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

So read the bloody thread before you come out with your "what on earth" bollocks.

OP posts:
Original poster
NeoMaxiZoomDweebie · 18/07/2013 23:37

AND where did I say it was a quiet backstreet?? If there were no parked cars on either side then it would be quite wide actually.

OP posts:
Panonabike · 18/07/2013 23:39

Parking in any way that impedes traffic progress is illegal, esp if it means emergency services can't get down the road. Just because it's fairly common doesn't excuse it at all.

HeySoulSister · 18/07/2013 23:41

Well cars need to park somewhere!!! In the absence of a drive where else? Other people manage.... And why should the car be the one to stop? You had the choice to move too

Original poster
NeoMaxiZoomDweebie · 18/07/2013 23:41

Well then in that case Pan, the whole bloody street is in violation! I can't WAIT to go and check and then report the arseholes.

OP posts:
Original poster
NeoMaxiZoomDweebie · 18/07/2013 23:41

Soul they can park up their own selfish arses. I don't give a shiney shite where they park but if they're parking in places where they're impeding traffic then they'll just have to MOVE!

OP posts:
Panonabike · 18/07/2013 23:45

Hey I live on a narrow road and drive a car. I park it somewhere up the road usually where there is a space to park it. 50yds sometimes. That's because I am not an entitled tosser of a driver who things I can park where it's convenient for me and sod everyone else.

Original poster
NeoMaxiZoomDweebie · 18/07/2013 23:46

AND I DID NOT have the choice to frigging move! I was sandwiched between the moving car and the parked car...oh yes...and the other frigging 45 parked cars too!

OP posts:
Original poster
NeoMaxiZoomDweebie · 18/07/2013 23:47

Thank you Panonabike. I cannot understand this attitude people have! It's bizarre! A child coming home from school could have been knocked off an killed and that's all I could think of when it happened. Thank God that it was me and not a kid....

OP posts:
ceeveebee · 18/07/2013 23:48

I did read the thread. You said you thought there were lines but not sure. I cannot believe that if there are double yellow lines that cars would be parked all the way down both sides of a long street - the odd car yes, but not everyone. They'd get ticketed in no time. So I suspect you'll be updating everyone tomorrow to say that actually there aren't double yellow lines.
The car should not have driven at such a speed if there was essentially only one lane, but its not the fault of the parked cars. Unless there are double yellow lines in which case I'll eat my hat words

Original poster
NeoMaxiZoomDweebie · 18/07/2013 23:49

So because "you cannot believe" you're just going to blunder on some fantasy of what the facts are? Ok...enjoy that. I'll just ignore you.

OP posts:
ceeveebee · 18/07/2013 23:50

Nighty night

Panonabike · 18/07/2013 23:52

cee, you are under an illusion that IF there aren't yellow lines you can park. Well no. It has to be not impeding traffic or causing an obstruction. AND you aren't supposed to park less than 15 feet from a corner/junction. But that isn't enforced either.

TheFarSide · 19/07/2013 00:04

If the cars were so close that there was no room for a car and a bike to pass each other, it's possible that there would be no room for large vehicles like fire engines and refuse trucks. This has been the case in my street until recently, when the council finally painted double yellow lines down one side of the road - but only in those parts where it was particularly narrow. Presumably there is some kind of legal definition of how much space is needed.

That said, this incident was absolutely the driver's fault for trying to squeeze past you and I am surprised you are so forgiving of him.

Panonabike · 19/07/2013 00:07

yes FarSide - if the parking causes this difficulty then they are parking illegally. Which appears to be an educative point for some drivers.

Original poster
NeoMaxiZoomDweebie · 19/07/2013 00:09

Far I know...I am surprised too. I think it's because I saw his white face and feel he was punished enough through the shock of it all. I felt for him you know....he wasn't a young man, but was obviously about 70...his mate was by him in the passenger seat and he looked shocked too. It was like your Granddad having a close shave...you'd feel for him,

OP posts:
TheFarSide · 19/07/2013 00:19

Fair enough Neo.

Panonabike - it's not necessarily illegal if the only difficulty is that a car and a bike can't pass each other. If a single vehicle couldn't pass between the parked cars, that would be a different matter - which doesn't seem to apply here.

IneedAsockamnesty · 19/07/2013 00:26

I don't get it. Is this road very short or something?

I'm not sure I understand how when turning into a narrow road you wouldn't notice a car coming towards you before you committed yourself to turning surely you check for that?

Original poster
NeoMaxiZoomDweebie · 19/07/2013 00:45

Far don't you consider a bike to be a vehicle then? Hmm

Sock Yes I did check it....I turned into the road when I saw it was clear...the car was going fast...approaching me...it was a good distance away when I turned.... IN retrospect partly due to the parked cars...but even if it HAD been in sight I would have been fine had there been more room.

OP posts:
IneedAsockamnesty · 19/07/2013 01:25

But there wasn't more room.

You saw the car before you turned it was only wide enough for one car not a car and a bike that means the road was not clear even if the car was a good distance away and you shouldn't have turned.

Not saying that the parked cars are ok because obviously they aren't if they are parked illegally just that you shouldn't have made the move.

It may be worth putting a complaint in writing to your local parking enforcement office and state approx how many cars your talking about and if its most days, just thinking out loud (well via keyboard) but if its 10 cars and its most days,if the average parking ticket is about £60 that's £600 per day at least, more if its different cars of lost revenue if they are ignoring the street.

Original poster
NeoMaxiZoomDweebie · 19/07/2013 01:32

dont tell me what i saw sock.

OP posts:
IneedAsockamnesty · 19/07/2013 02:47

You told me what you saw.

It was either not there when you turned or it was a good distance away but there when you turned.it can't be both

You said good distance away. Something that is a good distance away is still there. On a road where it has nowhere else to go its flaming obvious it will still be there when you try to pass it.

If you don't fit then you don't fit.

ItsNotATest · 19/07/2013 03:46

Owning a car does not necessarily make you a petrol guzzling arse or too lazy to walk.

Being 70 does not excuse you for not taking care when driving.

Parked cars do not excuse cyclists for failing to read the road hazards.

Like a lot of people, I drive, I cycle, I walk. I don't like the sweeping generalisations.

I had a near miss when cycling recently, caused entirely by a pedestrian walking into the road and making me swerve almost into the path of a car behind me. Fortunately said car driver screeched to a halt in time. I should probably have riden into him rather risk my own life to avoid him, but we all make mistakes in the heat of the moment. We all survived, I told the pedestrain he was an idiot. I didn't have a rant about imagined characteristics of the 3 people involved based entirely on their mode of transportation at the time.

MidniteScribbler · 19/07/2013 06:11

Based on the OPs method of apportioning blame ItsNotATest, you really should be angry at the shop at the side of the road for having the temerity conduct business too close to where you want to cycle lol.

Panonabike · 19/07/2013 06:41

Many posters are choosing to ignore that the OP said she checked on turning that there was no oncoming traffic, at the time of turning.

fwiw a bike isn't a 'vehicle' under RTA legislation but cyclists are road users, and Socks analysis appears to discount the rights (or even existence) of bikes to be counted as road users.

and similar to the OP, I don;t care less where drivers park cars, as long as it is legal and not causing others problems.