To ask cyclists to follow the rules!!!

[summeriscomingsoon]

Nearly hit by a cyclist going through a red light again as I was crossing the road. We have numerous offenders doing this.

Also going on the pavement to avoid traffic jams.

Cycling has increased so much since lockdown and great health benefits but some of them make me mad!!!

Aibu to expect them to behave as if they were a car on the road and stick to the rules.

@Lemonyfuckit

Oh yes and also tons of pedestrians don't follow the rules abs frequently just step into the road without looking. I'm not saying you did that OP but this happens all of the time, abs yet it's always cyclists who are labelled as the arrogant ones who think the rules don't apply to them. When a cyclist has to break very very suddenly because a pedestrian just stepped out without looking they risk going over the handlebars and getting seriously injured.

And of course, cyclists breaking the rules (which I don't deny a few do) cause far far less damage than a motorist breaking the rules has the potential to do, given the weight and power of a car versus a bike, and yet it's always cyclists for some reason getting the bad name. I really don't understand the 'us' and 'them' attitude of some in this country, as though cyclists are a totally separate breed of road user - I mean, most cyclists also drive a car sometimes, so not exactly a completely different species.

A cyclist once wrote off my car. They should be made to have insurance and some form of identification so they can be held accountable. I had to claim from my own insurance and he then attempted to make a claim for damage to his bike from my insurance. Luckily he didn't get anywhere as there was absolutely no doubt that he was at fault but he'd already cost me enough, through absolutely no fault of my own .

I have been hit four times by cyclists. Perhaps my own fault, but I dont have problems with cars 😶
First of all, I am hard of hearing. Not deaf, but definitely crap at hearing!
So, one - in London, walking to a meeting, i crossed when the green man said I could, and got clipped by a cyclist who was totally obnoxious.

Two. Walking along a countryside walk, a cyclist drove straight into me. One of thoses instances when it is a who was wrong here kind of thing. I diverted from my path becuse of and overgrown thorny bush, the cyclist was trying to pass me. Collision.
I was actually bruised and battered from that one😶 Cyclist had no bell and was sorry, but not very sorry. It was my fault for not walking in a straight line.
Three: totally and utterly my fault. Stepped out from a side road with a brief glance and a cyclist was bearing down. Fell down and bruised arse on pavement - but that one was my fault!
Four: walking along an old railway track, which, to be fair, is advertised as a cycle path, although it is seriously potholed, so pity the poor cyclist.
I was walking and had a cyclist coming toward me on a fairly narrow track, so I stopped and slightly turned to allow him through. I had no idea there was a cyclist directly behind me who simply drove straight into me.
I was in pain for a day or two, but nothing to write home about, but what hurt more than anything was being blamed by the 'behind me' cyclist for just stopping dead.

I am so nervous of cyclists now, i have stopped my daily walks. I only go to a country park ( drive to it) to walk now because bikes are not allowed.
The stupid thing is, I really want a bike, i think I would love it, but this has put je off walking and cycling.
I am NOT blaming every cyclist. But I have had very bad experiences with more cyclists than car drivers or pedestrians.

Or, as a hard of hearing person, perhaps I should just stay indoors.

Three.

Number one -

I'm not going to ask how an unprotected human wrote off your car. Either you either drove into something to avoid him, or it was minor damage to a very low value car, or you had some convoluted once-in-a-lifetime experience that you want to use to portray all cyclists as a dangerous menace to poor defenceless people in metal boxes. If the cyclist was hit I hope they were not seriously injured even if it was their fault, because cars are much heavier and harder than human bodies.

I will say you know you can sue someone for damages even if they don't have insurance, right?

The law requires drivers to be insured because the not insignificant risk of accident and the likelihood of signifcant damages caused by the speed and weight of motor vehicles means it's very likely a driver sued for damages would go bankrupt leaving the injured party uncompensated. Therefore, the law stepped in to require drivers to be insured.

The risk from pedal bikes is minimal by comparison so the law has not mandated blanket insurance.

That said, many cyclists do have insurance either directly through a cycling org, or as part of their house insurance.

In case you are interested, the cycle org subscriptions that include insurance are typically well under £100 annually, and that's the whole membership not just the insurance. Comparing that to motor insurance should give you a good insight into how risky the insurance industry considers bikes vs cars.

I’m a safe snd considerate cyclist - road and mtb. I hate these threads. Yes, there are some people who ride in an aggressive and unsafe manner and they are arses. But this over-simplification of “all cyclists are bad” is depressing and shows a lack of tolerance / respect for others. Obvs we must ride within the Highway Code. But it’s scary on the roads for cyclists because there are a lot of shit drivers out there too. Your car might get scratched but you could kill me. I wish everyone just slowed down and think of the individuals. Plus cycling is really really fun. Get out there and try it - you might love it.

Having spent the day defending cycling I just got a loud 'scuse me buddy from a grown man riding a bike on the pavement next to a quiet side road

Fumin

Yep to upthread I have insurance.

It makes it significantly easier to seek compensation against drivers

@Beseigedbykillersquirrels the problem with any kind of insurance/registration requirements for cyclists is obviously that under 18s cycle, what do you expect them to do? 11 year olds cycling to school aren’t going to have any ID (and are probably more likely to be on the pavement than adult cyclists- it’s usually teenagers doing that around here).

@Whammyyammy

YANBU. Cyclists do follow the highway code and like ti quote it regularly, but only when it suits. Grown men in lycra riding round on children's Christmas presents...

Jesus wept. I usually cycle in my work clothing - though I replace my safety shoes with cycling ones so that I can put more torque through the cleats. I sometimes wear lycra when cycling on my day off because it's warm and comfortable. It's not a bloody fetish, they're practical garments.

"children's Christmas presents" - would you prefer that they joined the masses of people in their German-built V8 penis extensions? It's an economical, practical method of transport with minimal impact on the environment. If more people cycled to work the planet wouldn't be in half of the shit state it is in.

I'm not going to ask how an unprotected human wrote off your car. Either you either drove into something to avoid him, or it was minor damage to a very low value car, or you had some convoluted once-in-a-lifetime experience that you want to use to portray all cyclists as a dangerous menace to poor defenceless people in metal boxes. If the cyclist was hit I hope they were not seriously injured even if it was their fault, because cars are much heavier and harder than human bodies.

Oh. How obnoxious. You have no fucking clue about what happened, or the subsequent issues that I experienced following this. Does the value of the car matter? People tend to drive the cars they can afford. Someone with the money to buy a new £60k car every five years probably wouldn't be as affected by a car write off than someone who can only afford a £1k car. And no, the cyclist wasn't 'hit', as much as you'd love it to have been me who caused the incident. Your response is so out of touch and says so much about the type of person you are.
You just have to blindly defend the harmless cyclist and suggest it must have somehow been my fault. Ignorant and pathetic.

[quote PattyPan]@Beseigedbykillersquirrels the problem with any kind of insurance/registration requirements for cyclists is obviously that under 18s cycle, what do you expect them to do? 11 year olds cycling to school aren’t going to have any ID (and are probably more likely to be on the pavement than adult cyclists- it’s usually teenagers doing that around here).[/quote]
The parents of the children can take out insurance on the behalf of their children until they turn 18. By identification I don't mean personal ID, more a bike ID.

Does the value of the car matter?

It's the primary consideration in a write off situation yes

And they didn't say you hit the cyclist

@Chanjer

And they didn't say you hit the cyclist

No, they said, " ...if the cyclist was hit I hope they were not seriously injured even if it was their fault." I was clarifying that the cyclist was not, in fact, hit. Not sure why you put your little smiley face at the end. I don't find your lack of comprehension funny.

YANBU I nearly got run over by a couple of bikers in the first lockdown. They were travelling at speed, no bell, no warning. Some of them don't care.

Was still smiling at the thought of a cars value being unimportant when deciding whether it's an insurance write off or not

Everyone should follow the rules. I have never ever gone through a red light on a bike. I always give a clear big hand single on a bike when turning etc. A lot of newer cyclists don't seem to know the law.

Oh, hilarious! Not. It's not just about the inconvenience of being stranded, having no car, having to sort out insurance though is it? It doesn't matter if it was just 'minor damage to a very low value car'. It's about being left without a car and not being able to replace like-for-like because somebody else recklessly damaged it beyond repair. Cyclists should have insurance to cover themselves and others for any damage caused.

Men are afraid that women will laugh at them. Women are afraid that men will kill them.
Motorists are afraid that a cyclist will delay them. Cyclists are afraid that a motorist will kill them.

@Beseigedbykillersquirrels

I'm not going to ask how an unprotected human wrote off your car. Either you either drove into something to avoid him, or it was minor damage to a very low value car, or you had some convoluted once-in-a-lifetime experience that you want to use to portray all cyclists as a dangerous menace to poor defenceless people in metal boxes. If the cyclist was hit I hope they were not seriously injured even if it was their fault, because cars are much heavier and harder than human bodies.

Oh. How obnoxious. You have no fucking clue about what happened, or the subsequent issues that I experienced following this. Does the value of the car matter? People tend to drive the cars they can afford. Someone with the money to buy a new £60k car every five years probably wouldn't be as affected by a car write off than someone who can only afford a £1k car. And no, the cyclist wasn't 'hit', as much as you'd love it to have been me who caused the incident. Your response is so out of touch and says so much about the type of person you are.
You just have to blindly defend the harmless cyclist and suggest it must have somehow been my fault. Ignorant and pathetic.

Look to yourself when it comes to assumptions. I certainly never said you were at fault. I listed a few scenarios where a cyclist could write off a car. The reason I suggested minor damage to a low value car is because I drive a low value car and I know it would be written off by insurance for any damage at all.

I do think it's pretty obnoxious to use a very unusual situation as an excuse for general cyclist bashing, and I will correct this ridiculous idea that because cyclists are uninsured they can't be held liable for damages. That insurance companies make decisions not to claim from them is commercial, just as the fact my car will be written off rather than repaired is commercial. The fact that no standard infrastructure exists to handle damages caused by cyclists is not because cyclists are menaces who get off scot free but because they don't collectively cause enough damage to justify it.

But you go ahead and feel like the world is against you.

Ha ha, I don't think the world is against me at all! I'm not a cyclist 😉

@Beseigedbykillersquirrels

Ha ha, I don't think the world is against me at all! I'm not a cyclist 😉

Well that's pretty obvious!

I'm sorry your car was written off by a cyclist.

(That's sorry as in sympathy, not sorry as in apology. I'm no more responsible for what other cyclists do than you are for the drivers who killed 400+ people).

I am very relieved there were no injuries.

Please don't use that very unusual event as a justification to ignore the very large danger of motor vehicles in favour of the very small one from cyclists, nor use it to demand that cyclists on their 15kg bikes need the same controls as drivers in their 1.5 tonne cars.

I don't believe I ever have? I've said they ought to have insurance and I stand by that. I haven't said on this thread at all that cyclists are more of a risk than cars. Weirdly, I was injured! Not seriously though. You seem to be assuming that people who have had bad experiences with cyclists are angry car loving idiots who don't understand that in a collision between cars and bicycles that the bike would be worse off. Not me I'm afraid.

1. Many cyclists do already have insurance.
2. Mandatory insurance for cyclists is a stupid idea for all sorts of reasons.

Cyclists, runners, what about drivers? No one ever says, bloody drivers they're all the same can't they just stick to the rules... well cyclists aren't just one homogeneous one brained group of morons either... and shock horror most cyclists actually are also walkers and drivers too 😱 that detail will probably blow your mind...

that detail will probably blow your mind...
I really doubt that.