Cyclicts need to accept crap car driving.

[Sh4rkyBloke]

[quote name='swee'pea99'] (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.)[/quote]Did you encourage them to carry on through and 'Out of the gene pool' themselves into the nearest car?

 

[magnatom]

Just out of interest, Banjo, are there any cyclists on here who you think wind drivers up?

 

[Sh4rkyBloke]

Just out of interest, Banjo, are there any cyclists on here who you think wind drivers up?

Brace yourself, Mags... if the work choreography is mentioned, I think you're done for!!

 

[HLaB]

Just out of interest, Banjo, are there any cyclists on here who you think wind drivers up?

Surely that includes every cyclist on this forum, just by being on a bike is enough to wind some drivers up; even if you're 30m away and going in the completely opposite direction on a quiet country road.

 

[summerdays]

I would admit to occasionally winding up a motorist... potentially ... usually at traffic lights by plonking myself in primary in the ASL, usually after they saw the need to overtake me 10m from a red light. Occasionally I can be really slow off that stop line when the lights change too. If they are the sort that feel the need to overtake at that point then they are probably really annoyed that you are now ahead again. I don't do it always and I wouldn't if I thought it had been a really unsafe overtake - then I want them in front of me where I can see them.

 

[Banjo]

Just out of interest, Banjo, are there any cyclists on here who you think wind drivers up?

I'll keep my thoughts along those lines to myself. Im sure some individuals will recognise themselves.

I'm certainly not Mother Theresa on a bike and have fired a few choice words at car drivers that have cut me up badly I do though go out of my way to be courteous and minimise the time I am holding up traffic.

 

[GrumpyGregry]

Crap driving is a fact of life, even been guilty of it myself from time to time. All we can really do is suck it up and move on. Crap cycling is prevalent even amongst those who pride themselves on their cyclecraft, etc.. The roads are crowded and people are stressed. What is 'alarmingly close, too close' to us is a piece of finely judged overtaking to the driver concerned and after all "I didn't actually hit you did I?". Do I have a right not to be scared in the same way as some people think they have a right not to be offended? On the road stuff that makes my once-a-month cyclist b-i-l's hair turn grey from fright I don't even notice anymore. It makes for interesting dinner party debate with car driving non-cyclists anyway...

Being provocative; is there a case for arguing that the roads are crowded, hostile, risk laden, dangerous places, you know that before you cycle on them, so top up your injury and life insurance and HTFU?

*runs*

 

[hackbike 666]

Yesterday I was cycling past the Waldorf Hotel which has become a favourite part of my commute with the many permatations of where a car bus or taxi are going to come from.Plus all the crossing over to get to the right part of the road from Waterloo bridge.

A cab cut me up there and I blew the horn although it wasn't a huge deal,just sometimes you get these guys aren't concentrating.Perhaps he was counting his money.

So I get's past the pinch point down Fleet Street coming up towards St Paul's near Fetter Lane when the same silly duffer in a taxi decides from the right hand lane to cut across me and left hook me.He then proceeds to put his hand up to acknowledge.

Silly old duffer he must have been 70+ and I bet he was cabbying when it was horse and cart.Probably old school.He certainly was the way he drove.

Didn't really bother me as I had already blown the horn after the first incident with same cab.I was more worried at the time getting run down by a second cab behind me not stopping.Then I went on my merry way.

So as usual this morning another black cab passes too close so I blow the horn and he looks in his mirror.(perhaps he didn't see me first time round) SO I give him the old two fingers.Car behind saw what had happened and possibly why I had the hump because I caught up with the car (and he did best to keep out of my way at Bethnal Green) but the offending cab had gone.I half heartedly made an attempt to catch the offending cab,but this morning I really couldn't be bothered for the millionth time to have a go and find im gettiing nowhere.

 

[nigelnorris]

I couldn't disagree more with the original point. It's because no one seems to care or take notice that red lights seem to have become only advisory in Birmingham, double parking is the norm, yellow zones outside schools are just 3 pm parking bays, 20 mph speed signs will just be ignored and rust away.

I'm sick of it, I want someone to do something about it and enforce the law. I want people to stop at amber lights like they used to, park considerately, make allowances for children on the roads. The reason no one ever does is because so many people just shrug and accept it as something we have to get use to and accept. I want speed cameras and traffic cameras surrounding every junction if that's what it takes. Then give the job of monitoring and implementing it all to the people who currently run clamping services so that careless and inconsiderate drivers get hounded till the pips squeak [forgive the mixed metaphor]. I hope the ex-clampers-now-vehicle-monitoring-service live a champagne lifestyle on the proceeds.

Do you know why? Because I am a considerate driver and have nothing to fear from any of this, and the alternative is to give up my principles and join the mob.

I don't care if there will always be drunks and loonies on the road, I want the maximum leverage applied so that there are as few as possible, and for the shortest amount of time possible.

Vote Nige, you know it makes sense.

 

[Bollo]

Crap driving is a fact of life, even been guilty of it myself from time to time. All we can really do is suck it up and move on.

Crap cycling is prevalent even amongst those who pride themselves on their cyclecraft, etc.. The roads are crowded and people are stressed. What is 'alarmingly close, too close' to us is a piece of finely judged overtaking to the driver concerned and after all "I didn't actually hit you did I?". Do I have a right not to be scared in the same way as some people think they have a right not to be offended? On the road stuff that makes my once-a-month cyclist b-i-l's hair turn grey from fright I don't even notice anymore. It makes for interesting dinner party debate with car driving non-cyclists anyway...

Being provocative; is there a case for arguing that the roads are crowded, hostile, risk laden, dangerous places, you know that before you cycle on them, so top up your injury and life insurance and HTFU?

*runs*

*chases after you*

I call this argument the "force of nature" argument - the behaviour of people on the roads is like earthquakes, hurricanes and a dislike of Anthony Worral Thompson, a natural and immutable fact of life. There's no real reason why the UK can't be like the Netherlands or Denmark. People's attitudes to driving can be changed, but its slow and hard work.

Try the "I didn't hit you" argument while waving a gun or a machete around. I guarantee most people, including the resulting armed response unit, will be light on sympathy. Daft though it is, this illustrates the problem - the driver judges and controls an interaction but the cyclist bears the consequences when that judgement or control fails.

Like you, I've developed a pretty thick skin and most of the time other people on the roads are fine. I don't even lose my temper at bad driving. When I have reacted, its because people have either deliberately put me in danger or, more commonly, have behaved selfishly or inconsiderately and then blamed me for essentially being "on a bike" or "in the way".

*out of breath from chasing*

 

[hackbike 666]

I find the driving in Japan and Thailand good when I have been cycling out there.

I also find people out there have more respect for each other.

 

[magnatom]

I'll keep my thoughts along those lines to myself. Im sure some individuals will recognise themselves.

I'm certainly not Mother Theresa on a bike and have fired a few choice words at car drivers that have cut me up badly I do though go out of my way to be courteous and minimise the time I am holding up traffic.

I assume from this, that I should probably recognise myself as one of the individuals... (I am one of the usual suspects)


Just in case I am, have a look at my FAQ which provides some essential background information.

 

[marinyork]

I think the OP misunderstands commute as a section, it has several functions two of which are just to have a bit of a laugh about crap on the roads and the other technical debates on issues, which usually get very heated. Both of these things have clearly given the wrong impression.

 

[HLaB]

I wound up a Big Mouth W@nker driver tonight Edinburgh Council have decided to dig up the roads again! At this junction every approach is down to one lane controlled by temporary traffic lights. About 3 cars back from the temporary stop line there's an unmarked petrol filling station exit. And whilst I'm waiting the BMW appears I was going to hold back 2 secs and let him out when his horn goes. Maybe I was supposed to cycle over the roof of the car in front or magically reverse my bike over the bonnet of the car behind to let him squeeze into the space. I don't think the car behind let him out either but I didn't want to hold him up and shot through the temporary lights. Perhaps if it been the BMW alone I would have went slow to wind him up more

 

[hackbike 666]

BMW's seem to be two a penny nowadays.