Motorists - What annoys you most about cyclists

skivenov

JQ. wrote: »

But cyclists don't kill people on a very regular basis.

Statistically speaking, neither do serial killers.

JQ.

skivenov wrote: »

Statistically speaking, neither do serial killers.

and thankfully every British Citizen doesn't need to register their DNA and fingerprints with the police just in case we produce a couple of serial killers every few years.

Norman_Castle

spadoosh wrote: »

Another sterling example of some exemplary driving!

Just happened on my way home, about a 15 minute journey!

Incident one:
Proceeding down a road on the left hand side. Cars parked down the right, leaving one lane. About halfway down I notice a car turning into this road from the T junction ahead. I'm assuming she either didn't see me (lights on and flashing, not really too dark) or she just didn't care. She then decides to overtake the parked cars and drive straight at me! Literally no where to go, fortunately by the time she nearly hit me she either noticed me or realised I was on the road and stopped her car. So had to mount the kerb to get out of her way.

Incident two:
Travelling along a main road no traffic (except me) on my (know its not mine but hope you know what I mean) side of the road and queuing traffic on the right. A gentleman decides to overtake the queuing traffic (again driving straight at me!?) to turn right down a side road. Fortunately (again) he decide to stop before turning (incidentally someone was waiting to come out of side road so he couldn't have fit/gone down it) I (once again) had to avoid hitting his wing mirror and go on the kerb to get out of his way!

Stuff like this happens on every single trip! About to order my helmet cam and ill post a few vids within 2 weeks of getting it! See how many times I !!!! up and see how many times a car !!!!s up!? I just can't comprehend why some people do what they do!

Rant over (till 9.30 tomorro....if I make it!!!)

Cyclists!!!:mad:, Any excuse to ride on the pavement.
I often feel like saying "avenge my death" before leaving the house.

NBLondon

brat wrote: »

There is a world of difference between arrogantly and dangerously breaking laws, and doing it either inadvertently or intentionally as part of a safe drive or ride.

Quite right. That's why I have stated that the significant minority of cyclists who do so arrogantly annoy me. (Which is what the OP asked about, remember?)

You will exceed the limit on occasions, perhaps even intentionally, but definitely inadvertently.

Yes, I do. Not the subject under discussion though.

You can justify that to yourself and probably to me too by pointing out that you were doing nothing unsafe.

I have no call to justify it to anyone unless I am prosecuted for it. Nor would I do so here.

You might occasionally drive onto a pavement to park, if the road is narrow, and you might justify the obstruction of the pavement because it hardly gets used by pedestrians at night.

Nope, not unless the road markings indicate I should.

You may even drive a little close to slower moving vehicles, safe in the knowledge that your observation, anticipation and ability to react and handle your car well will see you right should they need to brake suddenly.

Inadvertently maybe.

Yet you deny cyclists the responsibility that you unilaterally adorn yourself with, the responsibility to see certain laws as guidance to the wise rather than requiring the strictest adherence.

Since I don't make that unilateral declaration - your logic is invalid. You appear to be assigning it to all cyclists by default, where my empirical observation says otherwise.

Do you see the hypocrisy there?

Yes. I pointed it out to you above when I asked if it was acceptable for motorists to treat cyclists the way cyclists treat pedestrians.

If cyclists were clattering into pedestrians killing them on a daily basis,

Would you deny it the way you deny that cyclists startle, intimidate and collide with pedestrians on a daily basis?

But you're not actually expressing genuine concern. It's thinly veiled anger which I can only assume is borne out of a jealousy that the cyclist seems to get away with some laws that the motorist doesn't.

No it's quite openly expressed anger that some cyclists are selfish, inconsiderate, arrogant and present a danger to other road users.

I don't cycle - but I take quite a lot of notice of cyclists. My father cycled for many years, friends of mine cycle commute regularly. So I take pains to look out for them, give them room and so on. This is why I notice the dangerous ones perhaps more than some drivers do. Sadly, some motorists appear to not notice cyclists at all as many helmet cam videos on YouTube and scars on posters here will show.

Perhaps you would like us to enforce with zero tolerance? Most of the cyclists I know would like that a lot.

I would like to see better enforcement targetted at all the dangerous road users; the cyclist who disregards pedestrian safety; the driver on their mobile phone who endangers cyclists; the motorcyclist who believes that filtering is an inalienable right that overrides any lane markings and many more.

I have even seen it. Tottenham Court Road in Central London is one-way northbound. Crossing it one lunchtime I looked left and saw no traffic near. I looked right (from where no traffic should have been approaching) and saw a cyclist coming at 20-25mph around a parked van. I also saw a woman look left only and then start to cross. The cyclist shouted at her and either clipped her or startled her into tripping. She ended up on the ground and he stopped and launched into a tirade of abuse.

I headed over to help her up, but was beaten to it by the police officers who jumped out of the van...

Norman_Castle

Macca83 wrote: »

Cyclists that travel in a big pack, taking up the whole road as they gaze at the scenery. They always seem to be just round a blind corner, forcing me to slam on the brakes so i don't go through them like a set of skittles. They're a danger to themselves and everyone else.

If you drove at an appropriate speed you would not need to slam your brakes on!. Don't blame cyclists for your poor driving.

brat

Tilt wrote: »

JQ. wrote: »

But cyclists don't kill people on a very regular basis.

Dosn't mean they are exempt from the law though as some think they are.

What's your attitude to traffic laws and best practice Tilt? While driving, do you ever exceed the speed limit a little; drive a little too close; pick up your mobile; look at a map; eat an apple; drink a coffee; smoke a cigarette; park partly on residential pavements;get angry and frustrated; use 'might is right'?

There is little or no awareness by some cyclists of the consternation they create in the minds of many middle aged drivers.

Cyclists, like motorists, only want to get from A to B as effortlessly as is reasonable, and they will do that with a degree of knowledge of road traffic law.
Their adherence to responsible cycling will depend on their moral landscape, their attitude to road traffic law and best practice, the urgency of the purpose, their cycling ability, their attitude to risk and their ability to afford to be legal.

These sets are identical for motorists. But because motorists are responsible for 20 to 1000 times the momentum of cyclists, they are required to undergo driving tests to be granted a conditional permission to drive in the same space as cyclists and pedestrians, some of whom will have no road traffic knowledge, and who are extremely vulnerable to their momentum.

Motorists must therefore carry that huge extra third party responsibility maturely. Their attitude to their drive and to other road users should reflect that. Clearly, that doesn't always happen.

sj999

Riding through red lights and riding down the wrong way on a one way street.

Tilt

brat wrote: »

What's your attitude to traffic laws and best practice Tilt? While driving, do you ever exceed the speed limit a little; Yes drive a little too close; No pick up your mobile; No look at a map; No eat an apple; No drink a coffee; No smoke a cigarette; No park partly on residential pavements; No get angry and frustrated; Sometimes when I come across a cyclist with no lights on at night or riding towards me in a one way street. use 'might is right'? No

It seems that just speeding is my only crime in your list BUT what I don't do is drive around at night without my lights on, drive the wrong way down one way streets, run red lights, drive along pavements or drive the wrong way around round-a-bouts.

Throbbe

JQ. wrote: »

There's been quite a few mentions on this thread of requiring registration of bicycles, so I did some quick "back of a fag packet" calculations.

It currently costs circa £600m per year to run the DVLA - that's to licence 31million cars.

There are 3.5million bikes sold every year, with the number rising every year. It's very difficult to estimate how many bikes there are in existance as many cyclists own several bikes - there are 7 in our household of 4 people. But a rough estimate I have seen is that there are 50million.

On a pro-rata basis it would cost circa £1billion per year to run such a registration scheme for bikes, and that totally ignores the absolutely massive fixed start-up costs that such a proposal would incur.

Value for money?

If it helps improve the accuracy of your assessment I understand that there are nine million bicycles in Beijing.

JQ.

Tilt wrote: »

It seems that just speeding is my only crime in your list BUT what I don't do is drive around at night without my lights on, drive the wrong way down one way streets, run red lights, drive along pavements or drive the wrong way around round-a-bouts.

And according to Gov Statistics 850 people are killed every year where speeding was the major contributing factor. So your speeding makes you much much much much more of a danger on the roads than any cyclist will ever be.