Cyclists

Ah, another OCUK anti-cyclist thread, is it that time again so soon?

I still don't get this constant argument and moaning about cyclists damaging cars. I cycle to work and I drive my car in and around London. I've never once damaged a car, nor has my car been damaged by a cyclist. I've also never seen much more than the odd wing mirror scrape which does no damage.

At the end of the day, any kind of serious physical damage to a car is likely to mean the bicycle and cyclist is going to be the worse off.
 
Cycling in this country is flirting with danger. Cycle on the busy main road and get killed or cycle on the deserted pavement and be fined, despite it being no different to a using a mobility scooter.
 
Energize said:
Cycling in this country is flirting with danger. Cycle on the busy main road and get killed or cycle on the deserted pavement and be fined, despite it being no different to a using a mobility scooter.
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Precisely :)

which is why I walk on the pavement, occasionally knocked by a bloody cyclist on the pavement :mad:

///they *ought to be on the road*
 
I'm guilty of jumping between pavement and road. However, I do this depending on the particular stretch of road and pavement and more importantly as a reaction to the drivers around me. If I fear a driver is going to do something stupid and bring harm to me (as people just love to hate on cyclists), I try and jump onto the pavement for a little bit. Likewise, on the pavement I can't always go thundering down due to pedestrians and thus I'll hop off onto the road to avoid harassing them.

Earlier, I was riding in the road and had a car sat behind me for quite some time. The road began to narrow to a red-light and I was unable to / unwilling to filter down the left side of the cars to the front. As the car behind me got too close for comfort, the fact the road narrowed ahead and the fact it was going up hill and I was likely to get bullied into a lamp-post, I quickly sped up and hopped up a curb ready to cross a pelican crossing instead. At the back of my mind, I was already thinking about plebs like the OP complaining about it.

I'm always courteous of others around me which is why you will find me hopping between road and pavement. I'm perfectly happy to stick to the road, but conditions are not always as safe for me sitting on a light frame as it is for drivers inside their little cages. As a cyclist, for your own safety more than anything, you need to be a little pragmatic.

Let's take the other night for example, shall we? I was riding home from work in the road, lights blinking on and off, coming down hill. I'd just crossed one mini-roundabout, then as I came to approach another, a taxi which was sat there for a little while decided to pull out on me then slam on his brakes. I'd anticipated what he was going to do, so I was ready to respond and whilst riding my brakes, I just glided around him and gave him a little wave to let him know it's not a big deal.

Now, my question is this: I could've if circumstances had transpired differently, ended up in hospital thanks to this situation. What would you have me do in future? Continue to risk such an injury from drivers not paying attention, or being aggressive, or simply hop on the pavement when approaching such junctions and avoid it altogether? Incidently, I also nearly had a woman on a school-run nearly run me over as she wasn't paying attention a week ago too. All this because I decided to ride in the road for a change.

If you've got nothing better to do than moan at a cyclist simply pragmatically navigating their way from A to B whilst causing no harm, being considerate, but doing nothing more than alternating tarmac, then I suggest you grow up.

Don't forget cyclists can also become tired, unlike that 1.4 combustion engine you're relying on. It makes sense to hop onto the pavement from time-to-time, lest the cyclist hold up any more impatient cretins behind a wheel of a car.

If you want to rage at something. Rage at the fact that an adequate cycle infrastructure doesn't exist in this country and instead cyclists are stuck between a rock and a hard-place; ride in the road and you **** off drivers. Ride on the pavement and you **** off everyone else. Or, why not rage against all those stupid women who still think it's appropriate to drive whilst on their mobile-phones and in charge of a few ton of potentially lethal machinery.

The only thing that I will never condone is cutting a red-light; that's just complete stupidity.
 
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Nix said:
I'm guilty of jumping between pavement and road. However, I do this depending on the particular stretch of road and pavement and more importantly as a reaction to the drivers around me. If I fear a driver is going to do something stupid and bring harm to me (as people just love to hate on cyclists), I try and jump onto the pavement for a little bit. Likewise, on the pavement I can't always go thundering down due to pedestrians and thus I'll hop off onto the road to avoid harassing them.

Earlier, I was riding in the road and had a car sat behind me for quite some time. The road began to narrow to a red-light and I was unable to / unwilling to filter down the left side of the cars to the front. As the car behind me got too close for comfort, the fact the road narrowed ahead and the fact it was going up hill and I was likely to get bullied into a lamp-post, I quickly sped up and hopped up a curb ready to cross a pelican crossing instead. At the back of my mind, I was already thinking about plebs like the OP complaining about it.

I'm always courteous of others around me which is why you will find me hopping between road and pavement. I'm perfectly happy to stick to the road, but conditions are not always as safe for me sitting on a light frame as it is for drivers inside their little cages. As a cyclist, for your own safety more than anything, you need to be a little pragmatic.

Let's take the other night for example, shall we? I was riding home from work in the road, lights blinking on and off, coming down hill. I'd just crossed one mini-roundabout, then as I came to approach another, a taxi which was sat there for a little while decided to pull out on me then slam on his brakes. I'd anticipated what he was going to do, so I was ready to respond and whilst riding my brakes, I just glided around him and gave him a little wave to let him know it's not a big deal.

Now, my question is this: I could've if circumstances had transpired differently, ended up in hospital thanks to this situation. What would you have me do in future? Continue to risk such an injury from drivers not paying attention, or being aggressive, or simply hop on the pavement when approaching such junctions and avoid it altogether? Incidently, I also nearly had a woman on a school-run nearly run me over as she wasn't paying attention a week ago too. All this because I decided to ride in the road for a change.

If you've got nothing better to do than moan at a cyclist simply pragmatically navigating their way from A to B whilst causing no harm, being considerate, but doing nothing more than alternating tarmac, then I suggest you grow up.

Don't forget cyclists can also become tired, unlike that 1.4 combustion engine you're relying on. It makes sense to hop onto the pavement from time-to-time, lest the cyclist hold up any more impatient cretins behind a wheel of a car.

If you want to rage at something. Rage at the fact that an adequate cycle infrastructure doesn't exist in this country and instead cyclists are stuck between a rock and a hard-place; ride in the road and you **** off drivers. Ride on the pavement and you **** off everyone else. Or, why not rage against all those stupid women who still think it's appropriate to drive whilst on their mobile-phones and in charge of a few ton of potentially lethal machinery.

The only thing that I will never condone is cutting a red-light; that's just complete stupidity.
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very good post! :)
 
I often cycle on a short stretch of pavement between the cycle track and country roads for safety reasons, at such a slow speed a bike has less momentum than a mobility scooter, so there are no safety concerns. I certainly don't want to be on the busy main road and will gladly risk a £30 fine to avoid death.

Quite frankly for all I know it could still be part of the track because there is no sign saying that the cycle path has ended and it doesn't make sense to have a cycle track that only goes half way down the exact same busy road that cyclists want to avoid, so one could make that assumption. A testament to how bad this countries provisions are really.
 
the funny thing with cycle paths in london is that they are often located on the PAVEMENT so you can imagine how many pedestrians walk over it.. makes it impossible to ride :/
 
grudas said:
the funny thing with cycle paths in london is that they are often located on the PAVEMENT so you can imagine how many pedestrians walk over it.. makes it impossible to ride :/
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Should be like abroad, if you walk on a cycle path you get mowed down :p
 
Argh cyclists make me rage so bad. :mad:


  • Wait for an opportunity to overtake.
  • Overtake.
  • Get caught in traffic/lights
  • Cyclist filters through.
  • Wait for another opportunity to overtake.

The cycle goes on and on. Why don't you just **** off :mad:
 
Must admit it does annoy me when I see a cyclist riding down a road when there is a 'cycle path' next to them. A path which has been specifically made for cyclists.

Should be an offense in my opinion.

Got to love how angry they get when something almost happens though :D
 
Thunderbolt said:
Gotta love messing with cyclists.
Nothing makes me feel more manly than attempting to kill someone because they've made my journey a little longer. :s
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I agree. Having to put my foot down a little bit to get around a cyclist fills me with a level of rage that I simply cannot convey. Why can't they just save up and buy a car like normal people? I'm tired of hearing that we need to get more people out of their cars; I believe that we need to get everybody into a car. Preferably a car each, because sharing is for limp-wristed communists.
 
asim18 said:
Argh cyclists make me rage so bad. :mad:


  • Wait for an opportunity to overtake.
  • Overtake.
  • Get caught in traffic/lights
  • Cyclist filters through.
  • Wait for another opportunity to overtake.

The cycle goes on and on. Why don't you just **** off :mad:
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See this is what I mean about drivers lack of patience and bad attitude. What you're really saying is that you're annoyed a cyclist is getting through the traffic just as quickly as you are in your car. You can overtake on the open bits and the bike on the congested (by other cars!) bits. If that cyclist wasn't on the road you wouldnt be any faster because you would still get stuck at the traffic / lights
 
Oh this carp again. Car drivers hate cyclists, cyclists hate car drivers, both hate pedestrians, pedestrians hate them back. Who cares, live and let live.
 
EdGey said:
Must admit it does annoy me when I see a cyclist riding down a road when there is a 'cycle path' next to them. A path which has been specifically made for cyclists.

Should be an offense in my opinion.

Got to love how angry they get when something almost happens though :D
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the problem with cycle paths (here at least) is that pedestrians use it rather than use the pavement, or people think it's for parking their car in so it's easier and faster to go on the road

there's also cycle lanes painted onto some roads but again there's cars parked in them and quite often motorists driving on them, they're also full of drains and drain covers, i try to use them where possible but more often than not it's easier and safer to stay on the road proper
 
Aero said:
I'm glad this thread come up actually as I had an "incident" with a cyclist on saturday evening. Me and the gf were heading to the cinema, we come up to a set of cross roads with the intention of turning left (indicator on), the light was one green as I approached so I carried on through however luckily due to the tight angle of the corner I had to slow down significantly.

As I'm turning left some **** on his bmx who I saw racing down the pavement decides to jump across the road just in front of my car. I slam on the breaks and I mean slam. Otherwise I've got no doubt I'd have hit the little ****er.

Now at this point I'll admit I saw a bit of red! Not so much because the lad nearly hit my car (tbh it's a load of old junk) but more so I nearly hit the lad himself and thats not something I want to be responsible for.

So in my fit of rage I shoved the car into first gear and gave chase to the **** on his bmx, causing him to suddenly start to panic! He's desperately peddling faster but there's no way he's going to out pace the car, his baseball caps flies off his head he's pedaling so fast. The girlfriend by this point is telling me to stop. All I wanted to do and all I did was drive by and shout at the **** calling him a grade A ***hole.

Luckily no one was hurt I just hope he think's twice about doing it again....
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You're lucky he didn't report you to the police imo
 
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