The importance of being nice to stupid or ignorant cyclists

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On my commute today as I came up to a busy junction I had a bus in front of me with a cyclist behind him. The lights were red and the bus pulled up directly behind them. The bus driver had left about the width of a double yellow line between his bus and the left hand curb.

To my amazement the cyclist proceeded to overtake the bus on the inside, along the double yellow just as the lights were changing! Needless to say I shouted at him quite loudly telling him to stop and get out of the way of the busbefore he gets himself killed but got a bit carried away and swore at him.

Not sure whether he got the message but I don't think I really handled it the right way by getting so irate. I guess I should expect some cyclists to be stupid on the road and approach them with calm as I feel it's important we get this message across about the danger of undertaking.

Anyone else here lost their rag a bit in this sort of situation?
 

XmisterIS

Purveyor of fine nonsense
I'm afraid the most I usually do is wince and think, "Oooh, that's gonna hurt!". I watched a teenage chav on a moped try to undertake a bus in Portsmouth the other day - when the bus was indicating to turn left. Luckily the bus driver saw him at the last minute and slammed on the brakes. I almost couldn't watch, but as I passed him later on (I was on my motorbike), I wagged my finger at him and shook my head. I'm not sure if he even realised what had happened.
 
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Riverman

Riverman

Guru
I'm afraid the most I usually do is wince and think, "Oooh, that's gonna hurt!". I watched a teenage chav on a moped try to undertake a bus in Portsmouth the other day - when the bus was indicating to turn left. Luckily the bus driver saw him at the last minute and slammed on the brakes. I almost couldn't watch, but as I passed him later on (I was on my motorbike), I wagged my finger at him and shook my head. I'm not sure if he even realised what had happened.

I think it's the knowledge of how many people get killed this way and the manner they get killed that gets me so emotional about it. It's a truely horrible way to die. That guy today could so easily have ended up under the bus. The bus hadn't started pulling away until the cyclist started to undertake him so it wasn't clear if the bus was going straight ahead or turning left.
 
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Riverman

Riverman

Guru
[QUOTE 1160347"]
Look for the flashy yellow thing on the back.
[/quote]

Yes. However, it's quite possible for someone to not indicate until they're actually about to turn. Whatever the lights say on the back of the bus, IMO you should never undertake in that situation.
 

dellzeqq

pre-talced and mighty
Location
SW2
undertaking trucks and buses at lights is foolish, as is sliding down a gap between two large vehicles. There's no harm in having a quiet word afterwards - presuming they get away with it - but shouting at the time is probably not going to help
 

gaz

Cycle Camera TV
Location
South Croydon
I've had a quiet word with a few cyclists after i have seen them do some very stupid things. Most of them ignore you, the other's just swear at you.
 

jdrussell

Active Member
Location
Tooting
I've had a quiet word with a few cyclists after i have seen them do some very stupid things. Most of them ignore you, the other's just swear at you.

I have done the same, and normally get this too. It's a tough lesson to learn if you go the hard way.
 
On my commute today as I came up to a busy junction I had a bus in front of me with a cyclist behind him. The lights were red and the bus pulled up directly behind them. The bus driver had left about the width of a double yellow line between his bus and the left hand curb.

To my amazement the cyclist proceeded to overtake the bus on the inside, along the double yellow just as the lights were changing! Needless to say I shouted at him quite loudly telling him to stop and get out of the way of the busbefore he gets himself killed but got a bit carried away and swore at him.

Not sure whether he got the message but I don't think I really handled it the right way by getting so irate. I guess I should expect some cyclists to be stupid on the road and approach them with calm as I feel it's important we get this message across about the danger of undertaking.

Anyone else here lost their rag a bit in this sort of situation?

Not wishing to start up a Riverman support group or anything as pc as that, but… you might not have “handled it well” in your opinion, but don’t be too hard on yourself. People react in different ways to stress, and I would say that watching what you think is going to be the death or serious injury of another human right in front of you is a pretty stressful event. So you shouted and swore, completely understandable at the time, I automatically swear in such situations as well!!

What matters is your natural response was to try to save someone’s life and not just to stand by and do nothing…



As for loosing my rag in similar situations… cycling mother advising 5 year old on another bike (behind her) to follow her and scoot up the inside of a moving bus... the lane was so narrow they had to scoot with thier left foot on the pavement.. luckily her and the child were unhurt and couldn't hear what I souted for the noise ofthe engine... I did say something afterwards about perhaps cycling behind a child to protect them and about how lots of cyclits die going up the inside of busses and lorries, but she just gave me one of those looks like a was a nut case, tutted and wobbled off
 
Location
Midlands
You are not going to "educate " people - thousands of people go up the inside of large vehicles and emerge at the other end unscathed - only a very few get killed or seriosly injured - still too many - the problem is a lot of cyclists see others doing it and think it is quite normal or even "good"

Without a "Goverment" campaign on high profile TV channels the message is not going to get across - why there is not public service advertising I do not know - a fatal probably costs the country £1m- seriously injured more - saving just a few lifes would more than pay for any campaign.

Me and probably most of on here we know the how dangerous it is
 

frank9755

Cyclist
Location
West London
Unfortunately government is acting in the opposite direction.

We don't have any prospect of a campaign to educate cyclists not to undertake, but we do see an increasing proliferation of cycle lanes on the left hand side leading up to traffic lights with left turns. Given these lanes are put in place, is it surprising that cyclists use them?
 
Saw one yesterday where a cyclist undertook a van thingy which was throwing a left at Stratford (although he had to go inside the bollards to do it)...I think the problem here was inexperience.Don't really say anything because generally people are rude anyway,so I leave them to it.
 

DavieB

MIA
Location
Glasgow
Alot of the cycle lanes here are starting to appear between lanes, leading to the asl. Maybe this willl help cyclists realise whats safer
 

BentMikey

Rider of Seolferwulf
Location
South London
Alot of the cycle lanes here are starting to appear between lanes, leading to the asl. Maybe this willl help cyclists realise whats safer

As opposed to filtering up in the gutter? I suppose so!

Can't help thinking that these filter lanes and pretty much all cycle paths aren't really of much help to us though. Waste of time, money, and paint. I'm not that convinced about ASLs either.
 
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