Cyclists!

[Martyn_n]

Sorry random dudes with cars, I thought cyclist was an accepted term. I will also stop referring to you as a motorist. Ooops, I had no intention of posting here again!!

 

[Stratman]

A long time ago, a High Court judge decreed "A cyclist is entitled to wobble"

From the Theory Test Advice website

Cyclists: A High Court judge once ruled that a cyclist is entitled to wobble. Drivers should have more control over their vehicles than cyclists who are dependent upon physical strength and effort to pilot their machines. Always leave plenty of room when passing cyclists, look out for clues about their next move. For example, a cyclist who looks around over his or her right shoulder may be about to turn right; a puddle in the road will cause a cyclist to move out. Cyclists are not easy to see and they can easily get lost in the blind spots around your vehicle. Particularly out watch for then in slow moving traffic in built up areas – they may overtake you on either side when you least expect.

Equally, if a cyclist jumps a red light and gets hit he/she should only have themselves to blame, although with the way accident claims are going these days it wouldn't surprise me if a car/cycle collision is always the car driver's fault.

 

[Scott_F]

I disrespect any group of road users who selfishly flout the rules of the road and put others at risk. There appears to be a larger percentage of cyclists amongst all cyclists who fall into this category.

So that's everyone who has driven at over 30mph in 30 zone or chosen to exceed the speed limit anywhere else. Which is all of us.

 

[219]

Yep - I agree.

People tend to do what they think they can get away with - as you say almost all cyclists jump red lights etc.........

This is exactly why I have advocated compulsory registration of road-going cyclists many times in the past .

While I would say that the majority of cyclists behave well on the road , precisely because they are only too aware of their vulnerability , a small minority do give the rest a bad name by deliberately flouting every rule of the road because they know there is little chance of them being taken to task for it .

It would not be asking too much to expect all cyclists who ride on the roads to be registered , displaying a registration number across their backs on a hi-viz vest so that they can be identified in the same way as most other road users , and to have third party insurance . It should also be a requirement for registration to have obtained a pass in a cycling proficiency test .

If cyclists were seen out on the roads without displaying their registration number , the police would be entitled to stop and fine them .

Those who do not want to pay for this , but still want to ride recreationally , can use their bikes on forest trails , cycle tracks converted from disused railway lines which do not involve riding on the highway and any other areas where they will not mix with road traffic . Small children whose bikes do not go on the road , and children of primary school age who only cycle under the supervision of their parents could be exempted from payment , with older ( secondary school age ) children who are going to ride unaccompanied on the road perhaps being granted a concessionary rate .

I still cycle a bit in the summer months , and even commute in the better weather by taking my bike on the train , but don't like cycling on busy roads with traffic which seems to rush by at high speed in close proximity . Although I have cycled on A roads and generally keep to 'the better part of the nearside' , it can be quite unnerving to have an LGV pass by at even 50 mph within a couple of feet of your right shoulder ; to those who advocate riding further out into the road as being safer , I would suggest it is somewhat doubtful that some drivers would even see you in time ( even when you are wearing day-glo hi-viz attire ) , never mind slow down before hitting you .

When driving , I will always hold back until I can give a cyclist plenty of clearance before passing ( often going completely onto the other side of the road even for a lone cyclist , as I did only yesterday ) .

However , it does grate when on country roads some cyclists will not extend the courtesy of dropping into single file to allow a safe overtake when they could easily do so ( as happened to me a year or so past when I was forced to follow two cyclists for the best part of a mile along a country 'B' road , despite the road being straight and clear far enough ahead to overtake safely and still leave them more than a metre clearance , they 'hogged' two thirds of the road width and seemed to make a point of forming a 'rolling road block' ) . Had that pair been obliged to display an identifying number then their antics could be filmed on a dashcam in exactly the same way as some cyclists use helmet cams to film bad drivers - both potentially resulting in prosecution .

Yes , there seems to be some separation into 'them' and 'us' groups with a lot of ill feeling between the two , despite the fact that many people are members of both ( probably the overwhelming majority of cyclists are also drivers , with a smaller percentage of all drivers being cyclists or having been on a bike since their schooldays ) but really there is no room for warring between different groups of road users who are just trying to share the limited road space we have available .

 

[219]

...when I see all cyclists stopping for traffic lights and pedestrian crossings and not riding on pavements then I will start to respect you all.

I must admit that I sometimes cycle on the pavements ( whilst exercising the utmost care towards and having every regard for the safety of pedestrians ) simply because in some urban locations I don't feel safe riding on the road because these roads are so busy and some drivers just have no regard for cyclists and will literally push you into the kerb .

 

[219]

I am not blind to bad cyclists in the same way you are blind to the good ones.

I think what Richard is saying is that you cannot tell which cyclists are about to do something stupid - until they do it , hence he makes the only safe assumption that he can and assumes that any of them can suddenly do something very silly .

The same goes for drivers : you don't always have a clue that someone is suddenly going to do something they ought not to .

All you can do is to err on the safe side and assume ( rightly or wrongly ) that every other road user is an idiot who is about to do something they should not , and make allowances for it .

 

[219]

These threads about cyclists always deteriorate into polarised slanging matches.

The fact is that there are idiot drivers and idiot cyclists. When one comes into conflict with the other, the one with soft squidgy bodywork will always come off worse. Perhaps if each group treated the other with a little more respect and consideration, and the ones without the tin box around them thought a little more about their own self preservation than their "rights" there would be less to get angry about.

I always come back to something a very high-ranking Met Police officer friend once said to me years ago about an incident that happened to him when he was out training on his racing cycle. After considering what had just happened (he had nearly been wiped out by a truck while he was cycling on a dual carriageway subject to NSL), he observed about his own behaviour that "just because what I was doing was legal, didn't make it sensible".

If the lycra louts that caused the conflict with the OP were to think more about what was sensible instead of deliberately riding in such a way that they effectively became a large, slow-moving vehicle causing an obstruction, then there would have been no conflict.

That is one of the most sensible posts so far in this thread .

 

[219]

I understand the amateur/professional cyclists being bunched together as "cyclists", but when did just random dudes with a push iron become part of the same group?

Other than the tiny few who compete as professional sportsmen and earn a living from it , and a few cycle couriers in the big cities ( who are perhaps guiltier than most amateur cyclists of some of the more extreme acts seen on bikes ) I find it hard to imagine that there would be many at all who cycle for a living .

 

[219]

A long time ago, a High Court judge decreed "A cyclist is entitled to wobble"

From the Theory Test Advice website


Equally, if a cyclist jumps a red light and gets hit he/she should only have themselves to blame, although with the way accident claims are going these days it wouldn't surprise me if a car/cycle collision is always the car driver's fault.

I think the exact quote was 'a cyclist is entitled to his wobble' , but no doubt that would be seen as sexist these days .

 

[Stratman]

^^^ When I recalled the quote I too though it contained "his", but when I consulted the fount of all knowledge the word had been expunged from history.

 

[NOMONEYBUTAMERC]

Since the start of this thread I have been paying particular notice to cyclists , and must say that I am not overly impressed with the "average" standard of cycling. I walk our dog late at night along a nearby main road. Due to council cutbacks this is not particularly well lit.Last night i saw 5 cyclists , only one with front and rear lights , two with rear lights only , the others, none. One was using the cycle lane on the wrong side of the road ( unsurprisingly this was one of the bikes without lights). None were wearing reflective clothing , all of them were adults .
A couple of years ago I took my CBT basic course on a 125cc motorcycle . ( used to ride scooters and motorcycles in the 60s, but never bothered to take a test). I bought a 125cc Suzuki with a view to taking the full access course on a 500cc. After a couple of short trips I felt very vulnerable on 2 wheels and decided that at 60 years of age I would not be as resilient if I had a spill ,as I was 40 odd years ago . However , I also decided that if I cycle again , I would only do so with appropriate helmet and reflective clothing.
Perhaps they should introduce a compulsory Road Awareness course for all cyclists ? I certainly found the CBT course of use , despite being the only perfect driver on the road since 1968!

 

[Dieselman]

Just when you thought you'd seen it all.


Anyway, their lighting wasn't my beef, but their attitude. As I wasn't over familiar with the road I didn't know where was straight, and where was a corner, so when there was no oncoming traffic I put my lights on full beam to see where it was SAFE to pass them.
The ones at the back were clearly upset at the high beam and started gesticulating and pointing at their helmet cams.

Maybe their helmet cams were in fact front lights and they were attempting to convey their need for you to dip your lights, as once you switched to high beam they couldn't see a thing due to now riding in their own shadow.

Just when you think you'd seen it all...

 

[Deleted member 11979]

Maybe their helmet cams were in fact front lights and they were attempting to convey their need for you to dip your lights, as once you switched to high beam they couldn't see a thing due to now riding in their own shadow.

Just when you think you'd seen it all...

You're wrong, you weren't there, if they were lights they would have had light coming out of them, or were you one of the cyclists?

 

[cinek]

I drive a lot of miles in a year. Most of it is in a car, some on the push bike, some on the motorbike and very few these days - in the HGV.

Maybe this, in combination with my profession, allows me to look at all events from different angles.

Without boring you with elaborated case study, I will just say that it is not the vehicle that is causing the problem, but the individual who's in control of it.