Bad Cyclists

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PBancroft

Senior Member
Location
Winchester
For the past few days I've been driving to work for one reason or another (car required for shifting large pots about, mostly).

As I drove in, I spotted most of the guys I normally said hello to as the went in the opposite direction - and I kinda missed it. Funny that, as I don't even know them.

However, I did have a couple of incidents with cyclists completely ignoring the rules of the road. These weren't regulars, mind.

The first was a guy cycling the wrong way on the right hand side of the road, just as I was turning into a junction. I stopped in time, but he didn't even notice.

The second was (actually possibly the same guy now I think about it) a day or two later, and at a roundabout. He was cycling on the pavement, and as I entered the roundabout he hopped into the road, and straight across my path - I'm kinda glad I had clocked him and was ready for him to do something silly, because he just looked dead ahead, and paid no interest to what other vehicles were doing.

There's plenty of chat about RLJers on here... but how often do you see people do monumentally stupid things on bikes?
 

palinurus

Velo, boulot, dodo
Location
Watford
I see quite a few pavement cyclists, often on very quiet roads but until the last couple years I'd not noticed "wrong-way" cyclists on two-way streets. I've seen quite a few recently.
 
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PBancroft

PBancroft

Senior Member
Location
Winchester
palinurus said:
I see quite a few pavement cyclists, often on very quiet roads but until the last couple years I'd not noticed "wrong-way" cyclists on two-way streets. I've seen quite a few recently.


Pavement cyclists don't really worry me if there are no pedestrians about - it's when they suddenly enter traffic without really paying attention it annoys me - they're why lots of perfectly decent cyclists get a bad name.

Cyclists going the wrong way must be mental.
 
On the other hand. Took granddaughter No 2 out for a ride on her new bike last night. She's only 3 and we were practising steering and braking so that she could stop at the edge of pavements etc. After about 10 minutes she stopped in the middle of the pavement. There was a car dithering about in the middle of the road. A few seconds later, the driver suddenly accelerated into a hidden drive about 5 meters away.

The babe, who has the concentration of a gnat, said, 'Always be careful near cars, johnjohn. Most of them are rubbish.' Don't know where she gets it from.
 

fossyant

Ride It Like You Stole It!
Location
South Manchester
I spent a couple of days in Manchester last week and there were loads of cyclists doing stupid stuff - juming lights and taking corners on the wrong side of the road ?
 

Carwash

Señor Member
Location
Visby
Recently I've seen a lot of cyclists sticking rigidly to the right hand side of cycle paths, to the point of having to swerve as we approach. Bizarre. Any idea where this strange habit has come from?
('The continent!' is not a useful answer - they all seemed to be British.)
 

buggi

Bird Saviour
Location
Solihull
Carwash said:
Recently I've seen a lot of cyclists sticking rigidly to the right hand side of cycle paths, to the point of having to swerve as we approach. Bizarre. Any idea where this strange habit has come from?
('The continent!' is not a useful answer - they all seemed to be British.)

you're winding us up aren't you?
 

col

Legendary Member
There are loads of bad cyclists here,but then its the ,are they real cyclists thing,mainly lads knocking about ,or bunch's of kids hanging around,just basically getting in the way,and not being bothered about highway rules.
 

Tynan

Veteran
Location
e4
had a couple of near head on with cyclists, you're really not expecting that, incredibly idiotic

and people hopping onto the road never seem to look, incredible
 

John the Monkey

Frivolous Cyclist
Location
Crewe
fossyant said:
I spent a couple of days in Manchester last week and there were loads of cyclists doing stupid stuff - juming lights and taking corners on the wrong side of the road ?

If you're talking about the city centre, it's almost certainly the return of the students - they're convinced of their invincibility, and easily distracted by their mobiles - I saw one lad slow to walking pace (on the road) so he could carry on a conversation with a friend walking alongside...and a red light pootler who jumped the lights (sedately) and then sat in front of me going 5mph or thereabouts - no chance to overtake in either case for ages because of the traffic.

Edit: to be fair, they may be using the same version of the highway code that the drivers in Rusholme use, e.g.;

"If a parking space is taken, it is perfectly acceptable to park next to it, and block the cycle lane and roadway. Leave your doors open whilst ambling around sorting out your shopping, as this will make it easier for other road users to see you."
 

GrahamG

Guru
Location
Bristol
You Oxford/Cambridge/York/Hull/London guys must see absolutely loads when the students get added back into the mix! I envy the fact that you aren't automatically a weirdo when you get on a bike, but I don't envy the extra attention needed to avoid nutter cyclists.
 

Cab

New Member
Location
Cambridge
Ain't just the students here in Cambridge. Townies too, and they're bad all year :blush:

Worst of all are the language students; they come to study English in summer, from all over the world. They hire bikes, get rooms to live in with English families in the suburbs, and commute en masse (groups of 20 aren't uncommon). They're all over the road, they've never cycled on a road before most of them, let alone a British one. You find them clinging to the kerb on the inside of a roundabout, desperately trying to escape while going the wrong way. You find them in narrow cycle paths, on the wrong side of the road on blind corners. You meet hoards of them all together monopolising a one way street in the wrong direction... They're a complete nightmare.
 
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