay. Double standards much?

Just shut up.
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Old 01-19-08, 10:13 AM
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Originally Posted by syn0n
I know you're serious, because you're iltb. But you do realize that you are comparing aplles to oranges, do you not? Because in the case of the Baroness, we have an 83 year old woman with the right of way who was nearly hit by a bicyclist. Now, maybe you haven't realized this...
Just shut up.
Yeah, dat's right Jack! Shut uppa my face so you can read nothing but your peer approved "Group Think" contempt about all those other cyclists, eh?

It must be true because you read it on the Internet (extracted from a British Tabloid , no less!)that it happened just da way the apple headed baroness with an agenda said it happened didn't it, eh? Just like the orange headed smart jacks like yourself and raisin brained car shouters believe too whenever you/they hear/read a report of a cyclist doing wrong in one of your peer's eyes, eh?

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Old 01-19-08, 10:39 AM
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I'm sorry, but an old woman isn't going to go hit people with her purse for no particular reason. I remember how many red light runners I saw when I was in London, so I'm going to say it probably happened the way it was reported. And again, she is 83 years old. If Saintly Cyclist had hit the evil Baroness, I'm sure the story would've read "Baroness Hit and Killed by Light-Jumping Cyclist".

There's no groupthink (it's one word) here, buddy. I'm simply not paranoid like you clearly are. I know you can't stand it, but guess what: cyclists aren't the infallible gods of the road. If you don't want to get hit with purse, don't violate an old womans ROW. Most importantly, though, if the idea of getting hit with a purse would make you petty and childish for jumping lights, maybe you should change your ways.

I can't believe you're even arguing this. Oh wait, yes I can! You're iltb, so logic isn't required for anything, at all, ever.
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Old 01-19-08, 10:52 AM
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Originally Posted by iltb-2
So which group of "peers" granted the Baroness of Hand Bag the privilege to whack anyone that offends her delicate sensibilities?

My guess is the peerage of Self Righteous No Neck Know-It-Alls; this group also has a large contingent in the US. It is found in the form of screaming, bear can throwing Jackasses, who also feel entitled to physically/verbally "inform " cyclists of their displeasure with the sight of any cyclist "in the way."
Close, but no cigar. She was actually inducted into The Ancient Order of the Anti-Velocipedes (founded 1872).
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Old 01-19-08, 12:13 PM
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So he jumped the light and violated the ROW of a little old lady?

He would have deserved it if she had, had Cadbury clothesline him.
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Old 01-19-08, 12:35 PM
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Originally Posted by CommuterRun
So he jumped the light and violated the ROW of a little old lady?

He would have deserved it if she had, had Cadbury clothesline him.
As would any cyclist who offends anybody's sensibilities, if Mr or Mrs Anybody thought it was appropriate, right?
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Old 01-19-08, 12:37 PM
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Originally Posted by syn0n

There's no groupthink (it's one word) here, buddy. I'm simply not paranoid like you clearly are. I know you can't stand it, but guess what: cyclists aren't the infallible gods of the road. If you don't want to get hit with purse, don't violate an old womans ROW. Most importantly, though, if the idea of getting hit with a purse would make you petty and childish for jumping lights, maybe you should change your ways.

I can't believe you're even arguing this. Oh wait, yes I can! You're iltb, so logic isn't required for anything, at all, ever.
Yep, you KNOW all about what happened in London just like you KNOW what I (or anybody else) "can't stand", and you KNOW that I think (or have written) that cyclists are "infallible gods" or should not be held accountable for their actions. Yep, you KNOW all about that "double standard" gibberish you assign to me because you are like the handful of other dimwits who choose to IGNORE (some even brag about their IGNORance) what I wrote and instead write about what you KNOW I think.

What's next, going to react to what you KNOW all about cyclists as reported by Radio Shock Jocks and Letters to the Editor of the local Supermarket handout; or maybe the doings of Brittany or Lindsey as reported by the British Tabs?
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Old 01-19-08, 01:09 PM
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Originally Posted by iltb-2
Yep, you KNOW all about what happened in London just like you KNOW what I (or anybody else) "can't stand", and you KNOW that I think (or have written) that cyclists are "infallible gods" or should not be held accountable for their actions. Yep, you KNOW all about that "double standard" gibberish you assign to me because you are like the handful of other dimwits who choose to IGNORE (some even brag about their IGNORance) what I wrote and instead write about what you KNOW I think.
Having read a bunch of your posts, I have a fairly good idea about what your general attitudes towards things are. And I "know" that this irritates you; the very way in which you're responding, basically saying that the media are lying because it's a cyclist vs. world situation, just as is every day on the bike. Your posts reek of hyperbole, and I've therefore made some conclusions about your position, based on what you've written! Do I concretely "know" anything? I guess not. You don't know anything either, however, so I don't see why you're criticizing me for doing the same thing you are: posting opinion and theory.

As far as responding to you goes, you say some things that I think are pretty rediculous. You seem paranoid, because you insist that it is never the fault of the cyclist, even when they're breaking the law. When this is mentioned, you say that everyone else is lying about the cyclist breaking the law, and the entire series of events that followed. Why? Because society absolutely hates cyclists, and will crush them given any opportunity to do so.

There really is no "groupthink" here in A&S. If I wanted to "suppress your voice", I'd put you on ignore. But I won't do that, because I participate in this forum to get multiple viewpoints. That doesn't mean all are equal, however, and if I'm not obligated to believe what I think is insane. Like some of the things you say, for example.

Originally Posted by iltb-2
What's next, going to react to what you KNOW all about cyclists as reported by Radio Shock Jocks and Letters to the Editor of the local Supermarket handout; or maybe the doings of Brittany or Lindsey as reported by the British Tabs?
Again, like I said, I have spent time in London, and given that experience, I think it is highly probable that a cyclist, in fact, jumped a red and almost hit a pedestrian. I saw a few similar occurances during my few weeks there last summer. While in general, I would think hitting someone for jumping a red light is rediculous, this is an old woman who hit the guy with her purse. Seriously, I doubt it was a savage beating, or even enough to threaten stability. And as I've said, an elderly person getting hit by a cyclist could easily be fatal or cause serious injury. Why? So one cyclist could save a few seconds. It's the same thing I hear cyclists complaing about in regards to motorists, and it's obviously a valid complaint. However, it's a two way street, and cyclists should not be jumping lights and endangering pedestrians.

You still haven't addressed any of that. You're just getting technical because you have nothing to say in regard to the actual subject at hand. Please contribute to the thread in your next post!
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Old 01-19-08, 01:16 PM
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Originally Posted by syn0n

You still haven't addressed any of that. You're just getting technical because you have nothing to say in regard to the actual subject at hand. Please contribute to the thread in your next post!
Here's the gist of the "subject":
An old woman was quoted in a British Rag after hitting a bicyclist; some self righteous BF posters cheered because she must have been justified because, one, she said so, and two, their experience tells them that it is always (or should be) open season on bad boy cyclists as defined by the self appointed whackers and their smug cheerleaders.
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Old 01-19-08, 01:34 PM
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Originally Posted by iltb-2
As would any cyclist who offends anybody's sensibilities, if Mr or Mrs Anybody thought it was appropriate, right?
Nope, only if they are violating someone else's ROW. Since you don't know what that is, I'll explain it. If you are passing within arms reach of someone, you are in their space.

Now there are situations where this is acceptable, but obviously in the incident related in the OP, this was not one of those situations.

"Cadbury, clothesline that brute!"
"Yes Ma'am."
thud!
WHUMP!
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Old 01-19-08, 01:39 PM
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Originally Posted by syn0n
Do I concretely "know" anything? I guess not.
Don't worry about it, he just likes to argue. What he's arguing about and with whom are irrelevant to him.
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Old 01-19-08, 04:49 PM
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They are both wrong.
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Old 01-19-08, 05:06 PM
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Originally Posted by oscaregg
Another reason that we Americans are lucky--we don't have a class of inbred overprivileged human breeding stock to defer to!
Oh yeah, there's no class system in our country.

He's lucky he's not in this country, some mouth breather would have more likely have shot him.
If he's close enough for her to hit him with her handbag, he's too close. I use the same logic when folks cut me off when I'm walking in a crosswalk. If I can reach your car your too close.
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