Why do cyclists get so much abuse?

[Milzy]

After getting peeped at for no reason on a quiet road slowing for a red light. Then getting all kinds of looks & gestures I had to restrain myself from putting my head through his window.

It's usually always the cyclist that gets assaulted or comes off worse. I want to know how dare they do the things that they do?? For instance if you really wanted to pick a fight you could select your opponent who is a black belt & end up getting your bottom handed to you.

It feels cyclists are seen to be passive softies, when some of them will be nut jobs themselves it's not going to end well.

I can understand incidents in the rush hour, busy areas, Monday to Saturday but on a Sunday evening making something out of nothing is just ridiculous.

I'm thinking of getting a head cam already.

 

[Globalti]

Top rant dude.

Now go and pour yourself a beer.

 

[Milzy]

Top rant dude.

Now go and pour yourself a beer.

Just have. The guy will have higher blood pressure than me tonight that's for sure.

 

[400bhp]

Thread title way OTT

I get more "abuse" in the car.

 

[Nigel-YZ1]

It's fear they're feeling, or superiority, or self-righteous over entitlement. Basically you're just seeing the people most willing to treat anyone else like crap, especially when that person has less of a chance of retaliating. Big car=little dick syndrome.
Unfortunately the bad guys are the ones you remember, the multitude of good guys are let down by them.
I've been a sports cars driver, BMW driver, and now an eco-hatch driver, but I've never understood the mentality as I was a cyclist long before.

 

[gbb]

Thankfully these morons are a minority. In two or three decades of cycling I've had so few examples of that behaviour. ..I really can't remember more than than half a dozen incidents of pointless or uncalled for abuse. Perhaps im just lucky, perhaps some are just unlucky.

 

[Nigel-YZ1]

Thread title way OTT

I get more "abuse" in the car.

Driving an eco-hatch has been an eye opener for me too. Problem is for the intimidation to work I have to give a toss, which I don't

 

[albion]

Yes, abuse in the car is far worse.
I always recall an office superior saying that he tailgated so as not to get overtaken by the car behind.

 

[Cycling Dan]

When it comes to being on the road everyone gets abuse and if you don't you're the one doing it.
Its not just cyclists who can get a lot of abuse.
Whether its equal is a long debate.

 

[Accy cyclist]

I nearly got wiped out this afternoon! A boy racer in his souped up d*ckhead mobile(Vauxhall Nova)cut right across my path at speed,to turn right he must've missed me by a foot! This town is full of these boy racer knobs on a Sunday afternoon, and not a copper in sight. I'm sat here getting ideas in my head about doing something to his car as he only lives a few houses away.

 

[Crankarm]

It's the temprature. The first really warm day and a sunday brings the chavs, coffin dodgers, nobbers and neds out in and on all vehicles - cars and bicycles they are just the means of transport.

 

[Schmilliemoo]

After getting peeped at for no reason on a quiet road slowing for a red light. Then getting all kinds of looks & gestures I had to restrain myself from putting my head through his window.

It's usually always the cyclist that gets assaulted or comes off worse. I want to know how dare they do the things that they do?? For instance if you really wanted to pick a fight you could select your opponent who is a black belt & end up getting your bottom handed to you.

Happened to me once on my motorbike this guy nearly killed me then got out of his car, presumably to finish the job. I got off my bike and said "alright mate, I'm a karate black belt and covered head to toe in Kevlar. I'll let you take the first swing!"

Guy just drove off

 

[Boris Bajic]

Why do cyclists get all the abuse? Are you serious?

1. You don't have to pass a test to teeter out drunkenly onto our roads, wobbling dangerously until you blame an accident on us!

2. You pay no Road Tax.

3. You hold everybody up.

4. Your clothing makes you look like refugees from an S&M Club. Most of you ought to shed a few kilos before you wear something like that.

5. You ride in the middle of the road at 8 mph.

There are many more reasons... Now get back into the gutter where you ought to be riding, lycra-boy loser!







I hope I have helped, but I fear that perhaps I have not.

 

[Hip Priest]

I used to have more incidents when I drove to work. I've done over 2000 miles on the bike this year, and I haven't had any abuse. Ride assertively and predictably and you'll be fine.

 

[Matthew_T]

Since I have learnt to drive, there is a real sense of 'separation' when you are in a car. You are enclosed in a little space with barriers all around you. I guess the abuse is just the drivers way of saying "I want to speak to you because I am bored sitting in this car on my own".

However, during my lessons I have encountered a few cyclists. Whenever I have overtaken them, I have waited behind patiently and then given them a very wide berth when passing them. (Apart from one instance when a group of cyclists cut me off causing me to brake hard).
My point is that it isnt hard to drive safely around cyclists. When drivers moan and say "you made me do this..." "you are a danger..." No, it is the drivers choice to overtake then they do and perform the stupid manouvre that could end our lives.

It has been a long time since I have had any abuse of any kind. I have never been hit by a motorist and never will (because I can control the situation up to that point). I have never been knocked off my bike by an enraged driver.
The worst that has happened to me is the typical road rage when someone gets out of their car to have a go. And EVERY cyclist experiences that at some point (if you havent already then you will at some point).

We like to think of ourselves as a civilised culture however, incidents of road rage and stress when driving are on the increase due to the amount of cars on the road. Whilst driving, I have had my share of twunts pull out on me and I have become a little annoyed (not to the point where I would shout at them) and muttered a few things under my breath (instructor in the car with me).
Its very easy to make fatal mistakes on the road and even though the car has been around for since 1886, we still have thousands of people killed on the roads each year. You would think that safety would have increased with the increase of speed but clearly not. I think car makers can create all the safety procedures they want but it will never stop some angry ape from flooring it into a person.

*And breath...*