Cyclists - what annoys you most about motorists?

Dave_C_2

Chap I knew had one of these swimming noodles:

Cut to the same width as his handlebars and zip tied to the back of his bike. He said it worked a treat in traffic!

Dave

Dont_be_Furious

After 40 years of commuting in London and cycling around the UK… and getting annoyed… the most important thing I have learned is… is “not” to (ever) get annoyed when cycling. Staying calm, and being able to anticipate, spot and manage hazards is an essential lifesaving skill. But, in the pub, the most annoying things that regularly get discussed are…
· During rush hour, certain bus drivers and certain cabbies who deliberately (and I do mean deliberately) cut up cyclists.
· There’s a new breed of young driver out there who think if they approach/enter a roundabout at speed it must be their “right” of way.
· Certain very “old” drivers are an unbelievable dangerous sub-group of drivers for cyclists.
· Out of London on rural main roads and in some provisional towns, motorists generally have become worse drivers towards cyclists over the years
· Other than that, it’s all individuals who drive recklessly and are danger to other road users (not just cyclists).

This thread is useful, as a cyclist, the more you can appreciate the dangers, the safer you will be. But as a footnote, during the busy rush hour in London, car drivers are generally the “best” drivers on the roads and they are remarkably tolerant of the “worst” road users, that are generally the cyclists.

DBF

Mallotum_X

leachyd wrote: »

I'm sorry, but that is utter boll#@ks! I cycle on my commute, and along with me, the vast majority of other cyclists stop for the bulk of red lights.

Ah you're one of the small number that stops, well done.

We all know most either don't stop, or jump onto pavements.

custardy

Mallotum_X wrote: »

Ah you're one of the small number that stops, well done.

We all know most either don't stop, or jump onto pavements.

Do 'we'?




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zipady_do

I cycle in London every morning and to be honest I feel relatively safe with it. I find cars wait at the lights, let cyclists go ahead and then tend to follow through safely behind.. think they realise that we're going to get there quicker 95% of the time, so there's very little point in competing.

Cycling outside of London and back at home (the countryside) I find terrifying.. going down those 60mph country lanes where prats try and go as quickly as possible, overtaking you on blind corners, overtaking you despite their being oncoming traffic too..

Idiophreak

There's so much stuff that both cyclists and drivers do that wind me up and both are down to one thing - just a complete lack of empathy for other human beings. People just don't question why people do things, they just assume they're wrong and moan about it.

In particular "why aren't you on the cycle path?" - because the cycle path is poorly maintained, has a rubbish surface and stops every 200m for side roads.

"Don't you belong on the cycle path?" - actually, no. Our local council has a very clear strategy on this. The cycle paths are designed for kids to get to school. "Proper" cyclists are supposed to use the roads, by design.

"why are you swerving all over the road?" - to avoid potholes, puddles, broken glass and the rest of the trash on our roads that motorists can happily ignore.

"why are you in the middle of the road?" - to avoid cycling in the door zone, because there isn't space for you to overtake me, so I'm more visible heading into this blind bend.

"why are you moaning that I've overtaken you?" - because I was coasting up to the back of stopped traffic. Would you overtake a car in that situation?

"why are you in the middle of the road at the traffic lights?" - so I can set off safely without you shoving past me.

And, as I said, it works both ways.

"why shouldn't I ride on the path?" - because you're a hazard to pedestrians.

"why do you moan that I don't have lights?" - I want to be able to see you! Seriously!? Do you have brain worms!? I honestly can't believe that any of the cyclists riding without lights have driven a car....It's night...It's raining...And you're cycling along wearing all black? Surely they can't know how completely invisible they are to car drivers....

(and there are *thousands* of them...on a thread on here a couple of months ago, I said "oh, I hardly ever see cyclists without lights"...I was completely wrong. I see *tens* of them every day. It's just unbelievable...and I don't understand why more isn't done to stop them...our police force has a "crackdown" once or twice per year and says "good news! we stopped 50 people in 2 hours!"...but why aren't they doing that every day?)

"why are you moaning that I ran a red light?" - I really don't want hitting and killing a cyclist on my conscience...

Our of all of them, though, I have to say the most annoying thing motorists do is, as everyone else has said, just passing too close and/or too fast. I find in towns people try and shove their way past into traffic while doing 2mph more than me, but leaving me an inch...in the country, people decide that, because they've left a yard of space, it's acceptable to pass me at 100mph...neither's any better or worse than the other, both incredibly dangerous and incredibly annoying.

Idiophreak

zipady_do wrote: »

Cycling outside of London and back at home (the countryside) I find terrifying.. going down those 60mph country lanes where prats try and go as quickly as possible, overtaking you on blind corners, overtaking you despite their being oncoming traffic too..

...and once, as a special treat, I had someone overtake a car coming toward me. Thankfully, the car being overtaken locked up his brakes, so the boyracer was able to complete the pass around 4 feet before killing me...but very scary, nonetheless...

custardy

Idiophreak wrote: »

...and once, as a special treat, I had someone overtake a car coming toward me. Thankfully, the car being overtaken locked up his brakes, so the boyracer was able to complete the pass around 4 feet before killing me...but very scary, nonetheless...

Had this just the other day on Blacket Avenue

look at the map and see it
its a rat run really most times
its a narrow 20 zone,but cars fly up and down it.
Car coming towards me decided to overtake a cyclist just as Im approaching in the car.
Had to slam on the anchors,but they passed perilously close to the cyclist
All this to get to a junction where is unlikey you can get straight out.

Idiophreak

This is where I had my near death:
Over the ridgeway

Car was being overtaken just where the picture is, think it's 50mph these days...I was coming up the hill, by the sign on the right (sadly, just past a little turning where I could have bailed out)...Was really quite scary, it's a bit of a hill, so I had my head down and was focussing on my breathing etc...looked up to see a car coming straight at me at 60+mph.

ETA: Bet the skid marks are still there from the guy being overtaken locking up...I've never seen quite so much tyre smoke...really stank!

custardy

I know I shouldnt,and there are tons to choose from on either side...
but....


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMphhd8QCwA&feature=related