Posted on 10/08/2015 3:55:57 PM PDT by nickcarraway
A video of a truck and a cyclist who caused gridlock in a southern Swedish town when they got stuck in stand-off with neither willing to budge has sparked a huge debate after going viral.
The David-versus-Goliath incident in the small community of Vättersnäs between Swedish towns Jönköping and Huskvarna happened last week, but only went viral on Wednesday after a video filmed by bus driver witness David Magui was shared online.
It all began when an articulated truck tried to pass at a narrow section of the road between the two towns, despite a bicycle coming from the other direction technically enjoying right of way.
Now, most cyclists would settle for angrily waving their fist at the driver and, depending on their mood, even muttering a few well-chosen insults under their breath.
Not this one. Instead, he refused to move and demanded that the truck get out of his way, despite the driver vocally arguing that his articulated vehicle was unable to reverse.
"The cyclist yelled and shouted at the truck driver that he should move. (…) The cyclist refused [to move] and said that he had right on his side," Magui told the GT tabloid when he described the incident.
The incident, which lasted more than 10 minutes, caused all traffic on the road to grind to a halt, with several dozen cars and a bus queuing up behind the two stubborn adversaries.
It did not end until a student who was on his way to a university exam ran out of patience and forcibly grabbed hold of the bike and moved it to the side of the road.
The stand-off sparked a massive debate on Wednesday about the law-abiding Swedes' penchant for sticking to the rules at all costs, with some praising the cyclist for standing up for himself.
"Respect, hats off to the cyclist," commented one person on Twitter. But others had a very different view with one calling him the "querulant of the century", and another added "Sweden's most hated biker now".
Jönköping was not one of 15 other Swedish towns and cities that closed off streets during European Mobility Week, an annual sustainable transport campaign, last month.
The high-profile initiative saw cars banned from large parts of Stockholm city centre as the Swedish capital for the first time took part in the Europe-wide initiative.
“It all began when an articulated truck...”
I like a well-spoken truck.
Bike geeks are insane.
Never bring a bike to a truck fight!
‘Bike geeks are insane.’
They ARE! I live on an Ironman race route. All spring and summer we have to put up with those spandexed doofuses hogging the country roads.
And when the race is underway I cannot get to work - all of the roads I need to use are CLOSED; you can’t get there from here.
They’ve gotten that way. I rode, raced, and was in the bike business from the mid 70’s until the mid 90’s... my approach was to ride so cars didn’t have to slow down to get around me, or even think of me.
I’ve also had 3 cycling friends put in the ground by idiots, and it wasn’t their fault.
Mooooslim immigrant/invader??
Sweden? I just assumed this took place in California.
Hey check our cool name brand bicycle gear!
The 95% give the rest of us a bad name.
True.
But there are idiots who need their CDLs revoked and if the facts are as reported this was one.
A better solution for the bystander would have been to summons traffic enforcement to write the brain dead trucker a ticket so that his employer would know to fire him. In the medium and long run that makes the road safer.
Without even reading the artickle, or the thread... I’ll bet he’s a “squish!”
.
Time to send all cyclists to the hamburger factory.
.
I don’t know what a CDL is.
I’ll have no truck with an inarticulate truck.
Dang, some people never stop seeing Muslims under their beds.
All the bike geeks I've ever seen are white males.
conceal drivers licence
They're just lucky it wasn't a riding lawnmower.
I don’t get it.
Oh. . .you are bad. . . confusing the poor guy. . .funny, though.
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