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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

Who was in the right me or the cyclist?

125 replies

crazycatladys · 18/03/2016 01:34

Had a huge argument with a cyclist today and thinking about it, maybe i was wrong or was she? Let me know what you think...

Turned into a road which could only fit one car down and some cars were parked on the left, It is a road near my house and i use it often. A cyclist was coming the opposite direction. She was riding as if she was going to go into me, in my opinion she could of went on the pavement to get around me, the pavement is dipped in several places or waited on the side however she choose to ride right up to my car, bang on it and we started arguing.
I said to her she is not a car and she can go around me i cannot go around her because there is no room, she said i should of waited for her to pass.

who was right?

OP posts:

OnlyHereForTheCamping · 18/03/2016 16:16

I cycle to work and am routinely abused and driven at and honked at. It is wearisome, I am a middle aged woman commuting to work on an upright 3 gear bike, not a mamil tearing through traffic lights. I therefore am filing all the anti cyclists on this thread under 'fuckwits'

duckyneedsaclean · 18/03/2016 16:34

whatsthatcomingoverthehill Most of those were prefaced with "some" or had it in the original post, which you have cropped out. Many were replies to the conversation on the thread, not just people piling in to have a go.

53rdAndBird · 18/03/2016 16:57

Yeah, but the thread is about a driver who drove her car on the wrong side of the road and tried to force a vulnerable road-user out of her way, and yet nobody's saying "Drivers are so entitled, can't stand them" or "Cars shouldn't be allowed on the roads, they're holding cyclists up!" Lots of grumbling about cyclists, though...

Ameliablue · 18/03/2016 17:03

She had right of way as cars were parked on your side, you should have waited.

whatsthatcomingoverthehill · 18/03/2016 17:04

I didn't think I did crop those qualifications (not deliberately anyway). A number of the quotes still have 'some' in them.

And magnum, yes tangents to the OP are inevitable. It is just depressing that whenever there is a thread about cyclists it goes the same way, with people using it as their chance to have a dig. Funny how this is a thread about a car driver and a cyclist, yet the tangents have been about cyclist behaviour not drivers.

LurkingHusband · 18/03/2016 17:10

would it be illegal for a car to pull up on a pavement to let an ambulance go by? or go into a bus lane to get around another car?

Yes.

People have been prosecuted (by cameras) for breaking red-lights to let an emergency vehicle through. They appealed and discovered there's no defence of letting an emergency vehicle pass - they had to suck up the points and fine (and increased premiums).

A police car flashing blues & twos behind you is not a direction from a police officer (which is a defence to breaking as red light).

I may be wrong, but the case I read about went to the House of Lords (pre-supreme court) and their lordships ruled that if parliament had meant there to be a defence, they would have written it into the law.

Of course if there were no cameras, no police officer would report.

There are other instances where being a good citizen carries a penalty.

xenapants · 18/03/2016 17:12

Yes, it's not correct, but the meaning is obvious and you pointing this or doesn't actually make you look intelligent. It makes you look like a bit of a twat.

Not half as much of a twat as a person who uses the phrase "could of went" without any hint of irony. I wasn't trying to make myself look intelligent; I don't need to. Her lack of intelligence, on the other hand, is plain to see in her post and probably also explains why she's such an appalling driver with no grasp of the rules of the road.

GrowAndRun · 18/03/2016 17:28

Whatsthatcomingoverthehill - I was thinking of writing something along the same lines and totally agree with you.

Yes, SOME cyclists are dangerous/inconsiderate/dont follow the highway code. But exactly the same applies to SOME car drivers.

So there should be no relevance on a thread about a cyclist who is clearly in the right (with the exception of possibly acting aggressively - but that was quite likely a reaction to her life being endangered) to other totally non related cyclists doing bad things.

Its like saying - I pulled out in front of a VW today. Oh yes, i know that was wrong - but i saw a VW jump a red light last week.

Atenco · 18/03/2016 17:30

But most cyclists are menaces, I (pedestrian) nearly got ran over by one the other week because they went through a red light!

Really, even though that cyclist was obviously in the wrong, do you prefer to breath in toxic fumes from the cars?

I live in Mexico City, and we have just had four days of unbreathable air, thanks to bloody car drivers. Between them taking their cars instead of public transport like us proles and making the streets too dangerous for cyclists.

diddl · 18/03/2016 17:38

"But most cyclists are menaces, I (pedestrian) nearly got ran over by one the other week because they went through a red light!"

That only proves thath that cyclist was a menace!

My son was hit by a car when he was on a pedestrian crossing ffs!

GrowAndRun · 18/03/2016 17:39

I am a cyclist. I don't think I am a menace. Sometimes cars may need to go slower because I am in front of them, until there is a safe place for them to get past. Often I will then catch up to them waiting at a junction, behind the car that had been in front of me...bet they felt they lost more tome behind me than they did!

Cars get held up by other road users all the time. Its part of sharing the road system. Cars turning, parking, getting in jams due to there being too many of them.

Pooka · 18/03/2016 17:40

You were in the wrong. Parked cars were on your side of the road and she was already cycling along her (clear) section of road. You wait until the road is clear for you to pass.

GrowAndRun · 18/03/2016 17:41

To give balance... I came across a particular cyclist who was a menace yesterday. I was running on the pavement. They cycled towards me in the dark and nearly into me. They had a front light, which blinded me and didn't help me realise they were also on the pavement not next to it on the road, where they should have been.

InsufficientlyCaffeinated · 18/03/2016 18:56

That isn't really giving balance grow...

Some cyclists are entitled wankers. Some drivers are entitled wankers. Drivers kill 5 people a day & injure 68 on average. Motor accidents are the leading cause of child death by far. Cyclists kill fewer than 2 a year on average. Yes every death is a shame but if we want to deal with a scourge of society, I'd start with the drivers

Janeymoo50 · 18/03/2016 19:03

Surely if cars were parked etc on the left, she had right of way because the obstructions were on your side. If it had been a car coming you would have needed to pull in on the left (space permitting). I would have slowed to let her through.

Millymollymoo8 · 18/03/2016 19:11

Jesus your in the wrong OP dangerously so!

It's a joke/ reverse surely?

NeverGetTheBestOfMe · 18/03/2016 19:24

OP yabu for the reasons people have said.

Unlike the aggressive cyclist I had last week where I was driving up to a main road from a side road doing 5mph as I approached the junction when a cyclist came from my right, hopped off of the pavement in front of me and told me to "use my fucking eyes" as he rode in front of me I wasn't going to hit him and I was driving so slowly as I was approaching the junction and he appeared from nowhere really fast.

As I turned left into traffic and drove past him (whilst he was still riding on the pavement) he told me again to "use your fucking eyes you fat slag"

I had my kids in the car and as I joined the queue of traffic further ahead I actually locked my doors because I felt quite frightened.

OneMagnumisneverenough · 18/03/2016 19:44

Do you have sources for those stats Insufficient?

That request is not in relation to the debate on this thread btw - I am just interested as those seem awfully high :(

InsufficientlyCaffeinated · 18/03/2016 20:02

OneMagnum I'm on mobile at the mo but I'll update when I can get on the laptop later. They are depressingly high

OneMagnumisneverenough · 18/03/2016 20:06

No problem and thank you. I found this:

www.rcpch.ac.uk/improving-child-health/child-mortality/child-mortality

But like all stats, it's not really that clear cut as it depends on what age range etc

echt · 18/03/2016 20:14

Total road deaths for 2014 are 1,775 so not 5 per day by anybody.

OneMagnumisneverenough · 18/03/2016 20:43

Nope - 4.86 per day

InsufficientlyCaffeinated · 18/03/2016 20:49

1,775 / 365 = 4.86 which rounds up to 5...
Latest average of serious injuries per day was 63 though so 5 fewer than I remembered but 63 too many.

It can be difficult to interpret the stats. Of the ones that I've seen, they refer to avoidable deaths as lots of deaths, particularly in very young children, are unfortunately related to chromosomal / genetic illness.

From Department of Education: 56% of avoidable (modifiable as they call it) child deaths for 1 - 18 year olds are round traffic accidents. www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/223697/SFR26_2013_Text_v2.pdf

Here we have lots of depressing stats on number of road deaths from which the numbers at the top were taken www.gov.uk/government/statistics/reported-road-casualties-great-britain-annual-report-2014

InsufficientlyCaffeinated · 18/03/2016 20:50

That's road traffic accidents, not round. Sorry

Squiff85 · 18/03/2016 21:39

Being that she was a person on a bike and you were sat in a car, I would have let her pass first

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