To be done with cyclists (as a car driver).

[bluegardenflowers]

Have cycled in the past but now only drive.

I'm a considerate driver and always allow plenty of room when overtaking and am patient in following the cyclist when it's unsafe to overtake and leave a big gap. I take care when left turning. They are more vulnerable on the road.

Yet I've been sworn at be a cyclist and it's pissing me off.

Yesterday on a busy road I saw the cyclist and was busy scanning ahead to make sure I could give him half a carriageways room to overtake. I started my overtake as he was wafting his arm around and looking back. It wasn't a clear right turn signal more a 30 degree flap around before swerving into the part of the road I was on, and swearing at me.

Ffs. If you want to turn right, stick your bloody arm out fully and make a clear signal. No wonder drivers and cyclists hate each other.

I agree with you OP. A subset of entitled cyclist have come to believe they can do what they want and everyone is subservient to them on the road. I've only ever seen this in middle aged men, I have to say. I both drive and cycle, most days. They seem to have taken the (perfectly understandable) changes to the highway code to mean that they can cycle in the middle of the lane, dart in and out at will and cross in front of cars without looking and then e it as an excuse to vent some rage when the car behind couldn't tell what they were intending.

If a cyclist isn't holding onto both handlebars theyre trying to tell you something - that's the logic I go with.

So by your own account the cyclist signalled a right turn and you overtook anyway. I’d swear at you too.

I'm a cyclist and a driver. I've had drivers swear at me when I've been cycling two abreast with a friend, which is permissible under the new Highway Code rules. This was in town. On a 20 mph stretch of road. So I wasn't going much slower than he should have been. Works both ways - there is a subset of tossers in each of the groups, but at the end of the day, the cyclist is the most vulnerable. When cycling, I just assume every motorist is out to kill me. When driving, I give cyclists lots of space.

If you weren't sure what they were signalling you could've waited an extra 5 seconds to be sure.

Your self importance nearly killed someone. You deserved to be sworn at

Of course you are right but a lot of these posters are married to MAMILS so defend them

As a cyclist & car driver I agree with you. Unclear hand signals and an assumption they can just cut across your carriageway without checking pisses me off to.

I would always look over my shoulder to check it is clear, then, usually with a pointed finger, indicate my intention to turn.

Yes I'm with you but am constantly reminding myself that it's not all cyclists I dislike (honestly we should all be cycling more shouldn't we?) just the crap ones with a shitty attitude that weave in and out of traffic, making themselves vulnerable then get angry with everybody else for not getting out of their way.

I’ve never had a problem with cyclists. Motorbikes on the otherhand are a danger to everyone

I recall sitting at lights at a crossroads when a cyclist came down the near side of my car. Lights changed and he proceeded to peddle off and turn right.
To this day I don’t know how I didn’t flatten him and he’s seemed strangely annoyed at me for having the temerity to be there rather at himself for turning right from the left lane, but hey ho.

I've met more tossers in cars though to be fair. There are tossers on two wheels, four wheels and even four legs.

I've had drivers swear at me when I've been cycling two abreast with a friend, which is permissible under the new Highway Code rules.

We all know the new rules are ridiculous.

I'm with you OP. I live in SW London and they're a menace to themselves and other traffic.

I would have held back in that situation OP is it was obvious they were indicating something.

My bugbear with cyclists is them going through red lights and riding on pavements. I travel to London regularly and this is a constant problem and bloody dangerous. One red light ignorer nearly ran my husband over as he crossed the Chiswick High Road on a green man signal. He could have been killed if he hadn't jumped out of the way.

The new rules aren’t new rules and they aren’t ridiculous 🙄.

You should always cross onto the oncoming carriageway to overtake a cyclist - so cyclists are perfectly right to cycle two abreast. It’s much easier to overtake two cyclists riding together than two in a row where you have to be facing oncoming traffic for much longer.

Why do SO many car drivers find this so fucking hard to understand 🤬.

@BerryBerryBerryBerry women do cycle too you know.

YANBU.

Like many people I loathe most cyclists and dream about mowing some down (half-joking!).

I am currently living in a bit of leafy Surrey where they are infamous in taking over the roads- often riding 3 abreast- and generally being an absolute pain in the neck.

Cyclists, it’s true: most car and can drivers detest you, or at least your behaviour on the roads!!

Bicycles and cyclists give me the creeps.so have no experience as a rider but do agree that UK drivers are aggressive and downright abusive at times. I usually hire a range rover or eqvt size and 2 things strike me. The hatred people throw at you because you choose to drive a certain car and the impatience. It really doesn't matter if someone slows momentarily to work out which exit to take, why drive up behind them screaming and beeping? I am surprised there are not more deaths from this terrible, systemic anger.

• van, not can drivers!

They're not new rules, it's always been permissible and in fact advisable and safer to cycle two abreast in many circumstances.

It makes the cyclists more visible and it's a shorter distance to overtake. On narrow roads cyclists should single out though.

I'm a motorist and cyclist. It's clear which is the more vulnerable road user. As a driver I'm very conscious of the harm even a low-speed collision can cause, having been knocked off my bike by a twat of a driver in the past.

It's not always easy to give a stiff-arm signal, especially if going downhill when you're braking at the same time. The vehicle behind needs to be alert to whatever the road user in front is doing or likely to do - that's why we have a hazard perception test when we learn to drive.

Ugh, yuck that's just as gross. Why do people get pleasure from being antisocial and looking like multi coloured penises? Mamawil then if you will. Equally creeds.

Indeed. You say the signal wasn't that clear, but surely if you think someone wants to turn right, you'd hang back and let them go. Better to slow down for a few seconds than risk an accident surely?

You say you are considerate around bikes - so what went wrong today?

They're not new rules, it's always been permissible and in fact advisable and safer to cycle two abreast in many circumstances

Exactly this. It's much harder to overtake a long line of single file cyclists than a small group riding two abreast. This does not however include male groups than ride three abreast.

I usually hire a range rover or eqvt size and 2 things strike me. The hatred people throw at you because you choose to drive a certain car and the impatience

Well it's easy to make different choices. Large cars take up more than their fair share of road space, car park space and guzzle fuel. However, that's not what this thread is about.

God knows. It's really simple common sense.

It's quite worrying that so many people drive with so little common sense.

I think you’re a pretty poor driver if you aren’t prepared to read the road and it’s other users. A cyclist giving any kind of arm signal should immediately make you consider the possibility that they are going to manoeuvre, and to drive as if they are going to not as if they may not. Basic instruction I was taught in my very first driving lesson.

Most cyclists are also drivers. I’m a driver, a motorcyclist, a cyclist and a pedestrian. I regularly use the roads with the experience of all four. Yes, there are shot cyclists and they annoy good responsible cyclists as much as they do drivers, but there are far more drivers who are either downright aggressive or just seem to have forgotten everything they were (or should have been) taught as a learner.