Do we not deserve our bad rep?

[adunn01]

From reading a few posts recently, and witnessing some poor cycling on my commutes through Glasgow over the last 6 months I've come to the conclusion that drivers general opinion of cyclists as a nuisance is pretty understandable.

We expect to be treated with respect as fellow road users and for drivers to follow every rule with regard to cyclist to the letter, but the vast majority of cyclists have no issues RLJing, cycling without lights in the dark, etc etc.

I had a conversation with a motorcyclist the other week while stopped at a red light which started with him saying "I thought you lot didn't need to stop at red lights" - people don't come to these conclusions based on a handful of cyclists not following the rules.

It's easy for us to complain about being picked on in the media, the police having no time for us, drivers thinking we don't deserve our space in the but until we get our own house in order it's never going to change.

 

[hackbike 6]

I had a conversation with a motorcyclist the other week while stopped at a red light which started with him saying "I thought you lot didn't need to stop at red lights" - people don't come to these conclusions based on a handful of cyclists not following the rules.

Although he was taking the pee why is it necessary for him to make a comment like this?

I notice motorcyclists aren't whiter than white either.

 

[dondare]

I do not deserve a bad reputation because people see other cyclists behaving badly.

Ask Mr. Motorcyclist (should you see him again) whether speed limits apply to motorbikes. Feign astonishment if he admits that they do.

 

[jezhiggins]

We expect to be treated with respect as fellow road users and for drivers to follow every rule with regard to cyclist to the letter, but the vast majority of cyclists have no issues RLJing, cycling without lights in the dark, etc etc.

It's a minority. I'm not even sure it's a significant minority.

I had a conversation with a motorcyclist the other week while stopped at a red light which started with him saying "I thought you lot didn't need to stop at red lights" - people don't come to these conclusions based on a handful of cyclists not following the rules.

But not everybody has to come to those conclusion - probably only a minority have. It's very easy to remember to the bad, the stupid, or the dangerous. People don't remember all the non-incidents. It might only takes a couple of encounters with a cyclist/house/BMW driver/white van driver/policeman/old person/foreigner/etc to sour somebody. Unfortunately, once somebody has taken a position like that, it's very difficult to reason with them and change their mind.

It's easy for us to complain about being picked on in the media, the police having no time for us, drivers thinking we don't deserve our space in the but until we get our own house in order it's never going to change.

Cyclists are not a universal church, any more than drivers are.

 

[ComedyPilot]

I wonder how many RLJ'ers are newly converted cyclists, and have brought with them their must-get-ahead attitude from driving a car?

 

[dondare]

In London and Scotland there do seem to be a lot of poor cyclists who commit the henious crimes mentioned. From what I've seen on my commute and the evidence submitted by the Northwallians here and on Youtube I'd say a significant majority are guilty of something illegal, dangerous or antisocial.
I'm interested to hear that they're better behaved in Brummagen.

 

[dondare]

I wonder how many RLJ'ers are newly converted cyclists, and have brought with them their must-get-ahead attitude from driving a car?

When the C-charge was introduced in London a lot of motorists switched to bike, and the standard of cycling fell like a paralyzed falcon.

 

[dondare]

So next time you are out on your bike and a motorist cuts you up, drives badly etc. You really think this is because the day before they saw a cyclist RLJing?

I really believe that sometimes it's part of the reason. Now try and convince me that it ain't.

 

[classic33]

Teres as many car drivers doing the same thing being discussed here.The problem being that they seem unwilling to condem their own. Plenty on here condone RLJ, pavement cycling. Often in the press, but I have yet to see a letter from a motorist doing the same. Wonder why.

http://www.cyclechat.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=17622&highlight=letter+local

 

[dondare]

How many angry drivers are there out in the world?

All of them.

 

[domd1979]

I think it varies, but sadly I think there's a significant proportion of cyclists who are law breaking in one way or another. Last week I spent a couple of hours driving around town (journey time surveying) in the evening rush hour. Saw quite a lot of cyclists in that time. I can count on the fingers of one hand the number I saw that had lights and were cycling on the road. Most of them had no lights or were cycling on the pavement, or both. A couple of those that I did see on the road, and actually with lights, then spoilt it by RLJing and cycling down the gutter up the inside of vehicles with hardly any room to spare (despite there being an outside lane in one place that was empty and much safer to use to overtake on the outside). There also seem to be an element of people with lights on, but at about half a candle power because they haven't replaced the batteries since 1994.

On the other hand the proportion of knobs on bikes probably isn't any less than those in cars. The amount of blatant RLJing by cars at every set of traffic signals was very high, to the point that when I was right turning, the oncoming traffic hadn't cleared until the signals for the other way had gone green thanks to the amount of RLJing. Equally, unless congestion dictates otherwise, 30mph limits are largely ignored.

There's a lot of pot, kettle, and black....!!

It's a minority. I'm not even sure it's a significant minority.

 

[PBancroft]

How many angry drivers are there out in the world?

More than you'd think. At my old job there was a sweet old lady who, shortly after congratulating me on cycling to Swanage and back (about 140 miles) started complaining loudly about how cyclists shouldn't be on the road, because they hold everyone up, run red lights, don't pay tax.

You know, the normal stuff. What was particularly annoying about it was that she just didn't seem to click that I cycle. When I pointed this out to her, she simply said that she didn't mean me.

I've been in a car with people who simply drive through cyclists space, no attempt to indicate or pass safely. And of course then they'll say 'Look at that idiot! All over the road!'

It's not just cyclists that cause this anger. People get angry when folk don't let them out at a junction, when they don't wave thank you, when they forget to indicate, or when traffic lights turn red. People get angry when they get caught in traffic, or when the shortcut they try doesn't work as well as it should.

Driving a car can be a pretty stressful business for some people, and yet they carry on doing it.

 

[Fab Foodie]

From reading a few posts recently, and witnessing some poor cycling on my commutes through Glasgow over the last 6 months I've come to the conclusion that drivers general opinion of cyclists as a nuisance is pretty understandable.

We expect to be treated with respect as fellow road users and for drivers to follow every rule with regard to cyclist to the letter, but the vast majority of cyclists have no issues RLJing, cycling without lights in the dark, etc etc.

I had a conversation with a motorcyclist the other week while stopped at a red light which started with him saying "I thought you lot didn't need to stop at red lights" - people don't come to these conclusions based on a handful of cyclists not following the rules.

It's easy for us to complain about being picked on in the media, the police having no time for us, drivers thinking we don't deserve our space in the but until we get our own house in order it's never going to change.

+1

 

[BentMikey]

There's another part of this too, that motorists treat cyclists as another tribe. They're much quicker to ignore or forgive and forget transgressions of other motorists, and quick to point out the most minor failure of a cyclist.

They forget we're all humans, and that most of us drive cars too. It's the new tribalism/racism.

 

[ComedyPilot]

A well-publicised one day 'zero-tolerance' initiative by the Met on RLJing cyclists will go a long way to showing motorists that cyclists who do this are NOT above the law. Besides, I wonder how many other crimes would come to light whilst stopping these 'cyclists'? Drug runners, fine dodgers, illegal immigrants, thieves, burglars, rapists/murderers? Stranger things have been found on stop-checks.