OP
OP
Bristolian
Über Member
- Location
- Bristol, UK
I fail to see how the title of this thread has that effect but you carry on in your little bubble
No wonder cyclists are hated
- Thread starter Bristolian
- Start date
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Time Waster
Veteran
About driving tests, about 8 years ago a colleague was doing her driving test and passed on second time. The second test was on a Friday with the head of the test centre. It was known by some locals, the city is a small one and a lot of people know each other.
Anyway, the centre had a max or min pass rate. Apparently if you failed after they had their max fail rate unless you were truly bad you got let off. So if you take your test at the end of the week and are borderline you are giving yourself the best chance to pass. Monday tests they'd fail you for anything.
Now I heard that from a few sources at different times but I have no idea if true. I hope not but things happen. Like the guy from Preston who took the test for about 200 other people and the thinking was that was not all of them. It be made the news.
Anyway, the centre had a max or min pass rate. Apparently if you failed after they had their max fail rate unless you were truly bad you got let off. So if you take your test at the end of the week and are borderline you are giving yourself the best chance to pass. Monday tests they'd fail you for anything.
Now I heard that from a few sources at different times but I have no idea if true. I hope not but things happen. Like the guy from Preston who took the test for about 200 other people and the thinking was that was not all of them. It be made the news.
ebikeerwidnes
Guru
- Location
- Z’ha’dum
Went for a ride this morning along the canal paths
At one point I was riding along an un-tarmaced path with a narrow "path" bit down the middle of the towpath and grass on either side
Ther was an older bloke walking down the path with 2 small dogs - one on the grass on each side
As usual I slowed down and rang my bell
now - my bell was specifically chosen to be quite loud but as friendly as I could find
when I rang the bell the bloke moved to his left onto the grass on the "land side" of the towpath - all great
The dog on the other side did what dog normally do and stopped side on to the path wondering what his master was doing
so I slowed down further (I had been slowing all the time so was going quite slowly at this point) and went round the dog on the canal side
all seemed OK
Until the bloke shouted
"Don;t you have a damn bell!!!"
which was weird as he had reacted when I rang it!!
anyway - I shouted back that I had one and had rung it
he shouted something back but I just accelerated and rode off - feeling very annoyed
basically I suppose it was possible that he didn;t hear - but the bell was heard by everyone else OK
but then he migth be a bit deaf
but why did he react when I rang it??
Co-incidence??
anyway - the point is that - after some thinking - I reckon he just felt that he was in the wrong in some way because his dog had caused me a problem
and he couldn;t cope with someone from "another group" being in teh right when he was in the wrong
all that is in his head - no-one actually did anything wrong
in fact if there hadn't been clear safe space on the outside of his dog then it would have been up to be to stop
but that is my point
sometimes people get angry with cyclists because they might - either really or in their mind - be in the wrong and they can;t cope with it
so they look at whatever they can to make that person "in the wrong"
and if that means watching a whole video and concentrating on the person doing something minor that may be "worng" then that is what they will do
or even just invent something
maybe
At one point I was riding along an un-tarmaced path with a narrow "path" bit down the middle of the towpath and grass on either side
Ther was an older bloke walking down the path with 2 small dogs - one on the grass on each side
As usual I slowed down and rang my bell
now - my bell was specifically chosen to be quite loud but as friendly as I could find
when I rang the bell the bloke moved to his left onto the grass on the "land side" of the towpath - all great
The dog on the other side did what dog normally do and stopped side on to the path wondering what his master was doing
so I slowed down further (I had been slowing all the time so was going quite slowly at this point) and went round the dog on the canal side
all seemed OK
Until the bloke shouted
"Don;t you have a damn bell!!!"
which was weird as he had reacted when I rang it!!
anyway - I shouted back that I had one and had rung it
he shouted something back but I just accelerated and rode off - feeling very annoyed
basically I suppose it was possible that he didn;t hear - but the bell was heard by everyone else OK
but then he migth be a bit deaf
but why did he react when I rang it??
Co-incidence??
anyway - the point is that - after some thinking - I reckon he just felt that he was in the wrong in some way because his dog had caused me a problem
and he couldn;t cope with someone from "another group" being in teh right when he was in the wrong
all that is in his head - no-one actually did anything wrong
in fact if there hadn't been clear safe space on the outside of his dog then it would have been up to be to stop
but that is my point
sometimes people get angry with cyclists because they might - either really or in their mind - be in the wrong and they can;t cope with it
so they look at whatever they can to make that person "in the wrong"
and if that means watching a whole video and concentrating on the person doing something minor that may be "worng" then that is what they will do
or even just invent something
maybe
I've not watched all his videos by any means, but I have seen quite a few and based on that subset I can't agree with this. I don't agree with everything he ever says but he's generally on the side of better road safety.
His take is usually "could either of the parties have handled the situation better to reduce risk?" And quite often the answer is yes both of them could have reduced risk, even though, rightly, the majority of the onus is on the pilot of the more dangerous vehicle.
I believe 99% of that is people either playing up, being a keyboard warrior or just caught in the algorithmic rage-bait shitstorm. On the road my perception is things are slowly improving.
Dogtrousers
Kilometre nibbler
Social media is a cess pit of cretins.
Apart from Cyclechat, of course.
Apart from Cyclechat, of course.
It's just life these days, best to smile and move on.
Social media is a cess pit of cretins.
Apart from Cyclechat, of course.
"Social media is a cess pit of cretins."
Absolutely, but you would not know that if you never went onto social media, would you? I don't ever. Best to stay away from the cesspit, it stinks to high heaven.
Dogtrousers
Kilometre nibbler
There's something paradoxical going on here. You agree absolutely - but you never go onto social media, which means you can't know.
ebikeerwidnes
Guru
- Location
- Z’ha’dum
Yes I know - this guy just got to me
which is very unlike me but there you go!
everyone else that I came across on the ride was very nice - lots of Good Mornings and Hello and all that
