Mood change on the roads?

[Guyincognito76]

Are you sure you're not misinterpreting this? Do you drive? Personally, when I'm passing cyclists, my concern is to give them as much space as I can, and certainly as they need, and to pass them quickly and safely. If driving an automatic, kickdown may engage when I accelerate to pass safely. Sometimes safe opportunities require a reasonably rapid acceleration. Would you wish drivers to not take opportunities to pass you safely, and insist that they wait until they can pass with minimal acceleration, bearing in mind that they will be going from 15-50 miles per hour? Also if allowing plenty of space for you, they will be substantially on the wrong side of the road potentially, when in this position I prefer to return to the correct side asap.

These passes are in 30, and 40 zones. I think I can answer this question by pointing out that most of these acceleration passes are from drivers in BMWs*.

*I know it's easy to pick on the drivers of German cars: Golfs are especially bad, mind.

 

[Drago]

Audi's. Not just stereotyping, I make a mental tally of those I see driving like Roger Ramjet on acid and a hugely disproportionate number drive Audi's

 

[Guyincognito76]

Audi's. Not just stereotyping, I make a mental tally of those I see driving like Roger Ramjet on acid and a hugely disproportionate number drive Audi's

Audis and BMWs for awful overtaking of other motorists. Golfs seem to be the entry-level for nobs though.

 

[Tin Pot]

These passes are in 30, and 40 zones. I think I can answer this question by pointing out that most of these acceleration passes are from drivers in BMWs*.

*I know it's easy to pick on the drivers of German cars: Golfs are especially bad, mind.

As boz indicates. Most of my passes in residential zones are likely to be interpreted as aggressive by cyclists, even though they are safe and wide because of the revs and engine sound - although the tiptronic gearbox rarely kicks down a gear. My car handles better than most, and the safest manoeuvre is executed quite quickly.

When you're on a bike you get so little direct comms with drivers you tend to interpret their driving, as it's all you have to go on - which isn't always as it seems.

 

[zizou]

I think generally better but on the other hand the angry minority are worse and seem to be getting emboldened and getting worse by the year.

One thing ive noticed In the last couple of years when ive been out either in groups or riding 2 abreast with a friend is drivers honking and shouting abuse (or their passengers doing it) when they are in the other lane and going the other way. We're not holding them up at all, nowhere near crossing the centre lines yet they get so wound up seeing us riding 2 abreast that they go into a rage. I just dont understand that mentality and cant really remember this happening before.

 

[Shortandcrisp]

If I spend too much time behind the wheel of a car I can feel myself dying a little inside. On a subconscious level I suspect that's how everyone feels. It's not a natural thing to be doing. Have a feeling that's where all that road rage and aggression pops up from.

 

[Guyincognito76]

I'd say definitely not. Also I very much doubt if any of the liberal elite even know how to ride a bike, and I very much doubt that people would perceive cyclists as being part of the liberal elite. I know people like to blame Brexit for everything and anything (probably caused the rain today), but I think this is maybe a stretch too far.

Farage says that Brexit is the result of the anger over the elites etc. I'm not interested in the cause of this anger in this thread, I'm just hypothesising that it has led to the apparent increase in serious incidents on our roads, involving cyclists, recently. I am willing to concede that this is perhaps a coincidence, or a result of other forces, but I'm wondering out loud.

 

[Guyincognito76]

As boz indicates. Most of my passes in residential zones are likely to be interpreted as aggressive by cyclists, even though they are safe and wide because of the revs and engine sound - although the tiptronic gearbox rarely kicks down a gear. My car handles better than most, and the safest manoeuvre is executed quite quickly.

When you're on a bike you get so little direct comms with drivers you tend to interpret their driving, as it's all you have to go on - which isn't always as it seems.

If I go on a three hour ride how many cars pass me? How many hundreds (more than a thousand?) I'm saying that maybe one per ride (usually none) are giving me this acceleration pass -less than <1%. I'm not misinterpreting this -perhaps they're idiots who rev their engines during every acceleration, like kids driving out of McDonald's car park on a Friday night... doesn't make it any less dangerous, does it?

 

[johnnyb47]

I've noticed that the type of cyclist has changed somewhat recently. Not so long back mountain bikes were the common bikes around here and were ridden far more slower than road bikes. The riders of them usually ventured out on solo journeys. Cars could pass them easily and the riders were in not to much of a hurry as they were saving the energy for the off road stuff they were heading for. Nowadays there seems to be a big resurgence of road bikes again with large groups going out on club rides. There speed seems to be much higher and that combined with a large group makes overtaking safely a little more challenging for the motorists.More often than not you will get the odd stressed out motorists who will take silly risks to get past them to save some precious seconds off his journey. My problem were I live is dam tractors. I often get stuck behind one ( usually stinking to high heaven) but I don't have the speed or power to get past them safely.

 

[slowmotion]

I suspect it's mainly in the mind of the rider. If you're pissed off, it's easy to feel like you're some kind of victim on the road. London remains a great place to ride a bike.

 

[Tin Pot]

[QUOTE 4810155, member: 9609"]this is the problem - too many petrol heads, too many people have spent stupid amounts of money on pointless cars they don't need and now believe they are in some sort of magical spacecraft. [/QUOTE]

Sorry, could you be clearer on what is 'the problem' in my post?

It seems that you're saying that my car is too expensive.

 

[Tin Pot]

If I go on a three hour ride how many cars pass me? How many hundreds (more than a thousand?) I'm saying that maybe one per ride (usually none) are giving me this acceleration pass -less than <1%. I'm not misinterpreting this -perhaps they're idiots who rev their engines during every acceleration, like kids driving out of McDonald's car park on a Friday night... doesn't make it any less dangerous, does it?

Well, acceleration of itself is obviously not dangerous. Also obviously, I see plenty of bad passes. About two hours ago a guy in a Fiesta-type absolutely floored it to pass us up a hill. Was he angry? Who knows?
Was it dangerous? No, he passed at an appropriate distance and and moved back into lane after an appropriate gap.
Did the engine make a lot of noise? Yes.

A lot of cyclists interpret this as angry driving because all they have to go on is a loud engine, in reality they have no idea what the driver is feeling. A shitty 1.2l metal box usually really struggle to accelerate on minor inclines.

 

[mjr]

I believe that the new entitled generation who cycle in a confontatonal maner often these days wearing cameras do not help our cause.
Every time i see an aggressive cyclists kicking off i just think why didn't you just ride a bit more defensivly then the situation would never have happened.

What do you mean by "cycling in a confrontational manner" and "defensively"? It reads awfully like you're criticising cycling according to Cyclecraft or Bikeability (primary position where appropriate and so on) and wishing for a return to the bad old days of cycling "proficiency" and gutter crawling 18" from the kerb.

It's not the new cyclists around here who have the cameras. It's mainly the ones who have been riding long enough to have had the bitter experience of the police refusing to address outrageously poor motoring because there were no witnesses.

And the worst abuse I've seen in person from a cyclist was from a seventy-something experienced tourist towards a shockingly close overtake at about 50mph in a 30 limit on the approach to a junction and traffic island. IIRC, he'd recently been knocked off by a motorist, so really didn't appreciate another one coming that close to a repeat. With the exception of Traffic Droid and imitators, I don't think many do it for fun - it's more that sometimes there's an outburst when someone nearly injures you through carelessness.

For my own part, when hit with a car last week, on reviewing the video, apparently I only said 'arrgh, blast!' Much more restrained than I'd expect!

We are vunerable road users and the fact that we have the right of way in some situations doesn't mean we can go where we want.
I think the increase hatered of cyclists from especially younger motorists is a reaction to the abuse they receive from cyclists.

I have already ducked down for the incoming.

As well you should. You're talking through your shorts and being a fellow traveller of motoring supremacists at best.

 

[tommaguzzi]

I am surprised you don't know what riding defensivly is
He is a link to help you.

https://tunedintocycling.com/2008/07/12/cycling-with-cars-riding-defensively/

For my part i do not know what a traffic droid or imitators are.

Agressive cyclists ride on and off footpaths at will, ignore traffic lights, zebra crossings and stop signs. They blast through pedestrian precincts. They ride without lights at night.
Round here they speed 20mph + on a downhill buslane by the side of standing traffic then wonder why the have to break suddenly to miss a pedestrian crossing the road (happens alot some nasty injuries.

I am a cyclist but i do not blindly believe all cyclist are automatically blameless even though they almost always come off worse in any rtc.

 

[tommaguzzi]

thanks for your support RB