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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think if you dive a car, you are an idiot

292 replies

jam17 · 19/10/2012 14:23

In reply to 'cyclists having a deathwish'. All these things have happened this week, no wonder we're an angry bunch! I cycle everyday to work and drop DS (18mo) off at nursery on the way

  • IF I INDICATE RIGHT, DO NOT THEN OVERTAKE ME ON MY RIGHT HAND SIDE! thanks. If one more person overtakes me on my right hand side when i've indicated, i will purposefully fall off my bike and claim then knocked me off and sue them
  • A cycle lane is for me to cycle in, not for you to park.
  • a woman doing her make up in her mirror at 7:30am drove through a red light, when me and DS were trying to cross the road at the green man and clipped our back wheel, sending us flying. He is fine, thanks to a helmet. (cycle on the pavement at busy times when I have DS and pavements are empty)
  • If you insist on driving your little darlings to school in a fucking ridiculous 4x4, it's not my problem to make way for you and you should drive behind me sensibly until it's safe to overtake and not drive me into the pavement
  • When there are road works blocking half the road, i am infront of you and have right of way. I shouldn't have to stop and wait for their to be a gap so I can overtake roadworks, you go after me and don't try and run me over

-Me and DS always have helmets and lights on. BUT if i have cycled by myself to the gym in the evening, i may not have a highvis jacket on or lights because I was expecting it to be dark. You're issue, i'm going down a road with fucking lights everywhere, it's not an excuse not to see me. I shouldn't have to paint mysef flurouscent just because you're distracted.

  • Crossroads? Deathroads. I have to wait for a car going the way i'm going to cycle alongside and guide me across safely, or i would be pummeled.

-If you are on your phone. text/talking, you deserve to be shot.

  • Mostly, I am on a bike. You are on your ass in a car. I am cold. It is usually wet too. I have a baby on my bike. GIVE ME A FUCKING BREAK AND LET ME CYCLE!
  • If you ever shout at me out the window for being a good human being and not poluting the planet and excercising, unlike you lazy bastards in cars, then i will remember you. Just because you can drive off afterwards, doesn't mean you get the last word.

I can't even explain my fury, I am so angry at the other thread. i'm sure i've missed some off.

OP posts:
Pootles2010 · 19/10/2012 14:33

Of course you need lights on - just like drivers have to put theirs on! What an odd thing to say.

choceyes · 19/10/2012 14:33

Op not option for the last time!

mrsfuzzy · 19/10/2012 14:34

and incidently cereal, as a cyclist you seem to be unware that the law states that you should have working lights back and front on your bike even if there are street lamps on.

ladydepp · 19/10/2012 14:35

Well I almost hit a cyclist last year who was cycling along a residential SW London street, I was not in the slightest bit distracted, probably driving 20, but it was dark, street lights were on and the cyclist appeared to be wearing head to toe black. DH, who is a commuting cyclist, has had similar experiences while driving.

There are lots of idiot drivers, I agree, but lots of idiot cyclists too.

And yes, people should give you more space on your bicycles, particularly if you are carrying a child.

Startailoforangeandgold · 19/10/2012 14:35

Motorists, cyclists and pedestrians all compleat for the title of Fuckwit.

This week pedestrians crossing roads without looking are definitely winning.

However, last week it was motorist pulling out without looking (guiltyBlush)

And next week it will probably be delivery drivers on their mobiles.

SkippyYourFriendEverTrue · 19/10/2012 14:36

"Proportionally, there are far more cyclists flouting the rules of the road than motorists."

No there aren't.

And cyclists don't kill millions around the world every year.

Original poster
jam17 · 19/10/2012 14:36

I don't care about the 'dive' jokes. I have an ipad that decides what i should write, not me apparently.

If they turned the street lights off in central manchester, i think they'd have a bit of a riot to be fair, and a crime spree.

If i have my child on my bike, i will cycle on the pavement. I don't care about snooty looks, drivers can nearly hit me but if they came near me with a baby on, i don't even know what i'd do!

OP posts:
choceyes · 19/10/2012 14:36

Manchester city centre? Oh no I am hoping to take my dd to nursery on the bike from next year... hhhmmm

Pagwatch · 19/10/2012 14:36

Oh for goodness sake.

Is the best response to what you regard as an uninformed, ill-thought out and rude thread about cyclists to write an uninformed, ill-thought out and rude thread about motorists.

Really?

Startailoforangeandgold · 19/10/2012 14:37

As it gets cold and wet cyclists become far less annoying as out here we don't get commuters that have to cycle.

Glittertwins · 19/10/2012 14:38

I live in a town centre which still has its street lights switched off. Even when on, they are sporadically placed in some areas so you should have lights attached to your bike at all times. They aren't exactly big to take off should you need to. My Cats Eye ones are small but powerful.

RatherBeACyborg · 19/10/2012 14:38

Surely it is just that some people are idiots. Whether they walk, drive or cycle.

I drive but also walk a lot.

I have had others drivers veer across my lane on a roundabout because they were in the wrong lane.

I have had cyclists suddenly wobble into the middle of the road with no warning.

I have had pedestrians step out without looking. (Do they even teach the green cross code anymore?)

Similarly I have been hit by a car who just rolled forward into me as I was crossing a zebra crossing.

I have also nearly been knocked down by a cyclist again whilst I was in a zebra crossing. (He also yelled at me to get out of his way. Hmm )

And don't get me started on people who just suddenly stop in the middle of the pavement.

I try to be aware of ALL other road users. Maybe I think about it more because DH cycles & FIL rides a motorbike.

But anyway, I think you'll find that there are idiots everywhere. Wink

gordyslovesheep · 19/10/2012 14:38

what Pag said - also - you have to have lights on after lighting up time - by law - hth

Original poster
jam17 · 19/10/2012 14:38

puffpants i trust you have statistics (good reliable, scientific ones, not DM ones Grin)

80% of people who injure cyclists on the road each year are called puff. - Me (2012)

OP posts:
Megatron · 19/10/2012 14:39

I both cycle and drive. I nearly ran over an idiot on a bike last night at 11 pm on a country road, with no lighting, because he was dressed in black, on a black bike, cycling in the dark with no lights. I missed him because I was paying attention but he was a fucking idiot for making himself completely invisible until my lights picked him up when I was almost on top of him. Not all cyclists are perfect, sensible human beings. Some are twats.

EldritchCleavage · 19/10/2012 14:39

If i have my child on my bike, i will cycle on the pavement

Fine, but too many people who do this bear down on me and my children at speed, as if we're trespassing on their special cycle lane. Cars are a hazard to cyclists and should act accordingly, but cyclists are a hazard to pedestrians if they go on the pavement, and should act accordingly.

ivykaty44 · 19/10/2012 14:39

Is that due to me seeing a man wearing goggles when he was driving - I don't think he was going to dive in his car as there was no water nearby apart form the swimming pool him and his son were probably going to or coming from Grin

Pagwatch · 19/10/2012 14:40

My son cycles everywhere. I am very careful about cyclists. I drive carefully. I see drivers driving badly. I see careful considerate drivers. I see cyclists using the road carefully and considerately. I see cyclists using the road like arses. A cyclist rode up behind me and my then small DD on the pavement and then stopped to swear at me when I comforted my DD.
But people are good or bad on the road. It is not the means of transport that determines who is an arse and who isn't.

I fucking hate tit for tat shit.

RatherBeACyborg · 19/10/2012 14:41

Oh and YABU. In case that wasn't obvious.

charlottehere · 19/10/2012 14:41

More fool you for having your baby on your bike. Shock Bikes on roads are incredibly dangerous. Oh and your point about cars driving behind you until it is safe to over take, WTF? Why should they? A car is designed to go a fairly high speed not snails pace. And diving in car, dangerous, really dangerous!

Offcolour · 19/10/2012 14:42

Yabu to cycle on the pavement and to cycle without lights. There are idiots in all camps, and cycling without lights in particular makes you one of the idiots.

NerdAmigo · 19/10/2012 14:43

yabu and also singularly lacking in a sense of humour by the look of it.

Original poster
jam17 · 19/10/2012 14:45

charlotte are you serious?
"Oh and your point about cars driving behind you until it is safe to over take, WTF? Why should they? A car is designed to go a fairly high speed not snails pace."

So they should over take me when it's not safe? I don't see your point. If it's not safe to take over, then they should wait. why should i be driven into the pavement and nearly squashed and killed?

OP posts:
Original poster
jam17 · 19/10/2012 14:46

IANBU cycling on the pavement with a baby. Refuse to accept that. offcolour

OP posts:
EnjoyVampirebloodResponsibly · 19/10/2012 14:46

Last week it was stated that I am an idiot and responsible for youth homelessness because I vote Tory. In a democracy.

This week I am an idiot because I drive a car. In a democracy in which my vehice is taxed, MOTd and insured and where to date in 25 years I have no points in my licence.

Oh and it's a 4x4!

So I would like to say fuck yourself and the bike horse you rode in on OP, because that's the reaction this kind of sweeping generalisation is likely to elicit.