Sometimes i want to give a cyclist a slapping....

[gbb]

F**ckwittery in so many ways. It's simple - ask for no quarter and give none. Worrying about consideration, manners etc. leads to indecision and inept riding/driving.

Do you use that logic in all walks of life tightwad
You must lead a joyous life....

I know that sounds harsh, rude even, but thats not what i want to do. You mak it sounds like you're the kind of person that assumes everyone is a fcukwit until proven otherwise...i'll stick to being courteous, hoping for the same in return, accepting it won't always happen...and smile and be happy.

 

[Rhythm Thief]

F**ckwittery in so many ways. It's simple - ask for no quarter and give none. Worrying about consideration, manners etc. leads to indecision and inept riding/driving.

This is bollocks of the first water. In the first place, if everyone "ask[ed] for no quarter and [gave] none" the roads would be chaos - I can't imagine adopting that attitude in my truck, for example - and in the second place, lifting a hand as a gesture of thanks, whether riding a bike, driving a truck or piloting the bloody space shuttle is hardly going to result in mass carnage on the roads. I have to take up the entire road on a rather nasty blind junction just up the road from here, and early in the shift it nearly always involves waiting for someone to stop and allow my tractor unit onto their side of the road. Would you suggest that I'm wrong to give them a cheery wave or a flash of the headlights for this?

 

[chap]

Earlier this morning i was out in the back streets of wimbledon in the car.

Pulled out of t-junction into double parked street with maybe 1.5 car widths between he parked cars.

just coming into the far end (100m?) was a cyclist i had passed earlier in the morning: quality racing bike, full lycra gear, nice cosy neoprene overshoes: all the look of a Club cyclist.

I stopped. Did not enter the narrow street and flashed him to come through, which he did.

What he did not do however was look at me or acknowledge me in any way. No flick of the hand or nod going past to acknowledge the courtesy.

Grrrrrr

Yes the Lycra-heads have much more than their fair share of tw@ts, sometimes it would seem to be a prerequisite. So long as they do not hurt yo, that's the main thing. Some have scraped cars or hit people (most likely unintentionally, and this is not just Lycra clad people) yet not bothered to stop, even when it was a child they hit.

Those ones deserve the severest of punishments.

 

[PBancroft]

The argument that it takes too much concentration to acknowledge gestures by other road users, whether they are in the "right" or you are, smacks of the same self-righteousness that SS used to trot out.

It's not too dangerous to glance at your speedo to check you are driving the speed you think you are, and its not too dangerous to glance at another road user to check that they are letting you out it when seems like they might be... and to nod an appreciation when you see that they are.

 

[on the road]

When I'm on a busy dual carriageway and I'm wanting to change lane so I can turn right, I take my hand off the handlebar and stick my arm out, so I mustn't be concentrating on the road ahead and I'm putting my life in danger by not holding on to the bars like grim death.

The truth is, it's quite safe to take at least one hand off the bar, it's quite safe to turn your head and look to the sides and to look behind you, that's a skill everyone should master if they're riding on the roads. By not having those skills, they're putting their own lives in danger. If they just can't master those skills then they shouldn't be on the roads.

 

[BentMikey]

When I'm on a busy dual carriageway and I'm wanting to change lane so I can turn right, I take my hand off the handlebar and stick my arm out, so I mustn't be concentrating on the road ahead and I'm putting my life in danger by not holding on to the bars like grim death.

The truth is, it's quite safe to take at least one hand off the bar, it's quite safe to turn your head and look to the sides and to look behind you, that's a skill everyone should master if they're riding on the roads. By not having those skills, they're putting their own lives in danger. If they just can't master those skills then they shouldn't be on the roads.

Quoted for truth. There's everything right about giving a bit of courtesy and thanks to other good drivers, but not with expecting that thanks in return and getting p1$$ed about it.

 

[Rob3rt]

Maybe this rant has been dragged out and picked at hugely by now, but I agree with the above.

Its great to give a bit of courtesy, but if you are going about expecting it in return to the point where if you dont get it you rant and argue about some incident online for a number of days, its bothered you on an unhealthy level.

 

[Rhythm Thief]

I don't think there's much wrong with occasionally bemoaning the lack of courtesy on the roads. It is annoying sometimes. Or maybe I'm just getting old.

 

[2Loose]

I am trying to teach my daughter that it is not right to give, only in order to receive.
The act of giving should be enough.

 

[Cab]

Discourtesy from other cyclists on the roads so far today:

1. Going along behind a van with just sufficient space to stop in time with a margin of error if he hit his brakes, which was just as well because he did hit his brakes. I could stop, cyclist behind me couldn't, I got swore at for stoppng too fast.

2. Right turning cyclist in front of me turning across my path without ether looking or indicating.

3. Two cyclists approaching on the other side of the road, I'm turnng left, they're turning right, they signal, look at me, and turn right into my path where I have priority, making me brake sharply.

I can't stress this strongly enough; cyclists are no more courteous than other road users, there is no 'cyclists camaraderie' to speak of when you reach critical mass of cyclists, to expect more politeness out of cyclists is unrealistic.

 

[Alien8]

I can't stress this strongly enough; cyclists are no more courteous than other road users, there is no 'cyclists camaraderie' to speak of when you reach critical mass of cyclists, to expect more politeness out of cyclists is unrealistic.

Take X people and you'll get Y cretins from them. Mode of transport has nothing to do with it - it's just people.

Cab, do you enjoy your commute?

Cycling through Cambridge does my head in - which is why I don't take the 10-mile door-to-door but prefer the 22-mile countrified route.

 

[Cab]

Take X people and you'll get Y cretins from them. Mode of transport has nothing to do with it - it's just people.

Sort of. When a mode of transport becomes the norm, when you're no longer unusual, you end up with courtesy between them going out of the window. But otherwise, yes, I agree.

Cab, do you enjoy your commute?

Most of it, most of the time.