Arrogant cyclists

Norman_Castle

IMO the roads arent designed to cater for Motor vechiles and Bicycles together, and until they are i personally think cars should stick to the roads and Bikes to the cycle tracks.Convenient, for motorists.

That said, i always give a wide berth to any bike i pass, even if they are cycling in the middle of the road for no apparent reason.Avoiding pot holes/car doors?. Right turn ahead?. Or just not in the gutter.

We all know there are thousands of idiot drivers on the roads that probably shouldnt be, but there are also lots of idiot bike users aswell, and the arrogance of some of them seems to be growing. After dealing with the "thousands of idiot drivers" cyclists will become defensive.

Try cycling on the road. Then you will understand the problems for cyclists.

Gordon_Hose

Catherine_Johnson wrote: »

Ok.....

My son and I were out cycling today and very nearly got 'wiped out by a pleb' in a car who decided to pull out right in front of us.

He (the car driver) decided he wasn't going to stop at the junction and plow through the cyclists (my son and I) who were riding along the road.

I see that sort of behavior multiple times a day.

Maybe we should ALL have more consideration for other people? Why do we all seem to leave our brains behind as soon as we get behind the wheel of a car or get on a bike?

Just telling a relevant story. No need for the sarcasm. Jeez.

Personally I'm very careful around cyclists if I'm in my car. But walking through London I see many more incidents and close calls caused by cyclists that I do by cars.

Just saying.

Skinto_7

Norman_Castle wrote: »

IMO the roads arent designed to cater for Motor vechiles and Bicycles together, and until they are i personally think cars should stick to the roads and Bikes to the cycle tracks.Convenient, for motorists.

That said, i always give a wide berth to any bike i pass, even if they are cycling in the middle of the road for no apparent reason.Avoiding pot holes/car doors?. Right turn ahead?. Or just not in the gutter.

We all know there are thousands of idiot drivers on the roads that probably shouldnt be, but there are also lots of idiot bike users aswell, and the arrogance of some of them seems to be growing. After dealing with the "thousands of idiot drivers" cyclists will become defensive.

Try cycling on the road. Then you will understand the problems for cyclists.

Norman,

I do understand the problems for cyclists, however the facts are that the current traffic network is not designed to safely accomodate cyclists and motorists together.

As convienant as this may be for motorists, its the way it is, and as much i would be fully behind a total overhaul of the roads newtwork to add seperate cycle lanes running parallel to all roads, this is not going to happen anytime soon.

I dont condone motorisits who endanger people cycling on the road, however dont think it hard to see why many motorists get a bit pee'd off with cyclists on the road

ASF2012

It is remarkable how few people in this country have heard of Bikeability, and especially the ones who like posting about annoying cyclists! Bikeability is the DfT-sponsored replacement for the old cycling proficiency and it's aimed at adults as well as children. It teaches riding a bike in a similar way to riding a motorcycle and it teaches cyclists that it is perfectly acceptable to take up the 'primary position' (i.e. cycling in the middle of the lane) as long as the cyclist is able to ride at the same speed as the rest of the traffic - and most fit cyclists these days on a decent bike can do that. So the question is why is it annoying to some motorists if the cyclist is in the 'middle of the road' and the answer is that it is down to an intolerant perspective! In general, motorists in the UK drive too fast, that's why we have so many speed cameras - in Oxfordshire they experimented with turning speed cameras off and slowly speeds (and accidents) increased so that the police decided they had to be turned back on. What is the problem with driving at 30mph behind a cyclist/s also doing 30mph?
It is such a treat cycling in mainland Europe where, almost without exception, people treat each other as human beings rather than something irritating and so car drivers give cyclists plenty of room and are prepared to wait without wrath. In fact, a short wait for another road user usually adds very little to overall journey times. It's all in the perspective and what an unpleasant, intolerant, rushed lot Brits can be!
As for red light jumpers, well, there is no excuse and either they are bloody minded just as some motorists are, or they think it will keep them safer by getting them out of the way of the speeding hoards who like to drive as fast as possible from one set of traffic lights to another, maybe they are right.

Skinto_7

ASF2012 wrote: »

and it teaches cyclists that it is perfectly acceptable to take up the 'primary position' (i.e. cycling in the middle of the lane) as long as the cyclist is able to ride at the same speed as the rest of the traffic - and most fit cyclists these days on a decent bike can do that. .

I havent seen many cyclists hitting 60mph on the roads round about me, where many still think they can take primary position 40mph below the speed limit.

ASF2012 wrote: »

As for red light jumpers, well, there is no excuse and either they are bloody minded just as some motorists are, or they think it will keep them safer by getting them out of the way of the speeding hoards who like to drive as fast as possible from one set of traffic lights to another, maybe they are right.

Loving your impartiality here, even when trying to have a go at cyclists breaking the law, you cant quite manage it without putting the blame of this at the door of motorists.

Bongles

Skinto_7 wrote: »

however dont think it hard to see why many motorists get a bit pee'd off with cyclists on the road

Have I read that right? Are you saying that you can understand why people who drive might be annoyed that there are people who cycle?

I don't mean cyclists doing anything dangerous or selfish - just using the road. It sounds like you're saying you can see how the simple fact that there are such things as cyclists is annoying to people driving. I can see no justification for that at all, but perhaps I've misunderstood you?

Idiophreak

lcharm wrote: »

You can't compare pedestrians to cyclists that have to a cyclist that are required to use the same roads that motor vehicles cycle on! Pedestrians should only ever be on a road to cross it!.

Really? Because I run along a number of roads several times a week. How much road tax do you think I should pay? Where should I display my registration number?

lcharm wrote: »

Secondly my experience as a driver just sitting at a traffic light however has always been that there is an unsatisfactory percentage of cyclists (i'd say 1 in 5 from my own experience) that think it's okay if not 'their right' to jump a red light whereas I rarely encounter a driver who blatantly jumps a red (i.e. the light has been red for a period of time and not just turned red).

Have you given much consideration to why they jump the lights? A lot of the time, it's just to save time - I agree...and I in no way condone this behaviour. But some of the time, it's just to set off before the cars behind them, to get away more safely. I've done this a couple of times and had car drivers blast their horn, shake their fist and all the rest of it at me as they go past...and I just think "what are you angry about?"...

warehouse wrote: »

Why don't you sort out the cyclists who are giving you all a bad reputation?

Because a lot of the time, they're doing nothing wrong. Look at the OP, for instance. There's a bunch of cyclists "giving the rest a bad reputation" by cycling side by side....but, as is said above, aardvark should be allowing that much space to safely pass, anyway...So why would we start lecturing the cyclists about them giving the rest of us a bad name?

The issue is, that all too much of the time, drivers just don't think about why cyclists behave the way they do.

"They ride in the middle of the road!" - so that people won't try and squeeze past and force them off the road. Or to improve their visibility coming into a corner.
"They weave all over the place!" - to avoid the potholes that would throw them under the front of your car.
"They cycle on the road, right next to a cycle path!" - a cycle path which is poorly maintained and stops every 200 yards to give way to side roads which, when cycling on the road, have to give way to you...

If people just tried a little empathy, motorists and cyclists would get much less stressed with each other.

ASF2012

Speed limits are just that - limits. Not the speed at which you should travel or expect to travel. Speed limits just indicate what is judged to be safe on that particular bit of road in good conditions. Speed should be adjusted to take into account prevailing conditions around you - weather, traffic density etc

Skinto_7

Bongles wrote: »

Have I read that right? Are you saying that you can understand why people who drive might be annoyed that there are people who cycle?

I don't mean cyclists doing anything dangerous or selfish - just using the road. It sounds like you're saying you can see how the simple fact that there are such things as cyclists is annoying to people driving. I can see no justification for that at all, but perhaps I've misunderstood you?

Bongles,

Apologies, that was not what i was getting at, i should have extended it to say annoyed with cyclists who hog the middle of the road despite being 40mph under the recomended speed limit, run red lights etc.

I dont mean it to sound like im having a go at cyclists, i love going out on my bike, however when i do, i stick to the cycle paths which were designed to accomodate me and not cause any problems for other users.

Instead of motorists spending their time arguing with each other about who is worse than who, perhaps we should spend more time fighting to get our roads improved to a state where they can safely accomodate cyclists and motorists together!!

Idiophreak

ASF2012 wrote: »

So the question is why is it annoying to some motorists if the cyclist is in the 'middle of the road' and the answer is that it is down to an intolerant perspective!

Trying to be as optimistic as I can, I'm not sure it's intolerance, as such, it's just a lack of thinking.

I find quite often people overtaking me for no good reason...I'm keeping up with the flow of traffic, minding my own business, but I'm still being overtaken...And I really think it's just people see a cyclist and think "right...when can I overtake them?" the question "do I need to overtake them" doesn't even dawn on them...

So a lot of times, I'll be coasting up to the back of a queue of traffic and people will shoot past then slam on the brakes and I just think "would you overtake a car like that?"...of course they wouldn't, it's just ridiculous behaviour...but I really don't believe they're people trying to be vindictive...They just don't apply the same rules in their heads to cyclists as they do to cars...and it's just laziness / lack of awareness.

I'm less tolerant, however, of the motorists that overtake, slam on the brakes and indicate right, then sit and wait for a gap in the traffic, forcing you to stop behind them. I just find this *so* stupid and inconsiderate, I just can't believe people do it accidentally.

I really think that making a certain number of miles cycling a pre-requisite to a driving licence would really change people's attitudes more than anything else...