Aibu to think it's high time some cyclist haters realised that for every cyclist on the road it means there is one less car.

[rottentomatoes]

On my bike this morning and as is so common a motorist shouted some abuse at me. Why? Because I held the driver up for about 20 secs until they could over take me when the road widened even though I was cycling absolutely legally.

AIBU to think it's high time motorists stopped this and thought about the fact that for every cyclist there is one less car or person squeezed on the overcrowded train system.

[Sparklingbrook]

Everyone on the roads seems in a bad mood lately. Is it the hot weather? I only have to do 6 miles 4 times a day but blimey it's horrible.

[pinkmoomin]

I got verbal abuse last Sunday morning from some Lycra wearing idiot, thinking he's Bradley Wiggins, for blocking his way as he tried to undertake me at a traffic light. I don't have a problem with commuting cyclists, but racing cyclists can be very aggressive on the roads in leafy Surrey.

[Gubbins]

What non-cyclist don't seem to realise is that the red light jumpers and pavement cyclists piss of most of us on bikes even more than they piss off drivers.

The vast majority of cyclists are law abiding and those of us who are know that the law breakers just make things more dangerous for the rest of us. Unfortunately no-one notices the phalanx or riders waiting at the lights, they only spot the Boris bike wobbling through them to cross against the red and tar all of us with the same brush. I have been rear ended by a car whose driver expected me to run a red light.

[Gubbins]

of, not or

[Sparklingbrook]

I think that is called filtering pink I that you should let them do it. Someone tell me that's right? Or is that motorbikes?

TBF you would have left them behind when the lights changed.

[DuelingFanjo]

"What non-cyclist don't seem to realise is that the red light jumpers and pavement cyclists piss of most of us on bikes even more than they piss off drivers. "

this ^^

and the ones with no lights or incorrect lights too.

[pinkmoomin]

Yes, please can someone clarify if you should leave a gap between your car and the pavement to allow a cyclist to undertake. Whichever, this guy was an aggressive and abusive wanker.

[Sparklingbrook]

I might have dreamt it pink. There was something about it on a motorbike thread where i got flamed for suggesting they could queue up at the lights behind the car in front.
Then I got accused of being jealous that that they didn't have to do that. or something.

[VivaLeBeaver]

Pinkmoomin, are you one of those car drivers who passes a cyclist and then as you come to a halt in the traffic jam ahead stick your left side right up to the kerb so a cyclist can't safely pass you?

As a cyclist the amount of cars that do that is unbelievable. They put themselves in an unnatural position just about touching the kerb in a manner they'd never normally do. Very obvious it's done for the sole purpose of stopping me passing them.

And when someone does that I do tend to think fuck it and go round the other side and overtake the stationary traffic on the right instead. Though normally if its just stationary traffic which I can't safely pass I will put myself in a central position and wait. Though that pisses the cars of that then get stuck behind me S when the lights change I may be slower than them. But if I go to the left they overtake me and then pull over to stop me coming past them when the list change again

[edwinamerckx]

pinkmoomin cyclists, particularly inexperienced ones often hug the kerb and filter up the inside - it's what gets them killed by left-turning lorries. A lot of road design actually encourages this and you will often see short lengths of cycle lane on the left leading up to an advanced stop box at traffic lights.

It's crap design, abetted by the fact that a lot of drivers don't use their lefthand wing mirror and are very poor at signalling left. I have on many occasions been overtaken by a car that then immediately turns left in front of me, often without signalling, requiring me to brake sharply.

Motorcycles should NEVER filter up the inside - they should almost always go on the outside (or occasionally between both lanes of waiting traffic). They can get away from the lights much quicker than cars and are too wide to go up the inside safely in any case.

[MavisSnapdragon]

I've lived in Oxford for 4 years. I can count on one hand the number of times I've seen cyclists stop at a red light and wait for it to change. I can also count on one hand the number of times I've seen a car ignore a red light in the same way in that time.

The Westminster research, if road users in that area are broken down into say 3% cyclists and 97% drivers, for 20% of the accidents to be caused by cyclists would show that cyclists are more dangerous. Without those figures, the 68% vs 20% is pretty meaningless.

Pinkmoomin, I've often wondered if there is something in the manufacture of lycra that makes normal people turn into total arseholes when they put it on. It's often the lycra clad cyclists that will cycle next to a cycle path, in the middle of the road, etc.

[Sparklingbrook]

I was sort of right then Viva. I let cyclists undertake me because I thought that was the rules. I have noticed people doing as you describe.

[HeffalumpTheFlump]

Notyomomma - 100% spot on.

I do get pissed off though when I'm waiting at traffic lights indicating to go left and a cyclist weaves through the traffic far too close to the cars, then goes up the left hand side of me going straight over as I'm about to turn. That's not cool.

[CloudsAndTrees]

I rather have other cars on the road, they go faster than cyclists and don't require me to wait behind them for five minutes on the country road I have to use to get to work, which has a very large number of bends in it.

[Pennyacrossthehall]

HeffalumpTheFlump
I do get pissed off though when I'm waiting at traffic lights indicating to go left and a cyclist weaves through the traffic far too close to the cars, then goes up the left hand side of me going straight over as I'm about to turn. That's not cool.

When cycling I wouldn't do that. Mainly because of the significant risk that the driver wouldn't see me and I would get seriously injured in the resulting collision. I believe that this is is the main type of accident in which cyclists are killed in London traffic.

[Pennyacrossthehall]

CloudsAndTrees
I rather have other cars on the road, they go faster than cyclists and don't require me to wait behind them for five minutes on the country road I have to use to get to work, which has a very large number of bends in it.

Five minutes? Next time, see how long you are actually stuck behind the cyclist and reassess.

If the radio is one, five minutes would be a lot longer than one entire (average) song from start to finish.

[edwinamerckx]

Mavis really? Here, it is absolutely compulsory for at least two cars to roll through the traffic light after it turns red - in fact not to do so will often result in angry beeping from the white van (usually) behind you. I see far more cars and vans jump lights every days then bikes - simply because there are many more cars then bikes.

Cyclists often don't use cycle lanes because they are littered with parked vehicles, broken glass, potholes and you are a sitting duck for vehicles turning left without indicating or checking mirrors. Shared pedestrian/bike lanes are even worse - it is simply not safe to cycle down them at 20mph+ when they are full of pedestrians, dogs, kids on scooters etc.

sparkling it's not a question of letting cyclists, or any other road user, undertake. It's not your job to enforce the highway code. Road users of any kind are allowed to undertake stationary or slowly moving traffic in queues if they are able to do s - rule 268.

Filtering through slowly moving traffic by cyclists and motorcycles is also legal and recognised in the highway code - rule 211.

[HeffalumpTheFlump]

Penny - Luckily I'm an avid mirror checker! It happens a lot round here, especially at a particular junction by the hospital which is somewhere I unfortunately frequent!

[Sparklingbrook]

But Penny some motorists don't indicate so how is the cyclist supposed to know they are turning left?

[Sparklingbrook]

Yes, sorry edwin bad choice of words probably. I meant as opposed to not letting them IYKWIM.

[CloudsAndTrees]

I have timed it before, it really can be that long. This is a particularly long stretch of road I'm talking about, and there is literally no part of it where it is safe to overtake a cyclist because the numerous bends mean you can't see far enough ahead to be able to do so.

[moonbells]

Thought experiment for everyone

If I slow down on my 6 mile country wiggly road to work and wait for a decent gap/straight bit so I can safely overtake a bike, and so does everyone else who passes the cyclist on his/her journey, does the total extra fuel used in going at a non-optimal speed then accelerating past the cyclist negate the CO2/other emissions saved personally by that cyclist?

Would love to know. Course the solution to that is everyone should cycle, or use hybrid cars so they run on electric at the low speeds, but in the real world, what is best?

(I also wish they'd tell us the true carbon footprint of solar cells or wind turbines ie include what was emitted during manufacture but that's another question entirely!)

[Pennyacrossthehall]

CloudsAndTrees I have timed it before, it really can be that long.

Then I believe you. If I was holding someone up for that long, I'd find a way to let them pass.

[HindsightisaMarvellousThing]

Agree with CloudsandTrees as we live in a rural area flooded by cycling clubs at weekends, and they are IMO inconsiderate road users

Single cyclists are easy to navigate past on winding barely-wider-than-single-track roads round here but so many weekend cyclists travel two abreast, or in packs of 10+. And I drive a quiet deisel car, so they don't hear me approach behind them until I've been there for a bit, and then they have to move into single file so I can get past them. It is a real pain on weekend mornings, unlike the runners, single cyclist and horseriders that are also out at the same time.

Hooting at them on approach seems rude, so I drive behind them for a bit and then have to rev the engine so they realise I'm there. And then they probably think I'm rude for revving at them. Sigh.

[edwinamerckx]

And Mavis - The relative numbers of cycles and cars in the Westminster study is irrelevant to the argument - 100% of the accidents studies involved 1 bike and 1 motor vehicle. In 68% of these accidents, the motorist was found to be at fault.

If you can somehow interpret this as showing that cyclists are more dangerous than cars, then I suggest you apply for the Fields Medal as you have clearly invented a whole new branch of statistics, previously unknown to the mathematical world.