I wouldn't worry about her. Like you said: she probably just wants to feel like she has some authority in a world where she is otherwise insignificant. Oh well, yeah?

And for the record, I hope you DON'T get run over. That would not only be a tragic end to Local Girl, but it probably wouldn't make for a very good cartoon. :)

Just arrived from the Bloggies site, and Bossy thinks this is the awesomest blog eh-ver. Good luck.

Dude - you are the kind of cyclist I used to hate when I was driving (yay for now living in an area with copious public transportation!). I always used to mutter angrily that if a cyclist wants to commit suicide, that's their own lookout - don't involve me (by doing aggravating and illegal things like running red lights)! And the idea that the law somehow doesn't apply to y'all because you're faster is cancelled out by the fact that you are squishier when things do go wrong.

Please avoid get yourself killed. I don't think your Wacom tablet has a "ghostly apparition" accessibility option.

Voted for you!

I have nearly gotten hit by cyclists when I was crossing the street (when I had a walk sign) at least half a dozen times here in Montreal. Each time was scary. I never ever yelled that I hope they got run over. Yikes, what an ugly thing to say.
I voted for you.

While I don't wish harm to cyclists... I also get really bugged by those who run red lights in my neighborhood in Cambridge, Massachusetts. I nearly hit one recently who plowed through a red light without looking, and she then gave me the finger! Why would someone who has the green light expect a bike to come racing through?

Road rage is probably a combination of anger and fear. We get freaked out from the dangers of the menacing streets.

Pedestrians and cyclists are just different factions of the road underclass. We should treat each other better so we can unite against bad drivers. We could all get paint guns and every time a driver endangers us or steals our right of way, splat. A new decoration for their hood.

But I do agree with kalieris. Don't get killed. Also, don't get a ticket. It's infuriating to get a traffic ticket on your bike.

it's the way it sticks in your spokes and makes that clackety-clickety sound as you ride along...

no, wait! that sounds cool! ;)

God, there was a thing on Radio 2 the other with a Baroness Trumpington (or someone or other). She was goinga cross a crossing and a cyclist went through a red light and the Baroness whacked him with her handbag and knocked the cyclist off.

You'll be pleased to know that most listerners thought the Baroness was wrong to attack the cyclist but that cyslcits should not go through red lights.

I' have to say that you shouldn't go through red lights. Don't want to be a spoil sport but there are there for everyone's safety and from a more selfish point of view I love your blogs and I don't want you to stop them becuase you've become a splat on some London road.

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i done a vote for you! i hope you win a prize! id like to win a prize! have you ever won a prize before? i've never won a prize before. good luck!!

I find that when I'm a pedestrian, I think that pedestrians are the most righteous users of the road/pavement, and that all other forms of transport should treat us pedestrians as the bright green eco gods that we are.
When I'm on my bike I hate those jay-walking idiot ipod numpties that stray into my holy cyclists way.
When I'm in my car I want to kill every other mother****** out there with my fantasy bonnet and boot-mounted machine guns....

It's so funny to see a British girl whining about inexorable people. My father used to live in a small city nearby Liverpool when he was a kid and he said his neighbours wouldn't even let him sit on their windbreak, because it was THEIRS and THEY PAID FOR IT. And this kind of thing also happened to me several times when I went to Cambridge last summer. As a Brazilian - probably the most flexible people in the world when it comes to breaking the law - it all seems a little bit weird to me, because we do have a huge criminal code but nobody really pays attention to it. We just do what it seems reasonable in the given situation. Anyway, I voted for you three times (:

good luck!
(you got my vote)

and be careful out there. here in northern california, there have been scuffles with critical mass riders vs. san francisco drivers. way too many automobiles in that fair city!

Ha! I have to ride to work and go through red lights all the time! Only been shouted at a few times and i normally just snarl a bit or something then wish i shouted back when i'm a few feet further down the road!

shall we have a vote on the laws we choose to ignore, presumably if you get knocked over by a cyclist you won't mind so much, drawing nice pictures doesn't exempt people from acting morally.

i love love love your blog local girl but i have to say cyclists running red lights are pretty on a par with mummies driving their chelsea tractors 200 yards down the road to drop their (one) child off at school. the roads are shitty enough places as it is, why not just relax a bit?

but then... i know how you love to get people riled up :) xx

mmm...I'm a cyclist (and occasionally a pedestrian - but never a driver!), and if there are no people crossing or they're a good 5-6 metres away, then I will cycle through a red light mainly because stopping at reds is when you're at your most vulnerable i.e. cars alongside you pulling away/turning left without indicating...)

But these unnecessary bad vibes - shouting out mean things is quite unnecessary. If I happen to cut some one off (and it happens), I ALWAYS smile sweetly and apologise as I do so. Works a treat. Especially with the coppers (saved myself...oooh, £90+ in fines! Just laying on the charm...)

I wonder what she'd have said if you'd yelled 'sorry love!'...

First Off.. I voted for you :-)

Second, I've always detested cyclists who run red lights and I nearly got run over the other week in Hackney by a cyclist who said 'Sorry, but it's raining' in his pitiful denfence for nearly killing me..
However, I agree with HeatherJ.. If it's actually safe to do so then what the hell.. Drivers in most cities don't give a shit about cyclists or pedestrians and i've lost count of the time both have got into bother with careless drivers at traffic lights.. It's those idiots in killing machines that should chill out at pedestrian crossings.. Most cyclists know when it's safe to stop or carry on through.. Same as when riding on the pavement.. The fact is people are more likely to remember that one idiot than those 10 careful cyclists you meet at traffic lights in one day..

http://www.overspecific.com

Just to second on heather; I too will cross against the light if it is safe to do so. Most urban biking advisors recommend doing this in fact just because if it's safe to go, there is surely some overly impatient fucknut in their deathmachine riling themselves up to get to that next red light as quickly as they can. Living in SF and biking up and down Market to work every day, I've learned the biggest F-U a biker can give to the ornery driver is to pass them (and the dozens of cars in front of them) and never be seen again.