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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To want to smash illegally parked cars after I just almost got knocked off bike?

144 replies

NeoMaxiZoomDweebie · 18/07/2013 16:36

I am so MAD it's not even describable. I live in an area of loads of victorian terraces...it's very naice and everything but these people park their bastard cars all up the roads and half on the paths making it treacherous for cyclists and pedestrians.

I just turned left into the next street on my bike (on the road) having checked there was no oncoming traffic. As I began cycling off, a car was coming in the opposite direction at quite a speed....probably not above the legal limit though...he did however get so close to me that he knocked the brake almost off the bike and caused me to clatter and clunk along the side of his car...this was due to A his speed and B the fact that the whole side of the road is taken up by fucking CARS where it should be FREE for ME to ride!

Angry

I was very apologetic and the driver was white....he kept saying "are you alright?" and I realise now that it was probably more his fault than mine...I was worried about his car!

I never got hurt...but that's because I had the strength to lever me and the bike away from the car and keep my feet clear...causing me to be sort of sandwiched between the moving car and the parked one.

What can i DO??? I have complained about the cars parking there before and they told me they'd ticket them all...then nothing happens!

OP posts:
LittleBearPad · 18/07/2013 20:48

In my street cars are required to half park on the pavements. The road markings and signage shows this.

YABU wanting to smash the parked cars. It was a moving one which caused the problem.

Original poster
NeoMaxiZoomDweebie · 18/07/2013 20:54

I don't want to get into some debate about "giving cyclists a bad name" when the motorists are the ones taking up the room on the road. That would be silly wouldn't it? I was simply riding my bike in a sensible fashion where it belongs...on the road.

Bear I know the car was at fault but how is it ok to take up more than half of the space on a road with static cars and then still have it open for two directions?

OP posts:
Original poster
NeoMaxiZoomDweebie · 18/07/2013 20:55

There are no markings to show parking spaces here Bear...I must check the lines to see if the cars are legally parked. I don't think they are at all tbh as when I last rang about this (over a year ago) the police said they weren't meant to park there.

OP posts:
EvieanneVolvic · 18/07/2013 21:03

No now Neo I have already given you some slack because you've had a nasty experience and I am not belittling that all, but you know fine well that I was not questioning your riding ability and the 'cyclists a bad name' was a little in jest but I can see that may not have come across, or that you may not be in a place to have spotted it even if it did

Wine Brew

And what (nearly) everybody else has said...why so vitriolic about the parked cars and their owners? They surely didn't appear in a cloud of glitter and a puff of smoke after you'd turned left?

And I get that the road was not a one way street but (again as others have said) this happens all over the place (especially on country lanes ime) and you take it in turns to pass. It was the moving car who made that difficult from what you say, and it seems the driver accepted that too

Original poster
NeoMaxiZoomDweebie · 18/07/2013 21:12

If the cars were not taking up all that space Evianne then there would have been more than enough room for the car to pass me. They shouldn't be there. It's selfish, it's thoughtless and from what I remember from my call to the police last year, it's also illegal.

OP posts:
EvieanneVolvic · 18/07/2013 21:17

Well if it's illegal then of course you have a point but that seems to be in doubt.

And if it's not illegal then as someone else has had, where do you expect them to park. Oh sorry you've already answered that one...

I really don't care where they park...up their own petrol guzzling arses if they like!

Now what was I saying about always taking the moral high ground.

I'm orf. I've been goaded too far. Night!

kinkyfuckery · 18/07/2013 21:21

You're complaining about cars parked legally on the road? Get a fucking grip.

xylem8 · 18/07/2013 21:23

due to A his speed and B the fact that the whole side of the road is taken up by fucking CARS where it should be FREE for ME to ride!

I may not be understanding this right, but surely if the parked cars were on your side of the road then it was the oncoming drivers right of way, not yours?

jacks365 · 18/07/2013 21:23

Neo it may be that the police meant they shouldn't be parked on the pavement not that they shouldn't be there at all. Lets face it councils see cars as easy money if there are yellow lines there you can bet the traffic wardens would be out in force.

I used to live on a road that you could park on both sides of but if people did so you couldn't get a car through and thankfully it rarely happened.

WMittens · 18/07/2013 21:24

but how is it ok to take up more than half of the space on a road with static cars and then still have it open for two directions?

Well, how can a winding single track road (meaning the width of one car) be National Speed Limit and open to two-way traffic? By driving/cycling/pedestrianating to the conditions.

To be honest, it doesn't really matter if it's illegal or not - if a car/van/lorry/bus is parked and it creates a risk to the safety of you or someone else, take more care! (This also applies to the car driver who didn't in your situation.)

Accept that other people are going to do some stupid shit and protect yourself against it.

diddl · 18/07/2013 21:25

But even if it was the drivers right of way-he should have waited for OP to either pull in or finish "overtaking" as she had already started?

diddl · 18/07/2013 21:26

Forgot to add-surely it's only your "right of way" when it's also clear for it to be so?

WMittens · 18/07/2013 21:41

But even if it was the drivers right of way-he should have waited for OP to either pull in or finish "overtaking" as she had already started?

That's contradictory - if it was his right of way, he had the right to proceed; if the OP had begun the manoeuvre and the only option was to complete it, the driver did not have right of way.

surely it's only your "right of way" when it's also clear for it to be so?

What happens if two cars both arrive at a bottle-necked road with cars parked on either side, at the same time - who has right of way? They can both see it's not clear to proceed and neither has priority.

In general, I would say a driver should defer to a more vulnerable road user, as should have been in this situation.

Original poster
NeoMaxiZoomDweebie · 18/07/2013 21:43

I don't know about that diddl I was just cycling along a road. Correctly as it happens. And Kinky YOU get a grip. I never said they were legally parked...I don't think they are...I wont say it for SURE on here because I haven' checked but rest assured that I will be checking and if it's not legal I will be making such a noise about it that those cars will need to move elsewhere.

OP posts:
megsmouse · 18/07/2013 21:58

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

CloudsAndTrees · 18/07/2013 22:08

I may not be understanding this right, but surely if the parked cars were on your side of the road then it was the oncoming drivers right of way, not yours?

This is exactly what I'm thinking.

Original poster
NeoMaxiZoomDweebie · 18/07/2013 22:28

The parked cars were on both sides of the road.

OP posts:
Panonabike · 18/07/2013 22:58

I'd think YABU to wish to smash illegally parked cars, if they are so. But YABVR to feel aggrieved at the carelessness and 'rights' that drivers often express when they leave their cars in places they shouldn't and precipitate accidents. I'm pretty sure the driver saw you but thought 'I'll go down here as I'm driving a car she is only on a bike so I have more right and power ' or some such?

AntlersInAllOfMyDecorating · 18/07/2013 23:17

This reply has been deleted

Message deleted by MNHQ. Here's a link to our Talk Guidelines.

Original poster
NeoMaxiZoomDweebie · 18/07/2013 23:20

I DID want to smash them. I'm not ashamed of anger directed towards people who could b responsible for killing a child due to careless and selfish behaviour. It's not like I'm talking about smashing the man who almost hit me...he was old and shocked. I felt sorry for him. He was probably going too fast or whatever but the point is that those cars were taking up MOST of the road. How can that be ok?

how can people even THINK to say "but where will they park?" who CARES?

They shouldn't be taking up all the space on a road! I don't mean one or two...there's yards and yards of them. Just a solid line of cars up and down.

OP posts:
Original poster
NeoMaxiZoomDweebie · 18/07/2013 23:21

Antlers yes it is...but I'd just got in and was still shaking...in my mind they shiouldn't be there...I am sure I remember this fact from last year...but I will check tomorrow.

OP posts:
Original poster
NeoMaxiZoomDweebie · 18/07/2013 23:21

How could I adjust more??? By flying?

OP posts:
Panonabike · 18/07/2013 23:26

yes road users need to respond according to conditions. That means not almost knocking someone off their bike. Seems plain.

ceeveebee · 18/07/2013 23:29

What on earth are you going on about? Unless there are double yellow lines (and on a quiet narrow back street is be surprised) then of course people can park their cars there. Every street I have lived on since moving to London 15 years ago is exactly like this.

As a road user you have to watch for hazards. You only go when its safe and when there is nothing coming in the opposite direction. If there are two vehicles ie you and the oncoming car, one of you should have pulled over to let the other pass. Nothing to do with the parked cars. It's no different then if you were driving a car on a road with cars parked on both sides, which is pretty normal in most urban areas.

Original poster
NeoMaxiZoomDweebie · 18/07/2013 23:36

Ceevee as I said upthread I think there ARE lines there! I need to check I was too shocked at the time.

OP posts: