With the right to cycle comes a responsibility

Swanston st, trams, people getting on trams, me getting on tram.

Idiot cyclist.

I was walking across from the pavement towards the door and there is a cyclist trying to wend his way through about 20 - 30 people so he could be on his way. He needed to put the brakes on so he didn't crash straight into me and gave me a glare. I yelled at him (in my very well adjusted and non-agressive fashion) that he needed to stop at a tram. His response over his shoulder 'I'm a cyclist!'

Reponses like that infuriate me. I yelled something back at him but he was already off . If we, as cyclists, expect respect on the roads at the same level as vehicles (which we are by law) then we need to obey the same rules. Of course many rules can be bent, everyone does it. But blatantly trying to sneak past a tram on the left, slightly after peak hour with a large amount of people trying to get off isn't one of them! I have no issue with people gently coasting past the tram so they can get ready for the green light, but wait until the doors are closed or people seem to have finished boarding.

Things like this just give cyclists a bad name and are plain wrong. Its just as dangerous as a car doing it, worse in some senses as you expect there to be some sort of acknowledgment between pedestrians and cyclists that they are both fairly exposed to moving vehicles.

End rant.