Witnessed a cyclist crash and the blame innocent car driver,

[Perec]

Passing the BBC studio in Nottingham today, I saw a cyclist cut in front of a car and immediately fall on his arse in the middle of a junction. The car driver was not responsible in any way, but had to take evasive action. Then, much to my surprise, the cyclist got up and started giving the driver a bking.

Having seen the whole thing I felt obliged to offer my number to the car driver in case any sort of claim was made, but by the time I had pulled over and walked back the cyclist and car driver had gone their separate ways.

I am both a cyclist (occasional) and a car driver and am aware that sometimes cyclists have a rough time. But I fear that much of the time cyclists bring problems upon themselves and then look for someone else to blame.

[evo4a]

Last week I saw a cyclist go through a red light over a narrow bridge and then confront the oncoming driver.
Why the fk do ALL cyclists go through red lights, boils my piss.
Old ladies, racers, they all do it.....

[nammynake]

evo4a said:

Why the fk do ALL cyclists go through red lights, boils my piss.
Old ladies, racers, they all do it.....

ALL cyclists?

[Jimbo.]

nammynake said:

ALL cyclists?

Obvious troll is obvious.

[Gizmoish]

Jimbo. said:

nammynake said:

ALL cyclists?

Obvious troll is obvious.

Why do these threads get moved to PP? Should just close them.

[Perec]

Gizmoish said:

Why do these threads get moved to PP? Should just close them.

It didn't get moved here, I put it here in the first place. I am not sure where else you think it should have gone, given that it was about a cyclist.

As for your suggestion that any negative threads about cyclists should be closed, that smacks of the very problem underlying the situation I described in my original post. There seems to be a rapidly growing number of cyclists who believe that their actions are beyond reproach and with a self-righteous attitude to their use of the road.

I first experienced arrogant cycling amongst the cycling clubs that frequent the area where I live. They will happily bimble about in a peloton with no regard whatsoever for other road users. Any attempt to alert them to one's presence is often greeted with a middle finger or collective sneers. However in the past five years this arrogance has spread to commuting cyclists and it is a worrying trend.

I can see parallels between the behaviour of arrogant cyclists and ramblers. It is the shared belief that their chosen path is the only one, their right to pursue it is divine and that everyone else is the problem. At the risk of stretching a theory too far I would be unsurprised to discover a distinct party political bias amongst our more problematic bike riders.

I should state my credentials here. I drive a lot, but I also have a garage full of bikes from a cross country MTB, to a jump bike to Spec Allez instrument of aerobic torture. My kids and wife also own an assortment of bikes that see regular use. I want cyclists to be safe. But what I don't want is cycling militants behaving irresponsibly on our roads, trying to provoke confrontations or worst of all blaming others when they have an accident. I am quite happy if that particular breed of cyclist becomes mangled under the heavy wheels of whichever motorised vehicle it chooses to take on.

[Gizmoish]

TL;DR.

I wasn't even referring to your post, I was referring to the "all cyclists" reply.

[Vocal Minority]

nammynake said:

evo4a said:

Why the fk do ALL cyclists go through red lights, boils my piss.
Old ladies, racers, they all do it.....

ALL cyclists?

I don't - therefore it can't possibly be ALL. Obvious troll now has no credibility - he is wrong on this, what else could he be wrong on?

OP - bear in mind the cyclist was probably running on adrenaline having just hit the deck on a busy road. I have done it before on bikes and in the car when I have had a bit of a rant and rave, only for the red mist to subside and for me to realise I had been a bit of a dick-head.

Regretable, but it happens. I expect if they had cleared off quite quickly (as you implied), everyone calmed down and headed off on their own way.