Sick to death of cycling British roads. Is there anything to be done?

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One of the biggest road safety improvements would be that all company owned or used vehicles had a contact address or phioone number on the rear and passenger side, Buses and coaches have to display owners details by law behind the front loading door.

Also due to the huge number of fraudulent claims we all subsidise against bus and coach companies nearly all buses and coaches are fited with multi point recording equipment, along with data loggers and telematics to record and report to base excesive braking and acceleration.

Ashas been pointed out wheree you live and the time of day you pedal at has a big difference. I think i am quite lucky living in suffolk. The volume of traffic means drivers are quitw ploite. I ride early morning on country lanes where is little traffic and the cars i do find pass very conciderately. I also ride after rush hour traffic and the roads are again quiet even the main roads.

That enough about me though. There are too many cars on the road. This leads to poorer driving standards. I notice it when i drive anywhere busy, hell my driving standards dip when i get cought in traffic. Which is why i dont like driving much anymore. The onlt solution is road pricing and make driving during the working day expensive In towns, cities and the main routes. That will force car sharing and some to leave there cars at home. It wont happen though And traffic volume is only going to get worse if left unchecked.

If you are on facebook, have a look at the ‘UK Idiot drivers exposed’ thread entitled ‘you bitch’ 400+ replies, mostly abusing a cyclist who was floored by a driver emerging from a side road. Astonishing attitudes from ‘normal’ people.

^^^

Thanks for that. Now I’m thoroughly convinced of being surrounded by young-to-middle-aged people (ok the facebook generation) that literally wish to see cyclists hurt/dead – what’s more, their demonstrable failure to learn (or care about) the Highway Code/traffic laws ensures that this is a likely event. Words completely fail me. Never was a Facebook page so ironically named.

Did you read the one underneath?

Car hits cyclist video

Take care out there.

One of my favourites:

Shouldn’t allow bikes on the roads anymore it’s not safe. Bet he has no insurance! I think cyclist’s should f*** off!

Where have i heard that before?

‘I tol’yah boyuh! it just plumb aint safe here in Mizzizzippeh fer them damn Negrer fellers…i think they should just go home should never have allowed ’em heya!’

Not that believe there is a conspiracy to literally drive cycling off our roads via unchecked entitled angry car-driving haterzzz…but there is a definite trend. I expected a lot of the ‘cyclists deserve what they get’ remarks, and was not disappointed.

What actually surprised me were the agitated apes leaving those comments seem largely convinced that riding a bicycle is a sign of low status/poverty, and that getting hit by a car is simply a plea for sympathy/ploy for insurance payout.

(drives over cyclists head) “See, I accidentally (hurhur) got me one of them cyclist killed all by accident. Dont say I didnt warn the c***. When they gonna learn, it ain’t safe! Roads are for cars. Darwin innit”

I love England though, it has nice woods, moors, parks and forests and coast…that makes me proud of my country.

Awe don’t be put off… That FB thingy is a teeny proportion of the population and by definition not representative.

I’ll be doing my best impression of Phil Gil in honour of Milan-San Remo.

Cap on, clip in

Was driving yesterday (sorry, but I am extraordinarily considerate with people on bikes), and an oncoming car was drifting towards my side of the road. Put brakes on to reduce the collision speed.

He then looked up from his phone long enough to pull back in. Idiot…

Twice yesterday morning while driving locally I had to brake to avoid cars that had drifted to the wrong side of the road. One was excessive speed, one was a young woman looking at a phone.

Maybe a high profile, zero tolerance campaign by the Police would be useful, backed by proper sentencing with no excuses to wriggle out of bans. Just ban people for a week or two, make them take (unpaid) leave if they can’t figure out how to get to work, make little Tarquin and Chardonnay miss football practice if they can’t get there.

Make the idiots realise that their license to drive is important and shouldn’t be squandered.

It’s not just about cyclists, it’s about protecting everyone, especially from themselves.

Awe don’t be put off… That FB thingy is a teeny proportion of the population and by definition not representative.

Absolutely agree. That FB page is designed for people who are ostensibly more interested in focusing on bad drivers/motorists, so would assumedly represent the more sympathetic views towards other road users such as cyclists. pedestrians. Horse-riders etc.

Taking this as the ‘concerned motorist’ baseline – it does therefore show without a shadow of a doubt that the UK is populated almost entirely by indescribably boorish hateful f**wits, every one of whom is high as a kite on his Dunning-Kruger effect.

( 😉 I do actually agree with you, bikebouy – most commenters are only drawn to those pages for aggro/finger-pointing/’injury-prOn’, not out of concern for the state of driving standards/safety)

Since I posted yesterday I went for a very short drive 1.5 Miles.
Young lad pulled out at speed on a mini roundabout causing me to hit the brakes.
Young lady drove straight across a junction, head up looking under her glasses to text with her phone on the steering wheel. Myself and traffic on the opposite carriageway skidded to a halt. Guiltily driver oblivious.
Return journey.

Old fella driving under 20 with brake lights on permanently as in faulty. Driving so slow other drivers thought he was letting them out.
In three miles you see awful driving.
Also encountered an incoming car pull over heading right for me so she could park up outside the sweety shop.
Plus stopping in box junctions and on crossings.
Its just bad.

Can we add in parking as well? Not as dangerous, or a different kind of dangerous, but on my street (wide enough for parking on one side, about half of houses have driveways) lots of people park slightly/halfway/fully across the pavement.

I can usually squeeze by on foot but not everyone can. I think it’s a symptom of the same problem as texting while driving etc.

Parking ?? Can we add in Parking ???

Only if includes X5 and ML 4×4 drivers then Yes, off you goooooooooooo ! 😆

our right it is getting worse but I only find it in town meaning Cheltenham which is a small place but has some crazy driving these days

Sorry to hear that 🙁

I bought my first MTB in Cheltenham, (Williams Cycles 1989!) Was living there at the time and commuting daily from Montpellier to Swindon. Short commute, from memory never had any problems, but at 5:40am you wouldn’t expect many! Also used to cycle from there to the West Midlands and back, and never felt particularly unsafe at the time – even on the A roads.

quick question, because I don’t know, but are phone records pulled from the time of an accident? Doesn’t seem hard to do, and would show whether someone was texting or calling…

Hands free makes no difference either, your brain’s still elsewhere.

(and yes, this is too late to help the poor sod smeared all over the road I know).

Went to Bikeexpo.co.uk at the event city , manchester ,next to the the cathederal of consumerism,huge car parks and 2 bike parks one in side the event with a chap checking bikes in, depsite the show being aimesd at cyclists etc, only 2 bikes locked up in the secure area, and none in the outside area, on arrival most of the car parks were filling up, on leaving at 13.00 all car parks almost full with signs advising more parking spaces in overspill car park, its such a well located place, surely more people could cycle ther with more cash spent on better signage and cycle lanes etc.

quick question, because I don’t know, but are phone records pulled from the time of an accident? Doesn’t seem hard to do, and would show whether someone was texting or calling…

a fellow cyclist who was a traffic copper, said some motorists set the clock on their phone back an hour, so if stopped could show the call log and say they hadnt used the phone for an hour, easy to just check clock time, or phone the phone and see what time registers on phone.He caught a few like that

Every time a cyclist is overtaken by a motor vehicle they’ll invariably be giving them a pretty wide birth – and as the driver coming from the other way that’s a potential accident in the making – Look I’ve spent many days in my life cycling on roads so it would be churlish to advocate not to road cycle – But it’s delusional not to accept that cycling on roads can be hazardous to driver’s … If you want to do it fine but accept the calculated risks – I personally would never bother these days – MTB all day!

^^^^^^ nothing is forcing the driver to overtake the cyclist, NOTHING.

If it’s any consolation to the OP, I can say that it’s not just in the UK. Having commuted in London for 3 years the worst set of road users I’ve ever come across are Irish drivers. Back at home in Limerick a fella once figured it was ok to clip my handlebars while travelling at 50kph on approach to a roundabout in icy conditions (Winter of 2009). Not that that’s any help, I guess mandatory cycle commuting for a period would probably open their eyes alright.

I feel the same op. I started serious riding with my dad when I was 6. Started racing at 12 and went on to road race spending up to 25 hours a week on the road. About ten years ago I’d had enough. I came back from every ride in a bad mood because of ridiculous driving. Thats when i started mountain biking. But if someone like me gets bullied off the road how the hell are inexperienced riders going to cope.

Ive got 2 daughters who occasionally ride with me off road only. A few weeks ago I had a discussion with my wife about whether we should be encouraging them to ride. The answer was no. I’m very sad. It’s only going to get worse and I’m not risking their lives or mine.

I stick to cycle paths where possible on my commute. It makes it slower but I don’t have to put up with as much idiocy on the roads.

add my 2p here
cycled for 3 months in Europe only 2 incidents
cycled here on friday morning, had 2 incidents one very serious (van overtaking a group of cyclists up hill as two of us coming down the other side, he flashed is lights and waved with his hand for us to get out of the way – while laughing!)

doesnt matter if you live where you only see 1 car a week or 10000 – its the standard and style of driving thats the issue in the UK.
we should forget this constant eye on “speeders” and move towards standards and sharing the road.

the “texting van driver” story sums up EVERYTHING about the UK for me.

I reckon every new car should be fitted with a jamming device that stops mobile phones picking up a signal which activates every time the engine starts. That would at least stop the phone obsessed drivers from doing as much damage.

Other than that the law needs to be changed so that causing death or serious injury by dangerous driving is dealt with by stronger sentences. I’ve long felt that if you don’t like somebody in this country and want to get away with murder just down half a bottle of whisky and run then over. You’d loose your licence and maybe at worst spend a couple of years in prison. The current legal system doesn’t place enough value on human lives; that’s what has to change to make a real difference.

Personally I don’t go out on my bike without a helmet camera these days. I’m sure I look a right pillock as it is quite bulky but better to be an alive pillock than a dead one.

I’ve been out for a couple of hours on the road bike this morning and observed some shocking behaviour. Inconsiderate use of the road with little awareness of others around them.

The protagonists on this mornings ride were club cyclists in large groups.

I was out over Hudds this aft- fantastic road manners displayed to me. Must be the weather 😀

Bregante it descends very well. Brakes are lacking though at speed 😆

Personally I don’t go out on my bike without a helmet camera these days. I’m sure I look a right pillock as it is quite bulky but better to be an alive pillock than a dead one.

Not trying to be a PITA, but how is a cam going to keep you alive if you’re hit?

Went to Bikeexpo.co.uk at the event city , manchester ,next to the the cathederal of consumerism,huge car parks and 2 bike parks one in side the event with a chap checking bikes in, depsite the show being aimesd at cyclists etc, only 2 bikes locked up in the secure area, and none in the outside area, on arrival most of the car parks were filling up, on leaving at 13.00 all car parks almost full with signs advising more parking spaces in overspill car park, its such a well located place, surely more people could cycle ther with more cash spent on better signage and cycle lanes etc.

I went to BikeExpo this morning (by car), there is no way in hell I’d ride up there. It’s an easy enough ride – 20 miles or so but that whole area has woeful public transport links (very limited bus, no train or tram) and it’s designed to get everyone in and out by car. Massive expressways, 3 and 4-lane gyratory systems, 4-lane roundabouts, huge volumes of fast-moving traffic. It’s designed to cope with match-day and Saturday shopping traffic so when it’s quieter, like on a Sunday morning, it becomes a race-track.

I’m an experienced road rider but there’s not a chance I’d ride that lot. What little cycling provision that is there is woeful: gravel-strewn shared-use tracks that cease to exist at random points, no signage. Dreadful place.

It’s funny, I’m coming to the end of 2500km, through Europe to Athens. Apart from Macedonians, who mostly seem to drive with zero respect for anyone else, the only other issue I had was a dick in a range rover on UK plates…. Embarrassing really.
That’s Germany, Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Montenegro, Albania and now Greece.
Surprise winners are Albanians in general, no incidents giving most passing distance and Greek lorry drivers.
Van drivers were universally worse than anyone else.

Don’t know if it’s been mentioned, but modern cars really do isolate the driver. And I’m sure modern safety features contribute to risk compensation, the cyclist getting the shitty end of it.

Driving standards are as excellent as ever in this country compared with most other countries in the world. However since the Police gave up patrolling and relinquished enforcement to cameras and computers, removing the threat of being seen by a patrol car, the tiny minority of habitual law-breakers know they can carry on beaking the law with impunity and if they get caught by a camera they only have their own bad observation to blame.

You need to ride somewhere quieter. In the Ribble Valley and Bowland Fells we are generally treated with extreme courtesy by drivers but it’s rural and very popular with cyclists.

This poster has it right:

You need to move somewhere quieter. Grew up in Dumfries and Galloway where you’d be able to ride 100 miles on nice quite country roads and not see more cars that you could count with your fingers. I’m sure Somafunk will attest to how quite the roads round here could be.

Even in Fife most of the roads were pretty quiet and almost never had any aggro with driver.

On the rare occasions when I do venture into busy areas like Manchester I find that my position and manner of riding make a big difference; perhaps 12 years of motorcycling have taught me to take up the right position on the road. This includes taking up the entire carriageway while approaching emerging traffic, moving across their field of vision to create sideways movement and establishing strong eye contact. Drivers generally only respect other road users who show assertive body language.

{quote]I’ve long felt that if you don’t like somebody in this country and want to get away with murder just down half a bottle of whisky and run then over. You’d loose your licence and maybe at worst spend a couple of years in prison. [/quote]

I think you’ve not thought about this very much, as your plan seems unnecessarily complicated.

Self-driving cars are well into development… the solution’s on the way 🙂

I think you’ve not thought about this very much, as your plan seems unnecessarily complicated.

quite – what’s the point of the whisky?
Just tell them your view of the road was impaired by not giving a shit who was there

Not trying to be a PITA, but how is a cam going to keep you alive if you’re hit?

A lot of motorists seem to realise that it is a helmet camera and give me a wide berth as a result (it films front and back at the same time). Plus I’m a big guy who rides assertively. If one of the buggers does drive over me I would hope that the footage would send them straight to prison. Frankly its a sad state of affairs when you think about our roads and the muppets that think they have a god given right to use them.

quite – what’s the point of the whisky?

Teetotal killjoys the lot of you :-).

I’m with those who are looking forward to driverless cars being on our roads. In fact it would be great if they could start with driverless vans, that way I could sort out my paperwork between appointments rather than at the end of the day.

I’m still riding and enjoying the old “Maxlite I bought off you a couple of years ago, we are doing the C2C this summer too.

Groovy Gravy! Really made me smile cheers, have a good one.

I find that riding a less road specific bike encourages me to poke along roads with surfaces that I’d normally avoid on a 25mm tyre.

Since I repurposed a 29er for road use with Big Apple tyres (2.35″) it has been a lot more enjoyable because I can poke along on surfaces that would be very uncomfortable otherwise.

Today’s pootle along single lane roads and gravel paths.

I went to BikeExpo this morning (by car), there is no way in hell I’d ride up there. It’s an easy enough ride – 20 miles or so but that whole area has woeful public transport links (very limited bus, no train or tram) and it’s designed to get everyone in and out by car. Massive expressways, 3 and 4-lane gyratory systems, 4-lane roundabouts, huge volumes of fast-moving traffic. It’s designed to cope with match-day and Saturday shopping traffic so when it’s quieter, like on a Sunday morning, it becomes a race-track.

I’m an experienced road rider but there’s not a chance I’d ride that lot. What little cycling provision that is there is woeful: gravel-strewn shared-use tracks that cease to exist at random points, no signage. Dreadful place.

I’m guessing you are approaching from the south / stockport side ?

I went to Bike Expo on my Bike, straight in, parked up in the inside compound so much easier than driving but I came from Bolton side which was down the NCN 55, then minor roads over Barton Swing Bridge then I use the footpath cycle lanes past Asda to Event City.

I wouldn’t like to tackle it from the south side though….

My experience as a driver near Evrnt city in Trafford park (hands up) http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/so-i-had-a-close-miss-last-night-with-a-cyclist

I wouldnt cycle round there (or if I did I’d stay on the sharps/rubbly paths provided).

Work shifts? Night etc is quieter but I still remember a trained… driver rolling it there at speed a couple of years back…….. It can be a place where everyone goes at it too quickly and add to the mix truck diesel, bolts, parts laying off roundabouts etc…or in the case of the trained driver- rail lines in the road(?)

A lot of motorists seem to realise that it is a helmet camera and give me a wide berth as a result (it films front and back at the same time).

Sorry for the derail but what camera is that? I’m only aware of the Oregon Scientific one that films front and rear, is there another?

A lot of motorists seem to realise that it is a helmet camera and give me a wide berth as a result (it films front and back at the same time).

Hmmm… Or it makes you feel better that you’ve taken a step to improve your safety and so don’t notice their passes as much? Confirmation bias is a powerful thing. Not a criticism, I can’t really see that most people are so eagle eyed that they will pick out a helmet cam.

Anyhow, I avoided this up til now because I’ve never really felt that bad driving was a major issue on the roads anywhere I’ve ridden (or driven TBH) in the UK.

Not a criticism, I can’t really see that most people are so eagle eyed that they will pick out a helmet cam.

Oh I dunno. If it is the Oregon one that I’ve seen, it’d be hard to miss it, it’s **** huge!