I nearly ran over two cyclists today, and they'd have deserved it if it had happened....

[sabian92]

Let me explain.

I was driving home from college (I know, a sin on here but I had to post a parcel that wouldn't fit on my bike!) and I drove over a little hump-back bridge. I crested the bridge to find a man on his bicycle riding towards me. This wasn't the particularly alarming part, the part that alarmed me was HE WAS ON THE WRONG SIDE OF THE ROAD. I slowed for the bridge before the hump, saw him, slowed more even though I was clear for the mini-roundabout that's after the bridge and beeped at him (again, another sin but he was a proper arse) to which he gave me a thumbs up, and carried on by riding between me and the kerb, over the bridge. Who does that? Who rides on the wrong side of the road? This isn't France!

The second one was later on, about 8pm this evening. I live on a road with terrible street lighting, so you have to be careful with kids running across the road at night. I got in, started the car and drove down the road at 15mph or so. I was greeted by a clear road, until I spotted two little pedal reflectors going up and down. I slowed down to let him get to the junction first, when all of a sudden I was surprised to find a lad of 15-16, riding a BLACK bike wearing BLACK clothes with no lights or reflectors apart from the pedal ones, riding TOWARDS ME. At night.

Is it "The International Day of Humans Acting Like Lemmings" today?

What the Hell goes through these people's (apparently tiny) brains?

No wonder car drivers give cyclists abuse if this is their experience of them.

 

[Brandane]

There are arses in all walks of life, including cyclists. No doubt someone will come along and tell you that you should be driving your "2 ton weapon" in such a way that you can always be in a position to slow down and stop for unlit cyclists on the wrong side of the road, on a dark rainy night, on a blind corner of a busy trunk road with a 60 mph limit.

 

[MarkF]

The thread title is poo.

 

[Crankarm]

Op chillax.

Having advised chillaxing to the OP, I was irated last night when I saw a cyclist with their front light on flashing which is one of my hates. The thing was that the cyclist wasn't getting closer to me as quickly as it should have been. Then I realised why. A chav on a BSO who was dressed in black head to toe had placed his white flashing front light rear wards ie on the seat pin facing back!!!! No front light. What a numptee which I told him as I passed by. He then turned off abruptly into the chav Arbury estate.

 

[sidevalve]

There are arses in all walks of life, including cyclists. No doubt someone will come along and tell you that you should be driving your "2 ton weapon" in such a way that you can always be in a position to slow down and stop for unlit cyclists on the wrong side of the road, on a dark rainy night, on a blind corner of a busy trunk road with a 60 mph limit.

True,but the theory does [or should] hold the other way too, the cyclist should be able to stop when he / she sees something coming towards them, not just ride blindly onwards forcing other [law abiding] people to dodge them. After all it is they who are breaking the law which does state that lights must be carried at night and which side of the road should be used [believe it or not some laws do apply to cyclists].
Excuses will be trotted out for it and "blame shifting" will be tried but it all ends up with the usual "it's always somebody else's fault" bleating.
Yep there are crap drivers but there are also crap cyclists and the sooner people stop trying to find excuses for them the better.

 

[Crackle]

I have even read your thread but 'deserved' it, really.

 

[Sara_H]

I nearly ran over two cyclists today, and they'd have deserved it if it had happened....

That's not nice.

 

[sabian92]

There are arses in all walks of life, including cyclists. No doubt someone will come along and tell you that you should be driving your "2 ton weapon" in such a way that you can always be in a position to slow down and stop for unlit cyclists on the wrong side of the road, on a dark rainy night, on a blind corner of a busy trunk road with a 60 mph limit.

I know that and I wasn't driving like a dick, so is that still my fault? I was doing under the speed limit (30mph) even before I slowed down for the roundabout. As for the tosser at night, if I'd have driven into him head-on because he wasn't lit and therefore for all intents and purposes invisible, would that be my fault? Even if it wasn't my insurance would have had to pay out and considering I've got a £500 excess, I'd rather that didn't happen as I can't afford it.

True,but the theory does [or should] hold the other way too, the cyclist should be able to stop when he / she sees something coming towards them, not just ride blindly onwards forcing other [law abiding] people to dodge them. After all it is they who are breaking the law which does state that lights must be carried at night and which side of the road should be used [believe it or not some laws do apply to cyclists].
Excuses will be trotted out for it and "blame shifting" will be tried but it all ends up with the usual "it's always somebody else's fault" bleating.
Yep there are crap drivers but there are also crap cyclists and the sooner people stop trying to find excuses for them the better.

I'm not blame shifting here but I agree, you can't expect people to take the blame just because they're driving a car.

"I nearly ran over two cyclists today, and they'd have deserved it if it had happened"

No they would not. That's a disgraceful thread title for a cycling forum and should be taken down.

If somebody rides at you deliberately on the wrong side of the road, do you think "What a lovely chap riding his bicycle, more people should follow the example!" or "Wow, what a bellend, he's going to get himself killed"?

I know which I think.

I have even read your thread but 'deserved' it, really.

Deserved is the wrong word and I was annoyed about it, I apologise for the title.

 

[Davidc]

I don't agree with the title, but would comment that your driving was clearly safe. You'd slowed down and behaved in the right way for the road and conditions, so you were able to cope with the nimbskulls on those bikes. That's how everyone should drive, but not everyone does. Good for you.

I don't have a problem with your hooting either.

The worst I've seen recently was 2 11/12 year olds playing chicken on bikes, riding across a busy road from behind a parked van and making drivers do emergency stops. Another adult cyclist got to them before I did!

 

[snorri]

you should be driving your "2 ton weapon" in such a way that you can always be in a position to slow down and stop for unlit cyclists on the wrong side of the road, on a dark rainy night, on a blind corner of a busy trunk road with a 60 mph limit.

 

[byegad]

Some years ago I met a Ninja BMXer coming the wrong way around an overgrown roundabout, so I couldn't see him over the top of the shrubbery, at night. Quite how I missed him I'll never know, although I'm glad I did.

 

[davefb]

I know that and I wasn't driving like a dick, so is that still my fault? I was doing under the speed limit (30mph) even before I slowed down for the roundabout. As for the tosser at night, if I'd have driven into him head-on because he wasn't lit and therefore for all intents and purposes invisible, would that be my fault? Even if it wasn't my insurance would have had to pay out and considering I've got a £500 excess, I'd rather that didn't happen as I can't afford it.


I'm not blame shifting here but I agree, you can't expect people to take the blame just because they're driving a car.



If somebody rides at you deliberately on the wrong side of the road, do you think "What a lovely chap riding his bicycle, more people should follow the example!" or "Wow, what a bellend, he's going to get himself killed"?

I know which I think.

Deserved is the wrong word and I was annoyed about it, I apologise for the title.

he passed you on the wrong side, on the bridge?

so didn't that mean you had to move across to the wrong side then?

a work colleague was killed on his motorbike, because a car coming the other way passed some pedestrians who were walking in the road near the crest of a hill... yeah the car shouldnt have crossed the middle of the road, but the driver was put in a bad position by people walking in the road in a pack and not thinking about what the consequences of their actions would be..

riding on the wrong side is just *stupidity*,

 

[sabian92]

he passed you on the wrong side, on the bridge?

so didn't that mean you had to move across to the wrong side then?

a work colleague was killed on his motorbike, because a car coming the other way passed some pedestrians who were walking in the road near the crest of a hill... yeah the car shouldnt have crossed the middle of the road, but the driver was put in a bad position by people walking in the road in a pack and not thinking about what the consequences of their actions would be..

riding on the wrong side is just *stupidity*,

If only, there was a pinch point that I'd got to thinking he'd go on the other side but squeezed down the side of me. How he didn't take the paint off I'll never know.
http://goo.gl/maps/dn3XC
Shame your colleague was killed. Some people have no sense about what they're doing.

It still wasn't the fault of the pedestrians though, was it. When driving we should always be able to stop in the area ahead that we can see to be clear. If you can't see clear road ahead, you slow down. If this driver came upon the pedestrians unexpectedly and could not stop, then he/she was driving too fast for the conditions. Likewise the OP should have stopped when confronted with the cyclist on the bridge.

There have been other threads where people have admitted their driving is sometimes less than perfect (which applies to us all I'm sure), and people respect them for admitting as much. The best thing is to learn from one's mistakes. The OP edited and extended the title of this thread when he realised the original version reflected badly on him. Unfortunately the new version, attempting to shift the blame onto the cyclist, makes him look much worse.

I did stop - I didn't carry on driving considering it's a narrow gap. How does it make ME look worse? I stopped before I ran him over, he was in the wrong - not me yet If I'd ran him over I'd have been the one in trouble. Sorry, but if you're on the wrong side of the road, the driver doesn't look at all bad because it isn't their fault. I'm not shifting blame on to anybody, I'm putting it on the arse on a bike because I did nothing wrong.

Also, I didn't edit it. Not sure where you got that from but I haven't touched the original post. I tell it like it is, if you think that I'm to blame for him not having two brain cells to rub together and knowing which side of the road we drive on in the UK then you're probably as daft as him.

 

[green1]

It still wasn't the fault of the pedestrians though, was it.

Depends which way they are walking. Pedestrians are supposed to walk on the wrong side of the road.

 

[lejogger]

...I was irated last night when I saw a cyclist with their front light on flashing which is one of my hates...

Not a criticism or anything, and off topic a bit, but I was just wondering why a flashing front light irritates you...

Merely because I frequently flash at the front (so to speak) and was wondering what I'm doing wrong