This hatred towards cyclists needs to stop

[OverlyFragrant]

This constant drip feeding from the media and online that cyclists are road vermin, dont pay tax, shouldn't be on roads etc needs to stop.
The last two days ive read about cyclists being pushed into dangerous situations by members of the public who feel entitled to hurt them, just because...
First a cyclist was pushed into a canal, the cyclist was still clipped into their bike pedals and couldn't swim. They very nearly drowned.
The second was pushed off a beach wall and needed urgent assistance from the ambulance and suffered serious injuries.
Words aren't just words, they have consequences and know two people have come to harm simply because they were riding a bike.

I live in an area that’s so well designed for cycling and it’s brilliant. My commute is almost all off-road. My kids had cycle training at school and they can go and call for their mates on their bikes.

Kids in the Netherlands are the happiest in the world, part of that is surely because they have freedom to use the cycle lanes to socialise in person.

In the UK we are stuck blaming each other instead of seeing cycling as a good healthy thing to do to get around, even if you drive a car. It’s a shame there isn’t more money at the moment for high quality cycle infrastructure because I believe if you build segregated cycle lanes (actually well designed ones not just a painted strip) people absolutely use them.

I think cyclists need to pick whether they are pedestrians or drivers. They seem to want the advantages of being a driver, but as soon as it's better to be a pedestrian (going through red lights, onto the pavement, if there's an accident the driver is automatically at fault, whizzing past people on narrow paths, causing injuries to pedestrians...) they decide they're a pedestrian instead.

I find the comments from cyclists that they can't use cycle paths because there are pedestrian sometimes and they have to slow down ridiculous. Drivers just have to put up with it.

Also, cyclists should not be allowed to use roads for speed trials etc. that distracts them from road safety. Drivers would be prosecuted if caught practicing racing on public roads.

You’ve got your answer in the first few posts, and I knew it would go this way even before opening the thread.

Formula of responses “Of course that shouldn’t happen BUT … cyclists are scum and were asking for it”

A psychologist friend is doing research on it and how it follows the same pattern as hatred and depersonalisation of other groups.

In the meantime I banned by kids from cycling and am terrified whenever DH is out on the road. He’s going out cycling tomorrow, and if something were to happen to him and I was to post here, it wouldn’t take long until the responses devolved into a variation of “he was asking for it”.

She wasn't going fast to start with, and he just needed to step to one side.

I do find cyclists a pain in the arse from time to time, but am horrified by these recent incidents where male aggression against women is very much the issue.

And I'm very much in favour of local safe cycle routes and paths, for which there is a lot of opposition from drivers.

cycling in London was one of my favourite things about living there. Even having got knocked down by a bad driver who got points on his licence for the incident, I still loved it. I’ve moved back to Scotland and the aggression is unreal, a man literally got out his car and was screaming at me because (on a sustrans cycle path that’s also a walking route but on this bit there’s no pedestrian pavement) I was cycling in the middle of the single track road for about 10 meters to protect the pedestrian on my left and avoid potholes on either side. He sped overtook me and got out to take photos of me and standing in the middle of the road trying to stop me continuing. Terrifying. I love Scotland (and am Scottish) but I hate Scottish drivers. And now I don’t like cycling here.

Where I live we have cycle paths. I got caught the other day behind a cyclist who decided to use the road rather than the cycle path. Extremely annoying.

I think that the bigger issue is the e-bikes, kids on them doing 60km an hour on the road

It did, but also some male cyclists are horrifically entitled and aggressive and have not done any favours for the image of cycling. Plus in some cities, delivery bikes and tourist bikes are an absolute menace to pedestrians.

Sometimes the paths are not safe though, to be fair. It depends how well done they are.

Well I for one am absolutely sick of cyclists. They have no respect for cars. I live in the countryside and everyday there’s Atleast 3 or 4 riding together and not single file. Move out of the way. I’m not surprised if the guy pushed her. She came towards him when they had priority, she didn’t stop and she caught him as she was cycling past and fell in . She shouldn’t be cycling near a canal if she can’t swim.

On my way out yesterday, I saw one fall off his bike yesterday because of that. Fortunately he was in a cycle lane.

Same trip out almost got knocked over by an idiot on an electric bike on a narrow bit of pavement. It's stupidity like that which loses them sympathy.

Illegal e-bikes need to be seized… but I don’t see any evidence that the police are taking that seriously. E-bikes should be limited to 15mph. And I think the e should only kick in if you are actually cycling. IMHO companies such as deliveroo should have an obligation to check the bikes their delivery people use are legal, and that the riders understand and respect the highway code.

The cyclist being pushed in the canal was absolutely dreadful. It wouldn’t have happened had she been a man. That was male on female violence dressed up as “anti cyclist”.

The above is a separate issue to the fact many cyclists are entitled, rude, unpleasant and often outright aggressive. The ones who aren’t really stand out because they are a minority where I live. I walk a lot in my local area so I’m not speaking from the perspective of a blinkered car driver. I find cyclists a far bigger issue as a pedestrian than I do on the relatively rare occasions I drive my car.

What we need is lots of safe cycle routes so that cycling is more accessible and normal for going from A to B, as it is in Denmark and the Netherlands. So people and kids can pootle about on (e)bikes and it isn't just the preserve of middle aged people on razor thin sets of wheels costing more than a car, and all the kit. We are good at the elite end but need mass participation.

I’ve just seen the canal video. It will be interesting to see if they charge the dog walker as I don’t think the video shows him pushing her in.

The cyclist should also exercise more caution if she can’t swim by not cycling next to water with her feet clipped to her pedal. She could have equally fallen in if her tyre had blown or something.

Wholly agree, OP. Cyclists are people, drivers can (and have) kill them incredibly easily. Stoking hate towards any group of people is never a good idea.

If your local club Sunday ride causes issues on the regular, try talking to them. If you get irritated by your local club rides, don't assume all cyclists in your area are "one of them" and so you're somehow justified in using your car to threaten or endanger anyone on a bike.

If you don't want cyclists on the roads, join one of the cycling UK campaigns for safer cycling/greater cycle infrastructure. Everybody wins!

The problem is that we don’t have the right infrastructure to safely accommodate cars, vans, lorries, buses and cyclists. We have a good chunk of drivers who drive dangerously and another good chunk of cyclists who don’t obey road rules or care about the holdups/situations they are causing. We have some big vehicles that drive like bartering rams and don’t even fit on some of the roads they are using.

It’s a toxic mix. I don’t cycle on roads because of it. It’s far too dangerous. My ds could cycle to uni - but doesn’t due to the danger.

Cyclists will stop generating so much hate when they stop behaving like selfish arseholes. Obviously they don’t deserve to be assaulted, but more often than not, they don’t deserve to be liked either.

Yes this. I see a common response to certain transport issues on MN as ‘why don’t you cycle’. I would absolutely shit myself cycling on the roads here because of safety.

Not just safety issues with cars though, also from other cyclists. You also get issues where cylists are on the same path in the opposite direction and nearly/do cause accidents because they don’t slow down for blind corners for example.

If I'm driving a car and I see a cyclist, I slow down and give them a wide berth.

I expect cyclists to do the same if they see pedestrians.

However cyclists think the rules do not apply to them and that they have right of way over cars and people.

We have this in my rural area. Last week I came up behind a group of about 20 cyclists( male and female, my age ( 60) and above). They were spread out over a long length, mostly in single file. I couldn't overtake on the narrow road so I stayed back. When the first riders got to the junction they could have waited for the slower ones to catch up and have allowed me to pass and accelerate away . But they didn't. The front ones turned left one at a time in their spread out line. I had no choice but to follow the whole bloody line for another 3 miles. There were numerous gateways they could have pulled into but no, on we go with me ( and others) stuck behind this long line of bloody cyclists.

Whilst all of what you said isn’t the way people should behave at all,no one deserves that.It has to be noted as part of the argument that cyclists should have insurance,should be mindful of other road users& are accountable for their behaviour.I live rural, the amount of cyclists riding together & several abreast as they are allowed make getting from A-B very tedious.

Presumably cyclist on road
pedestrian on pavement

and if the cyclist is on the pavement? Then twat

Where I live, we have had a major road reduced from 3 lanes to 2 to put in a bike lane, separated from traffic.
This has obviously increased car congestion, not least because a couple of huge event spaces (thousands of seat stadiums) are accessed via this road.
It's very poorly used by cyclists, most of whom prefer to use the parallel canal towpath.

We have had separated cycle paths put into our town. Years of roadworks. These are great for cycling, much safer. Men in lycra ride on the road instead and don't stop at red lights.

I don't hate cyclists. I do hate people who use the roads and don't obey traffic rules. Some of whom are cyclists.

This week I experienced/witnessed a cyclist -

• on a roundabout almost causing a crash turning right
• dashing out of nowhere, not checking traffic on a zebra crossing. Van coming from right and car in front of me almost crashing
• on a pedestrian walkway dinging for people to move out of their way
• on a narrow pedestrian walkway next to a busy road - should have gotten off their bikes in this instance
• riding side by side (3 of them) on a road

Pedestrains tend to get out of the way for them; cars need to give way to them. They think they own the roads.

Not suggesting they are all like that, but one rotten apple....

I don't feel the same for horse riders by the way. They actually are more mindful and look out for traffic and people because they don't want to spook the horse.

Obviously aggression towards anyone is not okay and the incidents you highlight are awful.

That said, I live on a national cycle route. Cyclists aren't in general that considerate of others. Especially when they ride through a clearly heavily residential area taking up BOTH sides of the road dangerously, shouting to eachother at volume early on the weekend morning.

I know someone who was run over on a zebra crossing by a cyclist causing them really serious injuries and a long recovery.

I don't think any of the examples I give excuse close passing and aggression though. But they do contribute towards people disliking cyclists.