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.

Waving his arm up and down like that means "slow down" and sticking it out to the right means he was turning right. He was signalling to you to slow down because he was turning right so moving into the right side of the lane
Thank God for someone who actually k is the rules. It's so depressing how many drivers are clueless but then go on to blame cyclists when they are the ones in the wrong!

I have to turn right off a busy road, going up so hard to cycle to get home. If I get to the right to early one, IE when there is gap, I out myself in danger cycling to the right if cars passing and risk being in the way of cars wanting to turn right before me.

If I wait until I get closer to the road, there is a risk that I have to pass between cars. In that case, I'll make a sign for the car behind me to slow down before I indicate I want to turn.

You were totally in the wrong OP, which is bad enough but to then act as the victim and criticizing riders is pretty lame. Maybe all drivers should take cycling proficiency lessons, even if not cycling. As a cyclist, it's petrifying to see how clueless drivers are.

Is that the best reply you can come up with? must try harder next time, so what is your opinion on the environmental damage or are you just sticking to what aboutery?

That was Aimed @TopKnotch

I'm a cyclist and a motorist, and I absolutely agree with you.

Two things that particularly p me off with cyclists:

• them trying to wave me past them when I don't have clear visibility. I'll make my own decision re when to overtake thank you, I'm being patient so you should be too; and
• please for the love of god wear underpants if you're wearing a see through suit. Nobody wants to see your butthole, even from a safe distance

I don’t understand this all cyclists are angels/devils mentality. I accept there are dickhead drivers. I report them to the police where I can. I also report drivers acting like arseholes to cyclists. However, I would not aggressively defend them where someone complained a driver had acted like an arse/ claim not all drivers are like that. Why can’t people complain about what are widespread issues with cyclists, they are not a specially protected class.

YABU

they have as much right to be on the road as you and you could have killed him

the entitlement of some car drivers is shocking. We have a local fb page and it’s full of moaning motorists complaining about being held up by cyclists (for probably no more than a few minutes max, meantime regularly car accidents and breakdowns on the motorway cause gridlock for hours), not cycling right next to the kerb (yes how dare they not want to cycle in the gutter, just so you can squeeze past), moaning about them not paying road tax.

like all road users I get some can be annoying but cyclists aren’t going anywhere so not much point being “done” with them.

This ^

I think drivers just need someone to blame half the time for unnecessary road rage and impatience and cyclists are always an easy target. 🙄Not saying all cyclists are innocent, I’m both driver and cyclist btw.

I'm certainly done with them on busy, rush hour trains...every...single...day. Entitled fucking knobheads and the bikes are getting fucking bigger and bigger with bloody engine things on them and everything. It's infuriating when they take up the area with the two fold up seats in but then go and sit down as well. Should pay for three fucking seats.

This.

As for the driver who only half-jokingly dreams of mowing down cyclists, you are a really disturbing individual.

This topic gets incredibly heated because cyclists generally are very annoying and a menace to all road users and pedestrians.

I give cyclists a really wide berth. Stay well back, give them loads of space, don't try and overtake when it's clearly dangerous/risky to do so and just generally go slow when around them. Unlike my husband, who does everything he shouldn't do when approaching cyclists.

I do however think the 2 abreast rule is effing ridiculous and asking for trouble. Not to mention it holds up literally everyone else on the road. I can understand why car drivers get frustrated when this occurs to be fair.

We get a lot of cyclists around where I live and in the main, everyone shuffles on quite nicely together. However, the altercations (when they do happen) seem to be mostly between men of a certain age, both in cars and on bikes, both getting territorial about the road space, and aggressive shouting at each other etc. Never seen women do it funnily enough!

😆

An arm down low and waving signals hazard/slow down, using the right arm means they are also going right, using the left arm means they are also going left.

If you are so familiar with the highway code why aren’t you giving cyclists enough room when you pass them?

Shocking ignorance of the Highway code OP. Rule 212 says "If the rider looks over their shoulder it could mean that they intend to pull out, turn right or change direction. Give them time and space to do so."

You said "I started my overtake as he was wafting his arm around and looking back". So you noticed that, and should have immediately slowed down and allowed him space to potentially turn if that's what he was indeed planning.

Hi @HellonHeels , that pp you’re describing is me, I believe and I said I dreamt about mowing down cyclists as a joke. Obviously. I assure you that I am an animal loving, vegetarian pacifist irl and have no desire to harm man nor beast!

And I’d worry more about you on the roads, with your username!!

Cycle paths are mainly for families doing low speeds.

Cycling at 20-30mph on a cycle path is not safe for pedestrians or anyone which is why cyclists use the road on their “road” bike!!

I'm fed up with them at the moment. Three times in the last month I have been crossing the road at a zebra crossing and they have ignored the red light and sped through nearly hitting me or another pedestrian crossing. So arrogant and dangerous. If you want to ride on the road you follow the rules of the road.

Totally agree.
Even the slightest change in body position, arm off the handlebars I take as a signal that they might be about to turn.
Proceed with caution always.
Sounds like Op had a fright and is looking for someone to blame.
"Done with cyclists"
What does that mean?
You are going to drive unsafely,all becauae of one cyclist?
Bravo
What a mature attitude.

On my trains (Thameslink) the area with the two fold-up seats is specifically for bikes and the sign above them says "please vacate if needed to store a bike"...

Come on, that's just nonsense. Our roads are clogged by cars, not bikes.
And it's the cars that cause the damage, environmental, danger, congestion.
My bike trips get me out of the car and help my health - mental and physical. Maybe all these drivers who can't manage their anger should give it a go and discover the positive effect cycling can have on mental and physical health?

It usually means they are busy on their phone!

1/10

@Thisisit2022 - yes! I had to commute last week using an actual train rather than just to my spare room (woe is me). A man (all in Lycra 😉) with a bike was blocking the door with his bike and was refusing to move it as we came into the station stopping a huge queue of people getting off the train. Another man picked it up and moved it in the end, cue tantrum from MAMIL. The train had a whole bike carriage but apparently this bike was too special for it. I dread to encounter him on the road.

Is that the sound of massive clutching at straws I hear?

How much of the earth's oil resources are used up by the average driver per year?

How much of the average car contains plastic and other materials which will not break down?

Of all the anti-cyclist bullshit I've read, I think you've actually managed to win the prize for the most fucking ridiculous nonsense ever.