Cyclists and road traffic signals...

Confusedandneedhelp

brat wrote: »

It's just below the HC rule that says that motorists can drink and drive or drive dangerously and kill hundreds of innocent cyclists and pedestrians each year.

Lol. That's the stupidest arguement ever. So because a minority of drivers are idiots, a minority of cyclists should be too?

Difference is the drivers are encased in metal and safe relatively. Cyclists should use their brain and realise that they are vulnerable. The HC is there for safety reasons!

Confusedandneedhelp

jonparr wrote: »

In much the same way that cars are registered and insured - which means jumping red lights, texting whilst driving and hit and runs have been totally wiped out? I presume you are reporting those people too? And most cyclists are also drivers, so have had extensive road safety training already like yourself. Just accept there are a few idiots out there who cycle much like there are a few idiots who drive, then we can all get on quite nicely!

I agree with your last statement totally. And I have reported dangerous driving before. I have 3 young kids and want them to be safe.

Absolutely agree that idiots in cars still flout the law, but they can be traced if people actually gave a damn. Cyclists cannot currently. By no means am I anti cyclist, just spent 400 quid on kids bikes. The few ruin it for the majority, like most things.

Strider590

Depending on circumstances, if I'm out cycling I might cross as the lights go from amber to red.
The reason is I don't want to stop and get rear ended by an amber gambler..... Something I've seen MANY times.

Johno100

Confusedandneedhelp wrote: »

Lol. That's the stupidest arguement ever. So because a minority of drivers are idiots, a minority of cyclists should be too?

Just look at it this way, cycling activists are always telling us that most cyclists are also drivers, so I just assume that all the bad drivers out there are cyclists in their cars, works for me.

Confusedandneedhelp wrote: »

Difference is the drivers are encased in metal and safe relatively. Cyclists should use their brain and realise that they are vulnerable. The HC is there for safety reasons!

Expect to be called a 'victim blamer' that's the usual retort from the Lycra Taliban.

BeenThroughItAll

brat wrote: »

It's just below the HC rule that says that motorists can drink and drive or drive dangerously and kill hundreds of innocent cyclists and pedestrians each year.

That's a fair statement from one perspective, which is that some drivers are indeed idiots and do drive dangerously.


However, it's also completely idiotic to compare the two in another way - If I were to see someone driving dangerously, drunk, or in a threatening manner I would report them and indeed have done so many times; I would love to do the same when I see a cyclist doing something stupid or dangerous, but it's pointless when I know they can't be traced as they don't have any unique registration number.


I have no problem with comparing the idiocy of cyclists and drivers, and as a car driver, van driver, 7.5T driver, caravanner, motorcyclist, cyclist and pedestrian I appreciate different perspectives on the matter, but as I have said before until ALL cyclists are compulsorily registered, insured, and trained, the argument that cyclists are in some way saints of the road who deserve special exceptions to be made will fall on deaf ears here.

aileth

I'm not a cyclist, but I think you'll find the cyclists who stay within the law and are concerned for their own safety hate the red light jumping psychotic cyclists just as much as non-cycling motorists. After all, they are trying to bring that 'reputation' up and there's a bunch of their kindred beating it back down.

SailorSam

We're forever reading stories in the press ans seeing programmes on Tv which advise us for the sake of our health more of us should cycle. I think the one big thing that stops more people from getting a bike is they say they wouldn't feel safe on the road. It isn't a fear of other cyclists who may flout the Highway Code, it's a fear of the motorist.

brat

Confusedandneedhelp wrote: »

Lol. That's the stupidest arguement ever. So because a minority of drivers are idiots, a minority of cyclists should be too?

Difference is the drivers are encased in metal and safe relatively. Cyclists should use their brain and realise that they are vulnerable. The HC is there for safety reasons!

Incase my sarcasm sailed silently over your head, my comments were in objection to the generality of the term 'cyclists' in the OP's (and your) posts.
Some cyclists don't heed all road signs. Some motorists don't either. Some don't signal, and there may good legitimate reasons for that. But when you tar us all with the same brush, your argument loses credibility and becomes a banal rant.

I cycle a lot, and I stick to the rules. And I know the rules, probably better than most.
On today's ride, a short 30 miler, I committed no offences, yet I'll have witnessed more than 20 overtakes that I'd define as too close, therefore dangerous. About 10 motorists tailgated me too closely, one attempted a ridiculous blind bend overtake that failed causing the overtaker to abort his overtake and cut me up. Two motorists used aggressive horn blasts and gesticulations to remind me that a (completely inappropriate) cycle path was on the other side of the road, about 20 illegal (yet acceptable) overtakes over double white lines, 2 motorists disobeying red light ASL lines, and one going through very late on a red light. Approximately 5 motorists overtook me while I was doing about 24 in a 20 speed limit.

Throughout all of that, I was passed without incident by hundreds of considerate motorists, to which I pass on my gratitude.

Johnnytwostep

cyclists should be banned from the road, they just get in my way when I am bombing down the road and have to slow down as they amble along without a care in the world, meandering in and out of the traffic like they own the roads.
I pay for the roads they drive!!!

brat

aileth wrote: »

I'm not a cyclist, but I think you'll find the cyclists who stay within the law and are concerned for their own safety hate the red light jumping psychotic cyclists just as much as non-cycling motorists. After all, they are trying to bring that 'reputation' up and there's a bunch of their kindred beating it back down.

They annoy me because they give some motorists ammunition to rail against cyclists.
There is an ongoing debate looking at the possibility of allowing cyclists to go through red lights in certain circumstances. It may very well save lives, especially if it eliminates or reduces RTCs involving left turning HGVs at lights.
But while it's illegal for cyclists to go through red lights, we shouldn't do it. The bigger picture is that the antagonism it creates in some motorists is a danger to all cyclists.