Stand up and be counted.

[Rusty Nails]

............For the feud to end, all sides have to look at themselves rather than constantly blaming each other and categorising people.............

I agree 100% with your thinking, but unfortunately special interest forums like CC, whether cycling, motoring, walking or running, thrive on blaming others and minimising any possible contributory culpability of the membership group. They are not always the best source of balanced argument.

 

[classic33]

Yup I do this when I think someone may overtake on a sharp bend or unsafe piece of road, the insults start flying pretty swiftly.

So long as that's all that flies in my direction, I'm safe.

 

[snorri]

For the feud to end, all sides have to look at themselves rather than constantly blaming each other and categorising people.

The feud, if there is one, is gleefully stirred by the media, and not buy individual drivers or cyclists.
It will not achieve anything for all sides to look at themselves because all sides are not on an equal footing from the start. A little research will soon show that wrong doing or recklessness of drivers results in a higher casualty rate than that of cyclists.

 

[Johnno260]

Like User76022 said issue is people see other road users as the other side, combined with that fact respect and courtesy are non existent and people are always rushing it’s a poor situation.

It’s also why I now leave for work over 1hr before I need to leave,and stay later to avoid the chaos.

 

[Johnno260]

So long as that's all that flies in my direction, I'm safe.

True but sometimes they put the squeeze in you when they can pass as a way to retaliate.

 

[Rusty Nails]

The feud, if there is one, is gleefully stirred by the media, and not buy individual drivers or cyclists.
It will not achieve anything for all sides to look at themselves because all sides are not on an equal footing from the start. A little research will soon show that wrong doing or recklessness of drivers results in a higher casualty rate than that of cyclists.

That is obvious because of the disparity in speed/size between bikes/cars and the numbers of motorists/cyclists. It puts a much greater responsibility on motorists because of the potentially greater implications of their mistakes, but it does not absolve cyclists (or pedestrians) from their responsibilities on the roads. Every road user, including cyclists, must look at how they could contribute to improving safety or little will change.

 

[User76022]

A little research will soon show that wrong doing or recklessness of drivers results in a higher casualty rate than that of cyclists.

Will it really? Or will it show that whoever is at fault, or if there is no fault but just a pure accident, the cyclist usually comes off worst?

 

[Smokin Joe]

That is obvious because of the disparity in speed/size between bikes/cars and the numbers of motorists/cyclists. It puts a much greater responsibility on motorists because of the potentially greater implications of their mistakes, but it does not absolve cyclists (or pedestrians) from their responsibilities on the roads. Every road user, including cyclists, must look at how they could contribute to improving safety or little will change.

Exactly.

 

[classic33]

Will it really? Or will it show that whoever is at fault, or if there is no fault but just a pure accident, the cyclist usually comes off worst?

The heavier method tends to come out of any impact better.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

Will it really? Or will it show that whoever is at fault, or if there is no fault but just a pure accident, the cyclist usually comes off worst?

Yes, check the output of the Government analysis and the recklessness of car drivers in this regard.

 

[adamangler]

I just ignore them and carry on riding, who cares if someone swears at you. If they are that big they'll stop and get out at which point great let's tango.

 

[snorri]

Will it really? Or will it show that whoever is at fault, or if there is no fault but just a pure accident, the cyclist usually comes off worst?

I can't think of a form of collision where there is no fault and where the incident would be considered to be a "pure accident", which is why crashes nowadays are more frequently referred to as a road traffic collision (RTC) rather than a road traffic accident (RTA).
This link take you to some information regarding the dangers cyclists inflict on their fellow road users.
https://fullfact.org/health/cyclist-deaths/

 

[User76022]

I can't think of a form of collision where there is no fault and where the incident would be considered to be a "pure accident", which is why crashes nowadays are more frequently referred to as a road traffic collision (RTC) rather than a road traffic accident (RTA).
This link take you to some information regarding the dangers cyclists inflict on their fellow road users.
https://fullfact.org/health/cyclist-deaths/

I'm sure you're not suggesting that cyclists are never to blame and it is always the motorist at fall.

My friend was telling me about a polite discussion he had in the pub after a car driver recognised him from an early incident. My friend, a cyclist at the moment of the incident, admitted error and asked for my advice, in my capacity as an experienced driver {he doesn't drive} on how to avoid a repeat incident.

It went like this. There is a junction between his house and mine. It's not a blind junction but the layout is such that you can't see very far down on approach. He said he was going fast, checked, it looked clear, so he came straight out. At this point a car had to brake hard and beep at him. My mate rode on.

From what I can gather, based only on my knowledge of that junction and my mate's honest account of the incident, the car driver did an excellent job of avoiding a collision with a cyclist, that would have been caused by said cyclist pulling onto the junction at speed without warning. If that motorist had been a bit less sharp with his reactions, or if my mate had crossed the give way lines half a second earlier, my mate would have become a statistic. Then every cycling forum in the UK could have a thread about naughty car drivers.

 

[Drago]

I agree 100% with your thinking, but unfortunately special interest forums like CC, whether cycling, motoring, walking or running, thrive on blaming others and minimising any possible contributory culpability of the membership group. They are not always the best source of balanced argument.

Indeed. Plenty of bellends on the road, and too many people complaining that Challenger tank drivers should take extra care, blah, yadda, and use that as a justification for doing bugger all themselves.

I have a radical idea - If we stop sticking our noses into that which other people are doing, and each and every one of us pay attention to that which we are doing, then there would be no problem. No one has more or less responsibility - we can all kill with greater or lesser degrees of efficiency but more pertinently, each of us is just as vulnerable to being killed.

Physics, blunt force trauma, major organ failure...none of these things care what you're doing when they come to visit, none of these things care how righteous you are.

 

[glasgowcyclist]

each of us is just as vulnerable to being killed.

I disagree with this part. The casualty figures for each category of road user per billion miles travelled show that pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclist are far more likely to be killed or injured than any other.

People in motor cars have sophisticated and effective protection systems that insulate them from harm to such a degree that, as drivers, they lose all perspective of the harm to which those outwith those cars are exposed.

I would also suggest that this insulation from harm engenders the bullying attitude so often seen in encounters between drivers and vulnerable road users. And by that I'm not talking only about collisions but the general interactions on the road. Drivers will often intimidate pedestrians at crossings by creeping forward or revving their engine, even though the pedestrian still has priority; fail to wait behind parked vehicles on their side when a cyclist is coming the other way; squeeze past a cyclist at a pinch point etc.

They flex their muscles this way through a sense of greater entitlement and importance and in the knowledge that, in the event of a collision, they are least likely to be injured.

So, while everyone has responsibility for road safety, those who bring the greater risk of harm bear greater responsibility.