How often do you get shouted at? (UrbanCommuterTrackWorld)

When I was regularly commuting a few miles it was maybe a 4 or 5 times a year. Sometimes when doing something a bit cheeky like hopping on the pavement or cutting through a park (but always slowly and carefully), sometimes just riding along legitimately on rubbish shared infrastructure. This is through the centre of a city so lots of people around, easy enough to find an idiot.

Not in the last few years, but my route is quieter avoiding the usual idiots. I've shouted at a few folk, like the odd stupid driver that failed to look, and only stopped when they heard me shout, or the occasional dog owner that their dog tried to get a chunk of me.

I've had maybe one van driver get very angry when I gave him a funny look/hand signal when they swerved at me deliberately.

Some drivers will take out aggression on lone female cyclists though.

I commuted 5 days a week 6 miles each way from west to central London for the best part of 10 years, and got shouted at once and it was completely my fault (cut up another cyclist due to being impatient).

I don't think I've ever been shouted at. I have commuted to work by bike but I wouldn't exactly call it regularly.

My ex used to get loads of shitty "look at the fat bird on the bike" type comments. Yeah, why do you think she's on a bike, dickhead?

I avoid the usual numpties on a route which is pretty quiet.
Similarly when mrs_oab and I have weekend pedals on quiet roads.
Mrs_oab reports more close passes when she cycles alone - she thinks that she looks like small women, and therefore gets closer passes.
I have shouted at more drivers than reverse...but then I am a 6'1" burly bloke...

Oh I've had loads. Sometimes encouragement "Go Wiggo!!", sometimes jokey "yer back tyres flat...." sometimes having a go "get off the road you ****" or "get off the pavement you ****" and sometimes indistinguishable, usually from someone hangin out side of a van "allalla lallallallala, ha, ha, ha...".

I did once have a "nice arse" which the person was very embarrased about when the car had to stop at some traffic up the road and I caught up. I thanked her and the driver shouted that she'd give it a slap on the way past again, but she didn't....

Had one the other day, commuting home. Section of one-lane running on a main-ish road, I went through on green but didn't realise how long the stretch of one-way was and the delay on the lights was nowhere close to being enough for a cyclist to get through. So I had the first guy in the oncoming traffic queue drive his wankpanzer right at me as his lights turned green - he obviously assumed I'd jumped the lights on the other side.

Other than that though, even in the days when I was going into Manchester, it was very rare to have anything directly confrontational.

I have my own thoughts as to why the big bloke on the bike doesn’t get shouted at whilst the much slighter woman does, just interested in others’ experiences. Is it just her? Is it just me?

Anecdotally...
The faster you ride and the more you are "part of the traffic", the less hassle you get. However, this obviously favours people who are strong / fit / confident enough to actually do that which is overwhelmingly men. I'm not saying that all men are faster than all women and it's very much a generalisation.

But I've heard very similar from a (fairly fast, fit, confident) female friend who went out cycling with a much slower friend of hers. Riding much slower than normal was quite the eye-opener at how much extra hassle she got, drivers pushing harder to get past and presumably feeling they were more delayed.

Obviously what mitigates that issue is the provision of safe infrastructure, filtered roads with less traffic and so on where there's no need to be jousting with traffic.

Haven't commuted for ages but rarely got shouted at - a woman I know who commutes in Nottingham seems to have issues maybe once a month when you talk with her.

Rarely get any verbals when riding alone, partly because if I am genuninely holding up traffic I'm happy to pull over when it's safe to do so, which is appreciated.  If I'm wearing branded FLAB kit I get jokey encouragement surprisingly often if I'm struggling up a hill. Our club kit sometimes acts as a red (orange and black) rag to a bull to some social media bell ends, but again no actual abuse on the road.

Group rides, with mates or either club I'm with, usually attract one comment every 30 miles or so. Current favourites are "Single file!" and "Read the Highway Code!" They usually get a polite suggestion that our knowledge of the current HC appears to be better than theirs.

Think it might have more to do with location. Commuting in cities like London and Brum, I rarely got any aggro and yet I was interacting with way more cars than I do now in rural Sussex yet I’ve been shouted at and driven at several times in the last few years. I’m not a militant cyclist and will happily pull in to a gateway etc in narrow roads if it’s safe. However I will also stand my ground when needed and I ride as someone who has as much right to be on the road as any car. Anadotaly it seems to be trades vans and farm vehicles that do the shouting as well as the close passes - last time a vehicle drove at me shouting obscenity it was a 7.5 tonne removal truck and I was so shocked I forgot to get the plate/name

Definitely worse in deserted rural locations anyway.

Definitely worse in deserted rural locations anyway.

I would say completely the opposite! The closer to a city the more likely you are to have any issue with driving standards and other road users.

I would say completely the opposite! The closer to a city the more likely you are to have any issue with driving standards and other road users.

I think it's different types of aggro - in town, people expect to be stuck in jams, going slower etc so the aggro comes from the fact that the freeloading cyclist who doesn't pay road tax is sailing past the queues of people who are paying lots of money for their expensive car to be stuck there.

In rural locations, people are more used to being able to blat along a country lane - see the thread about Snake Pass for mentions of "enthusiastic driving" - and they can very upset when their free-flowing journey and driving prowess is interrupted by some bloody slowcoach of a cyclist.

Last shout "Get your kids off the road" as I was cycling along a nice wide 20mph road in suburbia with me on the outside of said kids so as to be between them and any overtaking traffic.

Usually pretty rarely though (>6ft tall male)

Anecdotally…

The faster you ride and the more you are “part of the traffic”, the less hassle you get

Yep. Riding alone or with a fast group is fine, riding with a slow group, especially those not used to riding in a bunch and so spread out as well as slow, can be terrifying. Not necessarily drivers being malicious but just both sides unsure how to interact.

.

Anyway, shouted at? Once a month maybe? I ride on the road a lot, mostly rural roads. 5'11" bloke but very slight and with a ponytail. I've no data to support it but it feels like I get more space when I wear a pink waterproof though, maybe because I look like a girl from behind then?

Only twice had things thrown at me from passing cars, a bottle and a cabbage, both missed. And a snowball by a pedestrian.

You're a bloke, therefore you don't listen (I think that's what Mrs a11y said). Hence you don't think you get shouted at cos you don't hear it?

every now and then, mostly 'to use effin bike lane!'

Occasionally, but usually when riding in primary. Probably because it means they have to think a little bit harder about another human being.

I ride as someone who has as much right to be on the road as any car

You have more; you actually have the right to be on the road, no licence involved.

Very rarely.  I have twice had to take evasive action as drunks walked into the road whilst shouting they were going to do me.   That was 20 years ago though when I regularly  commuted through  Glasgow at midnight.  I had already clocked they were paying me undue attention, done a shoulder check, and knew I could safely swerve right onto the wrong side of the road to avoid them.

Same area (Maryhill) where a woman got a broken arm after being shoved of her bike by a passing ned late evening around that same year or two.

More recently in 2022 Kevin mMcDermott of the 80s band got assaulted on the nearby Kelvin Walkway.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-61307622

Now that I am usually riding in daylight in the afternoon or evening I can't remember the last time I got shouted at.  Nearest was a horn from a driver who set off fast from lights as they turn green to get right before the traffic started and had to brake when I was into the junction from the advanced stop line before he had got round.

I feel like the degree of aggro has gone down in recent years. Partly because the cycling infrastructure has improved; I choose quieter routes than the main drag every time now; and I take/give the bait less than before. Probably the last one is the most important and I shouldn't have been such a dick in the past.

Can't speak to man vs woman difference obviously but it wouldn't surprise me.

politecameraactionFree Member
I feel like the degree of aggro has gone down in recent years. Partly because the cycling infrastructure has improved; I choose quieter routes than the main drag every time now; and I take/give the bait less than before. Probably the last one is the most important and I shouldn’t have been such a dick in the past.

Can’t speak to man vs woman difference obviously but it wouldn’t surprise me.

not around here.  I would say the car bullying has massively increased since Covid lock down, as the traffic levels locally.  Not until you get the 'hills' does it improve.  I am in KT7

I moved to rural Suffolk from busy Ashford in Kent. Incidents of one sort or another were every other day in Kent. Suffolk, maybe every 10 to 12 months. Local lads I ride with get right out of their tree if we have a close pass. So common in Kent we barely lifted an eyebrow.

Yep. Riding alone or with a fast group is fine, riding with a slow group, especially those not used to riding in a bunch and so spread out as well as slow, can be terrifying. Not necessarily drivers being malicious but just both sides unsure how to interact.

oh yes, riding with a group of mountainbikers with little road experience is so so much worse than riding solo or with a group of roadies.
some of that is the group being unsure how to act, some of it is I’m sure down to just how comparatively bad mtbs are on the road.
They are slower rolling and decelerate a lot more as soon as you coast, yet have much quicker handling and better brakes - people are much less willing or able to actually ride as a cohesive group.

Oh I’ve had loads. Sometimes encouragement “Go Wiggo!!”, sometimes jokey “yer back tyres flat….” sometimes having a go “get off the road you *” or “get off the pavement you *” and sometimes indistinguishable, usually from someone hangin out side of a van “allalla lallallallala, ha, ha, ha…”.

This, about every couple of months, most likely reason is for not using some shit but of shared use path. I am much better at ignoring it these days.

Sometimes encouragement “Go Wiggo!!”, sometimes jokey “yer back tyres flat….”

I had a bunch of builders in Alderley Edge tell me (good naturedly) that I'd missed the start of the Tour de France. I've had "yer wheels are going round!" and "yer tyres are flat!" once or twice but not for many years. It seemed to be a chav thing at one point.

I'm convinced that somewhere there must have been some Chav School of Comedy where, after months of hard work, the chavs with double digit IQs could graduate knowing 3 or 4 jokes because it was always the same.

Oi mate...[pause]... yer wheels are goin' round!

The surprise was just how funny they found it.

Op - you've obviously just never heard them shout, or you don't commute by bike enough. It absolutely happens.
No one cares that you're a bloke, or what size you are either - That doesn't go through anyone's head in the 0.5s they have to decide what to shout.

As for me, in recent years genuinely more funny things; go onnn, nice bike (deffo sarky), etc

Some fat bloater in his ONE LIFE LIVE ITTTTT Tonka Jimny did shout "W@nker" as he passed me in the opposite direction on a very wide lane back in the summer. No reason other than my existance.

I only ride rurally now though so may explain running into less audible pillocks.

Oi mate…[pause]… yer wheels are goin’ round!

Yeah and so is your mum!

Is the correct reply

Incidents of one sort or another were every other day in Kent....a close pass. So common in Kent we barely lifted an eyebrow.

Meh, not on my commutes, I have a fairly quiet route however, avoiding most of the town traffic. Last time I was shouted at, was several months ago, "oi **** ride on the roads" as I was using the crossing to cross a dual carriage way. I shouted "**** off you ****" back. It started to rile me up but then I imagined an ex colleague laughing his head off at my response to him having shouted that. Maybe it was him, probably not, but it made me laugh about it too. The prick. The type of guy that claimed to throw cups of piss at his neighbours door handles.

Weekly when I commuted to work, but now that I drive it’s not an issue anymore. All the usual abuse but also got Half full soft drink cans, spat at etc. culminated with getting run over and a lengthy period off the bike.  Welcome to Australia.

Commute 3 or 4 days a week across Leeds - must get shouted at 2/3 times a month - flashing lights, kids, miserable gits, pedestrians who just step out in front of you. Or sometimes is not a shout but a handy missile - fruit or eggs normally. Eggs hurt. Hit rate is pretty low though, despite high vis.

Nope... I don't hear them anyway, always have earphones in. I've had a couple of beeps from horns on a particular section where they think i should be on the "cycle path" (a footpath share with schoolkids, dog walkers, scooter riders etc), but don't hear anyone shout.

The London Cycling Campaign did some reports last year that showed just how bad the abuse towards women cycling can be: https://lcc.org.uk/news/get-off-the-road/

Anecdotally, I'd say that it's a nationwide problem from what I've heard from friends/relatives.

It sucks.

Interesting stuff - thanks all.

You’re a bloke, therefore you don’t listen (I thinkthat’s what Mrs a11y said). Hence you don’t think you get shouted at cos you don’t hear i

I do very much listen, as I quite badly don't want to get crushed or mashed, so I don't wear headphones and I pay attention. Mrs Pondo listens to music and has shit hearing anyway, and she STILL hears people shouting at her! 🙂

Op – you’ve obviously just never heard them shout, or you don’t commute by bike enough. It absolutely happens.No one cares that you’re a bloke, or what size you are either – That doesn’t go through anyone’s head in the 0.5s they have to decide what to shout.

My apologies for not listening or doing enough miles. 🙂 I don't doubt that men DO get shouted at (and having mulled it over all day, I can recall a bunch of kids shouting "prick" at me once, and some guy once aggressively blew his horn at me then scarpered when I took off after him - that was down to me being a dick at traffic lights), but my key observation here is that Mrs Pondo and I have been doing near-identical commutes on and off for the best part of a year - she gets shouted at every fortnight or so, in that period I have not. So why the difference?

Some fat bloater in his ONE LIFE LIVE ITTTTT Tonka Jimny did shout “W@nker” as he passed me in the opposite direction on a very wide lane back in the summer. No reason other than my existance.

That's become a regular occurrence on club rides in the last year or so - cars coming the other give you abuse for not in any way holding them up.

People are weird.

Occasionally, and always a to and fro.

Last one was going down a road in a scheme with cars parked, meaning its usual to wait if theres a car/bike on it(friendly wave etc)

Except this time there was a car load of Rangers fans who just drove down without wait what would be 20 or 30 seconds, meaning i'd to move over to the point each could pass.

I shout WTF U doing!!! ? he shouts abuse, I shout abuse back "I hope you F******g lost ya ****" and on till we passed and each went on our merry way.

They're not really from the area so wouldnt know the standard one waits etc

Not actually commuting, but I was cycling on a path through a large park in town, Monkton Park, which runs alongside the river, and some bloke walking with his son really launched into a rant at me for cycling on it, getting into my face, claiming he worked for the council, whose offices were about a hundred yards away, and that it was illegal, and he’d see me prosecuted!
Really setting a good example to his kid, he kept getting more angry as I tried to point out that the path was actually part of the Sustrans National Cycle Network, and I was a Ranger and member of Sustrans.
I gave up trying to tell him that if he was, indeed a council employee, then he’d know that. I just rode off, I figured trying to ask his name to confirm he was employed by the council might tip him over the edge, as I was astride my bike, one shove would have had me on the ground. Bet his son was really proud of his jackass of a dad…

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https://lcc.org.uk/campaigns/womens-freedom/

@pondo - that's a useful read and there's a link to a more in-depth report too.

In fact I think it should be required reading for most men in general but cycle campaigners in particular, especially the folk that suggest dark / remote places such as canal towpaths and parkland as "ideal cycle routes" or suggest that vehicular cycling should be the default.

Thank you, I agree - it feeds into my ever-growing understanding that, as a white, straight man in the UK, I really have zero experience of discrimination.

The people (are they mostly men, by any chance?) that do the shouting, I wonder what their thoughts would be if it were their mum/wife/sister/daughter getting shouted at? If it would make them as angry as it makes me, I don't think they'd do it.

And on a related note (safe infrastructure) and the ever-present issue of confident white male cyclists saying "just ride the towpath" and featuring STW's own @stwhannah ....

https://road.cc/content/news/cycling-live-blog-5-february-2025-312471

We both use the A38 cycle route from Selly Oak into Birmingham, which is good - I would't dream of using the canals, nor would Mrs Pondo.

Had one the other night, cycling a long an unlit cycle path with my Exposure Diablo on, plus my exposure sirius on blinky mode, guy walking towards me covering his eyes said "F~ck me mate, thats awful!" I did chuckle, at least he saw me, which some drivers fail to do. Other than that, cant think of anything else really.

All the time here, often about not being on the new cycle paths, and often combined with pulling close to the curb so I can't filter along the left. I join/leave the road with the cycle path (on the opposite side)  60 yards from where it ends, so using it would be a right pain for those vital 60 yards. It does just stop where the road narrows for the last mile into town which is a bit rubbish, but it seems the best place to build cycle paths is where they fit, not where they're needed.

Occasionally.

What I do notice, especially as my new commute is actually on a much quieter road (i..e both less traffic behind them and less witnesses perhaps) .

Is a fair few cars will half overtake, take a look, then speed off.  So if it turned out that women were getting more abuse then that would not surprise me at all.

with my Exposure Diablo on, plus my exposure sirius on blinky mode, guy walking towards me covering his eyes said “F~ck me mate, thats awful!”

I mean, rule 1 is don't be a dick.  Shining a bazillion lumens down the path and then adding a strobe light to it is clearly dickish, especially if it's bad enough for people to have to comment to you about it.  Just get some decent lights that don't blind people.

It's a while since I commuted by bike or rode in a truly urban setting but I used to ride into work in Edinburgh along a cycle path, often along the canal. Shouty folk would either tell me to get a bell or complain that I startled them by ringing my bell. On the whole, it was mainly middle aged women.

Shouty folk would either tell me to get a bell or complain that I startled them by ringing my bell.

Oh yes I get that. Schrödinger's Bike Bell.

with my Exposure Diablo on, plus my exposure sirius on blinky mode

Blinding other road users is inconsiderate and counterproductive.

complain that I startled them by ringing my bell

That's mad. Never had that ever. People always seem pleased to have been warned by the bell.

"Oh yes I get that. Schrödinger’s Bike Bell."

Or the walkers who don't hear the bell because they are wearing over ear headphones on a shared path.

Thankfully, very few incidents result in physical violence, but, on the whole, men are 2.5 times more likely to encounter this than women are. Maybe chivalry ain't dead 😉

Oh yes I get that. Schrödinger’s Bike Bell.

You cannot ever win with a bike bell.

If you ring it, it's not loud enough, it's rude, it's aggressive and "ooh you made me jump!"

If you don't ring it, it's rude, it's inconsiderate and "ooh you made me jump!"

Weirdest one was a guy walking towards me on a towpath, he saw me, stepped to one side, I rode carefully past and said a cheerful thank you and he said "you should ring a bell!"

What, just in case you thought you were hallucinating seeing me riding towards you, you wanted to hear me too?!