Cyclists

Why does there have to be a cycling 'community' and why does it need to condemn/condone (some people up there ^^^^ getting those two mixed up btw :) ) the activities of anyone?

It seems a bizarre British thing where we take a completely innocuous activity which 99% of the population have done at one time or another and feel the need to create a tribal them and us culture.

I ride a bike now and then - sometimes at home for leisure, more frequently I hire a bike in London to commute but I'd never classify myself as a 'cyclist' or a member of a specific community including other cyclists, anymore that I'd brand myself a 'driver' because I use a car every day as well, they're both just a way to get around, not a lifestyle.

The example of the Netherlands is a good one - the vast majority of people over there ride bikes in their everyday clothes, you rarely see cyclists in lycra or helmets outside of sports meets and club competitions, yet here we have to try and make cycling into an activity that requires equipment and helmets and special shoes. It's all a bit sad.
 
yer_averagejoe said:
I didn't speed up when she tried to overtake and gave her room to do so. I've never seen a car slow down to let someone overtake them.

You're saying cyclists should slow down when motorists overtake them?

This was entirely her fault.
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Then you clearly don't drive very often (if at all), it doesn't matter if it was her fault or not these things happen.
You saw the potential danger - check
You adjusted your speed to let her get back into the lane like a car should - oh wait

People make mistakes, and if you are on the road you should be looking to mitigate risk not exasperate it... that's the point i was getting across

yer_averagejoe said:
Yeah in a town. Speed limit is 30mph on this road. In fairness I was probably doing closer to 25mph than 30.
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Proving my point above about maintaining a speed
 
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I'd say this was just a case of he's on a bike so i must overtake. She would have to accelerate to get past, even if yer_averagejoe had stopped she would have still gone through the lights on red as she was already going to quick.
 
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This morning on my commute I was coming up to a roundabout that required me to be in the middle lane, speed limit is 30, I was doing about 25 and had some driver blaring their horn at me, I couldn't pull over to the left as there was a stream of traffic, and pulling over to the right would be dangerous. So because the motorist missed out on 5mph of speed for 100m or so, I got 10 seconds of horn.
I had a right mind to slow down to 10mph or so and hold him up longer.
 
Chronictank said:
You saw the potential danger - check
Click to expand...

There was no potential danger at the point of overtake. The lights were still green. She was already traveling at a dangerous speed when they changed. I had no reason to slow down. Anwyay, as I've already stated, she didn't need to complete the overtake. She could have just slowed down beside me.

Is 25mph in a 30mph zone not acceptable?
 
A lot of motorists can't see past their own bonnet.
I see a lot of drivers accelerating towards a red light or a queue of traffic. Someone should tell them that's it's average speed that counts not max speed ;)
 
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Chronictank said:
Then you clearly don't drive very often (if at all), it doesn't matter if it was her fault or not these things happen.
You saw the potential danger - check
You adjusted your speed to let her get back into the lane like a car should - oh wait

People make mistakes, and if you are on the road you should be looking to mitigate risk not exasperate it... that's the point i was getting across


Proving my point above about maintaining a speed
Click to expand...

Technically they're both in the wrong, he should have slowed down when he saw that the she had made a massive error with her overtaking. Fact is though, if she was a decent driver the situation wouldn't have arose.

Also in reaction to "you clearly don't drive often", she clearly doesn't cycle often as forcing a cyclist to compensate for her mistake by slowing down is really annoying for the cyclist. Acceleration consumes a lot of energy.

The fact is, both cyclists and motorists have the same rights to be on the road. He may not appreciate that "these things happen" from the point of view of the motorist, but she also doesn't appreciate that "these things happen" from the point of view of the cyclist.
 
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Chronictank said:
Easy solution to cyclists, put fog horns on cars when they try and jump a light give them a good 10 second blast
They will either lose their hearing in one ear stopping them from maintaining their balance and ultimately cycling or learn their lesson :p whichever comes first
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what if one of those cyclists fell under your wheels after the horn and died or got handicapped for the rest of his life? would it be as fun? idiot.
 
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The video is clearly the "violent protesters" in the "cycling community", bunch of suicidal idiots.

For those who care, that's a +1 for a cyclist who thought that video was idiotic
 
yer_averagejoe said:
Is 25mph in a 30mph zone not acceptable?
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Round here 30 in a 30 isn't acceptable, going by the speed cars approach in my mirrors when I drive at that speed. I also think people feel pressured by the cars behind them to attempt an overtake at the first opportunity.
 
Chronictank said:
Then you clearly don't drive very often (if at all), it doesn't matter if it was her fault or not these things happen.
You saw the potential danger - check
You adjusted your speed to let her get back into the lane like a car should - oh wait

People make mistakes, and if you are on the road you should be looking to mitigate risk not exasperate it... that's the point i was getting across


Proving my point above about maintaining a speed
Click to expand...

Actually, the cyclist was in a town, so a 30mph speed limit, and was matching closely (read: not going) the 30mph speed limit. He did not need to slow down, which if i'm not mistaken, is why car drivers hate cyclists (due to their slow speed)

She should have used her brain, and seen the traffic lights ahead and thought 'oh wait, there are traffic lights 400 yards ahead of me, i'll be patient and go past the cyclist then'...But noooooooooooooo.

This is exactly the reason why people who have NOT done their hazzard perception test when they passed their license should have to do it now / at their license renewal. The woman was daft, end of
 
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yer_averagejoe said:
There was no potential danger at the point of overtake. The lights were still green. She was already traveling at a dangerous speed when they changed. I had no reason to slow down. Anwyay, as I've already stated, she didn't need to complete the overtake. She could have just slowed down beside me.

Is 25mph in a 30mph zone not acceptable?
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NO ITS NOT! :p

Seriously, I do this is my car sometimes and get some dirrrrrrrrtty looks
 
Going home yesterday I'm cycling between two rows of parks cars well clear of the door zone on both sides (so in the middle of the road). I saw a Mini heading towards the row of parked cars from the far end, seeing as I had already entered the row of parked cars and thus had right of way. As I was doing a good lick (about 20mph) I thought I'd be out of the cars way soonish and all he would need to do was slow down a little.

What did he do? Move to the middle of the road, speed up and aim at me. I held my ground and he is giving me gestures and abuse. I calmly pointed out my right of way and carried on.

I get this kind of behaviour all the time. Far more than the bad cycling examples I see.
 
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