Motorists - What annoys you most about cyclists

mkirkby

brat wrote: »

I always do a shoulder check before manoeuvreing,

I prefer the term taught when learning to ride a motorbike..."Livesaver"

(indeed it's part of the test and if you don't perform one at most manoeuvres, you'll fail the test)

spadoosh

Going to chuck in another defence for us cyclists.

Most trafiic does pass me within 2ft or so. Whats always neglected by the driver is the road conditions for the cyclist. Motorists have a look where a cyclists is supposed to be (ie on the left near the gutter!) The roads are more often than not in a very bad state of repair. Travelling at 20+mph a bike can be quite unstable and trust me hitting a pot hole at such speeds is not good! It can buckle tyres, bounce you around knock the steering. Much like a car driving through a big puddle at speed or hitting a large pothole. The options as a cyclist is to hit it and hope your not dismounted/affected too much. Swerve to avoid it. Or stop to avoid it.

Realistically the most amount of movement i will ever have is about a foot either side. However the highway code states as much space should be provided to a cyclist/horse as a car. This is never done (extremely rare for the one or two of you that do) This is fact 99% leave me about 3ft. Im happy with this and accept cars are faster and as such try a hinder their progress as little as possible.

If i did slow down for bad road conditions, it would confuse any driver and is going to put me closer to them than they expected (gives less time/room for manouver) If your attempting to overtake ensure you leave enough space. Im not expecting the whole lane, though i am expecting to be able to continue at a continuous speed within 1 meter of the kerb. This is a liberty thats is not often granted for a cyclist.

Crossing island can be quite bad aswell. Its hard to judge the speed of a bike from a car but at any given point a bike could be travelling between 5mph upto 30mph depending on road conditions/inclines etc etc. My speed is often underestimated and people attempt to overtake not expecting the manouver to take as long (not expecting me to keep up!!) and then see an island they hadnt anticipated a begin forcing their way back across. On a few occasions ive had as little room as 10 cm from a wing mirror (will knock you off the bike if it hits!) That isnt acceptable. I could swerve that much due to momentum of pushing my left leg to my right leg (pedalling!). Please dont be ignorant of this.

Essentially the consequences of ignorance of a cyclist are considerably less than the ignorance of a motorist. Yet more often than not its a motorist that doesnt know the rules/capabilities/patterns of what a cyclist should and shouldnt be doing. Yes there are some trully dangerous cyclists out there but its certainly proportionate to the amount of dangerous drivers with regards to cyclists. If not more so.

More should be done so each party is aware of what they and others should be doing.

brat

Heliflyguy wrote: »

So I can do that (drive through red lights) in a car or motorcycle as long as I dont inconvenience anybody then?

You can if it seems right to you, ie if it fits into your moral landscape. If caught, you will be punished of course.

spadoosh

mkirkby wrote: »

I prefer the term taught when learning to ride a motorbike..."Livesaver"

(indeed it's part of the test and if you don't perform one at most manoeuvres, you'll fail the test)

And rightly so!

A motorbike is easier to keep straight (ie wont be knocked off course by small stones/holes) than a bicycle due to speeds,momentum and weight. And more often than not im well aware of car within 10 metres of me without turning my head! Guessing you cant hear didly squat with a full face helmet?!

If im making a manouver i have to look over my shoulder, i cant trust a motorist will antcipate what im doing. If i know something is close (tyre/engine noise) I cant make a manouver so theres no point in looking. As again i cant trust the motorist 1) is giving me enough space to check their position 2) Is going to give me enough space to alter my position.

Sometimes i have to anticipate upto 500m ahead. If im approaching light or a T junction and am turning right i need to be on the right side of the road. Ill probably on average be doing about 15mph and wouldnt want to annoy others by being in the middle of the road for 500m. If i leave it too late any chance of getting to the middle of the road is blocked off by people who overtake 15 yds before they stop. To be fair when i signal most cars allow me to come out (checking over shoulder!) Its very rare anyone ever happy about this. Surely though your still coming to a stop at the same junction so would have to slow down anyway!

Gonna stop complaining now. Its just easy to do when you feel soo vulnerable!

spadoosh

brat wrote: »

You can if it seems right to you, ie if it fits into your moral landscape. If caught, you will be punished of course.

I thought you could do it legally on temporary lights as long as you could see where the other traffic would be stopped and it is completely clear to do so?! Again as these types of lights dont always recognise someone waiting. And during off peak hours you could be waiting a while?!

Never done it so not broken the law:D if im wrong and tbf a very patient man so would probably wait even if iwas stuck behind one for an hour!

custardy

Limey wrote: »

Agree with pretty much everything you've said there Spadoosh, the muppets on mountain bikes is just a pet hate of mine (inappropriate bike for road use IMO, crap gearing makes them stupidly slow).

My philosophy is to imagine everyone on the road/pavement as if they're a complete moron. Be prepared for the worst from them. Doesn't stop me from enjoying my driving/cycling, EVERYONE needs to keep aware and not trust anything to other peoples judgement as you never know what state of mind they're in.

fat tyres and sit up style, make them stable and easy to handle
So its not so clear cut
thin road tyres/gearing are great in certain set ups,but have their down sides too
a slide on 700cc wheels and thin tyres isnt much fun

NBLondon

brat wrote: »

Pedestrian zones grant permissions to other road users.

Where they do, it'll be in the bye-laws or whatever that set up the zone in the first place. Do you stop and check them on your smartphone first?

As I said, I'll have cycled around and past hundreds of thousands of pedestrians through the pedestrian zone, most of whom don't expect to see me.

Ever wondered why? 'Cause they haven't stopped to check the bye-laws first perhaps? Or because they saw this sign at the start?

No, it's not. Nor is it OK for a cyclist or WVM to go within half an inch of a pedestrian! What a silly point!

Sarcasm to show why your point is faulty. I have more than once been on a pedestrian crossing during the green man phase when a cyclist has passed in front of me at speed close enough for his pedal to clip my briefcase. You seem to be claiming that as a cyclist you are a superior being whose judgement should not be criticised. Get off your high saddle

It's not the same scenario, so I don't know why you've introduced the point; I would agree he's going to be primarily to blame. However if you saw him in your mirrors and didn't try to avoid him, then you would be guilty too.

I have seen this - from the car behind. Car ahead of me is indicating, starts to turn and the cyclist passes me on the right, turns across my front and tries to go up the left of the turning car. Since it's Mirror, Signal, Manouevre - when the turning car saw the cyclist, he was not anywhere to be avoided.

This is one of the reasons why careless, inconsiderate and dangerous cyclists annoy me. (That's what the OP asked remember.)

brat

spadoosh wrote: »

I thought you could do it legally on temporary lights as long as you could see where the other traffic would be stopped and it is completely clear to do so?! Again as these types of lights dont always recognise someone waiting. And during off peak hours you could be waiting a while?!

Never done it so not broken the law:D if im wrong and tbf a very patient man so would probably wait even if iwas stuck behind one for an hour!

No. Reg 36 of the TSGRD 2002 regs state what you must do at traffic lights, including temporary lights (reg 35), namely that you mustn't proceed past the 'stop line'. With temporary lights the 'stop line' is considered to be the line traversing the road at the traffic lights.

I'm afraid there's no exemption like you describe for temp lights.

custardy

I was reminded of this thread on my drive home.
I was comnig via the Edinburgh bypass.
I joined via a slip road to a 50 mph section,a s I indicated to join on the left,a 4x4 decided that was good point to move to the inside lane.
legal but not a smart point to do it

further up the road has another slip road with chevrons and solid lines to allow safer merging
I watched a Clio swerve left through the solid white/chevrons
undertake a car(doing 50 in a 50) and then cross the solid line again

further up as we approached the 70 limit(i had moved to the left)
a BMW decided to move to the right,only to have to hit the anchors as there was a C3 doing 50 in the outside lane(we hadnt quite reached the 70 yet)
they then sat on the C3s !!! till it moved over

I sat behind the C3 as I was coming off at the next junction anyway,at around 55
I was then behind the C3 for a few miles
no indication
poor positioning at roundabouts/junctions
where regardless of intended direction,they chose centre lane
while sitting at a lights controlled crossroads under red,they were centre lane(it transpired they were going right)
An emergency vehicle came from the right with blue and sirens on
lights went green as it passed through
The C3 shot forward with no chance to see if there were any others vehicles/bikes behind it

My point? I'm sure every driver see's this type of stuff every day.
however many seem fixated on and generalise on what cyclists do or appear to do.

brat

NBLondon wrote: »

Where they do, it'll be in the bye-laws or whatever that set up the zone in the first place. Do you stop and check them on your smartphone first?
Ever wondered why? 'Cause they haven't stopped to check the bye-laws first perhaps? Or because they saw this sign at the start?

Why are you making such a fool of yourself with this. I cycle legitimately and responsibly. I can read signs that tell me I can use the pedestrian zone. There are signs at the start and throughout the pedestrian zone to say that cyclists are allowed. Please accept that I know the road I'm cycling on.

Sarcasm to show why your point is faulty. I have more than once been on a pedestrian crossing during the green man phase when a cyclist has passed in front of me at speed close enough for his pedal to clip my briefcase. You seem to be claiming that as a cyclist you are a superior being whose judgement should not be criticised. Get off your high saddle

I accept they will pass reasonably close. I try to give at least a metre. I bet a red light jumper might get to within about two feet, but to suggest that they intentionally avoid by half an inch is just silly hyperbole, only suited to those who feel the need to criticise without reason.

I have seen this - from the car behind. Car ahead of me is indicating, starts to turn and the cyclist passes me on the right, turns across my front and tries to go up the left of the turning car. Since it's Mirror, Signal, Manouevre - when the turning car saw the cyclist, he was not anywhere to be avoided.

This is one of the reasons why careless, inconsiderate and dangerous cyclists annoy me. (That's what the OP asked remember.)

The OP has been roundly criticised for his foolish comments. The reason I'm sticking up for cyclists here is only because of the barrage of criticism that they get landed with as a group because some break the rules.
I get much more angry at careless, inconsiderate dangerous motorists, because not only to they turn a blind eye to road safety, they have serious killing momentum.