[Closed] Today is National Drive Like a Tit Day

coincidentally this just appeared in my twitter feed;

[i]Thanks to the stupid ****ing cow driving HT59 CVU in the Parkgate area of Hampshire this morning for knocking me clean off my bike..[/i]

I've always been under the impression that every day is "national drive/ride like a tit day", I just don't choose to participate.

Today is National Drive Like a Tit Day

Really! - Damn I decided to cycle today
I always miss out 🙁

And coming so soon after the [i]Kill a Cyclist Day[/i] as well. Not commuting today so will miss out.

Every day is drive like a tit day around here, that's why i don't cycle to work very often these days. 🙁

In the car today first of 2/5 days this week 🙁 I didn't realise until I logged on but drove like a fool as usual.
Audis seem to have stopped signalling, is there some virus they pick up from BMWs?

http://www.edp24.co.uk/news/witness_appeal_after_cyclist_dies_on_a140_at_marsham_1_3063631

More depressing still is the idea that "traffic" speeds (not people, no, the motorist is always hard-pressed and honest and hard-working...) and that there's "nothing that can be done about it".

Now imagine that same attitude being the default response to a train crash or plane crash. 🙁

i think this is a two day celebration.

last night I had a woman overtake me as I pulled up to a T junction, where I was turning right. she overtook me, on the wrong side of the road, turned right, still on the wrong side of the road, and finally pulled in, 50 yards later, in a queue of stationary cars. If there had been a cyclist turning left as she did that it wouldn't have been nice...

today i gt overtaken on a quite stiff corner, guy pulled in as he overtook me at speed, maybe giving me 12 inches. and a school kid walked out in front of me

It was good to see larger companies giving their employees the chance to participate in DLATD on my ride in, a British Gas van did a nice overtake-then-pull-in-front move on me, really getting into the spirit of the day by not even warning me with his indicators.

a British Gas van did a nice overtake-then-pull-in-front move on me, really getting into the spirit of the day by not even warning me with his indicators.

Complain about misleading advertising - he clearly wasn't looking after your world.

😉

Just for balance, I've recently started another job and my 25-mile drive takes me through a fairly big city and miles of suburbs.

It's quite noticeable the lengths that some cyclists go to to be visible but it doesn't always work. From behind the wheel cyclists with lots of small but bright lights and reflective trim are not that noticeable. [i]I [/i]notice you but that's because I ride bikes and I want to see what kind of bike you're riding but to a lot of people esp in bigger vehicles you are genuinely not distinctive enough. There are too many other reflective items e.g road signs & markings and other lights, joggers and people walking with reflective jackets etc.

What really works is a big fark-off rear light like a motorbike. Really big, really bright and red. Lots of twinkling LEDs may look bright to you when you're standing by your bike but on the road they're simply not big enough

You're lucky if it's only one day - here everyday is like that.

No use of indicators, erratic and aggressive driving, texting whilst driving, holding the phone, no use of headlights etc...

I'm lucky to still be here and have pretty much given up cycling on public roads except very early on Friday.

If we're name-checking Id like to give a big thumbs up to the Tarmac concrete mixer truck on his way to the UCL building site on Howland street having followed me up Tottenham Court Road yesterday. Howland has got a stupid obsolete cycle path layout anyway, but top marks to the driver for looking for eye contact before making his left hand turn acknowledging me while I held back to give him plenty of room to make the manoeuvre. He had to stretch to see out of his N/S window mind. Visibility round those trucks is lousy.

I love riding in London. Those new buses are weird though? Did I miss the memo? When did they start turning up?

I got hooted at by one of those huge intimidating tipper trucks that have been killing cyclists.

I was around 50m in front of him, his ONLY reason for hooting is that i wasn't in the cycle lane. Looked back and saw him ranting and waving his arms around in the cab.

I was coming up to an 8 deep queue of traffic at the lights.

WTF?

also saw a woman reading an open book balanced on the steering wheel whilst driving.

How good are those SJ1000 cameras??

also saw a woman reading an open book balanced on the steering wheel whilst driving.

Seen that, newspapers, road atlases and in one case, an iPad (propped on his knees and against the steering wheel).

I can only assume that they feel they're stuck in so much slow moving/stationary traffic that it's "harmless" - have a quick read of a paragraph while waiting at the lights.

This supposed "crackdown" that the police are having in London - put them all on bikes and motorbikes with headcams, get them filming it and pulling everyone over. It'd solve the national debt inside of a month.

I'm always shocked by the drivers eating a bowl of cereal on their morning commute. WT-unbelievable-F?

At least take some toast instead...

For what it's worth, most of the knobber drivers behave the same around cars too.
Driving to work this morning and there's a car in front (30m, perhaps) and an entry slip road from the left that has been extended to run from the exit of one roundbout to the entry of the next; so a good 3-400 yds to merge with the main carriageway if you are coming down this slip lane.
2 cars do their utmost to pull in front of the car in front of me from the slip road even though there was very little room between him and the car in front. I am maintaining my ~30m gap so plenty of space for them to lift off and tuck in behind it. Then, just after they have caused him to brake, an absolute knobber in an Insignia comes flying past me on the slip road, flying past the gap I have left and again barges in front of the car in front, even though there's now even less room in front of him from the two cars that have just barged in!
Had he joined the carriageway behind me or infront of me, he would have had more space to pull out and then get into the outside lane and hoof it. As it was, the bunching of cars caused by them all filling one spot meant that they then all tried to pull out into the outside lane together and just got in each others way.

Oh, and driving on a road near my house yesterday there was a bloke on a bike cycling on the wrong side of the road (towards oncoming traffic) with no front light, but two rear lights. He was on a dark bike wearing dark clothing and randomly took to the pavement as he saw fit. And I didn't see a tax disc.

There's something about isolating someone in a metal box where they feel safe that seems to encourage anti-social and aggressive behaviour. We really really need to get people out of cars, it just seems to make people fat and angry!

You get some inconsiderate behaviour on the Tube and trains and pavements in This London but never on the same scale of aggression and danger.

I avoid driving these days if I can... have you ever tried keeping to the speed limit and only pulling out of a junction when you can see and there's proper time?... great way to make yourself unpopular. I suspect the only reason deaths are falling is because the people in them are better protected, nothing to do with better driving.

This idea that some people seem to have that cyclists are law-breaking, anti-social animals whilst everyone else is a paragon of virtue is such total nonsense. We really really have to get that message out and change the tone of the debate...I get the feeling drivers are acting as Police, Judge and Jury when they close pass etc - they think we 'deserve' punishment for being 'in their way'...

More Police, zero tolerance on aggressive and dangerous driving, loss of licence and vehicle, make it socially unacceptable to drive like a moron... there's so much we can do.

I had quite a pleasant ride in this morning. No incidents of tit driving. Only one was unusually, a motorbike, who went too close. He heard me say I'd C him Next Tuesday though, so that was ok.

I had to swear at a few motorists this morning.
The worst was school run mum in red Volvo, who pulled straight out in front of me making me swerve into the oncoming traffic at 30mph.

I have to drive later though, so I'll make full use of drive like a tit day. 😉

This has nearly coincided with "wind down your window and hurl abuse and obscenities to a cyclist" day too, which is what I had to endure a few weeks back whilst riding steadily and in total control of my bike up a hill on the way home from work, so wanted to catch up and find out what the woman's problem was but she didn't hang about.
Also driving home the other night, glanced across at the traffic lights to a car whose driver was happily watching Channel 4's 8 out of 10 cats on his smart phone that was placed on a cradle to the windscreen. I could see Jimmy Carr as plain as day on the screen, obviously he'll turn it off when the lights changed to green i thought........... nope........Idiot.

What I especially enjoy is being overtaken (on the right hand side) whilst I'm on the right hand side of the lane, indicating right, about to turn right. Happened twice now 🙁

I would have driven today but my cold and a flat tyre on the commuter that I can't be arsed with overcame my resolve.

Driving or cycling on the Roads over the last month or so I've noticed an apparent dip in many peoples attention and a fair few people seem to be ratcheting up their "road-rage-gauge" behind the wheel the most minor things appears to trigger arm waving and verbal abuse, and then tailgating and near passes...

I'm sticking to my longer but less busy routes to avoid the worst of the numpties...

It's seasonal, the absolute best time to be on the Roads is also the worst; that couple of weeks (Maximum) of lovely weather in the middle of summer, where most of us would probably much rather be doing anything other than driving, but at least you are feeling alert and in a good mood Vs cold dark damp winter with pointless traffic jams...

if I could work a wee bit closer to where I live, I'd chop in the car all together... Driving is for mugs...

i was nearly killed this morning.

i was nearly killed this morning.

you can't just leave it there... Sorry, I'm sure it was traumatising, but everyone else is recounting their Near death commutes...

Lots of Berks in Mercs this morning including GAZ 2000.

Think it's more a month than a day. Strangely seems to have coincided with the clocks going back here.

Car driving past Victoria station turns right with no indicators forcinge left and yes driving into a pedestrianised road making them jump onto the pavement, and there is a car trying (driving sensibly) to come out. Inappropriate speed as well.... What a stroker