Was driving from Swaledale back to Skipton on Sunday behind a load of day-trippers and some of the passes I saw were shocking – no consequences because no-one happened to be coming. And it gained them zero time on me whatsoever, even when I had to wait for a minute or so to get past safely.

Trouble is, every time they get away with it, it reinforces that this is OK in their minds.

Got beeped for waiting 20 seconds to overtake a rider approaching a blind crest.

Driving standards around the Dales are pitiful.

It’s probably all the tourists :/

Was thinking about going for a road ride this evening… makes you think especially what seems like daily disaster stories about cyclists being killed or maimed, let alone the OPs experiences.

Had a good one near Spittal of Glenshee on Saturday. Driver of a hired Mercedes (I’m a Postie in the Highlands, you quickly learnt recognise, and be wary of hire cars….) decided that he really had to overtake me on a short uphill, leading to a blind bend/brow. Fortunately for him the driver of an oncoming Discovery was very alert and calmly braked to a halt. I left it to him to discuss the matter with the Merc driver – he was less angry than me! I suspect he was also going to get an ear bashing from his passenger, who covered her face with a map.

I drive many miles on Highland roads, and can honestly say that I have never been seriously held up by a cyclist – just don’t get me onto the subject of badly driven Motorhomes….

I had nutter-lady-in-Megane all over my boot again today. She leaves our business park at 5:10, and clearly has to get to the other end of Bridge of Allan to the nursery school about 43 seconds later. I ‘meet’ her about once a month.

It was a pleasure to wave out cars at side roads, cruise past the shops at barely 25 and wait behind a cyclist until there was no other car to be seen, in either direction. 😆

I swear she handbrake turned into the nursery yard…

Driving standards are awful. Saying that I was reversing in Dorking the other week, some 20m from the junction behind me. Two cyclists turn into the road, taking the full width of the road and give me a mouthful of abuse. Why? Obviously, because I started reversing before they entered the road and my precognition had let me down.

When driving I’ve actually had other drivers behind me get irate with me for waiting for a safe spot to overtake a cyclist in front.

I get this all the time. I just purposefully wait even longer before overtaking the cyclist because I’m a spiteful bastard 😈

I had a guy clip my handlebar once in his mad rush to beat me to a junction. I pulled up alongside him just in time to hear the central locking being engaged. The traffic on the road we were joining was really busy. I had about five minutes of sitting next to him, tapping on his passenger window and asking him to explain his actions. He wouldn’t even look at me, just stared at his door pocket. Some people are just dicks

reading all the replies just confirms one thing…..it aint gonna change out there on the roads in the near future..
One thing extra though. If you EVER come into contact with any vehicle, YOU will be the one coming off worse..

RIP Nicky Hayden GP rider killed whilst riding his bike..

esher shore – Member 
Had it on Friday in London NW whilst riding home……..I amazed how angry she is

3 young children in the back of her car. She then drives off through the red light, nearly hitting another car. 2 witness come up to me, they’ve seen it all, want the Police?

I thank them but tell them not to bother as it happens all the time

Why would you not report this? If it happens ‘all the time’ then surely attitudes need to change and maybe by reporting it to the Police they can start to deal with it, even if that means revoking people’s driving licence so they aren’t on the roads anymore, or at least for the length of the ban

Key the fekkers when you catch up with em at junctions 😉

OK,

Same old argument over and over.

Talking, screaming, criminal damage and violence won’t help, however…

What about being armed with some bumper stickers, something along the lines of:

ROAD USERS BEWARE
I AM A SH!T DRIVER

Or something like that?

When you catch up with them, do it obviously or discretely and then just cycle off and spend the day happy in the knowledge you have just helped society.

I’d buy them, just make them with really sticky glue 😉

I genuinely think half the issue is that the average driver mistakenly assumes all cyclists to be cycling at roughly the same speed that they cycle at (when they last rode a bike) – which in most cases would be relatively slow – hence the desire to overtake before a bend, misjudging pulling out etc.. for the most part it’s not malice, it’s just misjudging the amount of time they’ve got, in my experience..

I genuinely think half the issue is that the average driver

Are better than half of the f wits out therr

[slightly tongue in cheek] Would it be illegal to ride with a longish pole sticking out the back of the bike with a wire brush attached to it? If you come too close your car gets scratched

Separately, on Monday was the first day of AMAZING weather in London this year. There were loads of cycle commuters, it was packed. To a certain it was quite nice, but the standards of cycling were unbelievably poor, all sorts of bad cycling happening – undertakes, poor overtakes, slow wobbly pootlers trying to filter to the front, turning without indicating etc

They clearly hadn’t been on a bike since the end of last summer

One thing extra though. If you EVER come into contact with any vehicle, YOU will be the one coming off worse..

Nope, been clipped before. In London they never get so far ahead, there’s always a traffic light. Its quite hard for that Volvo SUV delivery driver to deliver his pointless SUV when the keys for it are sitting at the bottom of the canal.

I had a guy clip my handlebar once in his mad rush to beat me to a junction. I pulled up alongside him just in time to hear the central locking being engaged. The traffic on the road we were joining was really busy. I had about five minutes of sitting next to him, tapping on his passenger window and asking him to explain his actions. He wouldn’t even look at me, just stared at his door pocket. Some people are just dicks

Lift their windscreen wipers up and fold their mirrors in, they’ll then have to get out.

I’ve bought a gravel bike end of problem?? Now it’s deaf dogwalkers, loose dogs, dog crap, horse riders. The cyclists lot is NOT a happy one! Hopefully the Snowdonia hills will be quieter this weekend on the hardtail! 8)

Yes Rallybiker, I reckon you can expect Snowdonia pretty much to your self this bank holiday weekend with a sunny and warm forecast. Enjoy the queues.

four door slapdown – an almost enjoyable alternative to venting

catch up – they will stop at some point in town
open rear nearside passenger door
ride on
confusion, followed by realisation they need to get out

it’s a wonderful leveller

open rear nearside passenger door

And an option that 2-stage central locking has largely made impossible. 🙁
Besides, if you’re going to do things like that you need an escape option – a park, one-way street or something that you can get away into.

Part of the reason I never get involved is that on commutes you’re going to be seeing the same vehicles – the BMW that you fold the mirrors in and open the doors/boot on today is going to be overtaking you again in 3 days time…

Most drivers are incapable of looking beyond the end of their bonnet.

This

remarkable that out of all the STWers, none of us/you have ever done anything wrong 🙂

open rear nearside passenger door

My mates daughter did that to a motorist who close passed her a few years ago.

Few weeks after the event, I was at his and we were talking about driving etc and I said to his daughter ” hey how about you when you opened that woman’s back door at the lights ”

Her face dropped and I realised that she hadn’t told her dad. He then said to her, quite abruptly, ” you did what ?!?!? ” as she explained what had happened, I thought I’d dropped her right in it till he held his hand up to high five her

Lift their windscreen wipers up and fold their mirrors in, they’ll then have to get out.

I’ve taken to pushing the boot release buttons on SUV’s these days as they pull away from traffic lights, you need to time it right though as some won’t work when the car is moving. Most are powered now so they open up fully as they drive away 😆

I really don’t get why people are like this. Much as I enjoy “making progress” I’ve never once been held up by any significant amount of time by waiting until it’s safe to pass a bike. I get that in heavy traffic bikes and cars will be going past each other in turns, but why be a dick about it?

I’ve resorted to a knock on the window/ride off to let them know their dickish pass was pointless, giving the finger, or just shouting “wasn’t really **** worth it” on the way past. Engaging is reserved for people that deliberately or massively negligently severely endanger me, and 2 of them have been charged and taken to court in the past year (incidents happened about 2 years ago), one arrested but gave no comment for hours in the station (no witnesses could be traced). And that’s without a video camera, which makes you look a bit of a nob and is something I can’t really be arsed with.
Traffic free paths are generally safe, but don’t get me started on agressive Mr “I’m walking my dog on a stupid extendable lead despite literally hundreds of cyclists wanting to go past safely and I’m going to have a go at even the ones who I force to stop for going too fast” walking stereotypes.

I really hope all of you talking about opening doors, keying and messing with mirrors are just being internet big men and don’t do this in real life.

If you do it’s not going to do anything other than make stupid angry people more angry, reinforce their opinions of ‘cyclists’ as dicks, and make things less safe for everyone else, it might feel good for 5mins but overall you’ll have made a bad situation worse had an overall net negative impact, please be better than that.

remarkable that out of all the STWers, none of us/you have ever done anything wrong

I can say with confidence that in over 30 years of driving I have never driven dangerously towards a cyclist.

And yes, of course every driver has done things wrong but not all have consciously put saving a few seconds ahead of potentially killing someone.
As proven on every ride, people will overtake on blind corners. That is nothing but dangerous driving. This mornings example did involve a car coming the other way so person who overtook me had to brake hard and swerve back in. I could see this was going to happen so managed to avoid being hit but I shouldn’t really need to be should I…

Got hung out to dry by a woman in a Beetle as she overtook me with nowhere to go (as I was keeping pace with traffic in a 20 zone) and then squeezed me into the curb/hedge when a car come the other way.. ended up slamming brakes on to avoid getting squashed/crashing. Good start.

This is one of my pet hates too. I religiously stick to primary when I’m moving at the same speed as the traffic. Still doesn’t stop some clowns trying to squeeze in front despite being the normal distance from the car in front.

Last night on our weekly night ride I saw a woman in a car driving into a 30 limit with her body and head unusually leant forward and her head virtually against the driver’s side window. As we passed I saw her looking furtively up and down – I’m pretty sure she was looking at her phone in her hand and was convinced that trying to hide this by looking like Del Boy trying to conceal a wad of notes in his jacket was the way to go.

Some people are just ignorant, thick and inconsiderate. Usually this is not a problem, but put them in charge of a ton or more of heavy machinery and it becomes an issue.

Things that baffle me with people driving are myriad.

Why do cars risk a close pass on a cyclist in the run up to a junction where they will have to stop anyway?

Why, when I am driving, do I often get stuck behind someone who dawdles at 40 mph on a safe road where the limit is 60 mph, but when we get into a 30 limit with houses, parked cars etc they still stick to 40?

Why do people coming out of traffic light controlled side roads in congestion do that thing where they turn and head slightly back the wrong way up the road so they can turn sharply in to be part of the next queue?

remarkable that out of all the STWers, none of us/you have ever done anything wrong

I have! I’m shit me. I haven’t caused a cyclist danger, but I did nearly pull out on one on a small (not mini) roundabout. It’s stuck with me though, so I’ve never done it again. I was in a hurry (a bad thing to be in a car) and as I approached the roundabout my glance right must have (well, it did) coincided with the woman on the bike being obscured by the windscreen pillar. I was about to pull out, having just slowed a bit, when I saw her giving me a (deserved) filthy look. A-pillar blind spot is a thing. I just found that.

Also the other weekend I overtook a bike, then round the next bend had to stop due to a parked car and something coming the other way! ARGH! Said to my son, I hate it when people do that to me. And to the cyclist (though he couldn’t hear me) ‘go up on the pavement!’ He did!

Yeah, I avoid drving as much as possible, cos I’m nearly as shit as all those other morons out there. But I do indicate. So not that bad.

The only time I’ve nearly hit a cyclist was driving into low winter sun with the cyclist in the shadow of a hedge.
I saw them in time, but it shit me up a bit, because it was very easy to miss them in such high contrast lighting.

The only time I’ve nearly hit a cyclist was driving into low winter sun with the cyclist in the shadow of a hedge.
I saw them in time, but it shit me up a bit, because it was very easy to miss them in such high contrast lighting.

Yes, I’ve found it hard to see cyclists in that situation and although I’ve not had any near misses (they were in and out of the shade so I saw them OK) this is why I try to use a bright rear light in those situations.

Whilst nobody’s perfect (I have once pulled out in front of a cyclist due to poor weather conditions and not being able to distinguish their light from those of the cars in the queue I was joining, for instance – they stopped, I apologised profusely) we’re not talking about momentary lapses of concentration or missing things in low visibility here – the OP is talking about totally half arsed zombie driving with a total disregard for everyone else and their safety.

Everyone might have an accident, but a lot of the people putting cyclists at risk aren’t boy racers or anything like that, they’re people that just don’t engage their brains or plan ahead beyond “must pass cyclist, cyclist is slow therefore I can squeeze past regardless”. I’ve even had this sort of thing when I’m towing kids down quiet streets, it’s ridiculous and totally avoidable.

Ladders – Member
All we are are moving bollards to them.

Correct.

A fella local to me and his dad got done for chasing down some motorcyclists and giving them a battering

The pair then boxed in the bike riders and launched a violent attack with an iron bar, cracking one of their helmets and leaving another with eye injuries after having fingers pushed into his eyes.

I tend to let errant drivers get on their way 🙁

I’ll join in the chorus on this one – I’ve made a few mistakes when driving, have written off my own car (and probably also the one I drove into). I do try to be extra careful around cyclists though. As phil suggests though, we’re not talking about people just making mistakes, we’re talking about people having seriously wrong attitudes – if I did endanger a cyclist I’d be apologising profusely.

Funny incident on the way home – there’s a bit of my route where you transfer from pavement to road after a shopping precinct – the road has short bits of cycle lane marked on it. So I did my usual down the dropped kerb onto the road, come down the inside of 2 or 3 cars waiting for a turning right car. Red Astra overtakes me a few secs later giving it the full shake hands with your penis sign! What? I follow knowing I’ll catch em in the next queue. Astra turns right at the next junction – a cul de sac. I fiollow , just wanting to know what the signage was for. Couple of bends catch the car, quickly does a 3 point turn and drives off past me! As it goes past it’s a young woman / gives me the finger and speeds off the opposite way out of the junction. 😆

The ones who overtake just before joining the end of a queue are easy to stop. Just ride in the middle of the road. It will stop 99% of them overtaking. The 1% who still go for it are the idiots who I wave at when riding past them a few seconds later.

I very rarely get into any arguments these days. One thing I have thought of though is carrying a photo of my kids somewhere accessible, then if I do get the opportunity to ‘engage’ then I would show it to them and ask how they’d feel if by their stupid driving they caused the kids to not have a dad. Never done it though. One day maybe.

just seems like a common commute day to me.

I gave a woman the bird tonight for overtaking a cyclist on a bend in the opposite direction to me, she was heading right for me until she realised…i doubt she batted an eye-lid.

Also this week I had a deliberate close pass, after i kindly let a motorist out at an island, i heard a pip behind me, and then he obviously deliberately drove as close to me as possible, to point out his frustration at my kind gesture.

Back on the bike this week after being out and about or working from home last week..

At least it’s not just me given some of the experiences described in this thread!

I agree with the primary comments above – even in a full fat primary position some people will still always go for it.

Had ANOTHER half baked overtake today through a 20 zone outside a school with 5 sets of speed bumps by a Fiat 500, she drops back after attempt 1 before going for it AGAIN – overtakes on wrong side of road (as I’m in primary) cuts in and immediately slams brakes on for next set of speed bumps (as she had to do 30+ to get past me) and an emergency braking manouvre from me to stop me having a head/Fiat interface.. Then I roll past her and another car at the lights 50 yds down the road that are on red. FFS.

If only there was a fully off-road route to the office with nice berms and drops.. Sadly not too many of them on the way into Newcastle city centre.