Anti-cyclist comments
Discussion
Interestingly, in my limited few months of cycling, I've actually been quite impressed by people's attitudes towards me!
On quite a few occasions cars will let me out, on others down difficult roads they've stayed behind for quite a long time and then when I'ev been able to I've pulled right in and they've gone past - I always give a thank you and quite a few times they say thank you back.
It's totally at odds to what I expected, to be frank. I'm sure I probably pee a few people off because some do come past a little close. I've only been properly riding a few months though, as I say, so perhaps my opinion will change!
On quite a few occasions cars will let me out, on others down difficult roads they've stayed behind for quite a long time and then when I'ev been able to I've pulled right in and they've gone past - I always give a thank you and quite a few times they say thank you back.
It's totally at odds to what I expected, to be frank. I'm sure I probably pee a few people off because some do come past a little close. I've only been properly riding a few months though, as I say, so perhaps my opinion will change!
I witnessed a pretty amazing incident on Sunday. I was walking along the pavement watching some cyclists who were on a charity ride come along the road. There were lots of them, but quite spread out. A guy in a Ford Focus attempted to overtake a group of three slow cyclists right at the point where the road narrowed and had a traffic island. Because of the lack of room, he clipped the traffic island with his font right wheel at about 30mph, and punctured his tyre which deflated immediately.
He pulled to the side of the road, got out, looked at his tyre and shouted up the road at the cyclists (who were completely oblivious to what this idiot had just done): "f
kING wkERS!"
Some people just can't see beyond the end of their bonnets, and this is a major cause of frustration for drivers... their own stupidity.
He pulled to the side of the road, got out, looked at his tyre and shouted up the road at the cyclists (who were completely oblivious to what this idiot had just done): "f
kING wkERS!"Some people just can't see beyond the end of their bonnets, and this is a major cause of frustration for drivers... their own stupidity.
swerni said:
Guess I made an assumption that I would be safe in a cycle lane,that was a mistake.
I made much the same assumption this morning going up the A24. A truck had stopped so as not to block the exit from a side road to our left. All well and good until some numpty in a delivery van coming the other way decides to pull straight across in front of us without looking.Emergency stops from 20mph with laptop and everything else in panniers make for an interesting experience! All in all, I was pretty chuffed to stay on, get the back wheel back in line and not hit anything.
Oh well. It's all good fun until it hurts, I suppose! I'm not really sure what else there is to do in situations like that, other than slow your riding down so much that it makes it impossible to cycle to work in the first place.
F i F said:
will_ said:
You may not care too much, but I'm rather fed up of having to defend myself against rabid anti-cyclists spitting the "you all run red lights" bile, even though I don't do it.
If you're that desperate not to wait, get off and walk your bike through. Or pedal faster!
Equally I'm rather fed up of rabid "everybody overtakes too close and doesn't give us enough room" bile when I do give people the same room I would give a car. (As said before position so if they suddenly wobbled fell onto the road sideways then wouldn't run over their head.)If you're that desperate not to wait, get off and walk your bike through. Or pedal faster!
will_ said:
F i F said:
will_ said:
You may not care too much, but I'm rather fed up of having to defend myself against rabid anti-cyclists spitting the "you all run red lights" bile, even though I don't do it.
If you're that desperate not to wait, get off and walk your bike through. Or pedal faster!
Equally I'm rather fed up of rabid "everybody overtakes too close and doesn't give us enough room" bile when I do give people the same room I would give a car. (As said before position so if they suddenly wobbled fell onto the road sideways then wouldn't run over their head.)If you're that desperate not to wait, get off and walk your bike through. Or pedal faster!
Just as it isn't the default position that all cyclists run red lights, because clearly they don't.
On both sides a "few" spoil it for the rest imho. How anyone personally defines the subset "few" varies according to their individual experiences, which may or may not be representative.
swerni said:
Guess I made an assumption that I would be safe in a cycle lane,that was a mistake.
sorry, that's a bit cynical, sure it must've shaken you a bit. I would, however, like to set some cycle 'facility' planners a challenge: make them ride their own paths, racing against a fat jogger. If they fail to beat the jogger and survive, which is a tall order on some, prison for 20 years
.Anyway, head down to http://www.warringtoncyclecampaign.co.uk/ if you feel like a laugh. To be fair newer ones are a lot better than the joke they used to be.
F i F said:
When I overtake I give people the same room I would give a car. (As said before position so if they suddenly wobbled fell onto the road sideways then wouldn't run over their head.)
So do most people on this thread I imagine. Don't forget we all drive too. That doesn't stop us being in a minority (or at best a depressingly marginal majority).The fact remains that you can greatly reduce the risks of any other type of accident - position yourself correctly, spot the numpties about to pull out, don't filter in silly places and so on - but the one thing you can't prevent is someone overtaking towards a blind bend, a width restriction or an oncoming car. I think more often than not its a genuine mistake rather than any sort of aggression or malice (although you do get that too), but people frequently fail to think about the space needed to safely get past a bike and it can be extremely dangerous.
My frustration is - like you apparently - I have the sense to wait for a reasonable place to overtake a slower vehicle when I'm in the car, whether it's a cyclist, a tractor or another car. If I can do it why can't they? When I'm out for a hoon in the TVR 99% of vehicles on the road represent an obstruction to me in the same way that cyclists sometimes do to drivers, but I don't start squeezing past in moronic locations.
I think what doesn't help either is that cars don't often appreciate how fast a cyclist can go. Anything other than an incline for me and I'm doing 20-25mph. That's only 5mph under the speedlimit. A bit of a downward hill and I'm breaking the speed limit. They see a cyclist, however, and think they must be faster and overtake instantly.
TonyHetherington said:
I think what doesn't help either is that cars don't often appreciate how fast a cyclist can go. Anything other than an incline for me and I'm doing 20-25mph. That's only 5mph under the speedlimit. A bit of a downward hill and I'm breaking the speed limit. They see a cyclist, however, and think they must be faster and overtake instantly.
This is true. A lot of car drivers treat cyclists like stationary objects that can be driven around like bollards, but even a slow moving cyclist can catch un-thinking drivers out. It's not difficult, it just requires some thought.TonyHetherington said:
I think what doesn't help either is that cars don't often appreciate how fast a cyclist can go. Anything other than an incline for me and I'm doing 20-25mph. That's only 5mph under the speedlimit. A bit of a downward hill and I'm breaking the speed limit. They see a cyclist, however, and think they must be faster and overtake instantly.
20-25 avarage is good, either I'm very unfit or your a pro!
I live on Box Hill and I do have a hatred towards certain cyclists who insist on cycling 3 and sometimes 4 a breast. To the point where I have to be close if I want to overtake!
There are the ones who will wave me past Shen their visibilty is better than mine... Window down and a pleasant thanks is always waved. But a lot who come up to Box hill are arrogant idiots who seem to think they own the road.
I used to be very in to my cycling and I'm looking to get back in to it... But I will respect cars when I'm on the road and make sure they can get past easily when I'm way below the speed limit.
I was once driving up Box Hill road when 4 cyclist are coming towards me all next to eachother. 1 was straying into my lane on a narrow road. I had to basically stop and the guy saw me at the last minute and swerved nearly causing them all to crash. Now if he had of scratched all down the side of my car causing ££££'s of damage and himself probably being seriously injured who would of paid!?
There are the ones who will wave me past Shen their visibilty is better than mine... Window down and a pleasant thanks is always waved. But a lot who come up to Box hill are arrogant idiots who seem to think they own the road.
I used to be very in to my cycling and I'm looking to get back in to it... But I will respect cars when I'm on the road and make sure they can get past easily when I'm way below the speed limit.
I was once driving up Box Hill road when 4 cyclist are coming towards me all next to eachother. 1 was straying into my lane on a narrow road. I had to basically stop and the guy saw me at the last minute and swerved nearly causing them all to crash. Now if he had of scratched all down the side of my car causing ££££'s of damage and himself probably being seriously injured who would of paid!?
frontbum said:
SteveS Cup said:
I live on Box Hill and I do have a hatred towards certain cyclists who insist on cycling 3 and sometimes 4 a breast. To the point where I have to be close if I want to overtake!
Surely only the same as overtaking a tractor or similar? Probably moving faster too 
option click said:
frontbum said:
SteveS Cup said:
I live on Box Hill and I do have a hatred towards certain cyclists who insist on cycling 3 and sometimes 4 a breast. To the point where I have to be close if I want to overtake!
Surely only the same as overtaking a tractor or similar? Probably moving faster too frontbum said:
SteveS Cup said:
I live on Box Hill and I do have a hatred towards certain cyclists who insist on cycling 3 and sometimes 4 a breast. To the point where I have to be close if I want to overtake!
Surely only the same as overtaking a tractor or similar? Probably moving faster too option click said:
Not if its Zig Zag road! There's barely enough room for two cars to pass each other. Very selfish of people to ride more than single file on these narrow roads, regardless of 'rights' set down in the highway code.
So there's barely enough room for 2 cars to pass each other on a road with what sounds like lots of blind bends, and you want cyclists to ride single file presumably so you can squeeze past when there is oncoming traffic?
If you're not suggesting you'd squeeze past against oncoming traffic, then there should be room to get fully on the other side of the road, like a normal overtake, so single file or not shouldn't matter.
Can I complain about all the cars that don't pull out of my way when I'm cycling through town to work? After all, I'm going faster than them and they could stay further left. Or do I just accept delays as part of sharing busy roads on a small, overpopulated (in the S and SE especially) island?
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