Page 4 | WTF cyclists in the snow

lifeandtheuniverse · 2018-03-01T18:47:39+00:00

Cycling in the snow and ice, with no lights on and no reflective gear. AIBU to think they should be arrested as a danger on the road. Just had one fall off as lost back wheel on the snow,, car behind him managed to swerve round lost his back end and corrected. Me second car behind, I slam on brakes as he slides towards my front wheels - feet under my bumper. Car behind me ends up touching my bumper! Then the moron has the balls to swear, berate me and demand my details.

tortelliniforever · 01/03/2018 22:53

How do cyclists have as much right as car drivers when they don't pay road tax or insurance?

Your right to be on the road has nothing to do with how much money you have paid.
How do you know cyclists don't pay? You do realise that a lot of cyclists (and pedestrians) are car owners too? You know, real people just like you and me.

Aprilmightmemynewname · 01/03/2018 22:56

Except I am not an entitled fucker...

anneoneill · 01/03/2018 22:59

Except I am not an entitled fucker...

You've clearly stated (or at least implied via a loaded question) that you are more entitled to be on the road than a cyclist, so you very much are.

Failbydefault · 01/03/2018 23:00

Perhaps if we had a pay per use Road tax system fewer people would drive and more would cycle making the roads ( and air )safer for everyone. I pay the same road tax as everyone else but choose to cycle. How do I not have the same rights? I agree a licence system for bikes would be good tho. I’d report the red light dodgers too, they make it more dangerous for the rest of us!

gingergenius · 01/03/2018 23:04

@AvocadosBeforeMortgages carry on being disingenuous if you like. It doesn't stop the fact that if cyclists do not help themselves by ensuring they are more visible, then they will continue to be injured. It takes EVERYBODY on the road to be vigilant. Cyclists included.

DingDongDenny · 01/03/2018 23:09

All this about bikes are so much better than cars stuff - Not in snow they aren't! It's simple physics. The wider the surface area (tyres) the more grip

You can pontificate as much as you want, but a bike is as much use as a paper umbrella in the snow

Original poster

lifeandtheuniverse · 01/03/2018 23:12

cyclists can be car owners but I can not sue a cyclists car insurance when he hit me a pedestrian on his bicycle.

A nonsensical argument that has no logic.

cyclists killed on the road, has been decreasingfor the past 7 years, pedestrians killed by cyclists has been increasing rapidly.

Cyclists are not above the law and neither are motorists.

Anneoneil - I stopped , I considered my safety ont he road, before i got inot my car, ergo put my lights on (another nordic tradition), I was extremely high vis. cyclist, no lights, wearing black with no reflective gear was not thinking of his own safety let alone anyone elses. No snow tyres on the bike, again no thought for anyone else on the road.

We can all do our bit for road safety, some of us obviously think a little bit more about our fellow road users than this selfish twunt did.

OP posts:

anneoneill · 01/03/2018 23:13

You can pontificate as much as you want, but a bike is as much use as a paper umbrella in the snow

I didn't take my bike out today, or my car. But I wonder how many people got stranded in cars in the past 24 hours due to weather and how many got stranded on bicycles? Even as a proportion of the respective journeys started.

anneoneill · 01/03/2018 23:18

Anneoneil - I stopped , I considered my safety ont he road, before i got inot my car, ergo put my lights on (another nordic tradition), I was extremely high vis. cyclist, no lights, wearing black with no reflective gear was not thinking of his own safety let alone anyone elses. No snow tyres on the bike, again no thought for anyone else on the road.

I may have misunderstood you after piecing your comments together, but did you not say, over number of posts, that you let the front of your car roll over his foot (without contact) as he slid towards you because there was a tree on your left?

Original poster

lifeandtheuniverse · 01/03/2018 23:20

Considering the number of cyclists who thought snow was an excuse for bringin their bikes on the tube in rush hour yesterday evening - a feck of a lot of them!

I suppose at least they were not on the road - just inconveniencing law abiding passnegers with their wet filthy bikes occupying space.!

We must be grateful for the rights of the cyclist on the road, pavement, in pedstrian only areas and now on the trains aswell!

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ItLooksABitOff · 01/03/2018 23:22

I am a cyclist and live in a place that does get snow at winter time. I've learnt the hard way not to cycle on snow/ice - spun out on black ice etc. Honestly if you're a cyclist and you're reading this please re-think it, it's so dangerous unless you have the proper gear (chains or snow tires etc)

anneoneill · 01/03/2018 23:25

I suppose at least they were not on the road - just inconveniencing law abiding passnegers with their wet filthy bikes occupying space.!

DingDongDenny · 01/03/2018 23:25

anneoneill - stranded on bicycles Very funny - I live near the M80 where the cars were stranded and anyone stupid enough to go out on a bike wouldn't get 5 metres in the 20 inches snow.

And nobody died being stranded in their car - if they had been stranded on a bike they would have - because that's the same as being stranded without a bike

Original poster

lifeandtheuniverse · 01/03/2018 23:27

bikes are not allowed on the tube at certain times unless folded!!

Selfish behaviour yet again I am afraid

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NoqontroI · 01/03/2018 23:27

I've seen some great bikes out today with seriously good tyres well able to cope with snow. They looked fab. My bike tyres wouldn't cope with the snow.

Niceandwarmandhot · 01/03/2018 23:31

Cyclists in London are the devil. Entitled, aggressive, slowing down the traffic, weaving carelessly around cars, ignoring red line gets, ignoring cycle lanes, endangering themselves and pedestrians... they're even worse in the ice.

Cyclists anywhere else are not usually a problem at all in my experience, even if they do sometimes have long queues of cars forming behind them. That's usually short term and they are usually polite. Wonder if it's a Londoner thing??!

anneoneill · 01/03/2018 23:35

Since OP has realised she incriminated herself and won't answer:

She establishes that she drove the car over (albeit didn't make contact with) the cyclist: Me second car behind, I slam on brakes as he slides towards my front wheels - feet under my bumper.

The she clarifies the speed: Speed dictated by the effwit virtually invisible cyclist - 6 mph

Then: car 1 swerves infront of me, as he moves, cyclist on the ground sliding towards me with his bike. I swerve hit the trees on the left, swerve right end up at the back end of Car 1 and over cyclist as he heads to the white line.

Wonderful, she'd rather drive straight over another human being (they are human despite her protests) than left and risk bumping into a tree under 6 mph.

Vicious and dangerous.

Original poster

lifeandtheuniverse · 01/03/2018 23:53

anne - I drove a car and did not hit an effwit what part of that is incriminating me!

How you consider a cyclist more than 30 metres infront of me, with a car inbetween, crashing and NEARLY hitting me is my fault beggars belief.

I did nothing wrong!

Please remember this was a two lane road, car 1 has swerved to the right lost back end, caught it and stopped with rear end on the white line and into down lane. Coming down the hill and now having to slow down rapidly are more cars, everyone going slowly.

Should I swerve right hit car, shunt it further into the path of the down coming traffic and created a multi car pile up and have sliding cyclist under my wheels, turn left, hit tree, have cars behind me up my back side and the poor bugger in car 3 then facing sliding cyclist.

I relied on my 2 month old snow tyres to ensure I stopped - they did what they say on the packet - maybe if twunt had snow tyres then he would not have caused the chaos
Were the cars on the other side of the road at fault as well?

He berated me, car 1 and the poor guy coming down the hill who managed not to hit car 1 - he was the twunt who gives cyclists a bad name.

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anneoneill · 01/03/2018 23:58

You were faced with a choice bumping into a tree at an almost comically low speed, or steering your car at a human being. If you were saying you'd panicked and made a mistake, I'd think you were normal. But you are adamant rather than ding your bumper you "had" to aim a tonne of metal at a "twunt".

You shouldn't have a licence.

maddening · 02/03/2018 00:07

I passed one yesterday at 6:45 on a 60mph stretch (not bad snow here at all) dressed in black on a dark bike with no rear light. I only saw him up ahead as saw a shadow of something, slowed right down as a caution and as I got closer I could make it was a cyclist - and also the faint glow of mobile phone that he appeared to be looking at (wasn't visible earlier as his back was between it and I) whilst cycling in the dark with a v dim front light. If he had been hit (and I hope he never is) he would not have been the victim in that accident, he wouldn't have been the cause, fucking dick.

Original poster

lifeandtheuniverse · 02/03/2018 00:08

you are being deliberately obtuse - I did not change my direction, the safest thing to do was stop, for all the road users - I did.

I did not aim my car at the cyclist deliberately despite your warped need to consider me in the wrong.

If I had gone left cyclist would have either hit my rear end or ended up under car 3 - which was some 50 metres behind the effwit and blind to what was unfolding infront of him, until car swerved - but then you would undoubtedly have blamed car 3 and said they should not have a licence.

I stopped.

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chestylarue52 · 02/03/2018 00:18

Yes you’re being completely unreasonable.

Not everyone can afford a car - how do you know he wasn’t visiting a sick child in the hospital or caring for an elderly relative?

Cycling in the snow is perfectly safe as long as other road users keep a safe distance which you clearly didn’t.

BubblegumFactory · 02/03/2018 00:21

Pretty sick of reading all the anti-cyclist sentiment on MN these days.
I've no idea who was right or wrong in your scenario and frankly think it is our joint responsibility to use the roads safely whoever we are and whichever form of transport we choose.
Drive / Ride respectfully and at a safe distance from those around you.
For every "effin" cyclist I hear moaned about on here, I could give you dozens of examples of extremely shit driving.
I know which is worse.

inabeautifulplace · 02/03/2018 00:48

"cyclists killed on the road, has been decreasingfor the past 7 years, pedestrians killed by cyclists has been increasing rapidly."

Not true according to the stats I've seen. Not really been a significant shift over the last decade, despite cycling being more popular.

Don't get me wrong, invisible cyclists are bloody worrying, but I don't think that's got much to do with your experience. Totally agree that you'd be stupid to expect slicks to function in this weather.

You now know that on a hill in icy conditions, vehicles in front of you can lose control and slide towards you, meaning a 30m gap may not even be enough for the safety of all concerned. At least it wasn't a car!

pedigreeRacer · 02/03/2018 01:02

Why should the cyclist not be riding when you were out driving? Do you not see the irony?

You didn't say if it was day light. Why would a cyclist have lights on during the day time?

The car behind was going too quickly if they lost their back end under breaking. The car behind you was driving too close for the conditions if they hit you.

"Got the usual diatribe about his right to be on the road"

That's good. Do you understand now?

"I think they call it filtering and it is allegedly legal"

Not allegedly. It is and it's your duty to know the low, effwit!

Sadly, your DC is likely to learn your behaviour and attitude on the road. I hope they don't nearly kill people and then get all ranty on the internet.

ps. I've never met anyone riding an ancient Diamondback call themselves a keen mountain biker.