"Get on the side of the road!"

[ComedyPilot]

You would think that CTC or BC could put up some cash to make an educational film aimed at explaining to motorists why cyclists do what we do, and that its not just us being awkward.

If they (impatient motorists) looked further up the road than the end of their bonnets, they'd see why we ride with such positioning. We, unlike them, are riding defensively and anticipating hazards. They are driving by feel, and will stop when they hit something.

 

[bicyclos]

We are basically in the way on these overcrowded roads but not all drivers are the same thank goodness. I used to drive slow moving horticultural machinery about 20yrs ago on the road to get to my sites and used to get verbaly abused now and again because I was in the way! Nothing changes...............You cannot educate pork.

 

[Scoosh]

All this re-reinforces my idea that driver education is the key to cycling safety in this country - not just cycling lanes etc.

A lot of this is caused by a generation or two having missed out on cycling when they were young.

 

[davefb]

All this re-reinforces my idea that driver education is the key to cycling safety in this country - not just cycling lanes etc.

A lot of this is caused by a generation or two having missed out on cycling when they were young.

indeed..
the highway code says keep left for ALL vehicles, but when driving the car you don't drive in the gutter either..

 

[recumbentpanda]

We are basically in the way on these overcrowded roads but not all drivers are the same thank goodness. I used to drive slow moving horticultural machinery about 20yrs ago on the road to get to my sites and used to get verbaly abused now and again because I was in the way! Nothing changes...............You cannot educate pork.

No, No, No, No! It's the cars that get in the way of the bicycles!. Leave house, have to creep out of side-road cautiously because of bloody double parked cars and speeding motorists. At first intersection have to proceed at 'dead slow ahead' because dithering motorists have lost the use of indicators. At traffic lights have to slow down very early to filter past queueing motorists. En route have to go the long way round because of bloody one-way system designed to stop motors clogging up the place. Cars cars cars are what slow bicycles down not the other way round!!!!

 

[Ian Cooper]

No, No, No, No! It's the cars that get in the way of the bicycles!

Just what I was thinking. They're in my way.

 

[bicyclos]

In a nutshell overcrowded roads

 

[Nigel-YZ1]

I agree, I can't drive to work in my car without cars being in the way! Grrrr! Bloody motorists....

I blame the school run. Whenever the schools are off the roads are empty. It's paradise I tell you!

 

[Ian Cooper]

I blame the school run. Whenever the schools are off the roads are empty. It's paradise I tell you!

When I lived in Boston, Massachusetts, I used to walk my daughter to school - it was about a quarter of a mile, so about 5 minutes walk. About half way there - so about 200 yards from the school - I would walk by the house of one of my daughter's schoolmates. Every school day, her mother would put the kid in the car, drive her the 200 yards to school, and then drive home again. That's how addicted to cars our society is today.

And I'm not immune. In 1970, when I was an 8 year-old kid, My mum and I used to think nothing of walking the two miles from my house in Shortheath into Willenhall, Staffordshire. These days, I'd never consider walking that far.

 

[GetAGrip]

In a nutshell overcrowded roads

It is true of course that our roads are overcrowded. But, I feel much happier on my local roads now than I did in the 80's (I have no experience of city commuting).
I think as was said earlier, that it's more to do with the absence of bikes on the roads for a decade or so. There are so many more bikes around now, and, although SOME motorists may be cursing our very existence, a lot more seem resigned to the fact we are traffic also.
Maybe we need to remember as well that the 'metal iddytwit carrier' is mainly a creature of solitude and doesn't mix well with it's own kind either.

 

[StuartG]

In 1970, when I was an 8 year-old kid, My mum and I used to think nothing of walking the two miles from my house in Shortheath into Willenhall, Staffordshire. These days, I'd never consider walking that far.

How weird - I lived in Shortheath in the early sixties and walked the three miles to school (Willy Comp then in Bilston Road) when my dad pinched my bike for work.

Willenhall was a cycling town being very flat and I don't recall any problem with drivers. Different now!

When I moved to London I continued riding to work in the seventies. There were very few bike commuters. Again different now. Strange how things can change in different directions ...

 

[Ian Cooper]

How weird - I lived in Shortheath in the early sixties...

Small world! I went to Pool Hayes Comp, which is now Pool Hayes Community School. When I left there my family moved to Bloxwich and I worked in Brownhills as a draughtsman for 5 years - cycled 3.5 miles to work every day, rain or shine (this was 1979-1984. I don't recall problems with drivers either. Then again, back then, I was a gutter-riding cyclist, so I was not 'in their way' (as they say). Somehow, I think that if I had ridden my bike as I do now, the long stretch along the Wolverhampton Road/Lichfield Road through Pelsall would have got me a good few honks and yells. British roads tend to be narrower than American roads, and as I recall, that Lichfield Road stretch was just wide enough to fit me and a lorry and a couple of inches if I was riding in the gutter. Looking back, I'm amazed I survived those 5 years with no sideswipes or rear-enders. These days, I'd be taking the lane for safety's sake, so all that traffic would have to go at my speed for that whole 2 mile stretch - and there's no alternate route.

 

[StuartG]

Another coincidence - my French teacher Mr Davies went on to become the first head of Pool Hayes when it opened. I lived on the Summer Hayes estate (Perry Hall Drive).

One difference then was often there would be bikes behind and ahead - a travelling peleton so cars would naturally drive out a bit leaving us a virtual albeit gutter based lane. And maybe gutters were kept in better nick. Also cars/lorries were much narrower.

 

[briantrumpet]

I'm not generally in favour of adding to the proliferating number of road signs, but this one from America is clear and to the point:

 

[Ian Cooper]

... I lived on the Summer Hayes estate (Perry Hall Drive)...

Very small world! I lived on The Hayes, which intersects with Perry Hall Drive. Our houses were only a few hundred yards apart. Though I only moved there in the summer of 1970.