To get annoyed at cyclists in the middle of the road

[ILiveAtTheBeach]

There are loads round here. They don't cycle to the side. They cycle in the very centre of the lane you are in. So you can't overtake if it's busy. Thus you drive to your destination in first gear. I. Haven't. Got. Time. For. This. Aargh!

I imagine that the cyclist is saying "I want to cycle, and if it makes you all late, tough shit, because in the Highway code, I have the upper hand".

No, what they are saying is that they would prefer to get home alive, and taking primary helps with that.

Also: if you can't overtake a cyclist on a dual carriageway I suggest you hand your licence over because that's fucking laughable.

As PPs have said, if it's so busy that you couldn't overtake a car, you should not be overtaking a cyclist. You should always pull out into thhe other lane to overtake a cyclist, so where they are cycling in the road makes no difference.

I get very frustrated about cyclists in the university town I live in, too -- because I see so many cautious cyclists cycling right next to the gutter, pulling in when there's a brief gap between parked cars because they worry about the cars driving behind them. Both of those maneuvres put them in more danger and I worry about their safety. I like getting out into the countryside where I know I will, 90% of the time, encounter 'streetwise' cyclists who are basing their expectations on the rules I'm following.

i would like them to pay some sort of tax. People will moan about its better for the planet but really if I'm taxed in some sort of bid to maintain the roads then so should cyclists. then I'd be happier

There is no such thing as road tax. That is not what motorists pay. In any case, most roads used by cyclists are maintained by local authorities - if you pay council tax then you also pay to use the roads.

Your story is a bit unclear - you were driving for miles in first gear behind a cyclist on a dual carriageway and couldn't overtake?

Here you go wheretheresawill tax

i would like them to pay some sort of tax. People will moan about its better for the planet but really if I'm taxed in some sort of bid to maintain the roads then so should cyclists. then I'd be happier

road tax isn't charged on cars with low emissions either.

And cyclists don't exactly cause a lot of wear and tear on the roads , even if road tax was for maintaining them!

It's vehicle tax!!! Not road tax. Roads are maintained by the local authority which is why, thanks to their budgets being slashed, potholes are not getting repaired.

daisychain01 - I'll try and remember that cyclists are some sort of superior beings who are always in the right. I'll just ignore the verbal abuse I get from cyclists on an almost daily basis for daring to walk on the pavement. I would much rather they used the road (although I get why they don't want to given the attitude of some drivers).

FWIW - I'm sensitive to this because this evening a cyclist came up behind me and the kids and shouted 'get out of the fucking way - cyclist coming through'. Presumably I should have leapt out of the way - the options open to me being either the road or the steep and slippery grass verge - and dragged the children with me. Obviously the cyclist was well within his right to tell the kids 'you must be proud of the fact that your mum is a fucking cunt' when I didn't react in this way.

The majority of cyclists also own a car and therefore pay emissions tax.

I own two cars and four bikes and i would guess PAy more emissions tax than most people.

Harry, there will always be some cyclists who are total law breaking cunts. But the same applies to motorists.

YABU

A cyclists is ALWAYS going to come off worse in a collision with a car or bus.

Annoying or not, for that reason it is right that cyclists can take primary position in order to stay safe.

You being late is not worse than them being dead.

For the same reason, cyclists need to leave the pavement for pedestrians.

I hate cars that dit in the road not driving anywhere all queuing up but not moving anywhere - its ridiculous they do this twice a day for about two hours each time e, what a waste of time

I haven't got time to sit around in a car doing 4,mph goi g that slow is just plain silly, I can walk faster than that....

Op get out of your car and get a life!!

I know it's U but I'm with you OP. Near me there is a hill, single lane each way, always busy so impossible to overtake, and probably 4 or 5 times a week I get stuck behind some dickhead going painfully sloooooowly up the hill. I wouldn't mind too much were it not for the fact that there is a fucking CYCLE LANE, plus a pavement. There is space for pedestrians, there is space for cyclists, and yet the sodding cyclists choose to hold everyone up for some unknown reason. It's incredibly irritating and totally bloody unreasonable. I choose to drive my big metal box specifically so that I don't have to tit around at 5mph.
I am sympathetic to their needs as road users but if they choose to stay on the road, quite often right beside clearly marked cycle lanes, then my sympathy runs out and I just think they're pricks.

Jeez some of the bollox being spouted on this thread beggars belief

A cyclist taking up an entire dual carriageway.

A cyclist shouting abuse as they plough down a whole family on the pavement.

Honestly, at least say stuff that is semi believable....

Look this is on my way to work the queue is about three miles long and they do this every day apart from the weekend - mad

Oh and this gets on my tits how am I supposed to ride my bike on the pavement?

Do your cycle that cycle lane Fourforyou? because after my accident on a dangerous cycle lane last week I am quite likely to switch to the road once I have recovered enough to cycle again. This is the second accident I have had on the same cycle lane and there have been deaths on it. Having said that, people on the road alongside do get abuse from drivers and some deliberately dangerous driving.

In our case the cycle path is dangerous for several reasons: poor maintenance; poor separation from pedestrians and (most dangerous) several places where the interaction between the road and cycle path is dangerous e.g. roads crossing the cycle path with formal right of way to the cyclist which is ignored by many drivers or where the cycle path suddenly joins the road on a blind corner.

That might explain the choice.

What I hate far more is, when driving on country roads, most people who encounter a cyclist just pull straight out and go round them without thinking, even approaching a bend, it's scary how often this happens and we have to slow right down. Would be better if a cyclist was in the middle tbh.

Glad to see this thread is generally supportive towards cycling, I think a society and therefore a website that is generally positive attitude to cycling is generally a nicer place to be!

www.motoring.co.uk/car-news/cyclists-why-do-they-ride-in-the-middle-of-the-road-_62617

Tess I have done (before I accepted that bikes and I are not destined to get along!) and none of those reasons apply, plenty of cyclists DO use the lane with no issues. I have no problem with those people! Good for them.
Just too many idiots ruining it for everyone else. Some people just shouldn't be on the road, on 2 wheels or 4.

I'm a cyclist and would very happily cycle in cycle lanes if they were safe.

Many are so poorly designed, they just stop at the edge of a junction or merrily lead cyclists round a blind corner into oncoming traffic.

Also, pedestrians wandering across the 'cyclists' bit of the path are dangerous and stressful for both parties.

Sorry, I didn't explain the dual carriageway thing very well, inside lane is for buses only, so I was stuck in outside lane behind the cyclist. No way for me to overtake and at least 30 cars piled up behind Mr Cycle. All going super slow. I would never endanger anyone, of course not, but this doesn't mean that it's not irritating to be going along like a snail when the school bell is in 10 mins. And why do cyclists think they can dominate any road/path they are on? daisychain post resonates with me too. If I am not crawling behind them on a road, they are on the coastal path going so fast you'd think it was Tour De France. And as you jump to one side to avoid being mown down, they don't even say thanks. FourforyouGlen - exactly! ivykaty Erm, if I was to walk my DD to school, according to Google maps, it would take us 5.25 hours to get there, then the same back (for me), so when you factor in the pick up after school, that's 21 hours walking a day. I'm not sure I can fit in my job, all my household chores and a good nights sleep in to the remaining 3 hours. But I would be fit as fuck. But thanks for the suggestion.