Couple of idiots puts me off commuting

[Frood42]

Stop being an over sensitive, self righteous child and take the camera off . Blasting down between lines off cars is not going to make you friends. Those cars have cued up at the lights, show some courtesy and cue up behind them. Then they may treat you and other cyclists better.

but, but, but, that is one thing that can make cycling so much fun, filtering past all those people sat at traffic lights in their cars, fuming with impatience at the number of cars on the road, racing away from one red light, only to come to another red light

Why would I want to sit at the back of a queue of cars, when I can filter down perfectly legally..?
There are situations where you don't want to be right at the front of a queue and might slot in a car or two behind, but why not use the advantages a bicycle brings..?

One advantage being a huge smile on your face as you filter past all those cars holding each other up, sometimes you just want to

 

[Linford]

I had a 3.5 tonne van pass very close to me last week (about 12" to my bars), he then pulled in 50 yards up the road...why bother passing to do that ????

The conversation went like this

Me... thanks for getting so close.

Him...'I was right on the white line, how far over do you want me to be to get past you ?

Me...WTF ????

 

[Kookas]

Stop being an over sensitive, self righteous child and take the camera off . Blasting down between lines off cars is not going to make you friends. Those cars have cued up at the lights, show some courtesy and cue up behind them. Then they may treat you and other cyclists better.

If I stay behind those cars, will they stay behind me, too?

Why should only cars be allowed to overtake? They can overtake me on the open road, and I'll return the favour on the road clogged with traffic.

 

[Linford]

Stop being an over sensitive, self righteous child and take the camera off . Blasting down between lines off cars is not going to make you friends. Those cars have cued up at the lights, show some courtesy and cue up behind them. Then they may treat you and other cyclists better.

You say you commute 5 days a week, but TBH it sounds like they are all done from behind the wheel of a car. Your posts seem to indicate that a bit of punishment in the form of a very close pass is an acceptable way of teaching someone to not filter in traffic.
Cars give close passes irrespective of whether they have just been passed by a cyclist in a traffic jam, or whether they come across one on a fast B road. Those who do cycle/drive/motorbike on the roads and see the behaviour of other motorists in the flow of traffic will understand where I'm coming from.
There are plenty of self riteous drivers out there who think because they pay VED or drive for a living think that they have more rights to use that space than anyone else.

 

[Shut Up Legs]

Stop being an over sensitive, self righteous child and take the camera off . Blasting down between lines off cars is not going to make you friends. Those cars have cued up at the lights, show some courtesy and cue up behind them. Then they may treat you and other cyclists better.

1. Queuing* behind cars isn't going to magically remove the prejudice many motorists have against cyclists.
2. Queuing behind cars increases congestion, whereas filtering to the front reduces congestion by allowing the cyclist to get a head start when the lights go green.
3. Queuing behind cars isn't healthy, because the exposure to exhaust fumes is a lot higher when you're sitting directly behind someone's tailpipe.
4. It's not over sensitive to want to protect one's rights by recording one's commute. Given that motorists involved in a collision with cyclists can sometimes disclaim responsibility and give a biased account of the event, having impartial video evidence to back up your account is very useful. I use a helmet video camera on both my daily commutes for this reason.
5. As @Frood42 mentioned, filtering to the front is legal for cyclists.
   
6. I don't believe cars actually have minds, so it's a bit much to expect them to treat us better.

* or queueing, if you want to be really pedantic and adopt the older spelling.

 

[lozcs]

Stop being an over sensitive, self righteous child and take the camera off . Blasting down between lines off cars is not going to make you friends. Those cars have cued up at the lights, show some courtesy and cue up behind them. Then they may treat you and other cyclists better.

Oversensitive - BT61SKF is a bully who obviously felt that I'd held him up and wanted to show his satisfaction by endangering my life. Not really sure how you consider this oversensitive.
Self righteous - I wasn't claiming any moral superiority here or belief of any greater virtue than the driver of this car I was legally riding home from work and didn't expect to be threatened for doing this.
Child - huh?
Blasting down between lines off cars - filtering
Show some courtesy and cue up behind them - or perhaps you'd be happier if I just took the car

 

[Linford]

Of course none of us have cars either so we can't possibly see the issue from another perspective....innit

 

[nickr]

1. Queuing* behind cars isn't going to magically remove the prejudice many motorists have against cyclists.
2. Queuing behind cars increases congestion, whereas filtering to the front reduces congestion by allowing the cyclist to get a head start when the lights go green.
3. Queuing behind cars isn't healthy, because the exposure to exhaust fumes is a lot higher when you're sitting directly behind someone's tailpipe.
4. It's not over sensitive to want to protect one's rights by recording one's commute. Given that motorists involved in a collision with cyclists can sometimes disclaim responsibility and give a biased account of the event, having impartial video evidence to back up your account is very useful. I use a helmet video camera on both my daily commutes for this reason.
5. As @Frood42 mentioned, filtering to the front is legal for cyclists.
   
6. I don't believe cars actually have minds, so it's a bit much to expect them to treat us better.

* or queueing, if you want to be really pedantic and adopt the older spelling.

1. Going through at such a speed will have surprised some drivers. In my experience drivers are like sheep, startle them and they’ll do something stupid
2. That was not filtering in any way - yes it will increase congestion, but a sense of fairness and of calm control will be communicated, rather than aggressiveness.
3. The lights were changing to green, there would have been no waiting
4. I suspect that having a camera leads to a provocative ride style.
5. As stated above, this was not filtering
6. See sheep comment

However, this is a total non-event we are arguing about here. If the vehicle had been an articulated lorry perhaps it would have been worthy of posting on youtube. It’s ironic really. It’s the self-righteousness and aggressiveness of modern day cyclists that puts me off commuting by bike.

For the record. I do not own a car and at present commute by bike from Kingston to Chiswick 7 days a fortnight

 

[Frood42]

1. Going through at such a speed will have surprised some drivers. In my experience drivers are like sheep, startle them and they’ll do something stupid
2. That was not filtering in any way - yes it will increase congestion, but a sense of fairness and of calm control will be communicated, rather than aggressiveness.
3. The lights were changing to green, there would have been no waiting
4. I suspect that having a camera leads to a provocative ride style.
5. As stated above, this was not filtering
6. See sheep comment

However, this is a total non-event we are arguing about here. If the vehicle had been an articulated lorry perhaps it would have been worthy of posting on youtube. It’s ironic really. It’s the self-righteousness and aggressiveness of modern day cyclists that puts me off commuting by bike.

For the record. I do not own a car and at present commute by bike from Kingston to Chiswick 7 days a fortnight

For the record.
I own a car.
I currently commute ~200 miles a week by bicycle (despite being only 4 miles from work by bike).

Not sure what that has got to do with anything, at all.

I still don't really see what the problem is, the OP kept a fairly consistent pace and line in his videos, and kept pretty much with the flow of traffic (almost like a motorcycle or moped).

I do not see where the OP has held up traffic, in fact the VW driver held up traffic, perhaps being overly cautious due to the hashed lines (as seen by the text in the video), but at least he was considering someone else's safety, the driver of the 4x4 is the impatient one, who decides to perform a dodgy follow the leader manouvere (seen all too often).

Punishing the vunerable road user for a perceived hold up of a few seconds because the VW driver decided to wait to pass is just plain rude and inconsiderate, not to mention potentially dangerous to the cyclist (and maybe damaging to the 4x4's paint work).

 

[Rancid]

The other road users afforded you a lot more space than you afforded them.

 

[Hip Priest]

The other road users afforded you a lot more space than you afforded them.

Space is relative. As a vulnerable road user I'd expect a fast-moving 4 x 4 to give me more room than I'd be expected to give him when filtering at low speeds.

 

[Rancid]

Space is relative. As a vulnerable road user I'd expect a fast-moving 4 x 4 to give me more room than I'd be expected to give him when filtering at low speeds.

What makes people think a cyclist is any more or less vulnerable than any other road user ?
The truth is that too many cyclists put themselves at far greater risk than they need too, while all the time blaming everyone else.

Did the OP not put themselves at far greater risk when riding at speed between two lines of moving traffic at a busy junction then they ever faced by what they feel where close passes ? everyone is keen to defend the OP right's to put himself in danger but is outraged when they perceive a road user to have passed closely.

 

[Hip Priest]

What makes people think a cyclist is any more or less vulnerable than any other road user ?

I dunno. The lack of a two tonne protective structure with airbags, SIPS and crumple zones?

 

[hamham]

I really don’t know what exactly a problem here.

To my eye, the way you cycle is beyond my comprehension.
It’s not only dangerous to you but to other road users, too.
I am not talking about legal or illegal. Right or Wrong.
I believe you cycle and act within the laws(HS) but that’s not everything.
There are things that cannot be dictated by laws but you need to use own judgement or common sense.
Courtesy to other road users.

Have you ever seen the film “The Incredible” ? I think you are like Buddy Pine (Syndrome).
You are strong when backed up by technology. But, you are nothing when battery runs out.
You can record your aggressive cycle style and pick up every single mistake that other road user may make.
But, what kind of satisfaction do you get from doing so ? Do you download this kind of video onto your PC every night and analyse it ?
How sad are you. Do you cycle to record an idiot or do you cycle to enjoy ?

If you want save your life, you should cycle little bit more carefully.
After all, you’re blood and flesh on metal frame. No match to a man in a car.

 

[lozcs]

Did the OP not put themselves at far greater risk when riding at speed between two lines of moving traffic at a busy junction then they ever faced by what they feel where close passes ? everyone is keen to defend the OP right's to put himself in danger but is outraged when they perceive a road user to have passed closely.

There isn't a part of that video where I feel I put myself in danger...

The first cars I passed at the RAB were stationary, I pulled in behind the Golf as the traffic started to move, them passed cars that were almost stopped behind the other traffic. the red car at the front of the queue had just started moving and rather than be stranded in the middle where the lane bends sharply to the left and narrows into one lane I felt safer to accelerate in front...

Anyway, this has gone slightly OT.

I cycle about 4k miles a year, mostly commutes and I expect like most here I have had lots of experience of close passes. I probably get a couple a week. Most I tut in my head, shrug off and enjoy my ride as I put most down to just poor driving these are forgotten pretty much as soon as they happen.

I have had a few experiences in the last three years that were different...

- one where a young lad dropped to 2nd just behind me and passed as close and as fast as he could to try and scare me with his sports exhaust (he did)

- one where a car full of lads came alongside and whilst just level beeped their horn and the passengers were leaning right out giving the W sign. (this made me jump so much I honestly nearly fell off)

- one probably not unlike the second video here where a more cautions driver didn't want to overtake and I then received a punishment pass from the car behind - and when challenged 100m down the road told me he 'didn't hit me did he' and I 'must be a bender'

Some people, despite how you ride, resent that cyclist are on the road without having 'paid their road tax' (just search twitter for cyclists - pretty much 1 in 10 is bigoted hate) and some of these people like to use their two tonne vehicles to let you know.
This is what upsets me and this is the reason I got a camera. I really enjoy cycling and people like this will not put me off. If anyone wants to treat me like the examples above then hopefully I will get their details and have some backup should I wish to report it.