Why are cyclists so angry?

[YoJesse]

lighthearted

It's only Tuesday and already I've had 'get out of the road' and 'wake up you dozy cow' thrown at me. But I should count myself lucky because yesterday a cyclist shouted I'm gonna stab you in the fucking neck' at a bloke he almost ran over!

Shouldn't all the endorphins make them really happy? It's worse than road rage round here.

Moving very soon to somewhere more rural so hoping cyclists will be more your 'call the midwife, big wicker baskets filled with flowers' types than your 'neck stabbing' types.

[AndroidAddict]

We had a pair of cyclists appear behind us and shout at us when walking alongside the lake. I didn't say anything but pointedly looked at the big sign saying, "No cycling on the lakeside path." Ice no problem with people on their bikes and will happily move out of their way if I see or hear them coming or if they ask me to but I do take exception to being shouted at when they're in the wrong!

[Jeanniejampots80]

I genuinally think if cyclists had "number plates" for identification there would be less anger all round. I have numerous friends who cycle and I used to so have never been shouted at by a cyclist as I give them plenty of room and watch out for them too.

I have however had a few occasions as a pedestrian to shout at them, careering through red light over pedestrian crossings and one missing my newborn in a pram by a cm. he gave me the finger and said tough luck you can't prove it and then cycled off!! A 30 somthing twonk in lycra. I have never had to shout at a female cyclist! The only one who ever cycled through a light in front of me stopped to apologise!

the angry cyclists are definately mainly "middle ages men in lycra!

[ItGoesWithoutSaying]

Just to point out, as a one time road cyclist (DCs making it harder to do these days) , cyclists don't get hot or experience chafing when wearing lycra cycling kit. That's what happens when you cycle fast or far in normal clothes.

The kit is designed to minimise chafing, wick sweat away, etc. Let's face it, we wouldn't wear it otherwise; it's not exactly stylish.

[Dontfencemein]

I don't condone being rude or aggressive towards any other road users.

I cycled around London for years. There were many occasions when I was almost hit (and a few when I was actually hit). The prospect of being killed used to give me a sort of primal rage. Also, cycling in traffic requires hypervigilance and this feeds into highly charged responses to threats.

It's stressful thinking that a carelessly opened car door might knock you off your bike and under a bus!

[Dontfencemein]

Actually cyclists who break the rules of the road give me the rage too.

[lljkk]

Not as angry as folk who tirade that cyclists shouldn't be allowed on the road at all. They tirade on MN, on Radio programmes, in the street, in their cars...

When DH is cycling & a driver does something dangerous, DH will chase them down to have a word (yes DH is that fast). He plasters a big smile on his face & is impeccably polite. Mostly doesn't get abuse in return.

[SkyRabbit]

I agree there's definitely some confirmation bias here, BUT!!!

I, until recently, lived in a pretty rural area, that was completely taken over at weekends by cyclists. Time trials, races, weekenders. Most of the time, it was fine, but sometimes the level of abuse locals got from cyclists was atrocious.
I was roundly abused by one marshal because I had the temerity to want to park outside my house. He was also very cross that I needed to move his sign to be able to park, the sign that was on MY property He screamed at me, telling me I'd ruin the race, I deserved to have my car scratched up as the bikes went past....
Another time, I got stuck behind a pack - for TWELVE sodding miles. I lost the will to live by the time I actually had a chance to overtake.
I've been spat at, verbally abused, and had fists shaken at me when I used to go out with the pushchair (no pavements)
Around our way, the time trials etc are constant, and I think the organisers do forget that people live here, and it is a major inconvenience (albeit a first world one) to residents.

I shall counter that by adding I dated a MAMIL for a while, and I did get the other side of the argument. But then again, he was a considerate cyclist. Twatty ex was also a cyclist and got knocked off his bike several times by idiot drivers and ended up in hospital twice.

I appreciate that I have given examples of cyclists alone, and I could equally happily give as many if not many many more of twatty drivers, but the post is about cyclists.

[Alconleigh]

Years of being a pedestrian in London has made me very, very wary of cyclists. You're either a road user or you're not. Follow the bloody rules. That means stopping at red lights and zebra crossings for example.......crossing the Embankment feels like taking my life into my hands. Don't feel like this about cars.

[TheCrumpettyTree]

I've lived in London and learnt never to trust a cyclist at a pedestrian crossing. The amount of times I've seen a cyclist whizz through almost taking out pedestrians. I would love to know why they think it's ok?

South west London was a nightmare during and after the olympics. Full of men in Lycra thinking they were Bradley Wiggins.

[IceRoadDucker]

Wha Alconleigh said. The Cyclists on a Mission bleat constantly about being "road users" with equal right to use the highway but are happy to go through red lights or jump up on the pavement when it suits them. You can't have it both ways.

[ShotsFired]

^^ Again with the lumping every single cyclist into a homogeneous lump.

Why is it only cyclists who get this treatment - you people saying things like "they" and "them" are all presumably intelligent humans who can understand that "cyclists" are not one single mass of cells and flesh, right?

By your definition, I am not a cyclist because I don't go trhough red lights or ride on the pavement. Yet I am in fact riding a bicycle. So what am I?

[fanjoforthemammaries7850]

It's quite hard to not feel there are a lot of inconsiderate cyclists when I have been hit by a cyclist going through a red light once, been missed by an inch once and twice this week almost been hit twice by cyclists going fast on pavement. We also have nearly hit one who was wearing dark clothing in the dark with no lights and we literally could not see her. And another who came up from behind on our inside while we were turning right.

But I know some with great road manners and proper lights and reflective clothing etc. And always remember cyclists are just people with families too.

But have had a lot of bad experiences.

[fanjoforthemammaries7850]

That should say we were turning left, and indicating.

I was on a zebra crossing when a cyclist at full speed missed me by an inch.

[MangoIsTheNewApple]

I think it's fear / being hyped up.

I have to cross a very busy cycle path on my way to work. There are give way signs, the cyclists are meant to stop for pedestrians. The one time I saw a pedestrian try cross without waiting for a gap he got shouted at and swerved around. I suspect the cyclist concerned was so used to being hyper vigilant for buses / lorries / dozy pedestrians in the wrong place that his world view at that moment just didn't encompass the 'but pedestrians actually have right of way here' road markings.

I also note that I've never seen a woman act aggressively on a bike, though that may be because overall there seem to be fewer women cyclists in central London.

[MrHannahSnell]

The post about drivers needing to read the Highway Code made me laugh out loud. From what I've seen I doubt if many cyclists have ever heard of it!

[ShotsFired]

fanjoforthemammaries (great username!)

I bet you [people generally, not you you!] don't even notice the hundreds or thousands of good cyclists (or drivers or horse riders or pedestrians) who are just going about their day like you are.

Same with me. I couldn't tell you the make or model of the many (majority of) vehicles who passed me safely and widely when I was out on my bike just a couple of hours ago. But I can tell you exactly what car colour, make and model it was that cut me up so badly a month or two back, I don't even know how I avoided a very serious accident through no fault of my own except riding along a road. That's my point - 1 car out of thousands sticks in my mind for obvious reasons, but the rest just fade into nothing because they are so unremarkable.

Yet I/we/society don't go round labelling ALL drivers as dangerous potentially murdering maniacs, even though SOME clearly are.

[ShotsFired]

MrHannahSnell

The post about drivers needing to read the Highway Code made me laugh out loud. From what I've seen I doubt if many cyclists have ever heard of it!

If you are going to make wild accusations, at least try and base it in reality: With 80% of cyclists holding a driving licence, and 1 in 5 drivers cycling at least once a month, they are often the same people.

www.gov.uk/government/news/drivers-and-cyclists-agree-lets-look-out-for-each-other

For ref, I drive an 80mile round trip commute several days a week; I cycle dozens of miles a few times a week and I walk a load of other places in between that too. I actually looked at the Highway Code this morning, after my ride and commute.

So as I asked a pp, if your definition of a cyclist is someone who's never heard of the HC, what does that make me?

[littleprincesssara]

There's confirmation bias on both sides, and a lack of awareness. Some car drivers are unaware or ignorant of how dangerous and scary they are to cyclists. But some cyclists are unaware or ignorant of how dangerous and scary they can be to pedestrians.

I'm disabled so I've never driven a car nor ridden a bike, and never will. As a permanent-pedestrian cyclists terrify me much more than cars. Yes, I am fully aware the cars are objectively more dangerous, but as long as I walk on pavements and only cross at proper crossings, the chance of a car hitting me is minute. On the other hand I've been hit by bikes several times and have near misses as a result of people cycling aggressively on pavements and running red lights literally on an almost daily basis.

And yes, I am fully aware that most cyclists are law-abiding and I love those that are. But (at least in London) there are a LOT of cyclists whose behaviour is so illegal and aggressive it genuinely makes it dangerous for vulnerable/disabled people to even walk down the street! I constantly see cyclists breaking red lights at these two 'blind' pedestrian crossings near where I live and have witnessed two incidences where this resulted in serious injury, and one case of a guidedog being smashed into.

Any fair discussion about cycling needs to acknowledge the bad behaviour from all sides (drivers, cyclists, and pedestrians).

[myownprivateidaho]

Oh my dp cycles in central london and gets shouted and sworn at all the time by aggressive drivers. People also constantly drive aggressively close behind him to try to get him to pull over to the side of the lane so they can overtake (obvs when there is no cycle/bus lane, otherwise he'd be in that). I think that lots of people are just very, very angry and aggressive on the roads. Tbh I have more sympathy with cyclists than drivers, as even if they behave badly, they are far less likely to endanger drivers than vice versa.

[myownprivateidaho]

I've also never felt at risk from a cyclist in central london . However I have loved in Berlin and cambridge, both places where cycling is the norm-- I think perhaps because cycling used to be much less common in london, everyone is less used to cyclists and so can perceive them as more of a threat.

[SpareHead3]

Have we had 'Lycra clad' yet? Zzzzz.

I'm also about lumping groups of anyone together for a kicking. There are rude and polite people in all areas of life.

[JasperDamerel]

It is true that women are generally much less aggressive cyclists. This is generally thought to be the reason why women cyclists are more likely to be killed by motorists than male ones - they politely try to keep out of the way rather than taking us the road space they are entitled to.

[IceRoadDucker]

^^ Again with the lumping every single cyclist into a homogeneous lump. Was that directed at me? Because my post was quite clear that "they" were the Cyclists on a Mission. I.E. the angry ones who deliberately annoy motorists because it's Their Right To Use The Highway.

[whatsthatcomingoverthehill]

"There's confirmation bias on both sides, and a lack of awareness. Some car drivers are unaware or ignorant of how dangerous and scary they are to cyclists. But some cyclists are unaware or ignorant of how dangerous and scary they can be to pedestrians."

Thing is though that bikes aren't very dangerous to pedestrians. They really do cause very few injuries/deaths etc to pedestrians. In my experience it is pretty much 50/50 between arrogant cyclist twats going through red lights and stupid pedestrians stepping into the road without looking. Though I get the feeling that may vary a bit, and London in particular does seem bad for 20-30s men cycling like utter lunatics. A pedestrian and cyclist are also pretty similar mass so in a collision are likely to come off similarly badly. But in a collision with a car the cyclist or pedestrian is always going to come off worse. (And the majority of the time it is the car driver at fault too).

I must have seemed a right loon a few years ago when I had stopped in front of a bus in traffic, screaming at him and not letting him move forward. I bet people thought I was yet another aggressive cyclist bleating on about my rights etc. Thing is that this bus a mile down the road had overtaken me round a corner and pushed me off the road as the back end came in close to the side. I literally had to jump onto the kerb to avoid being hit. So yeh, I did get a bit angry at nearly being killed. And all the driver said was "What are you on about, I didn't do anything".

[toadgirl]

A chafed undercarriage in sweaty lycra would make anyone a bit tetchy and in this heat too!