Cyclists! Why do they ride in the middle of the road?
Discussion
Didn't have the stamina to read the whole thread. At what point did the cycling thread version of Godwin's law happen - "cyclists don't pay 'road tax'"?
I've recently started commuting by bike. I get a lot of colleagues talking about the danger posed by cars and am able to respond that almost without exception the motorists that pass me are considerate and courteous, waiting to pass until they've got good visibility and don't pass too close.
(Just don't get me started on the d
heads in town that pull to the white line to try to stop me filtering ;-) )
I've recently started commuting by bike. I get a lot of colleagues talking about the danger posed by cars and am able to respond that almost without exception the motorists that pass me are considerate and courteous, waiting to pass until they've got good visibility and don't pass too close.
(Just don't get me started on the d
heads in town that pull to the white line to try to stop me filtering ;-) ) Jimshorts said:
...
(Just don't get me started on the dheads in town that pull to the white line to try to stop me filtering ;-) )
Actually, the other week I was in the car one morning. And I was just bimbling in heavy slow traffic, not really concentrating fully. And I found I'd drifted towards the kerb a bit too much (Just don't get me started on the d
heads in town that pull to the white line to try to stop me filtering ;-) ) 
No problem on this day. But it's more easily done than you think. 
Rich_W said:
Jimshorts said:
...
(Just don't get me started on the dheads in town that pull to the white line to try to stop me filtering ;-) )
Actually, the other week I was in the car one morning. And I was just bimbling in heavy slow traffic, not really concentrating fully. And I found I'd drifted towards the kerb a bit too much (Just don't get me started on the d
heads in town that pull to the white line to try to stop me filtering ;-) ) No problem on this day. But it's more easily done than you think. 
otolith said:
You are approaching a narrowing of the road between parked cars. You can see another car coming the other way. It might just be possible for both of you to squeeze through at once but it's risky, someone is likely to lose a wing mirror. You are entering the narrowing first.
Do you position your car as far over to the left as you can, to encourage the oncoming car to have a go, or do you place your car so it's clear that he needs to wait until you are clear?
Nobody?Do you position your car as far over to the left as you can, to encourage the oncoming car to have a go, or do you place your car so it's clear that he needs to wait until you are clear?
otolith said:
otolith said:
You are approaching a narrowing of the road between parked cars. You can see another car coming the other way. It might just be possible for both of you to squeeze through at once but it's risky, someone is likely to lose a wing mirror. You are entering the narrowing first.
Do you position your car as far over to the left as you can, to encourage the oncoming car to have a go, or do you place your car so it's clear that he needs to wait until you are clear?
Nobody?Do you position your car as far over to the left as you can, to encourage the oncoming car to have a go, or do you place your car so it's clear that he needs to wait until you are clear?
ambuletz said:
will_ said:
Cycle paths are a tick box exercise for counsels. They're rarely done with proper consultation. It is indeed a waste of our money.
Even if done properly, they aren't going to be suitable for all riders.
There's a little hill I have to go up/down whenever I cycle to the gym. Single lane in both directions. Solid white line so nobody is allowed to do overtakes. On the way there they've put a drop curb at the bottom of the hill and painted on a 'cycle lane' on the pavement. Completely unsuitable as the pavement isn't kept well. Tons of stealthy dips in the pavement on the other side of the hill so you're more likely to fall off your bike. I used it once when there was traffic and never again. I much prefer to cycle on the road, which is smooth and without pot holes. It's good enough that I can ride close to the curb and some vehicles and squeeze past without having to cross the line.Even if done properly, they aren't going to be suitable for all riders.
https://www.gov.uk/general-rules-all-drivers-rider...
73mark said:
Maybe if cyclist had to pay tax,mot,insurance,we drivers wouldn't mind where you ride.
And the money made off you could go to cleaning up the glass,debris,manhole covers,potholes,drains.
And the money made off you could go to cleaning up the glass,debris,manhole covers,potholes,drains.
73mark said:
*Corrected version:
Maybe if cyclistS had to pay tax,_MOT,_AND insurance, we drivers wouldn't mind where you ride.
And the money madeoffFROM you could go to cleaning up the glass,_debris,_manhole covers,_potholes,_AND_drains.
Nice try, brain death.Maybe if cyclistS had to pay tax,_MOT,_AND insurance, we drivers wouldn't mind where you ride.
And the money made
I'm a cyclist. I'm also a motorist. I pay: Income Tax, Council Tax, Value Added Tax, Vehicle Excise Duty, Motor Insurance, Life Insurance, Home Insurance (which, by the way, covers my liability to third parties to the tune of £10,000,000 meaning that I AM F
CKING INSURED while riding my bike, OK?) and the many and varied taxes applied by HM Treasury to the fuel I put in my car. The only thing in your list I don't pay for is an MOT, and I DON'T FCKING WELL NEED ONE YET!!! as my car is less than two years old. Oh, did I mention that I paid cash for that, a huge chunk of which was EVEN MORE FCKING TAX. In fact, I also paid VAT when I spunked a fking fortune on a lovely new bicycle, and the Chancellor takes his 20% every time I buy spares, or pay a shop to service the damned thing. In fact, I'll be putting another £70 or so into George Osborne's sky rocket on Saturday morning as I'm booked in to have two new tyres fitted to my car ;rolleyes:So as you can see, I've already paid AT LEAST my fair share toward the building, maintaining, and cleaning of my local, and national, road network. Now kindly explain to me why I should give a flying f
k about your blinkered view of the world, and why I should even consider it necessary to seek permission from the likes of YOU to ride my bicycle upon the very roads I ALREADY FCKING PAY FOR!!!!!!It has been the right of every cyclist to ride upon the CARRIAGEWAY of any road where cycling isn't expressly forbidden, since an act of Parliament in 1835 and a court case in 1879. Google "Taylor v Goodwin, 1879" - in fact, don't bother, you f
king Neanderthal, I've done it for you... https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=Taylor+v+Goodwin... ...and while you're about it, have a good long look at section 72 of the Highways Act, 1835. Cyclists are expressly forbidden from riding on the FOOTPATH as a result of that act, and the 1879 case law, and furthermore, under section 51 of the Road Traffic Offenders Act, 1988, offenders are liable to a fixed penalty of £30.Your biggest mistake of all? Presuming that cyclists and drivers belong to one mutually exclusive group or the other. You couldn't be more wrong. I'm a huge fan of cars, driving cars, and motorsport. I've ridden motorcycles, and driven every class of vehicle there is, all the way up to a bloody Chieftain tank. I love Vegans, but couldn't eat a whole one, and I've never been tempted to hug a tree or weave my own sandals. Which stereotype do you wish to apply to me today? More importantly, will I still conform to that stereotype tomorrow?
Now go away. It's way past your bedtime, and we don't want you all grouchy for playgroup tomorrow now, do we?
73mark said:
Engineer1 said:
If everything is taxed then cycling is taxed, and actually a lot of it is the bike and all the cycling gear will have had VAT paid on it. Aslo if you do tax on emmissions cycling would be in the £0 band anyway
Pedestrians aren't liable for VED either should they be taxed?
But you use the roads.Pedestrians aren't liable for VED either should they be taxed?
), pedestrians are using your precious "roads", unleash your intellect, and blow us away with your wisdom, by telling us how much you intend to charge these pedestrians for the chaos and congestion they cause at busy times on the "footpaths" that form part of these "roads" which you hold to be so sacred.Alternatively, you could just come back with another ill-thought-out "but, but, but... ...it's not faiiiiiiir!!!
"Tomalawk said:
I think we have to accept there's both mental cyclists and mental motorists.
After some hard thinking, I reckon the problem people have, but find it difficult to articulate, is not so much the actual act of slowing down or waiting behind someone but more the feeling that someone else thinks it's okay to make decisions for you by stopping you doing it with no indication or recognition. It's like the guy who sits in lane 2 750 yards from a merge so you don't "push in", or the person who just throws their car out in front of you to over take a lorry doing 50mph at 51 mph. In the same instance we don't mind letting people out of junctions, giving way in towns when you don't need to because generally we're nice people and we wave each other on and show thanks.
Ultimately we just need greater communication as unit of road users between each other to allow us the empathise with each others situations. We're in an age where we can send a 2 billion gigapixel camera into space to map out paths of the milkway to then reverse the trajectory of stars and work out how it all started, yet no ones put indicators, hazard lights, brake lights or any other form of signalling that could be powered by a 9v battery onto their push bike.
After a rare foray into the realms of sensible statements (first sentence), and logical considered observation (first 'full' paragraph), you once again fall into the "typed a response before I thought it through" trap. Yup! That silly bit in bold type! You're obviously not an electronics wizard, are you? The whole point of a bicycle is it's simplicity and light weight. As soon as you start strapping batteries and signalling lamps to it, you get into the realms of being unable to propel it forwards with the power of a single human being. So you find an alternative power source, possibly an internal combustion engine? Then you beef up the tubular frame, to carry the extra weight of the engine. Then you increase the size of the engine, to shift that extra weight. Now make some clothes out of old bits of cow you found lying around...After some hard thinking, I reckon the problem people have, but find it difficult to articulate, is not so much the actual act of slowing down or waiting behind someone but more the feeling that someone else thinks it's okay to make decisions for you by stopping you doing it with no indication or recognition. It's like the guy who sits in lane 2 750 yards from a merge so you don't "push in", or the person who just throws their car out in front of you to over take a lorry doing 50mph at 51 mph. In the same instance we don't mind letting people out of junctions, giving way in towns when you don't need to because generally we're nice people and we wave each other on and show thanks.
Ultimately we just need greater communication as unit of road users between each other to allow us the empathise with each others situations. We're in an age where we can send a 2 billion gigapixel camera into space to map out paths of the milkway to then reverse the trajectory of stars and work out how it all started, yet no ones put indicators, hazard lights, brake lights or any other form of signalling that could be powered by a 9v battery onto their push bike.
...Christ Almighty, Tomalawk! I think you've just 'invented' the "motor bicycle". Perhaps we can come up with a shorter, more 'snappy' name for it? How about "motorbike"???
I despair. Really I do... The one thing I don't quite get...
When overtaking a cyclist give them as much room as you would when overtaking a car.
Well usually when I'm overtaking a car I'm no more than 2-3ft mirror to mirror but if I were to be that close from their handlebar to mirror I'd be 'wrong' in the eyes of a cyclist. Some overtakes on narrow lanes car to car distance can be even less than that.
When overtaking a cyclist give them as much room as you would when overtaking a car.
Well usually when I'm overtaking a car I'm no more than 2-3ft mirror to mirror but if I were to be that close from their handlebar to mirror I'd be 'wrong' in the eyes of a cyclist. Some overtakes on narrow lanes car to car distance can be even less than that.
The closer you *have* to pass the more important it is to speed match. What a lot of motorists either forget or don't realise is the ruddy great vortex they tow with them. If you're getting a move on a cyclist will be pulled outwards and potentially into the path of a following car.
One buzz by an HGV and you'll completely get it
Fortunately the great majority of motorists are pretty good and the number of selfish dheads who have to pass at all costs is definitely getting lower.
Had my first encounter in months at the weekend, fat didn't have the balls to get out of his tin suit of armour though 
One buzz by an HGV and you'll completely get it
Fortunately the great majority of motorists are pretty good and the number of selfish d
heads who have to pass at all costs is definitely getting lower.Had my first encounter in months at the weekend, fat
didn't have the balls to get out of his tin suit of armour though Gassing Station | Pedal Powered | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff