Having just driven for 4 miles in a queue, in second gear behind a family of cyclists, I’m wondering how much extra CO2 my 2 litre Mk3 pushed out? Add to this the number of times I’m forced to change down whilst being held up by cyclists, I do find myself questioning Boris’s idea of encouraging and funding more people to take up riding a bike. I myself also ride a bike sometimes, but common sense mostly keeps me off busy roads, and I also keep well into the side, and hate being tailed by vehicles, so even pull over, rather than ride two and three abreast like many of the “road racers” do, mostly dressed in nice unobtrusive black lycra!
Rule 66 of the Highway code says, " Never ride more than 2 abreast, and ride in single file on narrow roads and on bends" …a lot of cyclists ignore these rules, because they don’t know the rules or don’t care, and can often get abusive when it’s pointed out, although they are quick enough to shout and wag the finger at car drivers if you pass too close
I agree to a point Chris, but I have more issues with bad drivers of cars, vans etc., than I do cyclists and the attitude on here is definitely becoming just anti-cyclist and not about bad riding/driving by all road users in general
Chris. I drive my car and also cycle. The problem is that I have never seen a discussion regarding this topic that ever comes to anything meaningful. These discussions nearly always become acrimonious and divisive. There are good drivers and good cyclist. There are also crap drivers and crap cyclist. We all need to improve the way we treat and respect each other. Most cyclist are also drivers and as a consequence understand the hazards of cycling. Many drivers do not understand the hazards that cyclist have to face on the roads and they are far more vulnerable than the drivers of cars. I agree some cyclist can be selfish in the way they ride but we cannot generalize and as a result treat all cyclist with disdain and in some cases hate, even those that wear lycra!
It would be shame in a club in which many of us, frankly, use the roads for pleasure there arose hostility to another whole group of road users who are often doing the same.
Non-cycling drivers (presumably) don’t always grasp why cyclists behave as they do. Riding abreast or ‘riding out’ / ‘taking the lane’ can be quite deliberate and a sensible way of preventing cars overtaking dangerously - in most cases you will see the cyclists single out or move over to allow a pass when they reach a straight bit of clear road.
I’ve been close-passed locally by people I know well, good folk who have clearly just not thought how unpleasant it is to be overtaken by a car doing 50 mph 2 or 3 feet away with a car coming in the opposite direction when it would have been far safer and more considerate to have waited and overtaken properly on the other side of the road.
Even when I expect to be passed, I will be at least a metre into the road - I can move over a little bit as they pass to increase my safety margin, and it avoids what is often a broken surface with debris and gullies in it at the side of the road which some drivers seem to expect cyclists to use.
Following for four miles is incredibly rare - I’ve never experienced it. A more usual delay is a minute or two, and I’m glad to give it.
If the discussion could be about how we cooperate it would be less controversial.
Plenty of those around already. Just log into one if you’ve got something constructive to say, or just to have a ■■■■■. We don’t need one in the MX5 OC Forum.
A touchy and controversial subject, with a lot of strong views, but shifting it over to cars, what car driver habits irritate the hell out you? Drivers who leave their indicators on, brake at the last minute? or my personal favourite, dick heads who sit in a traffic jam or que with the windows wound down and music full blast so everyone within a half mile radius has to listen to their music .
They should rewrite the Highway Code I think to say please park right on top of corners so nobody can see what’s coming and please don’t use indicators anywhere as nobody seems to anymore anyway. You have to sit at roundabouts trying to guess which way most of them are going to go ,drives me mad !!.
When turning off a main road, you can spot the lazy thinkers when the brake and the indicator go on at the same time. Often they are the ones with only one speed, typically something between 35mph and 40mph which they maintain through 30 limits, past schools and parked ice cream vans, and on NSL stretches in between.
Another group are apparently unable to control the speed of their car on the flat without using the brake. They will catch a line of traffic they have been able to see from half a mile away, then hit the brake when they catch it. The brake lights will then flash every few seconds for miles while they tailgate the car in front. They don’t usually want to overtake it, just to get into that vital bit of road behind it. Meanwhile the driver behind them who wants to knock on can’t overtake because there’s no space to pull in to.
The idiot who follows a huge articulated truck so close he’s riding the tailgate, and when said truck indicates a left turn and swings out to get the tail-end of truck in a position to go round the corner, said idiot tries to pass on the truck’s nearside and then rants and raves because he’s in a blind spot and nearly gets squashed and then has to back-up to let the truck continue it’s manoeuvring.
PS: In my opinion HGV drivers are some of the best drivers on the road, small truck/“white” van drivers some of the worst.
