A friend of mine has a way of dealing with errant cyclists, although I'm not sure I'd recommend it as it might be considered confrontational. When recovering from a brocken hip, he started using a walking stick and still carries it. If cyclists look like jumping the lights or riding on a bit of pavement he's about to walk on, he just raises his stick out in front to about chin height which usually results in the cyclist stopping or swerving to avoid his stick. Apparently it's effective, although he says it did cause a delivery rider taking a short cut across the extended pavement at Hammersmith Broadway to fall off (let's hope the food wasn't spoilt); I understand my friend, a retired tax inspector, reponded to the four letter comments that followed in the same terse, gruff manner he used for accountants trying to be creative with their clients' tax affairs ... I'm not sure he really needs a stick anymore, I have seen him carry three pints of beer from the Rocket bar to one of the riverside window tables without any assistance :-) |