Three Beefs in one (aka Triple Burger)

[karngav]

Hello, Castanuts. First time poster, long time reader... Had to speak up on this one. Was driving home today and came across a flashing yellow light at Richter and Cawston.

Beef #1 - I know what a flashing yellow light means, to continue through with caution. I just don't understand why? Why not just have a green, or a flashing green if you really must make it flash. Are we only supposed to use caution on other colours besides green. There no reason to make it complicated, there's a lot of seniors and idiots on these roads (Sorry, Seniors)

On to Beef #2 - If cyclists are on our streets, following the same rules of the road as motorists, should they not have to prove to someone, somehow, that they know what traffic signs and signal lights mean? I had this "gentleman", travelling towards me on the right side of the road, I will give him that, cut diagonally across the intersection directly in front of me, forcing me to slam on my brakes and do some laundry when I got home. He puts his hand up in the air to point at the traffic light, heard him say something about yellow, and continue on while giving me a very popular hand gesture. Now, there is a pedestrian/bicycle crosswalk button if he had actually rolled the extra 50 feet, he could have pressed that button, got off of his bicycle, and walked across the road as we were all taught to as children. But I am going to assume, for this beef, that he did not know what the flashing yellow light meant, and that I was supposed to stop at that intersection, so that was his cue to cut across it like a wild animal.

Beef #3 - This is not the first time I have soiled my drawers, and nearly killed one of these idiotic cyclists in this town. We hear about cyclists getting hit, and that motorists should be more aware of their surroundings, and share the road...blah, blah, blah. I am a very confident, aware, and cautious driver, and any near miss I have had with a cyclist was, seriously, totally unforeseen and entirely the two wheeled idiot's fault. In fact, I'm willing to bet that we'd have a lot more cycling deaths if it weren't for some of the slick driving maneuvers I have made, and numerous others I have witnessed. Cyclists moan and complain that they don't have proper bike lanes, and multi-million dollar paths running through the city, away from traffic. A lot of them, I'm sure, feel they are doing the world a gigantic favour, and that every vehicle should come to a stop, get out and bow down until they are well clear, then continue on their way. In my case today, I'm not sure which scenario he falls into, Beef #2 or 3.

I admit there, are a lot of bad drivers out there, but I think, in proportion, there are many more bad bikers. I think we need to educate future cyclists somehow in their early cycling days. (maybe they do now? I know they didn't when I was a wippersnapper) Teach them signage, rules of the road etc., then when they get older, for god's sake, FINE them. Some of them will never learn until their wallet gets lighter, or they are dead. I would actually prefer the first. As my rant comes a close I must say that I am a frequent cyclist. I follow the rules of the road, don't feel the world owes me anything for being on 2 wheels, and in my recollection, have never had a near death experience and forced any unnecessary laundry to be done.

[Hmmm]

Some cyclists cannot get a drivers licence because they can't pass the test. Others have had theirs revoked for drunkeness. You do the math.

[SmokeOnTheWater]

Was driving home today and came across a flashing yellow light at Richter and Cawston.

That light is usually green .. power outage yesterday may have something to do with it.