Electric biker ran a red light...

derekz

derekz

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Need to vent... On the weekend my son (18-year old, G1 license) was driving with me sitting next to him, my wife and my younger son in the back. It's a fairly major street (3rd line in Oakville), we're coming to an intersection, we have green light, doing about 60km/h. As we approach the intersection I notice this dude on an electric bicycle (I thought it was a scooter at first) approaching the intersection from my right - he has a red light - but he is just looking straight ahead - not looking to his left at all!!! So I hit the horn (from passenger's side) and my son starts breaking - the guy continues to ride, not slowing down at all, and starts making right turn!!! Now my son starts heavy breaking and I continue to hold the horn - the dude still is not affected by this at all - never glances anywhere - just keeps looking straight ahead!!! My son jumps onto the left-lane (we were in the right lane), manages to pass him by,(now for some reason the electric bike rider starts to honk his horn on us - smiling and showing no remorse - I see this as I opened passenger side door and I'm almost out of the vehicle screaming at him)- then I asked my son to go back to the right lane and I'm screaming my lungs for my son to stop as I have all the intention to jump out, grab the dude and kick the sh#$%# out of him, as a traffic lesson - someone needs to teach this guy - if he at least acknowledged to me what he did was wrong, waved his hand, etc - but no - he is honking on me... My son didn't stop as he knew what I was about to do so he continues to drive to a nearby grocery supermarket. As we're leaving the vehicle to do the shopping, I see that bike rider pulling into the parking log - ok, that's perfect - now I'm running through the lot, and I stop him. I'm screaming expletives as I nearly (read nearly - I still manage to restrain myself a bit) lost it. The guy has a smirk on his stupid-***** face (he is in his early twenties) - and he simply tells me that the guy he bought the bike from told him he doesn't need a license for it, but it's legal on the street!!! I tell him (or rather scream into his face) that I don't give a $@$#@#4 about his license and that he needs to know and follow traffic rules in order to ride on the street. He says now he is sorry and he didn't see me. I tell him (tell is a bit of a stretch - as it contains plenty of expletives and it's more of a scream - my wife later told me that other shoppers in the parking lot, that had no context of what has happened were trying to call police on me...) that he didn't see me because he didn't look!!! Anyhow - I needed to vent, to raise awareness - if he was doing his maneuver fraction of second later it could have ended much worse - either with us hitting him or with my son swerving to the left and potentially getting into the collision with another vehicle - my son has only G1 so he doesn't have much experience... I guess he has some more experience now...
Sorry for long post - needed to vent...
Cheers,
Derek
 
1) paragraphs are your friend
2) i also hate e-bikes and their disregard for any sort of law or courtesy
3) CSB
 
SLaP said:
You wouldn't survive a whole day driving in the city core ;)
Click to expand...
I used to live 15 years in the city before moving out (Charles/Bloor) - I'm used to it, however, it's different when you're driving vs your kid with not much experience - that puts things in perspective
 
Hey, I totally understand!! Maybe it was good for you that you were not driving as you probably would have stopped and ended up with assault charges... But I hate these ebiker riders too.. You see them in the inner city near pubs along danforth etc.. These people consider them toys and think it's okay to drink and ride them home. The blatant disregard for anyone else annoys me.
 
sounds like a case of the mondays to me

mondays.jpg
 
^ actually you should call the cops on them - even on a bicycle it's illegal to be drunk.

as for the OP, if you wouldn't have been swearing at the kid I think you prob would've had a better chance to get thru his thick skull that his mother would've attended a funeral was it not for your son's ability to swerve. I agree with you, tho - I think it's infuriating the lack of knowledge these e-biker riders have - seems even less than bicyclists. I think it's yet other group altogether who otherwise wouldn't bicycle, so they know even less the rules of the road.
 
The most frustrating thing I've seen is that they want to change the rules as it suits them. They're becoming rather like some bicyclists!

On the road, in the correct direction one day, riding against traffic another, crossing intersections without stopping for reds, riding in the bike lane or riding in a live traffic lane.... Which is it??? Make up your minds so the rest of us know where to look for you!! I'm not really interested in killing one of these idiots but they seem to think they're invunerable to harm and tempt me with it far too often :rolleyes:

Okay, I've wanted to rant too....:laughing8:
 
Ok I know stuff like that can make someone rage.. but just take this as some constructive criticism. Really, what did you accomplish? You ****** yourself off and probably scared your entire family, not to mention took some control away from your son who was driving. And the idiot on the e-bike didn't learn anything. If he had just braked and let the guy through, and it shouldn't've been THAT hard braking since you saw what the biker was doing ahead of time and you were only doing 60 km/h... then that would've been it. Brake for an idiot, let it go, drive on.
 
this is exactly why i think electric scooters/bikes/anything on the road thats not a bicycle should have to write writen test so in situations like that they can be held acountable for knowing the laws and where they stand in them. comon sense doesnt seem to work anymore when it comes to traffic
 
I saw a mopet/ebike in Scarborugh where this asian women was triple riding with her two children.. yes TWO, one in the front and one behind, they were all wearing helmets.. and once the traffic got back up because of the traffic light she rode up onto the sidewalk! WTF?
 
You have had the perfect experience to illustrate to your son:
"See!? You can be minding your own business, doing everything right, and some idiot other-guy can bring your whole world crashing down!"
It's a very valuable message, and difficult to impart to the young.
Hey man, since no one was hurt, it might actually be a GOOD thing...
As long as that message got through.
Regards
 
Those e-bikes are everywhere, they like to ride on the major roads when the speed limit is 80 thinking they can just blend in. I think they are the worst thing to ever be made or come to the city.
 
The latest one.. Riding late at night, no light. Could have been a Peel cop :D
 
i know a few people with e bikes. All have DUI's.

maybe he was drunk :)
 
The e-bikes are worse then the regular cyclist creeps.

On thursday i watched a person going south on Bathurst signal to make a right into the Kromer parking lot. They must have seen the pedestrians in the driveway so they slowed to allow them to clear the driveway. The guy on the ebike dident want to wait and proceeded to try to pass the car on the right as it turned into the driveway. Smack into the right front fender at full speed. Sounded like it hurt. Carelessness on both parts really, but the ebike was just asking for trouble seeing as how the cars signal was on well before he decided to pass on the inside.
 
E bikes are motorized and should be licensed just like all other motorized forms of transport. License, insurance and registration. They are a plague on any street and the operators think they are untouchable because of a lack of i.d . Im not for the gov making more money but i do appreciate accountability.
 
Smart kid you have cuz he didn't stop for you to kick the guys ***..

And good you got a chance to get it out of your system :rolleyes: better here than out on the street.. :happy3:
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