mickle
innit
- Location
- 53.933606, -1.076131
There are people on this forum who claim never to have had a run in with an inconsiderate/stupid/careless/inept driver. They brag that, in +/-thirty some odd years of commuting, their well-being has never been threatened by a twunt. Their safety never compromised. I find these claims impossible to reconcile with my daily experience - and I commute only 1.4 miles each way every day - and I live, allegedly, in a 'Cycling City'.
Tonight's trip home was right up there with the worst of them - but not, I'm sorry to say, untypical.
1. Rusty Volvo (with still fogged up windows and windscreen) speeds up to over take me within 6 metres of a red light (at a t-junction - I'm turning right and he's turning left), fails to make it and screeches to a halt behind a truck but not before shitting me up good and proper.
2. Travelling up a kerbside cycle path a Merc starts to drift over as I'm coming past it. He's left a big gap in the traffic queue in front of him so we know what he's doing. We're going up an incline and I'm on the cargo bike, so not much faster than walking pace. My bell wakes him from his texting and he revs off at high speed - obviously to prove something to me. He gets about four car lengths up the road. Vroom vroom.
3. Still in the cycle lane I reach the traffic light controlled cross roads. The cars going in my direction are passing me slowly as I approach. As I cross the line the driver of a red BMW who has moved into the yellow hatching suddenly realises that he/she has nowhere to go. So stops short of a car indicating to turn right across her path. And, in spite of having overtaken me only a few seconds earlier, flashes the waiting car to indicate that it's safe to proceed. The indicating car drives straight at me - and then has the farking gall to give me the 'self-gratification artist' gesture because - I can only presume - I failed to yield.
4. Several cars pass me too close, I move from strong secondary into primary as I approach a traffic island, and they squeeze past anyway.
5. The passenger of a passing Transit leans out of his window to shout something unintelligible.
6. A silver generic soft roader dangerously overtakes me as I approach a line of stationary cars at a pelican crossing, a manouvre which achieves absolutely nothing except to put me behind him. It nearly sees him up the arse of the car in front. Then he shuffles over to make absolutely certain that I can't get in front of him before the lights change.
7. Approaching home, a car approaching fails to concede priority as it goes around a car parked on its side of the road. It forces me to slow down, and then just to rub it in, drives straight at me, swerving away at the last minute.
I have loads of those blingy spoke reflectors, two lights at each end and was wearing a brightish (for me) raincoat. They all saw me, their actions cannot be blamed on me being invisible. I didn't break any rules of the road - and still they treat me, and, I presume, every other cyclist on the road like sh!t. My Carrie experiences this sort of behaviour on an almost daily basis too.
It's almost intolerable. What are we supposed to do?
Tonight's trip home was right up there with the worst of them - but not, I'm sorry to say, untypical.
1. Rusty Volvo (with still fogged up windows and windscreen) speeds up to over take me within 6 metres of a red light (at a t-junction - I'm turning right and he's turning left), fails to make it and screeches to a halt behind a truck but not before shitting me up good and proper.
2. Travelling up a kerbside cycle path a Merc starts to drift over as I'm coming past it. He's left a big gap in the traffic queue in front of him so we know what he's doing. We're going up an incline and I'm on the cargo bike, so not much faster than walking pace. My bell wakes him from his texting and he revs off at high speed - obviously to prove something to me. He gets about four car lengths up the road. Vroom vroom.
3. Still in the cycle lane I reach the traffic light controlled cross roads. The cars going in my direction are passing me slowly as I approach. As I cross the line the driver of a red BMW who has moved into the yellow hatching suddenly realises that he/she has nowhere to go. So stops short of a car indicating to turn right across her path. And, in spite of having overtaken me only a few seconds earlier, flashes the waiting car to indicate that it's safe to proceed. The indicating car drives straight at me - and then has the farking gall to give me the 'self-gratification artist' gesture because - I can only presume - I failed to yield.
4. Several cars pass me too close, I move from strong secondary into primary as I approach a traffic island, and they squeeze past anyway.
5. The passenger of a passing Transit leans out of his window to shout something unintelligible.
6. A silver generic soft roader dangerously overtakes me as I approach a line of stationary cars at a pelican crossing, a manouvre which achieves absolutely nothing except to put me behind him. It nearly sees him up the arse of the car in front. Then he shuffles over to make absolutely certain that I can't get in front of him before the lights change.
7. Approaching home, a car approaching fails to concede priority as it goes around a car parked on its side of the road. It forces me to slow down, and then just to rub it in, drives straight at me, swerving away at the last minute.
I have loads of those blingy spoke reflectors, two lights at each end and was wearing a brightish (for me) raincoat. They all saw me, their actions cannot be blamed on me being invisible. I didn't break any rules of the road - and still they treat me, and, I presume, every other cyclist on the road like sh!t. My Carrie experiences this sort of behaviour on an almost daily basis too.
It's almost intolerable. What are we supposed to do?
@
