Are cyclists hated in your country?

[boyl99]

I am in the UK, and cyclists are subject to hatred, both generally and in the media.

Any cycling infrastructure plans are attacked as being "anti-motorist", we are all inconsiderate scum who clog up the roads, jump red lights, etc.

Is your country equally anti-cyclist?

The Dutch carry all sorts on their bikes - it doesn’t really cause a problem because they have great infrastructure.

So much of the things complained about on this thread could be alleviated if the UK adopted Dutch engineering standards - if you haven’t heard of the Dutch Sustainable Safety approach, take the time to look it up. It would make cycling - and driving and walking - much safer and easier if the UK adopted its principles.

I think the majority of people think that there are consequences for drivers who don't follow the rules but there is no accountability for cyclists. No way of finding those who jump red lights as they are not registered anywhere like drivers are, they don't have insurance and so on.

Cause it's fun to watch you turn red and froth at the mouth ;)

I don't care. Cyclists ride aggressively in spaces where I am as a pedestrian. And instead of saying yeah sorry we need to stop doing that you spout this car stuff. This is why people hate cyclists.

Cycling in the Netherlands is a completely different experience - we felt safe over there and it was great to be able to cycle round the small towns.

A couple of points though. Firstly, my friend is from the Netherlands and cycles everywhere when she goes home, but is amazed at our approach to cycling here - she couldn't believe that cyclists will cycle on busy 50 and 60 mph roads here, she said they just wouldn't do that on similar roads back home. Secondly, while we were on holiday we saw two separate accidents - both cyclists were ok but shaken in the first, and one cyclist was hurt in the second and an ambulance was being called. They had both hit each other at speed, it was awful to watch. I'd always been under the impression that people pootled about gently on their bikes, but there's definitely speed involved with some!

I think we all know that most of the time, especially these days, there are no consequences for drivers. Besides, as I mentioned earlier, drivers kill an average of more than a pedestrian per day, and injure dozens of others. It’s common sense that the consequences for dangerous driving must be much more severe than dangerous cycling.

I’m a motorist, I don’t currently own a bike. I do, however, possess the critical thinking skills that allow me to understand that motor vehicles are hundreds of times more dangerous to pedestrians than bicycles, and the statistics bear this out.

Cycling in Lanzarote was amazing. Courteous and very careful drivers. And the roads were amazing. No bloody potholes

In the Netherlands though, there is a comprehensive cycle network that covers the entire country. It’s also really well signposted & very easy to use. The lanes are wide and smooth and the junctions are designed so that you can cycle through them easily. The big difference that I notice in the Netherlands is that I rarely have to put my foot down or dismount and push on a route - this means that although I don’t cycle any faster in the Netherlands, journey times are considerably quicker than here as I’m not having to stop at poorly designed junctions or other places where the cycle route stops. No-one would cycle on a fast & busy road in the Netherlands as there will be an alternative route that is much nicer and quicker to cycle on.

Whereas where I live, if you want to cycle you will inevitably end up on a busy road. There’s even an A-road near me which has really narrow cycle lanes painted on them. Personally, I wouldn’t use them but you can’t really blame the very few who do - after all that’s what National Highways has provided for us to cycle. If I wanted to cycle in that direction to a nearby town (which would be lovely as it’s v pretty & has nice shops & places to eat) then there is an alternative route that includes meandering around some housing estates (the route isn’t obvious & it’s poorly signed), finding a bridge over a motorway (again poorly signed) then cycling on road (also busy & prone to close passes). National Highways did some work on the motorway & had the chance to upgrade the bridge, which could triggered improvements along the whole route & would have been useful for people walking / cycling to school & shops - but they didn’t. The result is that you either mix with the traffic (dangerous) or you stick to the routes you feel safe on (which means a lot of the local area becomes inaccessible by bike). This is in an area where a large chunk of households have no access to a car & to me this just feels unjust - it would be so much nicer & better for people’s health if people had routes to easily walk & cycle out of town to neighbouring towns & other local destinations.

The cycle collisions sound really awful to see, but on the whole the Dutch cycle network has improved their road safety. One thing I have read about the Netherlands is that they do investigate collisions to see if they can improve the road design to prevent similar type of collisions in future. That’s another thing I wish the UK would adopt.

I am in the UK, and cyclists are subject to hatred, both generally and in the media.
Any cycling infrastructure plans are attacked as being "anti-motorist", we are all inconsiderate scum who clog up the roads, jump red lights, etc.
Is your country equally anti-cyclist? https://routerlogin.uno/

I got this,...

Im in Sweden and rarely see cyclists on the roads in my area. They use the network of well maintained cycle routes. Here everyone hates A-traktors.

I don’t think cyclists are hated. I occasionally commute to work by bike and it works well for me. I do think there could be more awareness about cyclists and how we can all share the road more safely.

I'm also in the UK, in a relatively quiet corner of the country with very little specific cycling infrastructure, and aggression towards cyclists is uncommon, possibly because cyclists aren't seen as a different species, we all are one or are close to one.

We can’t all share the road safely though due to the considerable differences in speed and mass between different types of road users. Fit adults might be able to cycle on the road relatively safely, but it’s unlikely a 10 or 11 year old could mix it safely with the traffic on their way to school.

Sharing the road has been said for years and it hasn’t worked. What it does achieve is restricting children’s cycling which isn’t a good solution given the well-documented problems with child obesity & mental health. It also restricts women’s cycling (not least because women do most of the child care).

What does work is following national engineering standards and designing streets to meet the needs of all travellers, rather than just focussing on drivers.

Yes they are hated universally here, both on the road and on the path

Did you report it to the Nearly Police? They are v busy though. Or to the Civil Aviation Authority for flying without a licence? We should know.

I don't hate my 60 yr old cycling friend who obeys all the highway code and cycles to and from the tennis club, but I LOATHE the obnoxious, lycra-clad older men's cycling club members who ride in a pack of 6 (in 3 pairs) at a leisurely 15-20 miles an hour on single lane country roads on a Saturday morning, seemingly oblivious to the two-mile tailback of traffic trailing them, trying to get kids to swimming and football etc.

If they rode single file there would be sufficient room to overtake with more than the required 1.5m leeway, but no, they have to ride in their peleton. Knobs.

And I also hate the opinionated (always) men in the local cycling campaign group who rock up on any local FB discussion about local road cycle path/ parking changes etc declaring that there is absolutely NO REASON why anyone living within a three mile radius shouldn't cycle their children to school.
It's clear these men have NEVER had to do a school run with two children at schools 2.5 miles apart, bringing cricket bags and a cello to school, before continuing on to work themselves. Knobs.

I live near several underpasses and I get fed up of cyclists who ignore the 'no cycling" signs. They carrying on riding and assume that pedestrians will get out of the way.

I am in England. Cyclists aren’t hated. Not by me anyway. My DH is a cyclist.Will just add that he stops at red lights and obeys the Highway Code.
I dislike the 3 abreast on a narrow country road cyclists who are so arrogant they don’t drop to single file when cars are passing.

You need to refresh the company you keep.

I hate arrogant rwats, be they cyclists or motorists or pedestrians.

You have all that space and long distances to drive. I live in the SE of the UK and have excellent public transport. What do people do in Australia when they get too old to drive?

If they rode single file, it would take longer to overtake them. By riding two abreast, they present a much shorter, and therefore quicker and easier, target for overtaking.

The road is about 2.5 car widths wide -enough to allow safe passing of one cyclist without driving into oncoming traffic. By riding in a block of 6 in a country road, with twists, turns and dips, they ensure no cars have any chance of passing them for over three miles, hence the long tailbacks behind them.
It’s entitled, selfish and knobbish behaviour. God forbid anything might interfere with the MAMIL’s Saturday bike ride…

The road is about 2.5 car widths wide -enough to allow safe passing of one cyclist without driving into oncoming traffic. By riding in a block of 6 in a country road, with twists, turns and dips, they ensure no cars have any chance of passing them for over three miles, hence the long tailbacks behind them.
It’s entitled, selfish and knobbish behaviour. God forbid anything might interfere with the MAMIL’s Saturday bike ride…