Abuse

[Johnno260]

I must say since I started riding again after 40 years I stick to quiet country roads around the village, single track roads with very little traffic, but the vehicles I have met, cars, vans and agricultural vehicles have all be very good, in fact one or two have actually pulled over and waited for me to pass when I would have been happy to wait myself..

Only had one little "boy racer" in a Golf GTI who thought he was on a race track and had no intention of slowing down....

This is pretty much what I intend to do, issue being I can’t do this on the days I want to commute, and the tolerance levels towards cyclists in Tunbridge Wells is zero.

 

[Vantage]

Nice bit of victim blaming there

He's right though.
In my ped clothes I have fewer close passes etc than when in the lycra gear.
Some motorists seem to associate lycra with cyclist and normal clothes with human being like there's a difference.

 

[SkipdiverJohn]

Some motorists seem to associate lycra with cyclist and normal clothes with human being like there's a difference.

The most aggressive type of cyclists, who weave in and out of urban traffic dangerously and generally really push their luck in order to go as fast as possible, tend to be the ones on expensive road bikes wearing all the lycra gear. Motorists notice this behaviour and they associate it with the wearing of lycra, regardless of whether an individual lycra-wearing cyclist is misbehaving or not.

 

[Vantage]

The most aggressive type of cyclists, who weave in and out of urban traffic dangerously and generally really push their luck in order to go as fast as possible

You mean Londoners?

 

[Richard A Thackeray]

I had somebody in a car spray me with piss outside the Cromwell Hospital about eight years ago

If it had been more recent, it may have been a Frenchman, taking exception to your SKY jersey??

 

[Deleted member 26715]

tend to be the ones on expensive road bikes wearing all the lycra gear.

I can't tell what's an expensive bike so I very much doubt motorists can or care

 

[SkipdiverJohn]

You mean Londoners?

Well, the majority of cycling I witness happens in London, and I would say they are the worst cyclists in terms of reckless and aggressive riding antics.
Not many people I know have a good word to say about cyclists in general, but they have a particular degree of antipathy towards the lycra-wearing ones. "Nutters on bikes in lycra" or similar is the usual response. Casually-dressed cyclists at least seem to receive some limited tolerance, absolutely zero tolerance for lycra.

 

[HLaB]

I find the boy racers tend to think of themselves as good drivers and seldom give me a problem. Young ladies, on the other hand are often fast and aggressive, without the road sense that the boys seem to have. Sounds a bit sexist, but that's my experience over the last couple of years both on the bike and in my car.

Just to balance it up I've found that some 'boy racers' who think their car is more powerful than it is can be idiots too

Having said that touch wood I've had very little abuse this year from either or anybody. It might be that I've been commuting in a mainly rural environment (finishing in town) and since the end of May I've been cycling 12 miles down the completely segregated busway into Cambridge where there's too much of a true 'critical mass' of cyclists.

 

[SkipdiverJohn]

Just to balance it up I've found that some 'boy racers' who think their car is more powerful than it is can be idiots too.

You're right, but the types of cars is different now. It used to be muppets wearing baseball caps tearing about in lowered Golfs, Fiestas, and Novas with wide wheels and other visible modifications. Now the worst idiots tend to be driving standard-looking Audis with tinted windows, often white ones for some reason. They seem to have recently overtaken BMW as the knob driver's car of choice.

 

[Vapin' Joe]

I get hardly any abuse. Maybe its because most of the time I'm riding a bike I'm dressed more like a workman and less like a stereotypical cyclist? Lycra really seems to get other road users backs up. Maybe they associate a solo lycra wearer with a lycra-clad club group who have taken up half the road and held them up? There is definitely something linked to how you dress and what sort of bike you ride as to whether you are regarded as fair game for abuse or not.

I'll agree with that. If they think your are riding an old banger to work because you can't afford a car it doesn't seem to bother them, but if you look like an enthusiast cycling for choice it does.

 

[JPBoothy]

Myself, it's down to speed in most cases. Above 18mph you're expected to use the road. At times I'm travelling just as quick as most of the other traffic on the roads.

I'm not a fan of the suicide lanes that seemed to be installed with little, if any thought as to how they are actually used by cyclists.

I'm not on strava, and I used five "A"roads to get to & from work for nearly three years, twice a day in each direction. The minor roads proved a bigger problem than the "A" roads. Used as short cuts by people following their satnavs.

Whoa, I wasn't trying to antagonise anybody with my comments about the 'A' roads, it just makes me cringe when I see a big monster truck bearing down on a wobbly bike! I appreciate that more experienced cyclists like yourself are more aware of your surroundings but, personally I would rather take my chances with a stray dog lead or jogger than a bleary-eyed trucker blinded by the low winter sun. Each to their own though.

 

[boydj]

Except women drivers don't hurl aggressive highly unpleasant verbal insults at female cyclists when stationary, nothing to do with whether than can drive or not, which was my point. Except on several occasions I've also been subjected to close passes and brake testing after the verbals. farkwits

My point was primarily about the standard of driving, rather than comments being made, which I've not experienced for quite a while. I think, though, that being in the safety of their comfy car and feeling brave lets the misogynist in many young men just pop out. There seems to be a lot of it about.

 

[Tizme]

I've had two incidents of things being thrown at me, one was an egg when running (luckily it missed) and the other was a liquid, which didn't miss, the passenger was killing himself with laughter as he did it, I was hoping the vehicle would get caught at the traffic calming chicane, but naturally he ignored the "give way" and pushed through the oncoming traffic.
The worst incidents were attempts, or threats of physical violence. The first was climbing a hill on my commute to work, lovely sunny evening (going in for a night shift), got that "tingly" feeling and looked over my shoulder to see the male passenger about to smack my arse, he quickly withdrew his arm back in to the car.
The second incident involved the occupants of a "Taliban Taxi" (as the A&S Police describe old 4x4 pick ups) coming up alongside me to enable the passenger to threaten me with violence. To this day I do not know what caused it (other than they appeared to have pulled out of the pub I had just passed), I ignored them and turned off as they carried on, however they decided that that was not good enough and reversed back and headed towards me again. I cycled across to the other side of the road and jumped off the bike and they crossed the carriageway to come up alongside me. The passenger then leaned across the driver and continued to shout and swear at me. The driver realised that I was speaking to the operator on a 999 call and decided to leg it, narrowly missing a car as he did so! Unfortunately, being Somerset, I was informed there was only 2 mobile units available that evening and neither were in the area.
That was the reason I decided to get a headcam!!

 

[SkipdiverJohn]

My point was primarily about the standard of driving, rather than comments being made, which I've not experienced for quite a while. I think, though, that being in the safety of their comfy car and feeling brave lets the misogynist in many young men just pop out. There seems to be a lot of it about.

I very much doubt those abusive young men just limit their verbals purely to female cyclists. Chances are they also abuse male cyclists, pedestrians of both sexes, other motorists of both sexes, and anyone else they encounter who they take a dislike to.
Just because a woman receives some sort of abuse from a man doesn't automatically mean they got abused purely for being female. There are any number of reasons why one person may decide to dish out some verbal to someone else. Their sex may be totally irrelevant.

 

[vickster]

The only reason being they are farking thick as pig shite brainless imbeciles

Oh and that’s being complimentary