[Closed] Abuse for not using a cycle path..

Get it on camera before going to police, see if you can get the driver to make brexit comments too.

Would the police do anything?

No.  A high number of reported crimes are not dealt with at all and this 'crime' would be very low on that list that don't ever get looked at.

Camera and Police, it's unacceptable abuse and a very bad attitude for driving. If you have a good police force they will come and say hello to them

There's nothing you can do - for a non-cyclist there seems no sense in not using a cycle path* and if that non-cyclist is a dickwit driver who once was "held up" for 5 or 10 seconds then there's a great opportunity for then to have a good froth

<span style="color: #444444; font-size: 16px;">If you have a good police force</span>

bad news on that score, unless he's moved

If you’re pissed then sobering up would be a good start. Getting a camera would be a reasonable second step.

Regarding the verbal stuff, I know it's not easy to do but you could always ignore it, let it go rather than let it play on your mind. Why make yourself suffer because they're a ****t?

I'd get the camera and next time it happens simply say " hello - you are on Camera"

then a 7 foot knuckle dragger gets out the car and pulls the camera off your helmet and then pulls your head off and chucks it on the cycle path, thereby achieveing his goal. Always avoid confrontation is my take, just ignore him and be on your way.

Pop round the estate in the evening and if you see his car, slash the tyres.

It's the grown up thing to do.

At 27mph, you’re technically going too fast to be on a shared use cycle path anyway, so are in the correct place on the road.

What jekyll said - knobs in all walks of life, don't take it personally.

[b]scaredypants[/b] wrote:

bad news on that score, unless he’s moved

Unlike bad driving, they're unlikely to ignore abuse (I'd be tempted to see if you can get him to also threaten you if you really want the police to take action). It's far less subjective or open to biased juries. If they do ignore it then you report them.

At 27mph, you’re technically going too fast to be on a shared use cycle path anyway, so are in the correct place on the road.

Opinion rather than legislation, no?

Or to the non emergency number using the words slurring, not staying in the lane, unpredictable driving....

Just be satisfied that you’ve held him up for another 5-10 seconds. He’s now experienced another bout of unnecessary stress that will lead him to an early grave.

Calm down, there’s nothing you can do about his attitude. Having a word about the rules of the road isn’t going to change his mind.

If given the chance to have a chat about it, I offer to use the cycle path if they take the bus once in a while. Always amuses me that they won't delay their essential journey by 10 seconds to drive at the speed limit behind a cyclist (but will happily sit behind another car doing the same speed) - yet they always seem to find a couple of minutes to stop and vent their spleen.

It backfired once, driver did a U turn up the road, came back towards me and went the wrong way around a roundabout in order to hit me head-on.

It's absolute crap, and makes my blood boil, but I can't imagine the police will do anything about it

What jekyll said – knobs in all walks of life, don’t take it personally.

This..

Riding a bike on the road seems to currently equate to meeting more fkwits than usual.

There is a reason cars have wing mirrors

27 mph? Stealth humblebrag!

If you’re pissed then sobering up would be a good start

I believe our OP was communicating a certain frustration by utilising the (increasingly popular) US vernacular 🤓

Should they be shouting abuse no.... but it's hardly simple

Playing devil's advocate

At 27 in a 50 you're causing a hazard.

You have a perfect right to do so (ish)... but that's why they built a cycle path.

In a way its like when I have driven home from Wickes with stuff doing 20 in a 30 zone... technically I can be pulled over for causing a hazard for driving slowly.  The correct police response is hire a van or pay for delivery.  Luckily I don't do it often and never got stopped but if I am then I wouldn't try arguing my rights...

Can you go faster than is safe on the cycle path... yep 27mph might be viewed as unsafe for other users... and is it in crap repair... yep but in the same way the car can also go faster than 50mph (by a huge margin) and drive within the conditions etc...

From your side you want to go out and push yourself (understandable but I'm playing Devils Advocate)... but what would we say about a car or motorbike driver doing the same?  Probably go and race on a ***ing racetrack

If the cycle path is unsafe at 27mph then surely the "correct safety answer" from the police is to "ride more slowly within the conditions then".

If you want to go fast then the "correct safety answer" from the police is "go do it on closed roads or a velodrome"

So Devils Advocate played I'd say go with Jekkyl ...

They are acting like arses.... but from their PoV so are you...

The Met have a team of police officers going around catching people doing close passes; it also seems to be quite a good way to catch other offences.

        https://twitter.com/MetCycleCops

Perhaps worth writing to the police commissioner for your area to ask why they're not doing the same thing?

Operation Close Pass, unbelievably, only lasted weeks in the Southampton area back in October... Yet there are plenty of twonks on the road between traditional rush hours and the numbers at ~0600 are increasing too.

<span style="color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: #eeeeee;">At 27 in a 50 you’re causing a hazard.</span>

Oh don't be bloody ridiculous.

I've taught myself to call  "Thanks for the advice!"

It gets it off my chest without inflaming the situation.

If they stop, I follow it up with "Thanks for the advice, I'll consider it next time I'm next to a messed up cycle lane" and if the circumstances call for it "Wow, you really are as stupid as you look".  That usually helps calm it down a bit.

knobs in all walks of life, don’t take it personally.

Opinion rather than legislation, no?

Legislation, the approved code of practice says no more than 18mph or 30kph on shared use/cyclepaths.

code of practice is not law.  any link to this?  I have never seen it

<span style="color: #444444; font-size: 24px; font-style: italic; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;">knobs in all walks of life, don’t take it personally.</span>

If they're in my space and a threat to my safety I'll try and remember that.  I may not always succeed.

had the same experience in Germany  few years back. Was a quiet Sunday morning, bike fully loaded with touring gear, bike path was terrible so I went on the road. At the lights  a local pulled up and went mental - in german of course. I just smiled back and said good morning and pulled the foreigner card 😉

Cycle paths are there for a reason,  use them whenever possible I say. Abuse from other road users is OTT and out of order, but still cyclists love to moan about having better infrastructure and when it is put in and some decide not to use, some abuse is probably to be expected. If you decide not to use the infrastructure put in for you then you should do it in full knowledge that some 'erberts out there will not be able to help themselves. I just swear under my breath and shake my head in a disapproving manner when I see it. If cyclists want peoples attitudes to change towards them then the ball is just as much in their court as the other road users. People don't respond well to others demanding things from them so are more likely to dig their heels in and resist which is where I think we currently are on this whole issue - a big fat stalemate with no side wanting to back down. A bit of give and take from both sides is what is required.

A cyclist who wants to 'make progress' on public infrastructure wether it be road our shared cycle path still needs to observe and be respectful of other road users just as cyclists demand from car/lorry/van drivers and pedestrians. These are not racetracks at the end of the day, so just as you'd expect a speeding car to slow down and take care as it approaches other road users, so should a speeding cyclist. It's not their personal raceway.

Code of practice is definitely not law. Not much of the HWC is written down in law, it is mostly a set of rules that we should adhere to in order for everything to work nicely rather than something that is enshrined in law - hence why it's the Highway Code and not Highway Law. I learned this when I passed a car turning right who had, unbeknownst,  flashed an oncoming car to turn right in front of them, so we had a coming together. I said I was in the right because the HWC says if you're crossing the path of a carriageway you need to give way and proceed with caution (or words to that effect) and they argued I was undertaking. The Police were not interested as none of this is written into the Road Traffic Act, so neither of us had 'broken the law', so we left it for the insurance companies to fight it out. I won.

[b]wordnumb[/b] wrote:

At 27mph, you’re technically going too fast to be on a shared use cycle path anyway, so are in the correct place on the road.

Opinion rather than legislation, no?

There's no legislation saying you have to use the shared use path, so how does that have any relevance at all?

"had the same experience in Germany  few years back. Was a quiet Sunday morning, bike fully loaded with touring gear, bike path was terrible so I went on the road. At the lights  a local pulled up and went mental – in german of course. I just smiled back and said good morning and pulled the foreigner card"

Until recently in Germany if there was a cycleway you were legally obliged to use it.  IIRC its been changed in the last couple of years

A quick squirt from your water bottle while he had the window down would've been good. Shame you bottled out of following him home. I'm guessing he wasn't up for a scrap or he'd have stopped sooner. Failing that take his mirror off. Remember a hard downward strike to it. If he complains tell him he wasnt using it anyway so what's the problem.

@ aracer. Just curious. The phrase "technically going too fast" sounded like it may relate to something official, of which, like TJ, I am unaware. Because the legislation doesn't exist.

Is strict thread relevance a new rule of the new forum? Is there legislation to back it up? *smileywinkyemoji*

For every clown in a car telling you to use the cycle path, there's another on the shared cycle path to shout at you for going too fast/not ringing a bell/ringing a bell etc.

You can't win.  Some people are just absolute bell-ends with an overwhelming sense of personal entitlement.

Cycle paths are there for a reason,  use them whenever possible I say. Abuse from other road users is OTT and out of order, but still cyclists love to moan about having better infrastructure and when it is put in and some decide not to use, some abuse is probably to be expected.

This is part of the problem.  Lots of cycle paths are appallingly poorly thought out, so they are not "better" infrastructure.

If they were "better", there would be no reason to continue using the road.  There is usually a very good reason that people don't use them.  They also might be "better" for some cyclists e.g. old ladies and kids....but not for a commuter travelling at ~20mph.

But people like to make it "black" and "white", "them" and "us".

to be fair it does sometimes get irritating when you get stuck behind a cyclist as there is no way to safely pass and there is an empty cycle lane next to them.

But

I can completely understand why some cyclists are on the road rather than on the cycle path at times. Cycle paths can have a bit of conflict due to bimblers, seasoned riders, congestion and then other users if mixed use or adjacent to pavement. People in this country are just not educated enough on correct cycling behaviour.

And then of course there is the problem of cars parked in the cycle lane. Any vehicle blocking a cycle path should be crushed immediately.

I think the "legal" aspect of Daffy's post is that cycle lanes are typically not designed for such fast cycling. There's no law against it but you can expect to find a bend or a bus-stop in the way.

Tbh, I thought there was a fairly low actual speed limit on cycle paths- around 13mph or something.  Not sure where I got that idea, but I had a feeling it was due to their shared nature.  20-30mph around pedestrians and kids is clearly unreasonable whether you have brakes or not...

I would just mutter "dick" to myself and carry on. Confronting them physically or verbally 'might' make you feel better for a while but it wont do anything towards changing their opinion or reducing the chances of them doing it again and it might escalate into who knows what which would just ruin your day even more.

Idiots gonna be idiots the best you can do is limit your interactions with them.

[b]wordnumb[/b] wrote:

@ aracer. Just curious. The phrase “technically going too fast” sounded like it may relate to something official, of which, like TJ, I am unaware. Because the legislation doesn’t exist.
Is strict thread relevance a new rule of the new forum? Is there legislation to back it up? *smileywinkyemoji*

Fairy nuff 😆 - I was mistakenly assuming arguing rather than seeking clarification <insert blushing emoticon here if I had an emoticon button>

Though as pointed out, the code of practice is something official even if it's not legislation.

"Why aren't they riding on the cycle path?"

https://twitter.com/bollocksinfra