Cyclicts need to accept crap car driving.

[Banjo]

I am a born again cyclist, ride about 60/70 miles per week , 6 mile round trip to work x 3 then most of my local trips to shops library etc.Then a couple of rides purely for fun.

I get badly cut up by "have to pass the bike car drivers" people pull out in front of me when Im going fast, etc etc bla bla.

Crap car drivers / drunk car drivers / aggresive car drivers are everywhere. They are IMHO however a tiny minority of drivers ,far more drivers will give you loads of room but you dont notice those.

My take on this as a beginner(only about 6 months regular riding since teenage years) is its up to me to realize that car drivers are incompetent/drunk/aggresive and ride accordingly.

Im not trying top be controversial here but I think some cyclists do the rest of us a dis service by winding up car drivers so they hate all of us .

On a narrow country road when its safe I pull over to let cars go by,seems sensible to me.Slow down enjoy the ride and dont get stressed .

Maybe my thoughts and observations dont apply in big cities ,I live in a small town and most of my rides are in rural areas.

 

[Renard]

I am of a similar mind. There is no point in letting some peanut wind you up for your own mental wellbeing.

 

[marinyork]

It's the internet. Other people don't understand the daily crap we get so it gets said on here to make people feel better.

 

[semislickstick]

Yes, some do take 'CYCLE POWER' too far, but I can understand it if you've been knocked off/harassed/bullied off the road too many times, it would probably make you 'turn'.

I'll pull over on narrow/single roads or wait til the overtaking bays, but I hate being harassed/bullied off the road by someone following me on my back wheel or playing chicken coming towards me....I don't want to get hit, but a bit of give and take + thank you makes the world go around.

 

[yello]

My take on this as a beginner(only about 6 months regular riding since teenage years) is its up to me to realize that car drivers are incompetent/drunk/aggresive and ride accordingly.

Agreed, though I would stick the word "some" in their, 'some car drivers' are those things. I'm not just being pedantic because I do think that if you go out with the 'all' attitude then I reckon you've got an aggressive attitude and are inclined to re-act badly should something occur. I think it also pays to remember that some car drivers do make mistakes and you have to cut them some slack.

But then I have a deliberately laid back attitude. It's kind of a defence mechanism but more that I really don't want to get wound up and spoil my day over it!

The forum is a great place to vent should you need to though!

 

[summerdays]

I agree with give and take - but I'm not going to go and stand on the pavement and wait for the car drivers to pass as some would like me to. I find in the city I have to be assertive (not aggressive) in order not to be run over. There are a lot of great motorists out there - unfortunately it is often the bad ones that leave a memory at the end of the journey and sometimes it helps to come on here and rant about it afterwards. Then apart from a few cases its then promptly forgotten.

I find smiling is one of the most powerful things I can do on the road.

I'm having a run of good interactions with lorry drivers with both me and them being patient when required.

 

[Banjo]

Agreed, though I would stick the word "some" in their, 'some car drivers' are those things. I'm not just being pedantic because I do think that if you go out with the 'all' attitude then I reckon you've got an aggressive attitude and are inclined to re-act badly should something occur. I think it also pays to remember that some car drivers do make mistakes and you have to cut them some slack.

But then I have a deliberately laid back attitude. It's kind of a defence mechanism but more that I really don't want to get wound up and spoil my day over it!

The forum is a great place to vent should you need to though!

Fully agree with you,in my experience the vast majority of car drivers are considerate it is only the odd one.I think perhaps I have been lucky not to come across any serious aggresion ,I have had one or two idiots with loud horns or big mouths which I find more amusing than annoying.

The way I see it if I show a driver a little consideration just maybe they will be more considerate to the next bike they come across.

 

[I am Spartacus]

..and as a 'road bike' user, I do appreciate all the cars, vans, lorries and buses.. for without them, the roads would be in a worse state than they are already....

every time I go out.. 1 or 2 potholes 'get' me.... the camoflaged ones black on black... out of the sun ..
so when I ride on a recently resurfaced road.. I say 'thank you' ..
'cos it certainly wasnt repaired for cyclists!

 

[Dan B]

every time I go out.. 1 or 2 potholes 'get' me.... the camoflaged ones black on black... out of the sun ..
so when I ride on a recently resurfaced road.. I say 'thank you' ..
'cos it certainly wasnt repaired for cyclists!

I dunno, it's certainly not unheard of to report a pothole and tell the council you'll be putting in a claim for a new front wheel then find the hole has mysteriously disappeared when you go back to take pictures. Car drivers are far more likely just to go straight over it and let the suspension take the strain

Let's face it, road damage goes up with fourth power of axle weight: if there weren't HGVs and buses on the roads then there probably wouldn't be half the number of potholes in the first place.

 

[I am Spartacus]

my pointless point was... nowt to do with potholes really... up to me to avoid them basically
but
no veheeecules... no roads... or are you wanting to argue the case otherwise for some strange reason?

 

[Bollo]

my pointless point was... nowt to do with potholes really... up to me to avoid them basically
but
no veheeecules... no roads... or are you wanting to argue the case otherwise for some strange reason?

This argument was done to death a while ago in a thread I can't be bothered to search for. It turned into a bonj special.

By vehicles, do you mean motorised vehicles? If so then -wrong- the first motor vehicles exploited the roads made for mainly horse and pedestrian traffic.

Its true that the design and construction of roads over the last century have become motorvehicle-centric. If we didn't have cars, they'd still be roads. They'd just be roads that were better suited to horses and cycling.

Annnnywaysss back on topic. I've no problem with being considerate, but I've a huge problem with accepting inconsiderate treatment by others. Unfortunately there's a long-standing attitude in this country that defines your status and importance by your mode of transport. Go to the Netherlands, Germany, Denmark, Sweden for example and you'll realise how backward and uncivilised that attitude is. I think its changing, but we've got about 40 years catching up to do.

 

[Lazy-Commuter]

This argument was done to death a while ago in a thread I can't be bothered to search for. It turned into a bonj special.

By vehicles, do you mean motorised vehicles? If so then -wrong- the first motor vehicles exploited the roads made for mainly horse and pedestrian traffic.

Its true that the design and construction of roads over the last century have become motorvehicle-centric. If we didn't have cars, they'd still be roads. They'd just be roads that were better suited to horses and cycling.

Annnnywaysss back on topic. I've no problem with being considerate, but I've a huge problem with accepting inconsiderate treatment by others. Unfortunately there's a long-standing attitude in this country that defines your status and importance by your mode of transport. Go to the Netherlands, Germany, Denmark, Sweden for example and you'll realise how backward and uncivilised that attitude is. I think its changing, but we've got about 40 years catching up to do.

Ain't that the truth? I just love that attitude of "can you not afford a car then?".

 

[Johnny5]

Ain't that the truth? I just love that attitude of "can you not afford a car then?".

I actually feel far superior than any idiot in a car taking the p155 out of cyclists...I am physically and mentally fitter and stronger than the idiot and would love to see these idiots try cycling before they open their gobs!

During my commute home yesterday, some idiot woman shouted "Get off the road" at me! WTF is all that about? I gave her a hacky look and sprinted off to about 27-28mph just to let her know that I can be travelling just as fast too and left her for dead as the traffic slowed down and I continued in the bike lane! That made my day!

 

[Dan B]

my pointless point was... nowt to do with potholes really... up to me to avoid them basically
but
no veheeecules... no roads... or are you wanting to argue the case otherwise for some strange reason?

Well, a bicycle is a vehicle: perhaps you meant "no motor vehicles". But yes, I would argue otherwise. Even if there were no cars on the roads people would still need to get from place to place, and the money for building the roads they'd do it on would still be found somehow. It's possible we wouldn't need as many roads or as wide, but I'm not seeing that as a problem

 

[swee'pea99]

I don't know, maybe it's 'cos I live in a relatively civilised bit of London, but I don't have a lot of problems with drivers. I find most are competent, and most are considerate. Far more give me enough room than crowd me. I have a big hill to climb, first thing every morning, last thing every evening. At best I'm doing 10 mph. More often than not I have cars slowing down all the way up, rather than squeeze past (which they could). I do get the feeling that some cyclists are a bit hair-trigger, and have a real us & them mentality. Some of the indignant videos that get posted up just make me think 'Oh don't be such a jessie!' Live & let live. (Not, I hasten to add, that I can't let fly with some fruity stuff when the occasion calls...most recently, funnily enough, at a cyclist who 'Out of the way'd!' me when I stopped at a red light.)