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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Bike-buggy-smuggy-mummies: they think they're invincible!

226 replies

Vagabond · 17/03/2011 21:39

You know those little carriages on the back/front of bikes with little children cocooned inside? What are these mums thinking of? It looks like they've got a litter of kittens inside sometimes!

The way they ride their kids around town in these bicycle people carriers seems so dangerous to me. I pass at least a dozen of them a day and I'm astounded by the sense of entitlement these mums feel above the overwhelming enormity of actual traffic. They seem invincible when, actually, they are putting themselves and their kids in enormous danger.

I drive so carefully around them but it irritates me to see the smug look on their faces. I'm equally sure that they hate my smug face driving my car. It's soooo Oxford and it irritates the hell out of me!

Yes, it's green. I get that. It still gets on my nerves.

OP posts:
crunchbag · 17/03/2011 22:12

Vagabond, you better shoot me then. I have a trailer and tag along and ride on the road :o

And yes people do wind down their windows or even worse beep at you and then wonder why you swerve.

Original poster
Vagabond · 17/03/2011 22:13

How are cyclists regulated? That is just utter bollocks. I have a bike. I can ride anywhere. How am I regulated?

I agree, not all cyclists are bad. Just most of them.

OP posts:
WinterOfOurDiscountTents · 17/03/2011 22:17

You can ride anywhere you follow the law on doing so. What else do you want?

Whats insane about a trailer? Is your driving so appalling you are going to drive right over it? Is your eyesight so poor you can't see me, with the flag and the reflective strips and the back light and the bright red and yellow cover?

If you are saying that trailers are dangerous you have a problem with drivers, not cyclists.

tarantula · 17/03/2011 22:18

I with you RitaMorgan. I mean how dare us cyclists actually cycle on the road Shock I mean the road is there for cars and lorries isnt it and we should be grateful to them for being so gracious as to actually allow us to use the gutters at the side.

NormanTebbit · 17/03/2011 22:20

Cyclist Nazis

mollycuddles · 17/03/2011 22:23

Not a fan of those trailers as they are at car wheel height. But cycling with kids is great fun. We are even going on a cycling holiday and will have a trailer for dd2 as well as a proper bike seat on my bike. Dh will tow the trailer. She will be in the trailer only when we're off road.

tarantula · 17/03/2011 22:24

Cyclists are regulated in SW London anyway. I have seen loads being stopped by hte police and fined for cycling dangerously (throguh red lights and stuff). Wish the police would do the same for all the fucking nutters that speed down Wimbledon Hill in cars and overtake at speed on a blind bend on a narrow road at the bollards causing the person they are overtaking (on a bike)to brake very sharply. Happens to me at least 3 times a week. Oh but then I forgot I obviously have no right to be on the road.

crunchbag · 17/03/2011 22:24

In Holland, cyclist often have right of way on roundabouts. Imagine having to stop for a cyclist Shock

tassisssss · 17/03/2011 22:26

We have one but only used it on cycle paths or (so shoot me now) pavements!

Honeybee79 · 17/03/2011 22:27

Tassisssss - Noooooo not pavements! Don't do it.

Himalaya · 17/03/2011 22:27

Eh? What?
They are on the road, they are entitled to be on the road. You haven't described any unsafe road behavior. YABU.

On the other hand I'd rather you kept checking for smug faced cyclists (...whatever..)I feel much safer when drivers make eye contact.

LDNmummy · 17/03/2011 22:27

I am all for cycling, as stated earlier, DP is an avid cyclist, uses the roads all the time and keeps to rules, laws and general etiquette. I learned how to cycle last summer (late learner I know) and love it, great hobby and brilliant for getting from a to b in local area.

However, there are many cyclists who do not stick to road rules. The amount of times I have had to dodge a cyclist when it is green for me to walk! Have alomost been knocked down once and had a cyclist with road rage shout me down in the street for no reason (random incident though). Last year I saw an old lady get knocked down by a cyclist while trying to cross a road and then he screamed at her too. It was not her fault, he had turned a corner so quickly that no one saw him coming as he was going rediculously fast around the corner with no indication, another thing I see many cyclists fail to do.

everythingchangeseverything · 17/03/2011 22:28

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

cazzybabs · 17/03/2011 22:29

I love cycling with my children but i never cycle through red lights (well almost never)
I did once have a row with a lorry driver about cycling up a one way street (which confusingly does have a cycle lane going the other way - it really does but he thought it didn't)

ChristinedePizan · 17/03/2011 22:32

Yes there are shit cyclists but cyclists with kids on the back are a lot less likely to go through red lights etc. Actually I've never seen anyone cycling with a child on their bike cycling in anything other than a sedate and very sensible way.

MainlyMaynie · 17/03/2011 22:33

Totally normal in the Netherlands. The problem in the UK isn't the cyclists, it's the car drivers judging people for doing something other than car driving.

Original poster
Vagabond · 17/03/2011 22:34

Ah....Tarantua, you illustrate a very illuminating point. You don't pay a penny to use the roads. Car users pay a fortune in tax. You don't. Yet, you flaunt the rules, carry on willy nilly as though you own the roads.

There is going to be a tragic accident caused by the laissez-faire attitude to real traffic and the actual fact that your carry-ons are invisible to most car users. We can't see your tag-alongs. They are below the traffic radar.

Your high visibility clothing might mark YOU out, but not the 4 foot protuberance behind you with your precious children inside. The difference could be a split decision by a motorist based on seeing you on your bike, but not your children in their unsafe, unguarded and unregulated tag-along. That is a fact.

OP posts:
Clytaemnestra · 17/03/2011 22:35

Those trailers make me so nervous to drive past, can't imagine putting DD in one. Little flag or no little flag, I just woldn't trust that people would be able to see from lorries and so on, and if the lorry or anyone else misjudged then then consequences would be fatal.

Plus, are they just not right next to exhaust pipes on a pretty much constant basis? Grim.

LDNmummy · 17/03/2011 22:36

In the Netherlands there is a very big cycling culture and the roads have a lot more cycling lanes than in the UK which also makes a huge difference.

niminypiminy · 17/03/2011 22:37

Yeah and next it'll be those pesky pedestrians who insist on walking around when they should be driving their kids everywhere in the car. How dare they cross the road and put their children's lives in danger when everyone knows the streets belong to car drivers? Smug, walking bastards!

WinterOfOurDiscountTents · 17/03/2011 22:38

Are you a bit dim? The trailer is bright red and yellow. It has lights and reflectors on it, and a big fuck off flag sticking out of it. How is that invisible to you unless you are either legally blind or a total moron who can't watch the road?

The trailer is reinforced with steel bars, and is perfectly safe.

So again, if you, in your car, hits my trailer and hurts my children, how is that not solely your fault?

BTW, I also have a car, so pay for the roads just like you do.

crunchbag · 17/03/2011 22:41

Vagabond, you should have your eyes tested if you cannot see a bright yellow or orange tent on wheels. Tag alongs are just as visible, should a child also not cycle on his/her own bike then in case you can't see them.

steps101 · 17/03/2011 22:41

"We can't see your tag-alongs."

Wut. Aren't they usually either bright red or bright yellow and marked with a massive flag?

I work in north Oxford (don't worry, I walk to work!) and I have to say I think the quality of cycling in Summertown is better than the quality of cycling in east Oxford, where I live. Best not come down our way, it'd drive you loopy for sure!

tarantula · 17/03/2011 22:45

Excuse me but I pay my council tax to my local council who look after my local roads, the ones I cycle on. I also pay income tax part of which goes towards maintanence of motorways etc which cyclists dont use.
In addition MOST cyclists do have cars so they pay exactly the same taxes but choose not to use said cars all the time.
Veichle tax does NOT pay for the roads. Road Tax was abolished by Winston Churchill in the 1930's and even if it did why would that have anythig to do with it. Do you want to stop people who dont pay council tax from using local services like libraries, pavements,parks etc.
The LAW says that I am entitled to use the road and there are laws in place which I obey that tell me how I should use those roads. There are cyclist and motorists who do dot obey these rules but the fact that one pays tax based on the emissions that they produce and the other doesn't because they dont produce any is neither here nor there. So your arguement is flawed on all levels.

Original poster
Vagabond · 17/03/2011 22:47

Ha ha, Steps.... I might get culture shock if I leave North Oxford! Kidding.

Seriously though. You CANNOT see the flags and bright markings if you're behind a large vehicle and have to make a sudden change. My point is that these mums don't realise how invisible they are. I respect them and always give them distance. I still think it's not safe.

OP posts: