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.

It usually means they are busy on their phone!

I can honestly say I have never seen a cyclist on the road on their phones!

Most of the knobs around here don't seem capable of giving signals at all. Swerving out across the road seems the way to go, expecting other road users to be mind readers.

Is it BMW drivers or is it Audi drivers you’re talking about here?

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.

Ah yes, the "he / she was asking for it" defence.

The two-abreast rule is as per the Highway Code and makes it simpler for drivers because they only have to overtake one cyclist-length, rather than two.

if you think cyclists in line are easier to overtake, that suggests you're not overtaking safely and you're squeezing past not leaving enough room. You should cross into the other lane to overtake a cyclist. Cycling two-abreast forces car drivers to give the same room they would give another car.

Finally, they're not "holding everyone up", they're using the road legitimately.

Remember, as a car driver you are only on the road by license - it is a privilege and not a right, and it can be removed.

@Mummyneedsacoffee - seriously? Cycle paths are for cyclists, to get them off the road for their own safety, to allow traffic to pass more easily etc or do you think there should be cycle lanes within cycle lanes now?

Or checking if their helmet cameras are in focus.

You shouldn’t have been overtaking close to a junction ….. end of story

YANBU, although you may have misinterpreted one of his hand signals, unfortunately most cyclists I've encountered on the roads are an absolute menace. I've always kept back and cursed their ineptitude under my breath, after all no need to be aggressive and perhaps cause an accident. However, I have had a cyclist almost ride into my car and swear at me... I think he got a shock when he got much worse back!
They're often a real danger if you're behind the wheel of a lorry too, frightening sometimes to see how happy so many are to undertake an artic or not keep a safe distance.

This topic gets incredibly heated because cyclists generally are very annoying and a menace to all road users and pedestrians
It gets heated because of idiots who think they know the highway code, feel they can tell cyclist off when ultimately, they are the ones in the wrong, endangering more vulnerable travellers and are the ones who deserve a nice telling off.

As for not wanting to leave one back in a carriage. Would you leave your car away from you with the key in and the door open? My oh bikes is worth £7k so indeed feels quite precious about it. He would accommodate other passenger but ultimately and his bike have as much rights to be there.

Remember as a cyclist, you are not paying road tax, now vehicle tax. Your safety is important but your misplaced arrogance is laughable when you don't pay for your privilege of using the roads.

This thread reads like a comments section from the Daily Mail.

YABU to be done with all cyclists. What does this even mean? That you hate them all?

I am a cyclist and a car driver. I like to think I am considerate of both, but don't we all, eh?

Like a pp the most frustrating is the large packs who split into smaller ones cycling 2 abreast on winding rural roads. It is nigh on impossible to pass one small pack, never mind get past another 3 or 4. Tractors and other slow moving vehicles have to pull over when it's safe if they are holding traffic up. I don't know if cyclists have to do the same.
I pull over to let a car past if I'm cycling on a narrow road.

You don't indicate to overtake a cyclist or a parked vehicle.

It wasn't a junction, he wanted to turn into a road at the right. There's no prohibition to overtaking there.

YANBU, although you may have misinterpreted one of his hand signals, unfortunately most cyclists I've encountered on the roads are an absolute menace
So that makes it ok then to have put this man's life at risk? Good grief. How about less energy trying to convince oneself they are right and actually educating themselves on the same rules they bleat about?

People’s opinions are formed based on their experiences. Negative experiences result in negative views.
I have negative views of motorcyclists, cyclists and dogs as my experiences of them have been overwhelmingly negative.

And they ruin it for the rest of them sadly.

@girlmom21 - I see it a lot, but it is without fail a teenage boy, dressed in dark clothes, no helmet, no lights, no hands on the handle bars, weaving left to right in the middle of the road going about 2 miles an hour. I appreciate they do not represent cyclists in the main however.

We have bikes and a car in our household. We don’t pay tax for any of them. The tax is an externality tax on emissions, not a permissive tax to use the roads. Nor is it spent on road maintenance.

My neighbour owns two cars, he doesn’t pay VED.

Knowing the highway code isn’t arrogance, its the bare minimum for a road user.

Just because its permissible doesn't mean its sensible. Riding 2 abreast simply holds up traffic and if you don't understand that that's another reason lots of us detest cyclists.

Wafted of the right arm could have easily been cyclist telling the OP that the road was clear and safe to pass. This is why all vehicles should be fitted with cameras.

You do realise that all of this would have been avoided if you had avoided overtaking at a junction? There's a reason that you're not supposed to do it - it's bloody dangerous.

Your behaviour on the road was worse than the cyclists.

1. Many if not most cyclists will own a car so will be paying VED.
2. VED is a charge on emissions. Low/zero emitting cars do not pay it.
3. VED is not ringfenced for spending on road infrastructure.

Whichever way you slice it, whether or not a road user is charged "road tax" for their chosen means of transportation means precisely fuck all when it comes to whether that person is entitled to use the roads.

Who does or doesn't 'pay for the privilege' of using the roads is entirely irrelevant. Anyone who is allowed to use the roads (whether they pay for it or not) is required to do so safely.

But he wasn't waving it around he was dangling it about 20 cm from his body, and wanting was purely movement as he rode, not a deliberate movement for slowing down. I know exactly what that is.