I got road raged today, was I in the wrong?

[VivaLeBeaver]

I'm waiting to come out the supermarket carpark onto a fairly busy road. In the left hand turn lane and indicating left. A woman on a cycle with a kid on a tag along tried undertaking me. Managed to shove between my car and the pavement but couldn't get any further then level with me due to the nose of my car been a bit further to the left. Now I thought undertaking in this manner as a cyclist is dangerous if to illegal. I think she thought when the car infront of me moved I'd let her in - well I didn't I carried on,in a slow and safe manner. I was in no danger of hitting her at all but I did make her stop. As far as I was concerned she could wait her turn rather than trying to undertake a car which is clearly turning left.

So I'm now on the road, the cyclist and her cyclist husband are following. I come to amino roundabout, fairly big one for a mini roundabout and went right round it so I was double backed on myself. Fairly standard I'd have thought to save trying to turn right out the supermarket. Enough room and I was indicating.

As I went round the roundabout the bloke cyclist swore at me and told me I needed to have a P on me. I assume he means a P plate rather than a golden shower.

I know I could have let them undertake me and push infront but I don't have to. She's lucky to be honest I saw her. I think a lot of cars wouldn't and she and her kid could have been squished. Strangely he seemed more annoyed at me going all the way round the roundabout. That's not wrong is it?

Personally, as the mum of 2 young boys, I would like to see the legal age for driving raised to 25 but I don't see that happening any time soon .

SurprisinglyCurvaceousPirate

The situation that you describe is completely different from the OP where the car is stationary and a cyclist tries to get up the inside where there is no gap.

I am a Biker/cyclist and driver, and I have seen no end of cyclists try to filter through traffic where there is just not enough of a gap to do so and then get angry with the driver for their mistake.

As an aside to this on the way to my local superstore I have to go through two roundabouts, both are double lanes but when there are two cars one going left and one going straight on/right there is no filter room on either side or inbetween the cars yet cyclists still try to filter through.

Well I assume that the ads are aimed at making road-users more aware of others needs even when everyone is not exibiting "perfect" behaviour (eg the pedestrian is on a dark country road and is hard to see, one of the drivers has not noticed her alter ego on a bike - in poor visability but still she hasn't noticed). Which sounds like real-life scenarios really and seems a useful way of getting everyone to think in addition to just the basic "Pedestrians, wear reflective gear" messages.

SuprisinglyCurvaceaous, I've had motorists scream abuse at me, to get off the fucking road and I find it really intimidating. I've also had someone deliberately move over to the left to stop me going up the side on the left fo queuing cars, the traffic was stationery and he wasn't going anywhere for a while. Twats, no other word for them.

wy did you need to angle left to make a left turn?

www.direct.gov.uk/en/TravelAndTransport/Highwaycode/DG_069837

Highway code - "rules for cyclists":

Point 72:
Road junctions
72
On the left. When approaching a junction on the left, watch out for vehicles turning in front of you, out of or into the side road. Just before you turn, check for undertaking cyclists or motorcyclists. Do not ride on the inside of vehicles signalling or slowing down to turn left.

Was just about to post that tara

Cyclists in this country are bloody dangerous. A lot of them assume they have some kind of free pass 'everyone must give way to me' clause and it ends up with a fair chunk of them killed or seriously injured.

Yes, Seeking, all cyclists deaths are the fault of the cyclist .

Sorry, that's total crap. Yes, there are some poor cyclists out there but there are many thousand more bloody awful drivers and bottom line is the cyclists are the vulnerable ones.

I've lost count of the number of times I've been cut up by impatient drivers turning left who are too fucking important to wait for me so just swing in front of me anyway. Luckily only two of those times have left me knocked off my bike but that's two too many.

And tara, that part of the Highway Code applies to moving not stationary traffic and as I said in the above post it's not me that cycles on the inside of moving traffic but moving traffic that races to get past me instead of dropping back for a couple of seconds to give me time to move past the junction.

Well I had a contretemps with a driver the other day on the way to work.

I was cycling and filtered up the outside of the lane when the lights were red aiming for the advanced stop to find a driver/ car blocking my access into the advances stop box.

He saw me and then pulled further forward further blocking my access to it. The lights then changed and he deliberately drove his car at me.

Until the police start enforcing these cycling will be more dangerous than it needs to be. I would also wholeheartedly support enforcing red lights for cyclists. I cringe inwardly every time I see someone jumping one, or cycling without lights.

Fanjo, it's hard to describe the road but I the reason why I was angled left is because the car park exit road has a sharp bend in it just before coming up to the junction. So I'd come round a very sharp left bend to a short stretch of road prior to the junction. So I just was at a bit of a left slant which I stayed on to then make a left turn. The left turn lane itself slants to the left at the exit point.

When the cyclist got behind me there wasn't a car behind me so she wasn't coming up a long queue of traffic. She could have stayed behind me. There was either one or two cars infront of me,

surprisingly why would you want to get out of the junction ahead of a car that's already waiting to go? The car moves faster than you and was there first. Just wait your fucking turn and avoid becoming a smear on the road.

Besides, I didn't say all cyclists are at fault, but let's be honest here, most of them are. I very rarely encounter a considerate cyclist however, for the record, even when I come across a bad one in my car, I will merely sigh and wait for them to complete their badly executed manouver before waiting for a safe opportunity to pass them.

The guy who was killed by the bus near the Olympic stadium was doing something similar. I read a message on a cycling forum from the cyclist behind who stayed behind the bus and couldn't believe it when the cyclist who then died went up the inside.

cycle accidents

Makes for sober reading. And no, most cyclists aren't at fault, what an absolute load of ignorant bollocks. Based on what? Just your opinion? What shite.

And no I'm not going to wait my fucking turn, I move to the front of the queue so that I am to the left of the front car and in the full view of the front motorist. I will be at the side of the traffic anyway, I don't sit in the middle of the lane with all the cars - can you imagine how much abuse I would get there??

I would obviously never go up the inside of a lorry or bus - I'm not suicidal.

But while motorists maintain their smug sense of superiority cyclists will continue to die. It wouldn't kill you to let cyclists past - it might kill the cyclist if, while making your point, you refuse to.

Ah the rant of the militant cyclist...

Also nothing in the web page you posed suggests that cyclists are less to blame for their accidents. Oh and look, a large chunk of accidents occur at junctions! Would that be cyclists passing on the left?! Oh I think so! Just don't do it. Seriously. You will get seriously hurt defending your perceived right of way and it's just not worth it.

SurprisinglyCurvaceousPirate

"But while motorists maintain their smug sense of superiority cyclists will continue to die"

if you used that and then swap cyclist and motorist around then used it again, all of the problems would be solved.

sorry that should say swap motorists for cyclists not cyclists and motorists

I can understand - not condone, but understand - why some motorists get so pissed off with some cyclists. On the one hand there's often a lot of holier-than-thou hectoring on how motorists should apply every letter of the Highway Code as it relates to cyclists (as per this thread), but the evidence that a lot of motorists see with their own eyes day in, day out on their daily commute is some cyclists flagrantly disregarding the HC themselves, which does put them at risk if they are executing an illegal and/or unexpected manoeuvre that the motorist may not anticipate because they're not expecting it. So I can understand the thought process that leads to the motorist thinking "if they don't give a shit about their own safety, why should I?" and failing to give any cyclist from that point on, including the law-abiding ones, the due regard they should.

I'm not saying it's right and I'm not saying all cyclists are guilty of it (or all motorists, for that matter) but it is human nature.

Stunned at the OP failing to see the irony in her time saving manoevure of going right round the roundabout to save time (totally selfish as it holds up everyone else who is driving) but getting irrate at cyclists (peasants! How dare they be on the road!) trying to avoid being held up by lazy bums in cars.

Doubly ironic to complain about cyclists being dangerous (how many cyclists kill car drivers?) by using her vehicle as a blocking tool.

Very poor road awareness on the OP's part, and a grandiose sense of self worth.

(geegee888

"Very poor road awareness on the OP's part, and a grandiose sense of self worth."

The same could and should be said of the cyclist.

Gegee, did you actually read my posts? The ones where I stated my car was already blocking her route before the cyclist appeared. I was not using my car to block her. Or the posts where I state I cycle as well? So I'm hardly likely to be thinking that cyclists are peasants and shouldn't be on the road. But if that's the distorted view you want to take carry on.

There is a roundabout near me that you have to go right round because they banned right turns at the junction before it. Going right round a roundabout is not bad driving, and it is not selfish as long as you signal correctly, and I fail to see where you would be holding anyone up going right round a roundabout.

IMHO the cyclist pulling up alongside the op whilst she was indicating left and there wasn't enough roo for the cyclist to get right through the gap past the front of ops car was a dangerous move. Op would have been paying attention to traffic coming fro her right.

Driving or cycling on the highway deserves respect. Respect for other road users, respect for yourself and respect for the road itself. If you think you are bigger and better than the next man that is when you are I trouble.

some cyclists think they own the fucking road.

Lol @ golden shower!!

some cyclists are a pain in the arse and ride like idiots. if they obeyed the highway code they might get some respect from us drivers

It's a mini-roundabout, not a roundabout - no probs going right round a roundabout - I often do it while lost :) (signalling of course) but not the best idea on a mini-roundabout for, I always thought, obvious reasons