Please respect cyclists when out and about in your car

[DrNortherner]

My dh is a cyclist, he cycles everywhere, including performance cycling in the Dales.

So many cars do not give him space when over taking, refuse to hang back and speed past him on roundabouts.

Cyclists are very vulnerable on busy roads, they do not have an engine and go a bit slower than cars. So please just hang back a little.

This was prompted by dh's mum who picked me up from work on Tuesday then she sped up the arse of a cycling whilst bellowing "The day you pay road tax mate is the day I won't run you over"

But then she is a mad old cow
Thank you

Thanks Blu for understanding the point I am trying to make

roads should be better maintained as well. Our road has some holes at the side that make cyclists have to out more in the traffic sometimes.

Peace & harmony - well said pbk.

MadameCastafiore, that must have been horrible, you have my sympathy. But maybe you could make the mental effort to separate that ONE cyclist from all the millions of cyclists who haven't run over you?

In any case, DrNortherner isn't asking you to 'have good feelings' about cyclists, just to treat them safely.

Cupsoftea - agree absolutely that cyclists should not ride on pavements. The other things you ask about are messier, IMO, because in many countries it is perfectly acceptable for cyclists to do things like turn left on red, go against the motorised traffic on a one-way street. And those can be safer options in some circs than going with the flow of motor vehicles. Cyclists who make those choices are often using their common-sense in ways not obvious to drivers, rather than being reckless.

Oh god, those shared bike-and-pedestrian lanes are completely useless. Pedestrians really really don't respect the lines, and they're terrible at going in straight lines, signalling before turning, etc etc. I hate sharing space with pedestrians. (Our lcoal canals have towpaths, but I use them as little as possible for this reason.)

Blu you said it well- I concur!

I don't mind being overtaken, I think I would be a selfish road user if I did- I certainly don't expect everyone to go at my leg power speed (especially up some of the hills around here- and there are many!) and in my experience most folk give me enough room.

I do get scared going around big roundabouts though, and whilst I risk it on my own I tend to take the pedestrians route when I have my ds on the back. Mind you I do tend to be more defensive in my cycling, rather than agressive (I never go through red lights or cut in front of motors for eg) but I am v aware that I may be tarred by the same brush and "attacked" by disgruntled drivers.

BTW your mil sounds like a pill!lol I had a taxi driver who revved and lunged at a pedestrian on a zebra crossing shouting abuse and threatening to run him down!!!!! I really should have reported the psycho!

I sometimes break the rules when cycling, too. For instance, I recently hopped on pavement when the pavement was clear and cars were struggling from 3 directions to get by each other and lots of other parked cars -- I did this as a favour to all the other road users, there simply wasn't space for them all, never mind me and them on the road. I'd hate to get fined for it. I think I was otherwise in my rights to simply wait and stare at them while they sorted themselves out in complicated reversing maneuvers, that's what would have had to happen if I had been driving myself.

zazette - didn't know this. Commonsense makes sense. Just that in the past few days I have had to take measures to avoid incidents with cyclists doing to much their own thing. Pulling out to cycle on a one way road from between parked cars & screeching to a halt as someone just went from pavement to ped crossing in a flash.

I sometimes wonder if motorists don't understand how their aggressive or reckless behaviour endangers the cyclist - I still shudder thinking of the time a few months ago where I overtook an SUV (stereotypical, black, very shiny with tinted windows) at a red light and pulled into the red area for cyclists. She blasted her horn at me and drove along side me for about a hundred yards, very close to me and shaking her fist. I had come into no contact with her vehicle so I imagine she was just angry at my existance, or that a mere cyclist had the temerity to get in front of her for a few seconds.

If a cyclist shakes their fist at a motorist, it is in no way as threatening.

It really isn't just one cyclist - if you walk around London you practically have to dodge them at every road crossing - I sometimes dream of having a stick to poke in their wheels when they don't stop for pedestrians!

And I stand corrected - I will only ever refer to exactly what someone posts on here FFS - are you the MN Police?

But cyclist get the same in equal measure from pedestrians wandering out into the road because the cars are at a standstill, particularly when there is a cycle lane. I am constantly having to dodge jaywalkers who feel that we cyclist should get out of their way. I've been knocked off my bike 3 times in the same number of months by pedestrians crossing the road without looking and then walk away shrugging leaving me injured and having to pay out to get my bike fixed. Luckily I have not sustained any serious injury.

Can I say something about London cyclists... not all of them, just the worst London offenders, the Oxford Street Nutters --
the worst ones seem like couriers (who are on frantic deadlines, anyway), AND...foreigners. They seem like young men in cheap clothes, wearing styles I associate with poor countries of the world... bluntly, they look like Asylum seekers.

This is not to diss foreigners, I am a foreigner. But if you come from a place with terrible traffic control, it's not surprised you cycle like a maniac.

lljkk, your mother ship is calling.

Tell that to the cyclist who went through a red light at a junction I was crossing and started swearing and gesticulating at me as I had the "nerve" to go through a green light.

There are just bad road users, car drivers and cyclists.

I too seem to get more grief from pedestrians than from drivers, but then again most of my cycling is done on a cycle track that is right next to a footpath. I regularly get glared at by pedestrians (who completely ignore the lines separating the footpath from the bicycle track) when I ring my bell to warn them that a bike is coming DOWN THE CYCLE TRACK, shock horror!! it really gets my goat...

good op, dh is a cyclist. I give them plenty of respect. just can't abide the sunday cyclists.