AIBU Cyclist Twats

[TractorAndHeadphones]

Walking down lovely canals with DP. Supposed to be romantic - but every 5 minutes we were interrupted by a cyclists whizzing along! Some had the courtesy to ring the bell but even so they rode straight at us instead of around us.

This really boils my piss because cyclists always complain that cars overtake dangerously and that’s it’s their god given right to hold up traffic. But cyclists can ride straight through pedestrians?

There was enough space for a cyclist to ride alongside us if they’d been slower ; even so you don’t expect people to walk in single file on canal roads which are meant to be enjoyed slowly! There were families in front of us, mothers with prams etc. Thé cyclists were probably scared of swerving into the lake but if you can’t control your bike then dont bloody ride!
It really ruined my day.

This has also happened on pavements with people whizzing along in the middle. Even if the road is dangerous there’s no need to go that fast.
AIBU to think that cyclists are twats and should be licensed?
People often complain that cars are rude to cyclists but IMO people in general are twats. Cars can do more damage but they’re not behaving worse than cyclists.

@Tigerente

Cars will always stop to let people cross. Cyclists never do, but will happily give you the finger or shout at you.

This. #notallcyclists etc. but until cyclists not stopping at a red light or pedestrian crossing becomes as generally "taboo" as cars not stopping in the same situations, my respect and sympathy for cyclists is always going to be limited. Why don't ALL cyclists understand that these pretty reasonable rules of the road apply to them as well? Very few drivers would deliberately break a red light or just plough on through a pedestrian crossing when they can clearly see there are people waiting to cross. So why should cyclists be any different? It can be just as dangerous, as some of the posts on here show.

So yeah - limited respect and sympathy. Obviously I always do my very best to drive safely around cyclists and keep an eye out for bikes when I'm walking, but as a driver I wouldn't be offended by someone complaining to me about bad drivers if a significant number of us ignored traffic lights and basic rules of the road in the same way. Even the worst drivers I've seen in almost a year of being back on the roads again haven't done anything as stupid as breaking red lights or refusing to stop for pedestrians when they're supposed to.

Cyclists have to accept that enough of them behave badly enough on the roads to make a lot of people have a generally poor opinion of them, even while also acknowledging that it's "not all cyclists".

Some drivers who don't know how to drive properly isn't just about going through fed lights, its the tailgating, cutting up other drivers, not stopping at roundabouts, going through zebra crossing even though someone is there, not staying in their lane....its more than just the two things you listed!

And for christ sake for decades, centuries the whole of humanity there has always been SOME people who don't drive or cycle with consideration and break the rules. This also goes to pedestrians who walk on cycle paths on shared pavements, step out eithiut looking etc.

There is no perfect world where everyone single one will behave perfectly.

And its not even the mode fo transport thats the issue its the person as so many people have pointed out the rude cyclist is a rude driver and a rude pedestrian.

So many cyclists on here have said they also drive and walk and are considerate in all modes.

So what irks most of us is the ongoing campaign of branding all cyclists as that's when that isnt true.

If you come across a rude one or breaking the law fine have a rant and we will agree with you but don't start saying cyclists or all cyclists are twats or breaking the law.

And ffs how many times do people have to point out that wearing lycra cycling is about wearing appropriate clothing for the activity they are doing and has nothing to do with behaviour cos again that rude cyclists is a rude driver but they wear lycra when driving. So what a person wears has got nothing to do with it.

@Tigerente

Cars will always stop to let people cross. Cyclists never do, but will happily give you the finger or shout at you.

This. #notallcyclists etc. but until cyclists not stopping at a red light or pedestrian crossing becomes as generally "taboo" as cars not stopping in the same situations, my respect and sympathy for cyclists is always going to be limited. Why don't ALL cyclists understand that these pretty reasonable rules of the road apply to them as well? Very few drivers would deliberately break a red light or just plough on through a pedestrian crossing when they can clearly see there are people waiting to cross. So why should cyclists be any different? It can be just as dangerous, as some of the posts on here show.

So yeah - limited respect and sympathy. Obviously I always do my very best to drive safely around cyclists and keep an eye out for bikes when I'm walking, but as a driver I wouldn't be offended by someone complaining to me about bad drivers if a significant number of us ignored traffic lights and basic rules of the road in the same way. Even the worst drivers I've seen in almost a year of being back on the roads again haven't done anything as stupid as breaking red lights or refusing to stop for pedestrians when they're supposed to.

Cyclists have to accept that enough of them behave badly enough on the roads to make a lot of people have a generally poor opinion of them, even while also acknowledging that it's "not all cyclists".

You realise that by splattering your nonsense with #notallcyclists doesn't stop it being, well, nonsense?

When I'm cycling I will stop at red lights and obey the rules of the road. I'll even pull over for cars if it's say a single track road and they wouldn't be able to get past me.

I will not accept responsibility for the behaviour of other cyclists. Sorry about that. I also expect motorists to not try to run me off the road, as as happened almost too many times to count.

I'm not a bike whizzer, I am not a menace, I have respect for pedestrians as I am also one

Tigerente, accompany me on my bike ride to work and you will see just how many cars jump red lights.

I'm not a bike whizzer, I am not a menace, I have respect for pedestrians as I am also one

Of course, you just don't want to slow down for them.

@ChardonnaysPetDragon

The vote is 71 to 29 in OP's favour, despite the squeaky wheels.

Yep. Point made, enough said

Chardonnay, we obviously have never met, because Slow down for pedestrians is exactly what I do, I don't cycle fast in the first place

Haha given there are many more car drivers than cyclists in the UK, your vote means alot

Apologies, Macncheeseballs, I mixed you up with a different poster.

Sorry.

@Macncheeseballs

Haha given there are many more car drivers than cyclists in the UK, your vote means alot

So how do you know that those voting are doing so from a car driver and not pedestrian perspective (the latter being the point of the OP)? Please enlighten us

I don't, neither do you, which is why your counting the yay and nays seems a bit pointless - you hate bikes, I get it

Obviously as the majority are drivers - pleasantly surprised by the ratio actually!

@MsTSwift

Obviously as the majority are drivers - pleasantly surprised by the ratio actually!

Or they could be pedestrians.

Yes drivers or pedestrians, - cyclists are a tiny minority in this country, hopefully that's changing

@hangrylady

I wish people (cyclists)would stop quoting the Highway Code and instead just use some common courtesy instead. If you are holding up a great queue of cars who cannot overtake then surely as a decent person you would let them pass, regardless of what the book says? I don't have to let other drivers out at junctions but I do because I'm not a prick, it's just decency which a lot of people on here seem to lack.

We'll agree to stop quoting the Highway Code just as long as motorists stop banging on about mythical "Road Taxes".

I do pull over if causing a tail back but only where it is safe to do so. If that means that you'll have to wait a couple of minutes before a farm gateway appears, so be it.

@DoesHePlayTheFiddle

A lot of roads were, certainly. And if originally they were tracks for walkers or horseriders, they were not for cyclists. Cyclists are the interlopers.

So you only want roads to be used by the people they were designed for? Excellent, that's cars banished from any road built before circa 1910 but bikes can use anything built after 1839. I'm looking forward to the extra manure for my garden when everyone starts riding horses to work.

You've got loads of great ideas for reducing car usage, keep them coming!

Cars will always stop to let people cross. Cyclists never do, but will happily give you the finger or shout at you.
@Biancadelrioisback such bullshit that it will do very well alongside the horse manure from my previous post. If you'd at least used the word "almost" before "always" and "never" then at least you wouldn't have been offensively tarring the lot of us with the same brush while letting off the not inconsequential minority of bad motorists.

"Cars will always stop to let people cross"
Always?

I must be imagining all of the occasions then where I've been walking across a zebra crossing and a car has had to slam on their brakes because they weren't concentrating.

"Cyclists never do"
Really?

Never?

Ever?

I was cycling through town recently (off to a local farm for some fleeces, lest I be accused of making a recreational journey), saw a couple of old dears walking towards a zebra crossing and threw my brakes on. They were a decent distance from the crossing so I had no legal obligation to stop but I did anyway. Yes, it was hard to get going again, especially in a high gear uphill, but I stopped anyway.

Perhaps motorists need to repeat their tests every ten years or so, particularly concentrating on the hazard perception and theory tests.

Ultimately the only thing that will truly encourage more people to cycle are roads etc designed for cycles. Forcing more cyclists onto shared spaces is going to do quite the opposite as many councils have put up signs saying to be careful of pedestrians, dogs and the like. If you’re really bothered take action by writing letters to your MP, supporting council action and campaigns to create better cycling infrastructure. I have done these. Don’t know how many people here have

Think OP is spot on here. I've written to my councillors and Head of the Council but they pander to the car lobby who are outraged that their journey to work should be delayed by 10 minutes for the sake of a bike lane. Neighbouring councils are doing better work (Manchester mainly, thanks to Chris Boardman) but gov needs to fund the required infrastructure everywhere.

To me there are two types of cyclist:

1. People who cycle because they have somewhere to get to, and who don’t want to use a car, often for ethical reasons but sometimes also financial. These cyclists can often be found in big cities where they fearlessly take on dangerous drivers while carrying a rucksack full of work clothes / food and getting fit. They are usually road competent. These cyclists I admire enormously. I saw a lot of them when I lived in London and would have liked to be one of them but I am not that brave.

1. Leisure cyclists who think they have the right to create a mile long tailback of people who do actually have somewhere to be. These guys are usually found in the middle of the road of a countryside village, oblivious to the fact that people in said village do need to get to school/hospital/work, and don’t appreciate half of London riding up here everytime it’s sunny to bring the whole place to gridlock. These guys are usually dressed in improbably bright lycra which does not look good, andwill usually comprise a fit guy at the front, a dozen of his friends trying to keep up, then an endless string of girlfriends who can’t keep up and look miserable as they attempt to get up the hill. Remember the ‘tier’ system when we had to stay local? It was fabulous here because London’s leisure cyclists weren’t allowed to visit and we could actually drive from one end of the village to the other without crawling at 5mph the whole way behind someone dressed like an extra from a West End musical.

Number 2 there sounds just like caravans to me.

@Skysblue

To me there are two types of cyclist:

1. People who cycle because they have somewhere to get to, and who don’t want to use a car, often for ethical reasons but sometimes also financial. These cyclists can often be found in big cities where they fearlessly take on dangerous drivers while carrying a rucksack full of work clothes / food and getting fit. They are usually road competent. These cyclists I admire enormously. I saw a lot of them when I lived in London and would have liked to be one of them but I am not that brave.

1. Leisure cyclists who think they have the right to create a mile long tailback of people who do actually have somewhere to be. These guys are usually found in the middle of the road of a countryside village, oblivious to the fact that people in said village do need to get to school/hospital/work, and don’t appreciate half of London riding up here everytime it’s sunny to bring the whole place to gridlock. These guys are usually dressed in improbably bright lycra which does not look good, andwill usually comprise a fit guy at the front, a dozen of his friends trying to keep up, then an endless string of girlfriends who can’t keep up and look miserable as they attempt to get up the hill. Remember the ‘tier’ system when we had to stay local? It was fabulous here because London’s leisure cyclists weren’t allowed to visit and we could actually drive from one end of the village to the other without crawling at 5mph the whole way behind someone dressed like an extra from a West End musical.

Oh dear so what category am I because I cycle to work and I cycle for fun on weekends and I wear on lycra on both occasions and I'm considerate in both types of riding.

Think you need more than 2 types!

Or maybe we just stick to the point thst there are some bad cyclists like there are some bad drivers and some bad pedestrians, then we don't have to create new labels and types

Some MAMILS are a pain in the backside (and it is painful to look at their backsides, stuck in the air as they try to get a Strava crown). And I do think some seek to deliberately antagonise motorists.

But I can guarantee that when they get off their bikes and into their Audis, they'll antagonise everyone from their cars instead. Because they are entitled arses. Not because they like riding bikes.

Cyclists are the road users least likely to harm you, by a long way

don't quote actual facts! The cyclist haters don't want to hear they are wrong, they want validation for their prejudice.

How can you 'ding ding with self importance'? It's a bell. How else do they communicate their approach....shout? I know which I would prefer

I think a cheery good morning or similar is a lot more friendly than dinging your bell at someone. although sometimes you get ignored so have to ding your bell. I should say that I have not been out cycling once this year, but would quite like a bell as a runner at times!

Well the ding dinging for me to step aside on the canal towpath seems very 'coming through you need to get out of the way' so a bit self important.
I'll stand in the dog poo in the long grass or leap into the canal so the cyclist isn't inconvenienced shall I?