Why so much anger towards cyclists?

[Thatsthatthen87]

www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2022/sep/01/i-will-never-ride-a-bike-again-why-people-are-giving-up-on-cycling

Just read this and I can totally relate to what a couple of people are saying about drivers' attitudes to cyclists. If people are not following the rules or using their bikes responsibly or whatever, I get it, but some drivers just seem to hate the fact that they have to share the road. Why? I've even had 'get a car' yelled at me from a window. 😄

Exactly! I don't drive at all and I can get to most places I need to be, in about 20mins on my bike.

I don’t have any problems with commuters riding a bike for transport.

Its the MAMILS that are the problem. They are using the road for sport whilst drivers are trying to get from A to B. Why is their sport on a public road more important that someone trying to get somewhere?

Make your mind up. People like you are either complaining that cyclists are going too fast or in this case too slow. They won’t be going 10pm - I’ve just ridden home on an average speed of 20.5mph and I’m a 50 year old woman ffs.

Their arrogance, entitlement and bad manners basically

Lol, "they get in the way" that sums up the entitled attitude dangerous drivers like you have toward anyone who dares slows their journey down, even if by a few seconds.

I can be cycling along, on my own, delaying no one, a relatively quiet road and twats in cars overtake on blind bends, crests & with on coming cars... they are oblivious to even their own safety let alone anyone else's.

Only have to look at the number of non vehicle road users car drivers kill and maim each year to see the problem is idiots like you.

Yet i also cycle abroad and drivers don't behave like the idiot british do.

When I’m stuck behind a group of MAMILS cycling up the very steep hills round me, the average speed is10 mph.

Im not complaining they go too fast. I never have done. My experience is they head up a massive tailback of traffic on steep winding roads and NEVER pull over to let it past.

Well let's see (speaking as pedestrian)

Mounting the pavement at speed regardless of anyone there
Tearing through red lights
Shouting at people to get out of their way on a path
Cutting across pavements to get to the road (again at speed)
Riding in the dark, wearing dark clothes with no lights and expecting me to see them - bonus points for also jumping red lights.

Not all cyclists wearing lycra are breaking rules etc. They are just idiots full stop. What they wear doesn't dictate their bahviour or mean everyone else wearing those clothes is the same as them.

If they are breaking the highway code they are also car drivers and will break them in their car.

As a cyclist, driver etc. I do not get enraged by the idiot cyclists. If they cycle through a red light so be it thats on them if something happens to them.

If a group are on a tiny windy lane I don't bedgrudge the extra time I have to wait driving behind them because in all the times its happened its not safe to overtake them if there were in single file. There just isn't enough room.

If your a driver getting pissed off at other road users and then beeping and being agressive you are no better.

End of the day leave enough time for your journey, there is no reason to be getting annoyed. Just focus on being a safe driver.

I live rurally, in time trialling cyclist heaven.

I have no issues with mountain bikers, those going from A to B, I’m one of those cyclists sometimes.

But family dodging MAMIL wankstains can get to fuck. Reckless, selfish, utterly insufferable bunch of bell ends. Hope my position is clear enough.

Yet i also cycle abroad and drivers don't behave like the idiot british do

Is this not to do with population size? Most con tries are bigger than the U.K. with smaller populations, so the traffic is spread out, so there’s less congestion.

If motorists live in an area with lots of cycling groups surely they need to adjust their journey estimates.

But how can you predict how many you will meet, and how much they hold you up?

Funny how roads were actually invented for horses and carts and later bicycles, when cars weren’t even invented.

it was cyclists that set about getting roads finished with tarmac, obviously drivers later benefited from this initiative

How do you know? i wear the same cycling gear riding to work or riding out for cup of coffee & we aren't Mamils.

why is your journey to the garden centre on a sunday morning worth more than a life?

I ve read your v negative comments before on the stream of anti cycling threads MN allows and you sound like an entitled and angry driver.

I don’t mind them but I do find since the Highway Code has changed they’ve become much more entitled and seem to enjoy pissing motorists off.

Is this not to do with population size? Most con tries are bigger than the U.K. with smaller populations, so the traffic is spread out, so there’s less congestion.

japan is heavily populated and cycling used for transport without fear

I don’t drive to the garden centre.

A lot of you really need to read The Highway Code or just have some tolerance. Every day on my commute I watch motorists flout the rules. Speeding, running red lights and pelican crossings, under/overtaking, on their phones, dog on their lap. All while operating a ton plus of moving vehicle. Be nice if we all obeyed the rules but we don't. Having been knocked off twice on the same street by children in recent months I wonder if any of you teach your kids road safety. So you get held up for a few seconds whilst I take primary position due to parked cars on my left and having to ride away from being doored by careless motorists. Its a few seconds that might save me being injured. Or I could just get in my car and put another vehicle on the road, possibly in front of you and taking your parking space and adding to the pollution.

Its the MAMILS that are the problem. They are using the road for sport whilst drivers are trying to get from A to B. Why is their sport on a public road more important that someone trying to get somewhere?

do you go jogging in jeans for comfort or hiking in high heels?

is every journey you complete in a car for business only? Do you never use a motorcar for leisure purposes?

I am just trying to get from A to B safely on my bike. Which is my right.

You seem unable to grasp that bikes are a legal mode of transport on most roads, and therefore you need to allow for their presence.

It is drivers like you that make me scared to ride on the roads that I have every right to use. Because I have to think for both of us to ensure I get to my destination safely. What a shame you can't do that.

Would you get so het up about a group of horse riders?

@Pedallleur One of the advantages of cycling is that you end up being able to see into cars that pull up next to you. I’ve twice seen blokes having a wank whilst driving, and once saw some particularly contorted man fingering his girlfriend in the passenger seat!
Lucky for me he was driving an automatic…

I've yet to see horse riders acting like some - note, some - cyclists do.

Because their recreation holds up people who actually need to get somewhere. Other hobbies don't usually have this unfortunate side effect.

We may live in the same, if not, very similar city! There is a stretch of road going out of my city which has a massive pavement designated for cyclists; and the amount of complete fools who still cycle on the road...
I am a cyclist and driver and love cycling but I'm super conscious that we are all hated where I live!

I have no issue with people cycling to work or any other actual destination, but just riding up and down the roads for fun, clogging up traffic, and delaying other people’s important journeys, I find really selfish. My DC would like to play football in the road but they don’t because that would get in the way of cars. So why can adults force drivers to humour their annoying hobby?

It’s a big problem in my village, we have a lot of narrow lanes where it’s difficult to overtake and loads of cyclists come here from London every week, clog up our roads for a few hours then go home having presumably had a wonderful day annoying others. It’s so selfish. I loved the pandemic tier system when they couldn’t come!!

Yesterday I was in a 60mph zone stuck behind a group of cyclists doing 12mph.