it makes me so angry when cyclists refuse to obey traffic signs

JReacher1

There are actually some specific hand signals that horse riders use. I would suggest that some people have a read of this as it would enable them to understand what the gesture being directed at them means :-)

http://www.bhs.org.uk/~/media/BHS/Files/PDF%20Documents/Safety%20leaflets/Horse%20Sense%20for%20Motorists.ashx

shaun_from_Africa

I wish that I was driving my car this afternoon (instead of my partners one which doesn't have a dashcam fitted) so I could post a video on here.
I was driving along a back road which is fairly busy traffic wise and upon seeing a horse rider coming towards me, I slowed down.
It was in fact a rider on a horse with another horse alongside (without a rider) which was obviously being taken somewhere.


Why would I post a video of this?
Because I slowed right down to pass the horses and didn't receive any acknowledgement at all from the rider.
Why was this? Because she was so busy texting on her mobile phone that she didn't even seem to realise that I was passing or that there was a long line of cars behind her trying to get past but couldn't do so because her two horses were just about in the middle of the road.

belisha-beacon

JReacher1 wrote: »

There are actually some specific hand signals that horse riders use. I would suggest that some people have a read of this as it would enable them to understand what the gesture being directed at them means :-)

http://www.bhs.org.uk/~/media/BHS/Files/PDF%20Documents/Safety%20leaflets/Horse%20Sense%20for%20Motorists.ashx

The leaflet also gives one of the explanations about why riders might be two abreast - that the rider on the outside may be inexperienced. I used to ride horses when younger, and there are also occasions where a horse you think is roadsafe takes a fright for some reason, and is skittish and on edge for the rest of the journey. There's not much you can do about that, except try to get back as safely as possible, and that's another reason why a rider with a more 'bombproof' horse might ride alongside, to create a barrier from the traffic. I know it's really annoying driving behind two horses, but probably better than having a dent in your car from a horse who has kicked out, and a medical emergency dealing with a rider who has been thrown over your bonnet or a horse that's been run over...

And about the hand signals - it is very common to raise a hand and smile, to thank a considerate driver in the same way that car drivers sometimes do if someone stops to let them get out of a junction. This would be just a quick raise of the hand, and they'd turn away again straight afterwards.

If however, they are doing the 'stop' sign shown on JReacher's link, this would be a steady holding up of the hand, and they would keep it there until it was no longer needed. It's very rare a rider would need to do this but if they do, again it's in your interest to heed it. For example, if they know that one of the horses is injured or likely to 'spook' and cause you damage, they'll let you know to stop so that you don't put yourself in a dangerous position.

Herbalus

I cycle (and drive) a lot, and use common sense more than the highway code. There's always the chance you'll get behind you either an idiot who thinks all cyclists should be shot, or an idiot who is incompetent.

More often than not common sense agrees with the highway code, although I don't feel bad about doing 10 meters on a pavement (but ONLY if nobody is even remotely close), or occasionally slowly jumping a red pedestrian light if there are no cars about, because drivers and cyclists are all human and will cheat minimally. Like the above post, speeding etc, everybody does it. I do take care to obey the rules when other cars are about though, because somebody has to show cyclists in a good light!

Cyclists should do well to remember that while the highway code gives them rights and codifies the behaviour of other road users towards them, I'd much rather be alive and wrong than dead and in the right.

Sheldon_Cooper

JReacher1 wrote: »

There are actually some specific hand signals that horse riders use. I would suggest that some people have a read of this as it would enable them to understand what the gesture being directed at them means :-)

You've got that back to front, mate. The horse riders need to get any special signals they use towards other road users included in the Highway Code. It's nuts relying on everyone reading a leaflet that probably 99% of people aren't even aware of. Should we all be scouring the web for special signals used by bikes, trikes, quad bike and unicycles?

Having said that, three of those signals are standard, and the other one is pretty obvious. Quite different to using the universal 'thanks mate' signal to try and stop someone overtaking.

NBLondon

Sheldon_Cooper wrote: »

You've got that back to front, mate. The horse riders need to get any special signals they use towards other road users included in the Highway Code. {Snip}
Having said that, three of those signals are standard, and the other one is pretty obvious. Quite different to using the universal 'thanks mate' signal to try and stop someone overtaking.

I agree - and to add; there's a distinction between signalling your intent and signalling what you would like someone else to do... The first two signals are logical, the same as a cyclist is supposed to use; the third is misleading - when used by a cyclist (rarely!) or a driver of a vehicle it means "I am slowing down or stopping" but here it seems to mean "Please slow down".


The fourth I would normally take as "Please Keep Back" not "Please Stop".


There's a missing one isn't there? Where's the beckoning gesture to mean "It's OK to come past slowly now"?


And what really bemuses me about the riders I pass from time to time is the hi-vis jacket with "Beware Horses" on it in fairly small letters. If you don't recognise a horse - should you really be driving? To be any use, the text needs to recognisable from a distance in fog or poor light when the hi-vis is necessary rather than habitual.

Oldfatgrumpy

NBLondon wrote: »

.


There's a missing one isn't there? Where's the beckoning gesture to mean "It's OK to come past slowly now"?

I suspect it's considered inadvisable for the rider to indicate to the driver that it's safe to overtake. Minus any indication from the rider, the driver is free to make their own assessment of their, and their vehicle's, ability to get past safely. No arguments about liability in case of accident that way.

Kernow666

i think its time to make cyclists pay for using the roads

ElefantEd

Kernow666 wrote: »

i think its time to make cyclists pay for using the roads

Absolutely. Because obviously no cyclist also owns a car; no cyclist pays Income Tax, VAT or Council Tax. No cyclist ever uses a delivery service or a shop that has deliveries taken by road. And clearly a bicycle wears down the road far more than any number of cards, vans, lorries and HGVs. What a bunch of !!!!!!!!!!s!

Hermione_Granger

So someone voices their opinion and you reply with

ElefantEd wrote: »

What a bunch of !!!!!!!!!!s!

With an attitude such as yours, are you really surprised that bike riders are held in contempt by a lot of people?