Sir T-Cups, come on down

The BBQ Pit
#1

So I had finished my Sunday morning bike ride, sitting at Starbucks having my after ride coffee, and cruising the dope on my smart phone. I come across this thread.
Now I ride bikes, and because of this I am predisposed when I hear about a car vs bicycle accident to lean toward the car driver was in the wrong. However as this thread unfolded it became clear that our guest of honor Sir T-Cups has to be the largest douchebag that has ever ridden on two wheels.
Let’s see from memory here
[ul]
[li]doesn’t know the law governing bicycles in his state[/li][li]considers himself to be a pedestrian when he is controling a vehicle[/li][li]Thinks the other driver should buy him a new bike, even though he was in the wrong[/li][li]Considers all of the laws governing bicycles to be a technicality.[/li][li]Wanted to get a bike shop employee to lie for him to get a new bike (and then intended to not buy the bike at the bike shop, but at Target or Walmart[/li][/ul]
A few of the absolutly classic quotes from STC

Fine print? fine print, you were wrong jackhole.

Does this quote surprise anyone? Should be titled Ethics (lack of) in modern society.

Or this lovely quote

Got news for you sparky, your second sentence pretty much proves your first sentence is wrong.
Then at last he admits he is not a pedestrian (sort of)

Love it he calls himself a motorist. Cyclist numb-nuts, cyclist. :rolleyes:
Now listen up jack-off. I ride a bike. I follow the vehicle code. I stop for lights and stop signs. I ride in the street where I belong. However every couple of weeks around here there is a thread where someone that drives a car paints all riders with the same broad brush: "Bikes never stop at stop signs, they ride on the sidewalk, they ride the wrong way etc, etc etc.
It’s assholes like you that are giving those car drivers that impression, and causing me and other law abiding riders to get splattered with shit from car drivers that belong squarely on your shoulders.
Do me and every other law abiding bike rider a favor, sell your bike and ride a scooter, or get a set of roller blades anything, just don’t ride a bike. This way when drivers get pissed at your stupid moves they won’t tar me with the same brush.

#2

Well put.

#3

nm

#4

Incidentally, Muffin offers the most relevant & useful post in the thread, actually looking up the Alabama code on the issue:

#5

In my old college town, cyclists rode on the sidewalk constantly. Most of the campus (except for the edges) was grass and sidewalk, so it was pretty much required. I’m necessarily biased because of my personal experience, of course, but I just don’t think riding on the sidewalk is that big of a deal. Especially if *kids *in the same jurisdiction are legally allowed to ride *their *bikes on sidewalks. What if that old man had hit a kid instead of Sir T-cups? Why should identical inaction on the part of the driver be actionable for one type of victim, but not for another? That seems inconsistent with common sense.

I don’t ride a bike these days. I don’t know bike law in my current jurisdiction. But I check for cyclists and pedestrians before pulling out of parking lots, because *I’m *the one operating a 2000-pound death machine. I believe that all operators of 2000-pound death machines have (if not a legal obligation, then at least) a moral obligation not to hit cyclists and pedestrians… no matter WHAT they are doing. And this is coming from someone who’s had to brake hard on *many *occasions after some idiot crossed in front of my car outside a crosswalk. Still, I did it and I didn’t begrudge the pedestrians the moral right-of-way, because they’re much more easily killed by a car than the other way around.

Whether what a cyclist/pedestrian is doing is legal or not, I couldn’t live with myself if I hurt or killed someone walking or riding. I would expect my insurance company to pay a cyclist or pedestrian hit by my car, even if they were doing something stupid or illegal. Because *I should have been looking. *If my insurance didn’t pay up, then I would personally pay for reparations myself (to the extent I could afford to make them).

Just because an activity is illegal and dangerous doesn’t relieve a driver of the obligation to watch out for it, you know? Cyclists (and pedestrians, *and *other drivers) make unwise decisions ALL THE TIME. Anticipating and compensating for that is an integral part of defensive driving. For instance, if a car is parked illegally, you’re still obligated to see the hazard and refrain from striking it. If you hit a car that is parked illegally, you’re still responsible for the damage you caused to it. The illegally-parked car has ZERO liability for damages, despite the driver’s actions being stupid and illegal. You can pit Sir T-cups for doing something illegal and dangerous, but that doesn’t let the old man off the hook. A good driver would have easily compensated for Sir T-cups’s poor decision. Yet, he struck the bike, indicating that he’s not a good driver.

Anyway, it was an *accident. *There’s a reason (besides cacophony) why we don’t call them “on-purposes.” Shit happens, lessons are learned, yada fucking yada. I think, if you’re truly concerned that **Sir T-cups **didn’t learn from his mistake, that a well-placed PM would have been much more appropriate than this pitting. I’m aware my opinion is likely to be unpopular, but I can take my lumps. =)

#6

I am an avid cyclist. I cycle anywhere and everywhere, and vastly prefer it as a mode of travel to my car. I’m one of those sad, sad men whose ideal number of bikes is +1, who has a permanent oil tattoo of a chainring on his right calf, and who can sometimes still be seen wearing lycra when all rules of taste and decency demand I shouldn’t.

T-cups absolute refusal to acknowledge that he was wrong to ride on the sidewalk is just pathetic.

#7

Dude, only newbies are supposed to have a Cat. 5 tattoo!

#8

Only avoidable for roadies. I challenge you to ride a mucked out offroad route and not end up with a granny ring decal.

#9

The words ‘granny’ and ‘ring’ really shouldn’t be associated at the best of times, but over breakfast it’s more than a little disconcerting.

#10

Agree with this 100%.

I realize that arguing just to argue is a sport on this board, but wrapping myself up in “I WAS IN THE RIGHT” wouldn’t make me feel much better if I struck and seriously harmed or killed someone in this type of situation.

I don’t really know the OP but this smacks of let-me-show-you-how-much-more-I-know-than-you-do and to let us all know that HE rides a bike and boy howdy isn’t he better than the other guy and did he mention he rides a bike?

But, to **Sir T-Cups, **when you’re on a bike you’re always at the disadvantage. Learning the rules of the road and keeping your eye out for the bigger and heavier vehicles is always going to be in your best interest.

#11

I’m with rachellogram, with one additional point. Right of way doesn’t mean you get the freedom to barrel over any and all objects/people in your path. You still have to watch where you’re going, and avoid running over bicyclists, even if they’re riding illegally.

#12

The point to be made here though is that his highness was riding in a way that pretty much guarantees he’s gonna be run over sooner or later. Even by careful and law abiding drivers.

#13

Yup. Bicycles move faster, typically, than even running children, and can be in your blind spot quickly even though you just looked in their direction a moment ago. Bicyclists who are on sidewalks are neither legally nor functionally pedestrians, and had better be damned careful around anyone else. I say this from experience as bicyclist and car driver - and as someone who was ticketed for bicycling through a crosswalk on the walk light instead of walking my bike (the traffic that direction had a red light). My college town highly enforced the bicycle laws and the real distinctions between bicyclists and pedestrians.

#14

Is that legal? Sure, I’m familiar with vehicles like yours, but I never thought they we’re road legal.:confused:

#15

Indeed. Many years ago I similarly did not know better, believing that as a slow and unathletic cyclist that riding on the sidewalk would be more conscientious. Then I was hit by a car whose driver couldn’t possibly have seen me and, thus, who I cannot imagine blaming. My bike was pretty much ruined; I had a nasty gash on my leg; the driver was mortified.

Don’t ride your bikes on the sidewalk, kids — the driver unlucky enough to hit you (me) won’t and shouldn’t have to pay for your (my) stupidity.

#16

Adding my voice to support this. Bikes don’t belong on the sidewalk for many reasons.

#17

While I appreciate the illegality of T-Cups sidewalk riding, and I understand his emo routine led to this pitting, I also must point out that the driver is not completely off the hook simply because of the rider’s actions.

The reason for this is something I pointed out in the original thread. On my present commute I ride on a MUT (multi-use trail) that parallels a fairly speedy drive. There are several parking lots along the drive and not a month goes by where some driver plays fast and loose with their entrance and exits - either driving into the lot nearly at speed without a care for who or what is on the MUT, or crossing it and stopping dead in the MUT while leaving. Both of these actions are extremely self-centered and dangerous on the part of the driver. The position of the MUT is much like a sidewalk except that since it is a MUT it is perfectly legal to ride my bike on, so the drivers should be exercising care, but they often seem to feel they do not need to. In the times there have been confrontations I have been told I need to ‘slow down’ or ‘wear brighter clothes’. As rachelellogram points out, you are in charge of a machine, one that can kill very easily. I have a hard time letting a driver off the hook simply because the person he hit was doing something illegal where he was, but legal on the MUT I ride on.

#18

I apologize if this point has been brought up in this or the previous thread and I missed it. But even if you accept that bikes on sidewalks are pedestrians (which they obviously are not), Sir T-Cups behaved stupidly by “walking” in front of the truck. If I’m walking down a sidewalk and I come to a parking lot exit and a car is waiting to pull out, I never walk in front of that car unless I have made eye contact with the driver and he’s waved me on. Even if you have the right of way as a pedestrian, you’d be a fool to take it.

#19

Seriously, Rick? The guy got hit by a truck. You feel the need to Pit him for it?

Take some time off of this board. Get some perspective. Get therapy if you need it. Learn how to not blame the victim.

Sir T-Cups, you’ve been here long enough to know that sometimes this board goes seriously off the rails. This is no longer about you. It’s about certain members of the board having serious RO issues.

#20

He isn’t the victim. He is an entitled idiot who was riding a bike on the pavement, hit an innocent driver and then scammed him out of $150.