For all you cyclist haters...
Discussion
stop running people over!
I was listening to a science podcast and they were talking about a study that was done which showed that a cyclist wearing a helmet/ other protective gear is a few times more likely to be knocked off the bike by a driver than someone with no safety gear.
They said the study showed this was due to drivers getting much closer / giving less room to people with helmets rather than the cyclists with helmets being cocks.
Having read peoples attitudes on here I wouldn't be surprised if a number of people see a lycra clad bicyclist and do something silly.
I'm not pro or anti cycling I do both and usually wear a helmet. I have been knocked off once while wearing a helmet and never without one
I was listening to a science podcast and they were talking about a study that was done which showed that a cyclist wearing a helmet/ other protective gear is a few times more likely to be knocked off the bike by a driver than someone with no safety gear.
They said the study showed this was due to drivers getting much closer / giving less room to people with helmets rather than the cyclists with helmets being cocks.
Having read peoples attitudes on here I wouldn't be surprised if a number of people see a lycra clad bicyclist and do something silly.
I'm not pro or anti cycling I do both and usually wear a helmet. I have been knocked off once while wearing a helmet and never without one
I've not seen the study you mention but in my experience it's the ones with no helmet/safety gear who are far more likely not to be paying attention to their surroundings so I find their conclusions suprising.
To be honest if all road users regardless of their chosen method of transport just stopped b
hing at each other and instead behaved responsibly and respected others then we'd all be a darn sight better off. Unfortunately the form book shows that a dick is a dick regardless
To be honest if all road users regardless of their chosen method of transport just stopped b
hing at each other and instead behaved responsibly and respected others then we'd all be a darn sight better off. Unfortunately the form book shows that a dick is a dick regardlessAndyDRZ said:
Are you sure the results are not skewed because those that do 100000 miles a year on their bikes tend to wear helmets and those that do 12 miles a year down a towpath don't tend to wear helmets?
I had thought this. They did not mention how they worked out the stats. Would be useful if they did it accidents per mile rather than just number of accidents.RB Will said:
stop running people over!
I was listening to a science podcast and they were talking about a study that was done which showed that a cyclist wearing a helmet/ other protective gear is a few times more likely to be knocked off the bike by a driver than someone with no safety gear.
They said the study showed this was due to drivers getting much closer / giving less room to people with helmets rather than the cyclists with helmets being cocks.
Having read peoples attitudes on here I wouldn't be surprised if a number of people see a lycra clad bicyclist and do something silly.
I'm not pro or anti cycling I do both and usually wear a helmet. I have been knocked off once while wearing a helmet and never without one
Thats probably because the helmet clad cyclist is even more arogant and stupid in the road than a non helemet wearing one, taking more chances and cutting up more cars cos they feel safer, i heard that on the radio as well.I was listening to a science podcast and they were talking about a study that was done which showed that a cyclist wearing a helmet/ other protective gear is a few times more likely to be knocked off the bike by a driver than someone with no safety gear.
They said the study showed this was due to drivers getting much closer / giving less room to people with helmets rather than the cyclists with helmets being cocks.
Having read peoples attitudes on here I wouldn't be surprised if a number of people see a lycra clad bicyclist and do something silly.
I'm not pro or anti cycling I do both and usually wear a helmet. I have been knocked off once while wearing a helmet and never without one
I'm not "anti-cyclist" at all. You see a lot of good ones and a few bad ones (same with drivers). The one I saw this morning had a death wish!
I set off from my house on the main road, he came barreling out of a side street, didn't look or slow down. I had to brake quite hard. Anyway, he took a different route to me and I met him again at some traffic lights, I was a few cars back.
He came shooting up the inside at the same speed, straight through the red lights, in front of vehicles coming the other way through the lights. Que the driver hitting the brakes and beeping his horn.
Funnily enough, this set of lights is directly opposite a Police Station. I just wish he had been seen.
Not once did he alter his speed, mad man!
Cool story eh?
I set off from my house on the main road, he came barreling out of a side street, didn't look or slow down. I had to brake quite hard. Anyway, he took a different route to me and I met him again at some traffic lights, I was a few cars back.
He came shooting up the inside at the same speed, straight through the red lights, in front of vehicles coming the other way through the lights. Que the driver hitting the brakes and beeping his horn.
Funnily enough, this set of lights is directly opposite a Police Station. I just wish he had been seen.
Not once did he alter his speed, mad man!
Cool story eh?
NHK244V said:
Thats probably because the helmet clad cyclist is even more arogant and stupid in the road than a non helemet wearing one, taking more chances and cutting up more cars cos they feel safer, i heard that on the radio as well.
Guessing a different study. Mine was from a podcast from 2006. They specifically said the collisions were caused from cars passing closer to helmet wearers rather than the cyclist being a bellend.RB Will said:
NHK244V said:
Thats probably because the helmet clad cyclist is even more arogant and stupid in the road than a non helemet wearing one, taking more chances and cutting up more cars cos they feel safer, i heard that on the radio as well.
Guessing a different study. Mine was from a podcast from 2006. They specifically said the collisions were caused from cars passing closer to helmet wearers rather than the cyclist being a bellend.Can we have a link to this please. I'm interested in why safer cyclists are at higher risk. It's similar with bikes. When I was into streetfighters, stripped back bikes, noisy exhaust and airbrushed helmet; no cars came near me. When I was in high viz and riding a fully faired bright green bike wearing a white helmet I was SMIDSY'd.
Does the fact I looked safer meant the drivers payed less attention?
Nearly got hit off my cycle this morning by a dozy van driver who looked but didn't see.
Does the fact I looked safer meant the drivers payed less attention?
Nearly got hit off my cycle this morning by a dozy van driver who looked but didn't see.
Liquid Knight said:
Can we have a link to this please. I'm interested in why safer cyclists are at higher risk. It's similar with bikes. When I was into streetfighters, stripped back bikes, noisy exhaust and airbrushed helmet; no cars came near me. When I was in high viz and riding a fully faired bright green bike wearing a white helmet I was SMIDSY'd.
Does the fact I looked safer meant the drivers payed less attention?
Nearly got hit off my cycle this morning by a dozy van driver who looked but didn't see.
Regarding your motobikes surely the noisy exhaust was the key difference? You don't have to check your blind spot to hear a noisy bike. Not excusing the crap drivers of course, just an explanation.Does the fact I looked safer meant the drivers payed less attention?
Nearly got hit off my cycle this morning by a dozy van driver who looked but didn't see.
Personally I always give a cyclist as much room as is practical and if I can't get by with out giving enough then I wait. From what I've seen the less safety councious amongst them seem to be the ones who use more of the room IYKWIM
I think drivers see those on a bike with no safety gear as perhaps a bit of a liability, someone who has just thrown their leg over a bike they found in the shed and perhaps see the ones with full gear on as "pros", almost official looking, experienced and able to cope with a bit more, which is in part, possibly true but even so, nobody wants a two tonne metal object passing close at high speed, it isnt nice, I reckon the drivers that do that would go into shock if a cyclist brushed them at speed if they for some inexplicable reason were not in their car,
Perhaps if a driver were stood there and a 230 lb cyclist(me), on a 20 lb bike with another 20 lbs of associated laptop and baggage went past at say 25 mph a foot from them they would object as thats a lot of kinetic energy but not as much as a small car at half the speed, I suspect 270 lbs of two wheeler could kill someone very easily.
Perhaps if a driver were stood there and a 230 lb cyclist(me), on a 20 lb bike with another 20 lbs of associated laptop and baggage went past at say 25 mph a foot from them they would object as thats a lot of kinetic energy but not as much as a small car at half the speed, I suspect 270 lbs of two wheeler could kill someone very easily.
RB Will said:
stop running people over!
I was listening to a science podcast and they were talking about a study that was done which showed that a cyclist wearing a helmet/ other protective gear is a few times more likely to be knocked off the bike by a driver than someone with no safety gear.
They said the study showed this was due to drivers getting much closer / giving less room to people with helmets rather than the cyclists with helmets being cocks.
Having read peoples attitudes on here I wouldn't be surprised if a number of people see a lycra clad bicyclist and do something silly.
I'm not pro or anti cycling I do both and usually wear a helmet. I have been knocked off once while wearing a helmet and never without one
obey the high way codeI was listening to a science podcast and they were talking about a study that was done which showed that a cyclist wearing a helmet/ other protective gear is a few times more likely to be knocked off the bike by a driver than someone with no safety gear.
They said the study showed this was due to drivers getting much closer / giving less room to people with helmets rather than the cyclists with helmets being cocks.
Having read peoples attitudes on here I wouldn't be surprised if a number of people see a lycra clad bicyclist and do something silly.
I'm not pro or anti cycling I do both and usually wear a helmet. I have been knocked off once while wearing a helmet and never without one
and GTF out of my way
I have another theory. That it was a survey of cyclist opinions, and the type of cyclist most likely to get upset about car drivers, and therefore to exaggerate the danger for effect are the helmet wearing lycra ones.
I've had a few cyclist shake their fists at me. Can't remember a normal looking woman or chap without a helmet on a sunday cycle ever getting upset with me.
I had stopped once on a country road in a line of cars waiting for a tractor with a hay load to reverse into a field. In my rear view mirror I saw a lycra clad cyclist pull out of a side road. He rode up the side of my car and because he couldn't pass the car in front of me, and obvious didn't want to take his feet out of the clips rested his knee into the side of my car.
I wound the window down and said 'could you not do that please as the car is fiberglass'. Without a seconds hesitation he told me that I was responsible for nearly knocking him off the bike a few miles back. This was rubbish as he pulled from a side road onto the main road I had been on for the last few miles. I was driving a pretty distinctive car.
Later I thought the speed with which he had replied likely meant he had that as a retort for almost anything. I can imagine what he'd put on a survey.
I've had a few cyclist shake their fists at me. Can't remember a normal looking woman or chap without a helmet on a sunday cycle ever getting upset with me.
I had stopped once on a country road in a line of cars waiting for a tractor with a hay load to reverse into a field. In my rear view mirror I saw a lycra clad cyclist pull out of a side road. He rode up the side of my car and because he couldn't pass the car in front of me, and obvious didn't want to take his feet out of the clips rested his knee into the side of my car.
I wound the window down and said 'could you not do that please as the car is fiberglass'. Without a seconds hesitation he told me that I was responsible for nearly knocking him off the bike a few miles back. This was rubbish as he pulled from a side road onto the main road I had been on for the last few miles. I was driving a pretty distinctive car.
Later I thought the speed with which he had replied likely meant he had that as a retort for almost anything. I can imagine what he'd put on a survey.
NHK244V said:
Thats probably because the helmet clad cyclist is even more arogant and stupid in the road than a non helemet wearing one, taking more chances and cutting up more cars cos they feel safer, i heard that on the radio as well.
If people feel safer and decide act like prats simply because they have a plastic helmet on when perched on top of a bicycle, I dread to think what being clad in 2 tons of metal armed with half a dozen airbags does to them in a car. 
samwilliams said:
It sounds like this study: http://drianwalker.com/overtaking/
Sounds like it.Safest thing to do, according to the stats, is wear a long wig.
julian64 said:
I have another theory. That it was a survey of cyclist opinions, and the type of cyclist most likely to get upset about car drivers, and therefore to exaggerate the danger for effect are the helmet wearing lycra ones.
Well if you read the link, you'll find your theory is bks.http://drianwalker.com/overtaking/
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