Less than a mile into my commute some silly cow did a contemptuous, eff you left turn across me. Had it not been for my stunning piloting skills, I’d have been all over the road and probably taken out by the NO. 8 bus. In a momement of anger and relief I called her a C and an effing bitch. Of course she just drove on.

WTF is it with these people? On my commute, I am lit up like a bush fire. Orange hi-viz jacket, hi-viz yellow cover on my rucksack. Lights on my bike and helmet. If I did any more to make myself visible, I’d look a bit of a dick TBH.

Somme people really loathe cyclists to the point where they want to injure them. That’s the only explanation I can think of.

Do you have a bell on your bike?

Hangin’s too good for em

Derek_Starship I really don’t think that that many people actally hate cyclists what I do think is this woman is clearly so thick and stupid as she probably hasn’t moved her eyes off the 2 inches of road in front of her bonnet. She will have no idea what a rear view mirror or wing mirrors are for hence all your hi-visness (word!!??) isn’t not applicable as she isn’t even looking in teh right mirrors to see you and hence why she didn’t stop when you abused her.
There are so many appalling appalling drivers out there, I once had a 90 yr old woman who pulled straight out at a roundabout when I stopped her and asked why she told me she couldn’t move her head!!!!! I started doing relevant paperwork to get her licence pulled and she told me to hurry up she had to get home before it got dark!! I mean FFS …

I’d argue that, there really are some! motorist who really do hate cyclists.

The majority of the issues and close calls I have are from cars passing way way to close in stupid places on roads where they really couldn’t miss you and are doing so because you are holding them up getting the back of the queue of traffic 200m in front/next set of traffic lights 🙄

I don’t think many people actually wake up properly until they’ve been in work for a while and had several shots of coffee. I’m certainly one of them. Fortunately I don’t need to get in my car to get to the office!

Compulsory testing for EVERYONE every 5 years.

You’ve seen this, right?

http://www.londoncyclist.co.uk/raf-pilot-teach-cyclists/

Human beings are crap, basically, at seeing small moving objects unless they’re looking directly at them.

I really don’t mind looking like a bit of a dick….
a: I’m dressed in cycling clothes so I’m already there
b: I’m on a bike, see above
c: It’s infinitely more preferable to spending an extended period in a hospital or morgue

so I’ve just got one of those ‘Polite’ jackets that makes me look like a copper and some of those wheel spokey dokey things that make your wheels look like they’re at the funfair.

Of course people still don’t see me and nearly kill me but I’m assuming the more annoying and stupider I make myself look, the less chance there is that people won’t see me.

I once saw someone drive through a one way cut through the wrong way.
This little bottle neck bit is 20 foot long and on this particular day had a copper on a horse all day glowed up at the other end. If a motorist can’t see that we stand no chance.

The driving test in the UK is nowhere near tough enough. There are people who are not/never will be competent enough to drive IMO. I mean, how can motorway driving not be a part of the test FFS? Madness.

That said, some folk are just blind. Worth bearing in mind that distraction can be being preoccupied with other things in life. My SiL had a bump when her OH was being treated for testicular cancer, on a bad junction (reversed priority of what EVERYONE expects), despite knowing it well…, she admits she was on autopilot.

Last time this happened to me, I gave the obligatory ‘coffee bean shake’ to the car as it drove off.

The car stopped, then reversed at me & stopped again. A woman then opened the driver’s door exclaiming that it was a shame she hadn’t hit me & that I was a vile little man who needed to learn some manners…even though she had almost run me over & then reversed at me too.

I tried to stay calm, but it didn’t work.

This happened in Stamford, so didn’t really surprise me as many people there seem to have an elevated idea of their own importance.

Bigyinn yup! Yorlich yup! How can you be allowed to drive at night without lessons? Probably weekley around here someone kills themselves driving at night too quick into a bridge, ditch etc. Mind you always going to be idiots out there.
29er Keith I agree there always will be but I don’t think it’s as high as well all think it might me.

People are idiots, people in cars are dangerous idiots. There does seem to be a switch that’s flipped when people get in a car that they can’t afford to lose a second on their journey to wherever so will gladly cut up those annoying cyclists who try and slow them down.

I thought this was going to be a thread about Cameron. Imagine my disappointment, etc.

the best are woman with kids in the back who spend most of their time looking over their shoulder at Isabelle and Jake to stop them whinging and moaning! then swerve all over the road do 40mph whether in a 30 or 60mph.

I might be paranoid but I’m finding that more motorists are intentionally flashing oncoming motorists to pass in front of me when the flashing motorist is well aware I’m passing on the inside, maybe trying to cause an incident that they’re complicit in but not guilty.

How can you be allowed to drive at night without lessons?

When I passed my test 20 odd yrs ago I was amazed to learn that there was no requirement to prove that one could drive safely at night. When I asked my instructor for some night-time lessons he looked at me as if I was a complete idiot..

I had a bloke overtake me as i entered a roundabout last sunday who stopped after i gave him a mouthful, got out his car, walked over to me and pushed me off my bike.

This did not go down well with me and is now the reason my right hand is in plaster for a month as my knuckle is in 3 pieces. Must learn to punch better……

I got beeped at yesterday, and swore at by a car driver coming the opposite direction, because I RODE THROUGH A PEDESTRIAN CROSSING WHEN THE LIGHTS WERE FLASHING AMBER, AND THERE WERE NO PEDESTRIANS ON THE CROSSING.

I have no idea what I did wrong, no idea at all….

The driving test in the UK is nowhere near tough enough. There are people who are not/never will be competent enough to drive IMO. I mean, how can motorway driving not be a part of the test FFS? Madness.

AFAIK motorway driving is statistically very safe, which suggests it probably doesn’t need to be part of the test. Personally I don’t think the test is that bad, the problem is attitude to risk when you’re young, distractions at all ages, and loss of eyesight and mobility when you get old. Not sure what you can do about the first two, other than increasing punishment, and banning things like GPSs / cellphones / etc, the third problem would be handled by regular retesting after, say, 50 years of age.

My new commute route takes me through south Lahndaaahn down the A24/CS7. After dark. During peak traffic.

I daresay you can imagine…

Lots of things you can do IMO, prevent young people from carrying lots of young passengers, driving at night etc. Elderly people regular re-testing as older,motorways may well be safe but lots of people I know in their 50’s as “scared of driving on the motorway” WTF that isnt’ going to help is it.

Mr. Tall… Never punch someone in the face. You might hurt them, but you’ll break something. Use the heel of your palm in a Picard-stylee. Less chance of breakage.

In the last week, I’ve almost been hit 5 times. It’s the time of year for it.

The worst one was a lorry that someone ‘flashed out’ of a side road while I was coming down the cycle lane, no way to stop in time so I had to go for the rapidly closing gap between the lorry and the car ahead, just made it, having the white slab front of an arctic in your peripheral vision is proper scary…

I have no idea what I did wrong, no idea at all….

You were riding a bike, obviously.

Derek – were your tyre logos correctly aligned?

If not in think she was quite right and you were asking for it

Second the never hit the face/head. Ribs nice and hard and you’ll probably cause a fracture which will remind them for longer to take care/induce murderous rage around all cyclists. Though soft and squidgy bits if you need to be away quickly.

Remember to leverage it fom the ground up.

on my commute this morning, coming through a busy little village at school dropping off time. Some woman was clearly desperate to turn right and was edging out into the road in the hope that someone would let her out, trouble is she had clearly been there for some time coz half her car was sticking out over the dashed white lines. I’m coming down the road at the gutter so of course she was directly in my line, I checked the traffic behind and pulled out into the road to avoid. I did the old wave of the hand expressing her car and a slow shake of the head with look of disgust, she just stared back at me like a MORON

@ sobriety – that’s what I was talking about, the flashers are trying to cause accidents, it’s happens a lot.

@rewski

Shit, I’ve thought that a few times recently too. I have to make myself believe that they just haven’t seen me coming up the inside – nobody could be that stupid/evil, surely…?

Want to see just how stupid some people are?
Just go to a supermarket, particularly on a Saturday, and ‘drive’ a shopping trolley round.
Usually i can only stand it for 10 minutes max.
To think most of these people are about to get in a car and drive home makes me shudder…….

well aware I’m passing on the inside

don’t pass on the inside?

I’m coming down the road at the gutter

don’t ride in the gutter.

don’t pass on the inside?

You’re kidding, right? Have you ever ridden a bike on the road?

don’t ride in the gutter.

Agree with this one though.

Its one of the few things about human nature I genuinely can’t fathom -But a lot of UK drivers, pedestrians and horse riders hate (and I use the word hate on purpose) cyclists. I don’t think they even know themselves – its an irrational hatred based on similar lines to racism and misogeny

This based on 25 years cycling on public roads and bridleways

I can obviosly work out many contributing factors – but the level of hatred still suprises and confuses me

People drive on autopilot most of the time. Regular commuters especially – they do the same drive at the same time of day and they will just switch off. Coffee in one hand, radio on, possibly on the phone as well (whether it’s hands free or not). Complete autopilot.

The moment anything happens that forces them to react in a different way (like a cyclist using the road), they go into the natural mode which is righteous anger.

That and they’re all morons…

The flashers are the ones who make me most nervous. So much so that I changed my route home to avoid one bit of road that’s particularly bad for it. I’m not sure it’s even just a bike thing – this bit of road has two lanes of traffic and bikes filtering inside/between/outside them depending on how confident the cyclist is. A car in one of the two lanes will flash and the driver who’s being flashed out will go, ignoring the car in the other lane and any cyclists. After all, if one person says it’s OK to go there’s no need to look, is there?

It’s particularly galling as it’s uphill and I need to maintain any momentum I can find rather than having to slam on the brakes as they pull across me.

Inherent anger can make you tense up, and thus appear smaller to other road users.
Morning yoga can help with your problems.

I had someone pull out in front of me and use the “sorry mate, didn’t see you” excuse. I was driving a 12′ tall Iveco van at the time. Can’t see a great big van, how do you expect them to see a cyclist?

I had a great one last Saturday, approaching a mini roundabout where I’m going to turn right I signaled then looked over my shoulder. Seeing there was a car about to overtake me I didn’t pull out and waited for it to go past me. The next thing I know the car is alongside me with the passenger window open and both the lady driver and male passenger are screaming abuse at me. We both stop at the roundabout and apparently I had “looked at her”! Explaining calmly that I had done nothing of the sort I did get a brief apology from the bloke before they drove off. There are some bloody strange people out there that’s for sure!