Are we riding too fast?

[BrumJim]

Yes. As per your previous post.

 

[crumpetman]

I try and do a very pronounced slow head shake which I hope a waiting driver will take as "no it is not safe to pull out" and so far I can only say that it might work not that it does or does not work.

 

[fossyant]

It's partly one of the reasons I decided to get a fixed - just limits that top speed a little, where if on the road bike I'd be punching a much bigger gear !

 

[Amanda P]

I think it's because car drivers just aren't used to bicycles approaching at near the speed limit.

Some drivers just think that a bike always has to give way to a car. They think it's a hierarchical thing.

Had a guy overtake a stationary bus right in my path the other day. When I pointed out that he shouldn't have, his reponse was "You're a f***ing bike, mate!" i.e., I should have got out of his way.

 

[Jezston]

Some drivers just think that a bike always has to give way to a car. They think it's a hierarchical thing.

Quite. Like many 4x4 drivers think small hatchbacks should give way to them.

 

[gbb]

It's a sad sad indictment when a car driver can't assess your speed and act accordingly
FFS, it's not rocket science. He's probably come up behind you, spent 10 seconds watching you as he approaches....then can't get it right !!! Bloody disgraceful.

 

[Maslow]

I have one 25-30 mph section, half a mile or so, of my regular commute where the other day I had firstly to avoid car door thrown open in front of me, then a car creeping out at a junction towards me and finished by being overtaken by a speeding taxi that then turned left in front of me only to stop because the side road was blocked !
Honestly this section takes less than a couple of minutes to complete and is easily the most dangerous part of my ride and usually because some car driver or other cannot estimate my speed

 

[MacB]

Its something that's been around for many years, but seems to have become more common in recent years. Some drivers seem to have a preconceived idea of what sort of speed cyclists travel at, about 5 to 10mph in most cases, and just can't cope with cyclists travelling above that speed. These days I work outside Coventry and I see more of it outside the city than inside the city. Tis puzzling.

I wonder if this is because cycling on the roads has become less a part of growing up and, what cycling there is, gets sidelined at an earlier age. There must be at least a couple of generations of drivers where cycling experience is limited to kiddy bikes, cycle paths and offroad. Thinking back to the comments I got when I cycled a long way to work:-

40 and over - you must be mad that's a long way to cycle - but definitely a hint of envy
under 40 - you must be mad that's so dangerous - no envy just puzzlement at my having a car but not using it

It wasn't a neat split across the ages but that's the general impression I have thinking back.

 

[GrasB]

I don't have a problem with pulling the bike down from 40mph to 15-20mph over a longish distance because someone has pulled out & they're not accelerating that quickly, it's a minor irritation to lose the momentum but it's not a problem. No the problem I have with left hooks, inconsiderately close right turns & people pulling out short (also to a lesser extent dooring, as if I'm in that area it's partially my fault) isn't that I have to slow down, it's that the driver has put me in danger by being negligent in their driving. Further to this often when I'm at speeds from around 30mph upwards the driver who has caused the problem often causes a problem for other drivers around me...
- left hook drivers often take far too long to overtake me so tend to intimidate oncoming drivers causing them to brake & pull hard to the side of the road as well needing me to brake/maneuver.
- people who pull across the road turning right without enough space cause problems, while often I can dive round the front or back of the car the vehicle following if they can't stop in time is going to have a T-bone incident.
- drivers pulling out short on me often cause the car behind me to brake sharply as well as work out WTH I'm going to do.

 

[sheddy]

Need to make eye contact, at whatever speed
Also best not to travel in a dead straight line if possible

 

[Brommie77]

Wobbling round on the road as if you are about to fall off is a cracker for getting a wide berth - trouble is you cant do it at speed.

 

[Arch]

Some drivers just think that a bike always has to give way to a car. They think it's a hierarchical thing.

Had a guy overtake a stationary bus right in my path the other day. When I pointed out that he shouldn't have, his reponse was "You're a f***ing bike, mate!" i.e., I should have got out of his way.

I was cycling up to the give way line on a side road once, and a lorry started to reverse round the corner into the side road. I had to hop up on the pavement, hindered by the trailer I was towing, and yell. He stopped and when I went round to the drivers side to mention that he'd nearly killed me, he replied that I was 'only a bike'. No sorry, nothing.

He then had the temerity to ask me to see him back round the corner safely! I'm afraid I told him to eff off, and rode away.

Mind you, his reversing blind round a corner would presumably have happened no matter what, as he had no way of knowing if anything was coming.

 

[Davidc]

I'm not usually capable of doing real fast on a bike now, but still often go at 15 to 20 mph, so see some of this.

I doubt that the failure of drivers to estimate speed correctly will change. Most never have been able to and probably never will. What faster cyclists do need to remember is that most cyclists travel at speeds between about 7 and 15 mph, and it's only the few who go much faster, so drivers are much more used to a bike moving at 10 mph than one moving at 30 mph.

In a perfect world drivers would get it right, in the real world they don't, and in the UK they are also intolerant of bikes (and of anything else slower than them like pedestrians and tractors).

While not what most of us would like self-preservation means that there are times when it is perhaps better to accept that incompetence and stupidity is present in some drivers and just avoid trouble by going slower, ceding priority, or whatever else keeps motor vehicles at a safe( r) distance. One day we might get Dutch type atitudes to bikes in the UK, until then .....

A large scale education programme for drivers, aimed at improving behaviour towards all vulnerable road users, would help, as would assumed liability. Unfortunately we're not going to see those any time soon.

 

[crumpetman]

I wonder if this is because cycling on the roads has become less a part of growing up and, what cycling there is, gets sidelined at an earlier age. There must be at least a couple of generations of drivers where cycling experience is limited to kiddy bikes, cycle paths and offroad. Thinking back to the comments I got when I cycled a long way to work:-

40 and over - you must be mad that's a long way to cycle - but definitely a hint of envy
under 40 - you must be mad that's so dangerous - no envy just puzzlement at my having a car but not using it

It wasn't a neat split across the ages but that's the general impression I have thinking back.

My dad often tells me of the times he spent as a teenager cycling 30 or so miles to go camping for the weekend, or just for a day out. How many teens do that now?

I stopped cycling somewhere around early to mid teens and I really regret it. I think I stopped because my bike had worn out and I was no longer using it for cycling to school and my friends at the time did not cycle anywhere so that was it until a couple of years ago. If I had kept it up I could have cycled to college in about half the time the bus took and saved myself a fair bit of cash by not spending so much on cars.

 

[BlackPanther]

I was cycling up to the give way line on a side road once, and a lorry started to reverse round the corner into the side road. I had to hop up on the pavement, hindered by the trailer I was towing, and yell. He stopped and when I went round to the drivers side to mention that he'd nearly killed me, he replied that I was 'only a bike'. No sorry, nothing.

He then had the temerity to ask me to see him back round the corner safely! I'm afraid I told him to eff off, and rode away.

Mind you, his reversing blind round a corner would presumably have happened no matter what, as he had no way of knowing if anything was coming.

As an LGV driver, I occasionally have to reverse 'blind' out onto a main road, (usually due to crappy parking by retards further up a road I've turned into). I reverse out uber slowly.......watch in bemusement as car after car won't let me out, and then when my mirrors come back into use I complete the turn. If, as a cyclist, a lorry driver just ploughed out at anything above a couple of mph, I'd have a word. If the driver was unproffesional, and anything other than appologetic, then I'd be ringing his employer and making a complaint.

I nearly got taken out by a bin lorry reversing the wrong way down a 1 way pedestrianised road the other week. He apologised, but when I asked him why his 'co-driver' wasn't being his banksman, he said it was too early (6.30 am) and there was no traffic. What the feck is a cyclist if it's not traffic?