Little Things That Irk You 3 1/3: The Final Insult

[Brad]

But, but, but.. OLD PEOPLE! Old people panic in situations like that. If I'm waiting for an old person to cross and they're still on the crossing when the beeping stops I signal to them that they don't need to worry and can take their time by revving my engine really hard.

[speedlolita]

You're not supposed to really but I just cycle on the pavement. I don't trust a ton or so hunk of metal behind me at any one time.

[randombs]

As for the beeping noise... You can't just run someone over because they haven't toddled across the crossing in time.

You can in Japan

It's so weird - when it's green for pedestrians, cars can turn in and cross. Mostly they wait but there are always chancers, including chancer bus drivers. I take my sweet time. There's a reason it's a green man.

Hopefully I'll be cyling to school tomorrow. It's quite a thrill to cycle on the road while huge trucks roar past a foot or so away. I want to get a mirror so I can see behind me but my route is quite safe, well-lit and mostly straight.

[Dogg Thang]

Best place to cross the road is Norway. Awesome polite drivers will stop anywhere to let you cross.

Does mean going a bit out of my way from here just to cross the road though...

[charlesr]

Don't think this would work in the UK though.

I was out on a trail ride once and some old was walking his 2 dogs which were both on those extending leads far away from him. I said hello and excuse me can I come through. I must have been quite deaf because he didn't hear me. So I trekked around the dogs through a field. As I rejoined the trail in front of them he had a go at me and told me I should have rung my bell. I told him he should lighten up because he probably only has a few years to live and they would be more fun if he smiled a bit. That shut him up.

[Mayhem]

Bloke from the AA this morning claimed that increasing the length of time people have to get across a pelican crossing (you know, so that old people don't get run over) by 3 seconds would have a "massive impact on the UK economy".

I can't quite say massive impact, but I can say that the crossroads by where I live has had it's crossing time shortened by about 4-5 seconds in the last year or so, from around 25 seconds to 20 seconds or so. The lights were causing huge queues during rush hour. Now they are slightly less bonkers. But I can't say that I've seen anyone struggle to cross with the new 20 seconds time limit, even little old ladies (and there's a fair few of them around here).

I can see where he's coming from though. If you add up all the possible waiting times, then shaving seconds off crossing times would add up to a few minutes each journey.

[Brad]

If you added 100 crossings together it would still only add 5 minutes wouldn't it? And 100 crossings is a ridiculous amount.

[EvilBoris]

If you added 100 crossings together it would still only add 3 minutes wouldn't it?

Only of there is 100 seconds in a minute

[Brad]

Ffs Boris, slow down! Thought I'd fixed that before anyone saw it!

[wakka]

Yeah extend the crossing times please. I get f*ck all time to cross the road and there's even a big number counting down so you can see exactly how few seconds you have left. I almost expect an S rank when I get across with 2 seconds spare.

Also ban cycling from central London roads. Thx.

[nakamura]

This is why I love this place, crossing times.

[Brad]

Following on from Boris's Panasonic putting adverts on the screen, CHECK THIS **** OUT:

http://doctorbeet.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/lg-smart-tvs-logging-usb-filenames-and.html

[speedlolita]

****ing hell I'll stick to my CRT thanks.

[Brad]

Your CRT sends viewing info back out of your aerial to Ceefax and Prestel!

[speedlolita]

My CRT doesn't have a tuner.