Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Flip

1 2 3 4

Original poster

AIBU to think lots of motorbike drivers are dangerous arseholes?

95 replies

wheresthebunman · 27/02/2014 13:22

still feeling shakey & fuming after an 'incident' with a motorbike on the road this morning as i was driving my 2 young DS home. usual story of bike creating his own lane in queue in attempt to cut up & race cars at lights. he then proceeded to bob & weave around, causing me to slam breaks a few times and when i didnt make space for him to overtake me in busy traffic, drove his bike parallel to car shouting abuse & flicking finger.
ive got a 'kids on board' sign & am not a dodgy driver! just getting from a to b. i live in a city & this happens alot & im sick of these agressive, bullying fuckers. they are very different to cyclists who tend to look after themselves on the roads without disrupting flow of other traffic.
'THINK BIKE' my arse

OP posts:

TheSmallPrint · 27/02/2014 14:39

Sorry I have a bike and car licence.

postcodebollocks · 27/02/2014 14:40

before you turn to MN to disseminate bullshit like "THINK BIKE my arse", maybe you want to consider that one of your dc might become a biker at some point? Would you like others to put their life in danger to prove a point?

Heiderose · 27/02/2014 14:42

So far this week I have seen 2 accidents where bikers have undertaken & crashed, one involving a bus. I've seen one go over a zebra crossing with people still on it & one that was driving all over the place & then who raced through a light changing to red. I hung back as he was worrying me & guess what I saw when I got past the lights. Biker crashed into a car. So glad I stayed out of his way.
But you know what? I've seen just as many idiotic car drivers, cyclists & pedestrians - the complete knob of a driver that did a 3 point turn in the middle of a roundabout comes to kind.

HappyGirlNow · 27/02/2014 14:44

Exactly.. I love cars and i love riding and being passenger bikes so can see things from both sides. The vulnerability on a bike is what makes it so exciting and so dangerous.. Even a low speed crash can cause devastating damage to the rider.. And you're fucking about around a bike, slamming on brakes etc etc? Get a grip of yourself OP!

AngryFeet · 27/02/2014 14:56

I think you are probably in the wrong here. Filtering is allowed on motorbikes. You should pull closer to the kerb to let them pass. DH rides a bike. He is a veyr safe and considerate driver. People in cars are awful to bikers.

ProfPlumSpeaking · 27/02/2014 14:57

YABU

You are driving too close if you are having to slam on your brakes "a few times" in a single journey. Too close behind a motorbike could mean you kill someone.

Why would you not make space for the bike to overtake? Were you not able to for some reason or did you just want to be difficult? If the latter, then it is you that is the "bullying fucker" as you delicately put it.

Of course the motorcyclist should not have been abusive but it does sound rather, even by your own account, as if you were driving dangerously, and with small children in the car too. Motorcyclists are real human beings with parents and children, you know, not an alien species.

You approve of cyclists because they "don't disrupt the flow" of traffic. That is also worrying as quite often drivers need to give a cyclist road space and time, and if you have never felt the need to do so then that too probably says something about your driving.

Sorry if this sounds harsh but you need to reconsider your attitudes. You come across as extraordinarily entitled to the road. I am sorry you are upset and shaking but actually you may realise you were in the wrong if you take some time out for reflection, and maybe this will have done you a service.

AngryFeet · 27/02/2014 15:01

I think the OP doesn't understand biking to be honest. People in cars often seem to think filtering is the same as a car overtaking or cutting them up. If done properly it isn't and is allowed. Why the fuck do you think people ride motorbikes?!

PigletJohn · 27/02/2014 15:04

Some are, but I don't think "lots"

the ones to be careful of IMHO are the new mopedists who haven't yet developed much road sense; and the richer ones who have worked themselves into a state of excitement and are playing at being traffic racers in colourful power-ranger outfits.

however some car drivers let their imaginations run wild. I am a naturally staid and calm person, and while chugging along on a big bike, minding my own business, I have often noticed the car in front slowing down and shrivelling into the curb trying to get me to overtake.

I believe most car on bike collisions happen when a driver, often without looking, encroaches into a bike's space. On a bike you have much less chance of surviving without serious injury so need to make huge extra allowances for the possible mistakes and stupidity of other road users.

polarpercy · 27/02/2014 15:09

So an 'incident' with one motorcyclist leads to 'lots of motorbike drivers are dangerous arseholes'? Filtering, which is what you have termed creating an extra lane is perfectly legal. Keeping a motorcyclist out by deliberately not making space, or as I have seen out on the bike (I am also a car driver, cyclist, pedestrian and regular public transport user in case people think I am biased!) pulling closer to the white line (not saying you did this) is extremely dangerous and leaves a rider vulnerable.

A filtering motorcyclist is also not disrupting the flow of traffic, if everyone cooperates and we all remember that we share the road not own it.

polarpercy · 27/02/2014 15:11

Why the fuck do you think people ride motorbikes?! Absolutely AngryFeet there have to be some benefits to getting boiled alive during summer and freezing during winter! (still wouldn't change it though!)

KidLorneRoll · 27/02/2014 15:15

Some people are dangerous arseholes. Their chosen mode of transport is irrelevant.

(plus, child on board signs are dickish. Sorry.)

Perspective21 · 27/02/2014 15:18

YABU you should check your mirrors, including side view mirrors, more frequently. You should try braking less, leaving gaps, moving forward slowly and then the bikers can filter safely. Just leave them some room and they will do the rest.
Please remember that biker could be my DH and a father of 3! Although my DH is very courteous on a bike. Motorcyclists do drive more safely as they are well used to treating all other road users as absolute idiots who will swerve with no warning...this helps to keep them safe.

HTH

ComposHat · 27/02/2014 15:19

YABU.

Because you are driving in an aggressive and dangerous way to 'punish' a motorcyclist.
You are extrapolating from 'one motorcyclist annoyed me' to 'lots of motorcyclists are dangerous.' You don't see how silly that makes you look.
You have a baby on board sticker.

The holy trinity of automotive cuntery.

Ps. You don't drive a motorcycle, you ride a motorcycle.

Perspective21 · 27/02/2014 15:20

I also wonder if he shouted at you to wake you up

Child on board stickers are dreadful....

Teeb · 27/02/2014 15:26

Motorbikes do terrify me, and I probably do drive far more cautiously around them for that reason. My DP is a big biker though and I know he's a twat who seems to think the speed limit doesn't apply to him, which I know is true of a few of his friends too.

EauPea · 27/02/2014 15:28

Yabvu

He was filtering, not overtaking, that's the whole point of riding a bike, being avle to get through traffic.

Why on earth would you cut him up not leave room for him to slot back in.

The dangerous arsehole definitely had more than two wheels.

TickerSpecs · 27/02/2014 16:01

As a motorbike rider I can tell you there are far fewer dangerous riders than car drivers. There's the odd idiot but few and far between. Most of the bikers I have known over the years are incredibly safe. I stopped riding when we had the DC, only because of car drivers.

polarpercy · 27/02/2014 16:16

I agree TickerSpecs it's because (in my experience) you feel more vulnerable on a bike or motorbike because you're not safely caged in. I think you have to become much much more conscious of your surroundings on a bike.

I've been pillion on my husband's bike and watched car drivers pull closer to the central white line when he's been filtering in heavy or slow moving traffic. That's stupidly dangerous and simply forces a motorcyclist to be stuck in a vulnerable position. I'm sure some of the drivers who are doing it think they are teaching him a lesson/rules of the road.

Daykin · 27/02/2014 16:26

YABU because your account is purely from your pov and still makes you sound like a shit driver and an arse.

TheWitTank · 27/02/2014 16:35

I come across far far more rude, aggressive and dangerous car drivers than bikers (I horse ride and have honestly never come across a rude or discourteous biker-car drivers=hundreds) but obviously, as in all aspects of life, there are good drivers/riders on both sides. Personally I would have given him loads of space and let him pass-why take the risk of him causing an accident which may be dangerous to you and your children and him) but yes of course he was wrong to be riding like this.

TheWitTank · 27/02/2014 16:41

To add, I agree polarpercy...another pillion rider here on OH bike, and I have witnessed first hand some really aggressive manoeuvres by drivers desperate to block bikes filtering and passing. I have driven behind my husband before and watched a car driver deliberately pull over the white central line to make it difficult for him to legally pass safely (he wasn't speeding!) and brake hard (no problem as he was well back anyway). Some drivers seem to have a real chip on their shoulder when it comes to bikers!

Sidge · 27/02/2014 16:43

I am always very aware that bikers are so vulnerable and often drive even more cautiously around them. I am a careful driver anyway but will give bikes extra room and space around them.

Mind you I refuse to drive in the cycle lane or up against a hedge purely to allow a biker to get past me, especially where there are central islands or bollards - they can wait until the road is wider or clear and then overtake me. I witnessed a near miss the other day when a car driver overreacted to a biker coming up on their outside and shot over to the far side of the lane, nearly taking out a poor cyclist in the cycle lane on the left.

aworkingmummy · 27/02/2014 16:50

ha ha - spot on Daykin

5Foot5 · 27/02/2014 16:55

You do realise that these Baby on Board / Child on Board stickers were introduced to alert emergency services to the possibility of a smaller person being trapped in the wreckage in the event of a crash?

They are not a testimonial to your superior driving skill!

limitedperiodonly · 27/02/2014 16:56

I used to think that people had 'baby on board' signs because they were just goofily pleased to have babies and wanted the rest of us to smile.

But after reading countless things like the OP I realise that some people think you drive like a maniac when you're being normal and they shouldn't be in charge of steering a pushchair.

Flip

1 2 3 4