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.

@Change123today I can visualise this situation because we have been in almost the same ourselves. She wasn't on the Cat and Fiddle road by any chance was she?

We were once there and, like your DD, all cars had to slo right down at a down hill bit approaching a bend because it wasn't safe to try to overtake the pack of cyclists ahead.

Meanwhile the pack of cyclists behind caught up and, as they were going faster than the cars, started to overtake on both sides and weave in and out between the cars that were now crawling. So dangerous. I can imagine how terrifying it would be for an inexperienced driver.

@LoveMyPiano I've never done a Naughty driver course, and literally not one single point on my licence in 24 years. One small accident that was my fault, otherwise all other drivers eg turning into my path and my hitting them.

If I posted on mumsnet every time a bad driver annoys/endangers me on the road when I'm cycling, I'd never be off it.

@OneTC He knew I was a woman in a small car because a) he saw my car and b) he took the time to slow down, look at me and gob off at me. Typical of male entitlement and intimidation of women.

I would have thought it was clear I was being a bit flippant.

Yes, cyclists sometimes don't help themselves by, for example, filtering down the left hand sides of buses/lorries etc but as I am perfectly capable of doing it safely and you are in a car where blind spots are not exactly difficult to check I don't see why either of us would have a problem.

Blue-green- nice - name calling to everyone who disagrees with you

No this person reserves the right to move into the path of oncoming vehicles when they're in their blind spot

Yep, sounds about right.

You do NOT drive in a hatched area unless it is absolutely necessary. Highway Code 130.

Overtaking is not absolutely necessary.

Not as many as would do if the roads weren't full of lunatics with a Lewis Hamilton complex.

You're calling other people loons?!

Do you always make "clear unambiguous signals" as a motorist?

As a pedestrian I've lost count of the times where I've been about to cross but held back because I've sensed that the approaching car isn't going to do whatever his indicators are/aren't indicating.

Oh come on!! You said yourself, it was busy. The cyclist was needing to keep looking ahead for hazards, turn to look back at you, whilst keeping an eye on traffic coming the other way and keeping their bike steadya d straight. There may also have been all manner of pot holes and other hazards along the kerbside.
Cycling is a physical task and because an arm wasn't 100% straight as per a textbook image doesn't mean they weren't trying to do something. Maybe they should have done it clearer but if in doubt, slow down and give them a moment. As you say, they are vulnerable and better to be safe than sorry.

I'm all for having a moan about some who are clearly arseholes, but in this situation, expecting a 100% clear right angle arm otherwise you plough ahead is unreasonable.

And as for swearing at you, the cyclist had probably just had quite a shock when they thought for a split second they were about to be hit. Most people do swear in that situation....even if not 100% in the right.

@CapMarvel i didn’t realise you weren’t being 100% serious no. Probably because of the extraordinary approach some others are taking to this thread!

@OneTC I don’t really know what you think it achieves to keen deliberately misconstrue everything I say. At no point have I said I’d move into the path of an oncoming vehicle. I’m talking about people filtering in slow/ stopped traffic and getting into blind spots where they can’t be seen. Including going into the path of vehicles clearly indicating left or right to filter around them. That is “the path” of the vehicle which is in front and indicating, not the vehicle weaving around it. Obviously, no one would deliberately collide with a vehicle that is illegally overtaking by a junction but this does happen.

Blue-green, if you think being a female driver draws intimidating behaviour, try being a female cyclist

Also taking about where they swerve back in front of you too close just as the traffic is starting to move again.

I haven’t taken anything personally? Unfortunately I do find (and I think this is backed up by many MN threads) that many motorists tend to try to get from A to B quickly, rather than safely, and react badly to anything that they perceive as slowing them down. And bad drivers like OP pose a much greater hazard than bad cyclists or bad pedestrians, so we should care about that more.

@Mercurial123 What's up don't you like it when some one has a different opinion to you and does not join in the MN pile on, very brave.

This!
I also am very short and ride a "girl's" bike (very sensibly) through London- and probably am perceived as much younger than I am because of my bike and helmet with ponytail down the back.
I'm just trying to get to work and back cheaply and safely, not lycra clad racing.

But yes, OP, try presenting as a small young female on a bike on the roads and then come back to about how this situation represented "intimidation of women"

@CapMarvel Well given that both @Sapphirejane and @GertrudePerkinsPaperyThing sound like careful and attentive drivers who do use their mirrors and are aware of blind spots then I guess you wouldn't have a problem riding up the side of their car. However on the day you do that to someone less careful or more distracted then you do have a problem.

Puts me in mind of the recent HC changes that say a driver should give way to a pedestrian waiting to cross at a junction. When I am a pedestrian there is no way I am going to just step out in that situation and assume the driver is either aware of this rule or paying enough attention to obey it. Just because you mightbe in the right doesn't warrant taking unnecessary risks IMO

I always wish cars wouldn’t wait for me to cross! I’d much rather they drove by, made their turn etc and then I can cross the now empty road.

ok so families on cycle PATHS. You will always find families on busy routes too (stupid I know but I’ve seen it!!)

Cycle LANES… I don’t always use them, sometimes I do but depends … quite often they are really dangerous, huge pot holes is a common issue, sometimes cars park and block a lane which makes it dangerous for a cyclist to suddenly pull out. This is often the case when several cars park but not in a line, no way would I weave in and out . Sometimes a cycle lane is right next to a footpath and pedestrians still use it without looking.

not here to argue with anyone but it’s not always that simple 🙂