Fear of road riding

[TonyEnjoyD]

Having spent my youth and teenage years cycling on the roads (it was a lot quieter in the 70's) I was pretty much ok when I took up roadie cycling 4 years ago, but commuting I still get quite a few close calls, but it's tends to be when I wander back toward the gutter rather than sticking in primary or secondary...most times.

 

[Crankarm]

Rubbish.

So how many threads on here are there of cyclists being cut up, close passed, knocked off, verbally abused and threatened? Quite a few. Why don't you count them. It might take you some time.

 

[Crankarm]

Personally, if i was scared to be out on the roads i wouldn't open my front door.

Stoooooopid comment.

 

[Deleted member 1258]

So how many threads on here are there of cyclists being cut up, close passed, knocked off, verbally abused and threatened? Quite a few. Why don't you count them. It might take you some time.

People use this forum to sound of when they have had a bad commute or an incident, you hear a lot about the bad ones, but people rarely post about the uneventful commutes, this gives a totally unrepresentative picture of commuting.
Speaking personally 99.9% of my commutes are uneventful, they are just part of life's boring routine, I leave the house and cycle to work, when I've finished my shift I clock out and cycle home and that's it, nothing happens that makes me worried, I don't ride feeling threatened, I don't ride feeling my life's in danger, if any of that started happening I wouldn't ride I'd drive.

 

[Red Light]

So how many threads on here are there of cyclists being cut up, close passed, knocked off, verbally abused and threatened? Quite a few. Why don't you count them. It might take you some time.

There is a difference between the subjective perception of how dangerous it is and the objective evidence. Objectively its no more dangerous than walking and yet very few people would regard walking as dangerous. As for the forum its a collection of subjective anecdotes with people tending to come here to complain/sound off/seek sympathy when something has happened and report all the local reports of accidents that happened to others. As Dave R says, its not representative.

 

[marshmella]

To any new members viewing this thread one or two the posts could appear quite alarmist, thankfully there's enough sound advice being given for such members to be re assured.

 

[Fab Foodie]

Cycling on the roads is dangerous. Period. It doesn't matter how many books or times you have read Cyclecraft, if you are in the way of a vehicle that is determined to pass you or a driver has NOT seen you and continues as if you are NOT there then you will be going down. It hurts believe me. It has happened to me twice and on both occasions I was lit up like the seafront at Blackpool and wearing the ubquitous hi-viz fluorescent yellow. Then there are the numerous brushes with death you have every time your pedals start turning - the exceedingly close passes, the left hooks, the cut ups, door opening and general abuse and threats to do you harm. All in all riding on UK roads can be a pretty unpleasant and terrifying experience. The best system would be a cycle network seperate from the road network as they have done in Holland and Denmark.

Utter utter bollocks.

 

[derrick]

Why do some cyclists wear black? Red, blue or flouro yes, but surely wearing black is asking for drivers to miss you?

I wear black all the time. although i have a white helmet and they miss me all the time. lol

 

[markg0vbr]

I've been riding on Britain's roads for over 40 years, normal annual mileage around 5000 miles, it ain't nowhere near that bad, if it was I would have stopped years ago.

come and ride with me for a week.

i do 100+ miles a week and i can not remember a ride where i did not have a stupid near pass or aggressive driving including verbal abuse spiting, thing thrown from cars (full water bottles seem favored) it all depends where you live, what roads you ride and what time of day.
i have recently moved on to part time working so can now ride mid morning after the school run and only get two or three incidents most rides.

i ride a hand bike in town for shopping ect and get the most abuse on this, being spat on seem favored, "get off the f**** road spaz", and leaning out the window making retard noises is common though, one van passenger thought slapping the back of my head while driving pass a funny thing to do; i have given up commuting on the hand bike for no other reason than abuse and open hatred.
until you experience it for your self you can not believe the way drivers behave toward a disabled person just because they are on the road. i need to do 15 to 20 hours of exorcise a week to keep from rapidly loosing what mobility and quality of life i have.
i am finding it increasingly difficult to face going out on the road, i could sit on a exorcise bike but i do not get any where near the benefit of actually being out of the house.
i have got to the stage of going to the indoor shopping center and doing laps in the wheelchair, rather than ride at busy times of the day.


the solution enforcement and better road layout and stop handing out laughable judgments for killing people.
after reporting numerous incidents including witness statements to south Yorkshire police one involving being hit over the head and knocked out with a rolled up news paper from a moving car.

to date they have made an "intelligence report" on one car, given me advice to ride defensively and take up primary when passing pinch points ect.
basically "go away and stop bothering us" seams to be the attitude. i taught advanced motorcycle riding, i have ridden a bicycle all my life i know what i am doing on the road.
but when i go to the trouble of coming in to the police station to report some thing it is because it is a bad incident at least talk to the driver or send them a letter giving them advice about how to drive.


nothing will improve until drivers start getting prosecuted for the way they are driving a lethal weapon.

 

[mcshroom]

I'll agree it does seem to be different in different places. London seems to have slightly more bike aware (if not more patient) drivers than some other towns and cities. I've never had any real problems when riding back in Rotherham (usually Kimberworth, Masborough, Thorpe Hesley sort of area) but I've seen comments from others on here such as yourself that show that there definitely are some nasty pieces of work around in the town.

 

[Deleted member 1258]

come and ride with me for a week.

i do 100+ miles a week and i can not remember a ride where i did not have a stupid near pass or aggressive driving including verbal abuse spiting, thing thrown from cars (full water bottles seem favored) it all depends where you live, what roads you ride and what time of day.
i have recently moved on to part time working so can now ride mid morning after the school run and only get two or three incidents most rides.

i ride a hand bike in town for shopping ect and get the most abuse on this, being spat on seem favored, "get off the f**** road spaz", and leaning out the window making retard noises is common though, one van passenger thought slapping the back of my head while driving pass a funny thing to do; i have given up commuting on the hand bike for no other reason than abuse and open hatred.
until you experience it for your self you can not believe the way drivers behave toward a disabled person just because they are on the road. i need to do 15 to 20 hours of exorcise a week to keep from rapidly loosing what mobility and quality of life i have.
i am finding it increasingly difficult to face going out on the road, i could sit on a exorcise bike but i do not get any where near the benefit of actually being out of the house.
i have got to the stage of going to the indoor shopping center and doing laps in the wheelchair, rather than ride at busy times of the day.


the solution enforcement and better road layout and stop handing out laughable judgments for killing people.
after reporting numerous incidents including witness statements to south Yorkshire police one involving being hit over the head and knocked out with a rolled up news paper from a moving car.

to date they have made an "intelligence report" on one car, given me advice to ride defensively and take up primary when passing pinch points ect.
basically "go away and stop bothering us" seams to be the attitude. i taught advanced motorcycle riding, i have ridden a bicycle all my life i know what i am doing on the road.
but when i go to the trouble of coming in to the police station to report some thing it is because it is a bad incident at least talk to the driver or send them a letter giving them advice about how to drive.


nothing will improve until drivers start getting prosecuted for the way they are driving a lethal weapon.

I'm sorry to hear your having such a rough time on the roads, can I ask a question? how much of that is related to your disability and how much do think is related to you being on a bike? You see I don't see any of that and never have done, I have one bad junction on my commute home that I have to be wary of and I get the odd close pass and most of the time thats it.

 

[Andy_R]

I think, to get things into perspective, you need to read through all of the commuter threads about, "I almost got killed", "Knobber cut me up", "My helmet saved my life", "All white van drivers are out to get me", and then think to yourself...If things are really that dangerous out ther, how come so many "Victims" are still alive. Also, remember that old news adage of "Drop the dead donkey", i.e good news is no news. For evey poster about bad drivers on this site, there are probably 1000 who have no issues with other road users. See this link for an example Nothing to see here, cyclists didn't die

 

[Deleted member 1258]

I'll agree it does seem to be different in different places. London seems to have slightly more bike aware (if not more patient) drivers than some other towns and cities. I've never had any real problems when riding back in Rotherham (usually Kimberworth, Masborough, Thorpe Hesley sort of area) but I've seen comments from others on here such as yourself that show that there definitely are some nasty pieces of work around in the town.

I've often wondered how much of the behaviour is related to how many cyclists are in an area. Where I am on the northern edge of Coventry cyclists are almost as rare as hens teeth and I get the distinct impression that a lot of the drivers have no idea how to drive when they are around cyclists, contrast this with somewhere like London where cyclists are common and drivers are around cyclists every day and most I would have thought would have a better idea of how to drive. The other thing I have wondered about is how much friction is there between cyclists and drivers where cyclists are common and how that affects driver behaviour.

 

[mcshroom]

Another thread to read is the Your Ride Today thread, now onto page 322

 

[Fab Foodie]

Well, we've really helped the OP here ....