Please take a few minutes to read this (and possibly share on your facebook?)

Thanks

http://www.motoring.co.uk/car-news/cyclists-why-do-they-ride-in-the-middle-of-the-road-_62617

Edited 16 April, 201412 yr by aroncmc22

Yes interesting. I drive in the middle of the road approaching twin hump speed bumps for the same tactical reason as the cyclists in the article. There's an obstacle ahead - I do not want to be forced to collide with it.

Teaching cyclists how to try to make eye contact before they 'assume the primary position' would be good. That look backwards at driver in the car behind is usually enough for me as car driver to think a cyclist is about to do something, and back off, and might help them to notice the hurrying delivery van.

I ride a bicycle myself in good weather sometimes and I do get a little annoyed at a few cyclists who ride on a narrowed road in Cambridge when there's a signed separated cycle lane keeping them out of powered traffic flow. One I talked to said he did not like slowing down for the junctions. I thought he might say it is not as smooth as the road or car driveways can cross it or school children can suddenly emerge but I was wrong.

Holland has the law right though. The car driver is automatically liable in any car-bike collision. Does not take insurers long to get involved in cycle lane improvement schemes and so more people ride in cities cause it is more pleasant.

Is it also legal for them to ride through red lights and dart on and off the path nearly taking out both cars and pedestrians in the process?

Gotta love how they try and make cyclists out to be some sort of shining beacon of road safety and observation

Is it also legal for them to ride through red lights and dart on and off the path nearly taking out both cars and pedestrians in the process?

Gotta love how they try and make cyclists out to be some sort of shining beacon of road safety and observation

What sort of bikes have they got to be riding to 'take out cars'? There are many, many more illegal actions committed on a daily basis from motorists. How many drivers can say they drive lawfully 100% of the time? Speeding, dashing to make the orange light, checking phones, playing with stereo, middle lane driving etc etc.. The list goes on. Not to mention 24,000+ hit and runs a year, how many of them are caused by cyclists then hey?

As a cyclist myself, I gotta say, a lot of cyclists are a fkn liability.

Cyclists have a far better view, and have far greater agility. This makes for a certain level of assertive behaviour that a motorist can't always be prepared for.

I'll bet most accidents involving bikes were the cyclist being an idiot.

When its the motorists fault, its horrific though, with them not seeing the cyclist until they've hit them. So they often hit them whilst accelerating, not braking.

Is it also legal for them to ride through red lights and dart on and off the path nearly taking out both cars and pedestrians in the process?

Gotta love how they try and make cyclists out to be some sort of shining beacon of road safety and observation

What sort of bikes have they got to be riding to 'take out cars'? There are many, many more illegal actions committed on a daily basis from motorists. How many drivers can say they drive lawfully 100% of the time? Speeding, dashing to make the orange light, checking phones, playing with stereo, middle lane driving etc etc.. The list goes on. Not to mention 24,000+ hit and runs a year, how many of them are caused by cyclists then hey?

Did you write that article?

And, as operators of vehicles they have as much right to the whole lane as a motorist.

Ah cool, a cyclist acknowledges that I have every right to sit to the nearside kerb while I'm waiting in traffic.

Cyclists are a major liability and because car drivers always seem to get the blame then they are in a win win situation. If they're not riding like tools on the road then they're hurtling down the pavement plowing up pedestrians and I've had afew trim me up while I'm working.... although a reasonably heavy binbag soon stops em

its the electric bikes that really annoy me. Cant ride a go-ped on the street but you can operate an electric bike without a licence or insurance.... criminal!

Is it also legal for them to ride through red lights and dart on and off the path nearly taking out both cars and pedestrians in the process?

Gotta love how they try and make cyclists out to be some sort of shining beacon of road safety and observation

What sort of bikes have they got to be riding to 'take out cars'? There are many, many more illegal actions committed on a daily basis from motorists. How many drivers can say they drive lawfully 100% of the time? Speeding, dashing to make the orange light, checking phones, playing with stereo, middle lane driving etc etc.. The list goes on. Not to mention 24,000+ hit and runs a year, how many of them are caused by cyclists then hey?

Did you write that article?

No, why do you ask?

Cyclists are a major liability and because car drivers always seem to get the blame then they are in a win win situation. If they're not riding like tools on the road then they're hurtling down the pavement plowing up pedestrians and I've had afew trim me up while I'm working.... although a reasonably heavy binbag soon stops em

its the electric bikes that really annoy me. Cant ride a go-ped on the street but you can operate an electric bike without a licence or insurance.... criminal!

In what deluded way is it 'win win'? Who comes off worse if a cyclist and a car collide? Seems like you have a very exaggerated view of cyclists, you wanna try getting out of your little metal safe box and try cycling yourself once in a while, I bet your opinion would soon change

Yeti:

Would that not just be discourteous and totally belligerent? The sort of petty attitude that cyclists experience on a daily basis

I used to ride a hell of alot... in alot of european countries actually. What I'm saying is if a jerk on a pushbike whos hurtling down the pavement suddenly swerves into the road infront of me because hes riding like a tool why as a car driver should i take responsibility? I encounter lots of cyclists on my commute and even in the winter months many dont have lights or ride properly but yet again in the event of an accident they would manage to get round the law as the car driver would be done. Bloody stupid in my eyes.

Yeti:

Would that not just be discourteous and totally belligerent? The sort of petty attitude that cyclists experience on a daily basis

Because:

1 I'm allowing safe filtering to take place to my offside by people who know how to filter properly (generally motorcyclists who are trained to perform the manoeuvre).

2 This is the one cyclists can't comprehend, there are such things on the road as goods vehicles, be they wagons, or light vans (like the one I drive). These have a back on that the driver can't see through that they carry things in. This makes a big blindspot on the nearside, get bigger than the one on the offside.

Also if you were anywhere near as qualified to ride a pushbike as I am to ride a motorbike or drive a car, you wouldn't proceed into a risky manoeuvre where you have no opportunity for an alternate course.

So, use a little common sense and filter properly.

Or the other version is.

Cyclists often "block the road" in order to save their lives, and possibly yours, too.

but if someone who isn't a cyclist does the same, to save a cyclists life, they're

discourteous and totally belligerent

You see some of us think from a road safety point of view, some of us think from the "I've got a right to do this so I'm going to" point of view.

And, as operators of vehicles they have as much right to the whole lane as a motorist.

Ah cool, a cyclist acknowledges that I have every right to sit to the nearside kerb while I'm waiting in traffic.

Yeti:

Would that not just be discourteous and totally belligerent? The sort of petty attitude that cyclists experience on a daily basis

Because:

1 I'm allowing safe filtering to take place to my offside by people who know how to filter properly (generally motorcyclists who are trained to perform the manoeuvre).

2 This is the one cyclists can't comprehend, there are such things on the road as goods vehicles, be they wagons, or light vans (like the one I drive). These have a back on that the driver can't see through that they carry things in. This makes a big blindspot on the nearside, get bigger than the one on the offside.

Also if you were anywhere near as qualified to ride a pushbike as I am to ride a motorbike or drive a car, you wouldn't proceed into a risky manoeuvre where you have no opportunity for an alternate course.

So, use a little common sense and filter properly.

You did not mention these reasons in your first post, you made it sound as though you would do it just to deliberately hold cyclists on your nearside up for no other reason than sh1ts and giggles. That would be belligerent

Is it also legal for them to ride through red lights and dart on and off the path nearly taking out both cars and pedestrians in the process?

Gotta love how they try and make cyclists out to be some sort of shining beacon of road safety and observation

What sort of bikes have they got to be riding to 'take out cars'? There are many, many more illegal actions committed on a daily basis from motorists. How many drivers can say they drive lawfully 100% of the time? Speeding, dashing to make the orange light, checking phones, playing with stereo, middle lane driving etc etc.. The list goes on. Not to mention 24,000+ hit and runs a year, how many of them are caused by cyclists then hey?

Did you write that article?

No, why do ask?

Because you have exactly the same "cyclist is right, motorist is wrong" attitude as the writer of that article.

Since having a cyclist ride straight into my car door as I pulled up to a junction because the retard was riding on the path, at speed and didn't bother looking or slowing down for the junction, I've had very much of a Darwin view of cyclists. The way I see it is they can act as retarded as they like on the roads because they will come off much worse than I will sat in my car.

This spate of cyclists being killed in London is a prime example, every picture I've seen is of the bike lying under a truck that has been making a turn. As a motorist I'm fully aware of the way in which long vehicles operate and the blind spots they have to deal with. I know that if I get in the way of one while being in the drivers blind spot, I will come off worse even in my car. Unfortunately judging by this spate of deaths, it seems a lot of cyclists seem to think they can take on an artic and win

More lives would be saved by cyclists watching this video... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzL0Kyk4m-8&app=desktop

Than would be by some arrogant cyclist writing a very one sided article. As the current situation in London shows a fair amount of cyclists have a very poor understanding of how to negotiate traffic safely which is costing some their lives.

More lives would be saved by cyclists watching this video... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzL0Kyk4m-8&app=desktop

Than would be by some arrogant cyclist writing a very one sided article. As the current situation in London shows a fair amount of cyclists have a very poor understanding of how to negotiate traffic safely which is costing some their lives.

There is nothing arrogant about that article, it is written purely in a non-biased informational format. Unfortunately because it is about cyclists many motorists will be immediately on the defensive upon reading it because of the animosity that so so many motorists have towards cyclists.

Being both a cyclist and a motorist I have no "cyclist is right, motorist is wrong" attitude. However I do feel that cyclists more often than not get far more stick than they deserve.

At the end of the day we're all human so why is it such a fuss to share the roads?

You did not mention these reasons in your first post, you made it sound as though you would do it just to deliberately hold cyclists on your nearside up for no other reason than sh1ts and giggles. That would be belligerent

Same assumption every holier than thou cyclist makes.

I'll continue to make the assumption that everyone who filters on the left is a fucking idiot until proven otherwise.

C'mon... I've seen cyclists in london and they deserve to get squished some of them. See the top gear where they raced across london by cycle, boat and public transport. Every red light hammond came to on a pushbike he stopped and right on cue a couple of tools on bikes ride right through a red light. Now if my light was green and i proceeded to find myself colliding with one of these idiots my lifes ruined too but what the hey.... they have every right to the tarmac too......

Either to ride on or be squished into

"Non biased" are you for fucking real?

At what point does it tell cyclists not to ride like tools? It's wrote soley to tell motorists off. No mention at all of the many retarded cyclists that give bike riders a very bad name. So how is it non biased?

Edited 26 April, 201412 yr by Mclovin

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Edited 26 April, 201412 yr by MaxVW