Dont let abuse from motorists spoil your day.

[Dan B]

Also could you two please keep your replies under the quotes?

+1

The "site default" is a technical artefact of the system, not (as can be seen from pretty much everyone else's posts) a guide to the behaviour desired. Remember, legal is not the same as considerate!

 

[apollo179]

+1

The "site default" is a technical artefact of the system, not (as can be seen from pretty much everyone else's posts) a guide to the behaviour desired. Remember, legal is not the same as considerate!

Ok i can recognise a well made point when i see one. If post below quotes is the accepted norm then im happy to comply. Personally im oblivious to if its below above or whatever , but happy to fit in.

 

[Adasta]

When you read a blockquote in an article, does the author analyse it before or after it has been initially referenced?

 

[Cyclopathic]

It's hard not to have your day's ride spoiled when you have to stop to scrape someone's thick green phlegm out of your eyes!

I would say that trafic lights can be your friend at such times. If this ever happened to me I would be dammned upset and I'd just hope that I'd be able to get their number down and that there were witnesses. So often though this isn't the case. Just reading your post has been enough to get me a bit riled up.

 

[wiggydiggy]

..........

Also could you two please keep your replies under the quotes? Anal I know but it makes things a lot easier to read.

Ditto, replies belong under quotes otherwise I simply read your reply without re-reading the post, makes the quote pointless really.

 

[Tasker]

'Dont let abuse from motorists spoil your day.'

You've just said it. Even though it must have upset you at the time remember most drivers are decent sorts so don't let the very small minority spoil it for you.

 

[Rhythm Thief]

Can't see that it matters where the quote is in a reply, myself. Don't let people complaining about it being in the wrong place spoil your day ...

 

[apollo179]

Can't see that it matters where the quote is in a reply, myself. Don't let people complaining about it being in the wrong place spoil your day ...

Thanks.
Normally i would give these moaning minnies short thrift but i have been flogging this courtesy and consideration idea so unfortunately had no where to turn.

 

[Cubist]

Can't see that it matters where the quote is in a reply, myself.I think we should all develop our own style of where we reply to quotes. Don't let people complaining about it being in the wrong place spoil your day ...

 

[ColinJ]

I would say that trafic lights can be your friend at such times. If this ever happened to me I would be dammned upset and I'd just hope that I'd be able to get their number down and that there were witnesses. So often though this isn't the case. Just reading your post has been enough to get me a bit riled up.

No lights, no witnesses, no chance of getting a number ...

It was a beautiful summer evening about 20 years ago, when I was still newly in love with cycling and I was toiling up a tree-lined hill out of Hebden Bridge. I was just getting fit enough to enjoy the climbing and the birds were singing, all was well in the world.

Then I became aware that a large vehicle was coming up behind me. I looked over my shoulder and saw that it was a van. The driver pulled out and began a slow overtake. "Very considerate", thought I.

His passenger was smiling down at me and wound down his window. I thought he was going to make a jokey remark and looked up at him in anticipation. He promptly gobbed a huge greeny straight into my eyes.

Was it deliberate? Oh yes! They were howling with laughter as they shot off up the hill. BASTARDS!

I was so angry and upset that I turned round and went straight back home. I wasn't safe on the road feeling like that. If someone had crossed me again later in the ride, I'd have pummelled them.

There are some scumbags in the world. Fortunately, they are still fairly few and far between.

 

[apollo179]

That is the quintessential "dont let abuse from motorists spoil your day" story. Very sad. Like when you hear some yobs have kicked a tramp to death for no reason. Very sad. And the reality is we are all just being in the wrong place at the wrong time away from it happening to us.

 

[Hedgehog71]

I've been knocked down twice. The first time in '94 by a transit driver who pulled out of a side road and hit me broadside (he claimed his windscreen was fogged up and was very sorry indeed, to his credit he gave me and my bike a lift home and a few quid to pay for the damage, thereby avoiding a lawsuit, says my cynical side) The second time, also in '94, by a driver who decided to pull over to the side of the road and neglected to notice me cycling alongside him!

It does appear, in my experience, to depend a great deal on the area you live in. Enfield and Harlow are both areas where I have encountered a vast amount of utter a**holes: drivers taking a left without bothering to wait for me to pass their turning seems to be a favourite. Blasting by me without shifting out a foot or two to give me room and occasionally clipping me with a wing mirror. One BMW driver even slammed her brakes on just ahead of me, leaned over and threw her passenger door open to brush some rubbish out into the road, I felt like deliberately slamming my bike into the open door just to make a point!

Since moving to Wymondham, however, I find that drivers here are far more tolerant, and always acknowledge me as a road user, even giving me a wave when I pull over in a passing place to let them by. So there's hope yet it seems, a far more chilled way of life and it's reflected on the road users (still has it's share of idiot drivers though)

I don't tolerate verbal abuse, and sadly my temper gets the better of me if a motorist starts to give it large, I end up losing it completely and abusing them right back, twice now I've chased down an artic driver for narrowly missing me and got them to get out of their cabs so I could yell in their faces.

 

[rossjevans]

Taking advantage of the weather today after a truly miserable week, I got myself up early and got out of the house by 6am (wanted to be back in time for F1 Qualifying) for a nice 65 miles around the New Forest. Found a great route and thoroughly enjoyed the ride until I had the misfortune of meeting a rather irate van man.

On the way home riding on this road, a blue Merc Sprinter skimmed past me leaving inches to spare - I could have easily touched it had I put my hand out. I waved my hand in the air (no swearing, yet) to express my thoughts on his shoddy piece of driving, he see's this and then decides to stop on the left of the road to wind his window down and have a go. I'm forced to pass him on his right and as I pass he shouts "Get on the f**king cycle path". This quickly brought my p*ss up to a rolling boil and so I carried on riding and pointed over to the garden center car park.

Cue much ranting and swearing but selected (censored) quotes are as follows:

Him:

• "You should have been on the cycle path, it cost the tax payer a lot of money to build it so use it...I purposely passed you close to make you realise" (it's been built since the Google streetview images were taken - it's a 2 way cycle and pedestrian pathway similar to what I posted on previously).
• "You shouldn't be on the road, you don't have a bell and they are compulsory"
• "I'm 63 I have a full driving license, motorbike license, HGV and PPL (!!!) also my son is in the police anti terroist squad...do you know the minimum size of a road sign, I've never met anyone who is able to answer that?"
• "I'm also a cyclist, I've cycled across all of Europe"

Me:

• "The highway code states you should give me as much room as if you were passing a car, everyone else including HGV's have passed me safely on this road, there is plenty of room."
• "It's not compulsory to use the cycle path and I'd rather not with it being 2 way and used my pedestrians - I feel it safer to use the road except when I encounter drivers like yourself"
• "The fact that I do not have a bell is completely irrelevant, you passed me from behind so you saw me before I saw you and motorists would never hear a bell anyway...on the topic of irrelevance a PPL does not make you a good driver"

Can anyone confirm the legality on bells? From what I can tell from the highway code they are recommended to warn pedestrians that you are approaching which is of course useful when you are riding on pedestrian footpaths

I was absolutely raging at the cheek and sheer bullsh*t that this guy came up with. Put a dampener on what otherwise was a lovely ride.

 

[gaz]

Dosnt anyone else think theres a responsibility for cyclists to cycle with some consideration to motorists.
Saying its legal to ride 2 abreast is all well and good but it is not considerate and is not going to do any good in the battle to win motorists hearts and minds and further harmonious road use by both car and bike. And ultimately it is in the cyclists interest for the relation to be harmonious cos as has been previously pointed out the cyclists power to annoy is insignificant compared to the cars power to kill.

Why do we need to win there hearts and minds? I'm not going to take them on a date.

As Colin pointed out above, riding two abreast is in many cases safer. And it's often taught to move back to single file when it is the safest thing to do.

Your last comment shows exactly why we should cycle in a safe manor and take control of situations. We should not allow the attitude 'I'm bigger, harder and faster than you. Get out of my way!'

 

[apollo179]

Why do we need to win there hearts and minds? I'm not going to take them on a date.

As Colin pointed out above, riding two abreast is in many cases safer. And it's often taught to move back to single file when it is the safest thing to do.

Your last comment shows exactly why we should cycle in a safe manor and take control of situations. We should not allow the attitude 'I'm bigger, harder and faster than you. Get out of my way!'

Hi qaz - every incident of "abuse from motorists" illustrates why we need to win their hearts and minds. Purely from a selfish perspective every motorist whos been won over (so to speak) is one motorist less likely to be abusive to cyclists on the road. Like them or loathe them , its about our self interest. Every antagonised motorist is one more motorist likely to drive without care for the safety of cyclists.
Colins point regarding where safety concerns deem it safer to ride 2 abreast is wholey valid and everyone agrees that cyclists should cycle according to there own best safety.
However, however much you try and take control of the situation and try not to allow the atttitude 'I'm bigger, harder and faster than you. Get out of my way!' ultimately the cyclist is vulnerable , the cyclist is going to come off worse when incidents occur. This is why, unpalatable as it may be, it is in all our interests to win hearts and minds. That does not mean riding unsafely or kow towing to motorists - its means riding with courtesy and consideration , and not unnessecarily making enemies. Adopting an adversarial approach is not in the longterm best interests of cyclists at large.