Excessive cars parked on the roads drives me up the wall more often than not there is no reason for it beyond people being lazy and inconsiderate.
Does something need to be done about illegal/unlicenced/uninsured electric vehicles on our roads (and pavements)
- Thread starter silvagti
- Start date
Excessive cars parked on the roads drives me up the wall more often than not there is no reason for it beyond people being lazy and inconsiderate.
I’m increasingly of the opinion that we have given car drivers far far too much, to the point where we have normalised it and any attempt to reel it back, would be met with contempt and derision. I almost think that car owners shouldn’t be allowed to own a car unless they have a private space to leave it instead of tax payers footing the bill and people think they have divine right to own a car and have the state pay for a place for it to park over night. I think some parts of Japan do this.
I know for a fact that one of my co-workers has a household with 4 cars and 1 parking space
Both parents and both kids. I can only assume they impose on the neighbourhood every single night.
It is quite a common thing in this day and age - our whole society has oriented around it. A lot of newer build houses have limited parking while you are realistically going to have multiple car owners living there especially with the cost of living and rent/house prices these days :s
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Soldato
It can't be that bad then if they can run a car.
Man of Honour
But 99% of car drivers think they already pay a special tax that pays for them to be on the road.
Underboss
sticking out ? great idea, except its 2m overtaking not 1.5m i think
Suspended
Here's an answer to your question: I know it's not fashionable nowadays but I try not to worry about every little thing in life.
Stress will kill you sooner than most of the things people worry about.
Man of Honour
This is my story, I did just write an essay but condensed it.
I started cycle commuting in 2010 and by 2011 my stress levels were through the roof with the daily incidents of car drivers (notice it is ONLY car drivers and not Professionals) and I was on the way to a heart attack.
During that time I bought a head cam and every day showed the wife the daily incident or incidents, after a week she said she didn't want to see any more because it was too upsetting. Luckily it broke and Curry's had no more so I had my money back.
The funny thing is a lot of 'close calls' are people like her who have zero idea how to act around cyclists and to this day I have to talk her into going past cyclists.
I'd finally given up cycling and talked to a mate about it who said I had the wrong attitude going out, I went out prepared for battle but he asked "Have you ever been hurt by any of these idiots?" to which I replied "No".
He suggested I go out with a calmer attitude, just roll eyes when I have a close call and carry on, I'll be honest that talk changed my life and that's how I still go out by not worrying about things that haven't happened.
Indeed, all fuels the entitlement. Car drivers are by and large the scum of the transport system, for how much they cost society Vs what they achieve, they need taking down.
Soldato
As someone that drives, rides and walks to work in almost equal measure, I have to say I find cyclists worse than car drivers when it comes to entitled behaviour.
I specifically mean, I might happen across 1 in 50-100 cars that might not give a full 2M of clearance/give way when necessary or maybe 1 in 200+ cars that might even shout something derogatory, but I see 1 in 2 cyclists flouting the rules and generally being douchebags to pedestrians..
This may be around me, but we have many cyclists that use pavements that aren't shared and I've been hit by one myself (took 3 months of Physio at my expense to sort out), the utter diregard for pedestrians around me is staggering, we have a cross roads that many cyclists just hop on the pavement at speed, go around a blind 90 degree corner at hte lights, and jump back on the road to avoid the lights.. I've seen 2 people hit by cyclists (minor glances) and we have had an elderly person knocked off their feet.. I've been walking around that corner and been confronted by a speeding cyclist, I stood my ground, made them slow down and took a load of abuse..
Even this morning, I'm cycling to work, we have a large cycle way project going on, there are small sections of the cycle path you can get on to, so some cyclists (including myself) are trying to use this, we have 3 cyclists using the pedestrian section, at speed bombing by pedestrians walking to work/walking their dogs..
When walking around at lunchtime (just around our business park) we get cyclists jumping on the pavement (not shared) because of the road works, and just go full pelt at you (15-20MPH) and get shirty if you don't dive out the way..
Even though I cycle, I have a low opinion of many cyclists and think they are inflaming the issue with cars as they literally take the mickey most of the time..
Even the open sections of the cycleway cause issues as we have a lovely new cycle way, only for 50% of the cyclists won't use it.. I've spoken with one and it's hilarious to hear the reason is it might add a few minutes to their journey as they have driveways and junctions that would slow them down.. instead they prefer cycling on the roads that have been reduced in width making them harder or presenting less opportunities for cars to overtake with 2M of clearance which seems like increasing your risk for no reason other than a lack of patience..
And as stated I do get idiots in cars/vans, but as a percentage it's massively smaller.. I had a car yell at me to get on the cycle path (it has a sign saying 'cycleway suspended' on that section.. and a van that despite me arriving first at a pinch point created by 2 cars parked opposite each other just thought he'd barrel through and got shirty when he found me in the middle of the road..
Its the level of hypocrisy I see in many cyclists.. they say cars should not be impatient and surely their lives are worth the 5 minutes of inconvenience to a car driver, then as soon as they are near a pedestrian decide that they are being inconvenienced and barge by at speed, dangerously..
Even this morning with all the roadworks going on, I'm approaching cones and a road narrowing and of the 4 cyclists in front, not a single one does a 'lifesaver' and check there is nothing around before moving over where the restriction is, they just blindly move over suddenly.. if there was another cyclist alongside or even a car that is overtaking inappropriately at the last minute, they would be oblivious which feels inherently unsafe to me.. I always check before moving my position, no matter what..
I specifically mean, I might happen across 1 in 50-100 cars that might not give a full 2M of clearance/give way when necessary or maybe 1 in 200+ cars that might even shout something derogatory, but I see 1 in 2 cyclists flouting the rules and generally being douchebags to pedestrians..
This may be around me, but we have many cyclists that use pavements that aren't shared and I've been hit by one myself (took 3 months of Physio at my expense to sort out), the utter diregard for pedestrians around me is staggering, we have a cross roads that many cyclists just hop on the pavement at speed, go around a blind 90 degree corner at hte lights, and jump back on the road to avoid the lights.. I've seen 2 people hit by cyclists (minor glances) and we have had an elderly person knocked off their feet.. I've been walking around that corner and been confronted by a speeding cyclist, I stood my ground, made them slow down and took a load of abuse..
Even this morning, I'm cycling to work, we have a large cycle way project going on, there are small sections of the cycle path you can get on to, so some cyclists (including myself) are trying to use this, we have 3 cyclists using the pedestrian section, at speed bombing by pedestrians walking to work/walking their dogs..
When walking around at lunchtime (just around our business park) we get cyclists jumping on the pavement (not shared) because of the road works, and just go full pelt at you (15-20MPH) and get shirty if you don't dive out the way..
Even though I cycle, I have a low opinion of many cyclists and think they are inflaming the issue with cars as they literally take the mickey most of the time..
Even the open sections of the cycleway cause issues as we have a lovely new cycle way, only for 50% of the cyclists won't use it.. I've spoken with one and it's hilarious to hear the reason is it might add a few minutes to their journey as they have driveways and junctions that would slow them down.. instead they prefer cycling on the roads that have been reduced in width making them harder or presenting less opportunities for cars to overtake with 2M of clearance which seems like increasing your risk for no reason other than a lack of patience..
And as stated I do get idiots in cars/vans, but as a percentage it's massively smaller.. I had a car yell at me to get on the cycle path (it has a sign saying 'cycleway suspended' on that section.. and a van that despite me arriving first at a pinch point created by 2 cars parked opposite each other just thought he'd barrel through and got shirty when he found me in the middle of the road..
Its the level of hypocrisy I see in many cyclists.. they say cars should not be impatient and surely their lives are worth the 5 minutes of inconvenience to a car driver, then as soon as they are near a pedestrian decide that they are being inconvenienced and barge by at speed, dangerously..
Even this morning with all the roadworks going on, I'm approaching cones and a road narrowing and of the 4 cyclists in front, not a single one does a 'lifesaver' and check there is nothing around before moving over where the restriction is, they just blindly move over suddenly.. if there was another cyclist alongside or even a car that is overtaking inappropriately at the last minute, they would be oblivious which feels inherently unsafe to me.. I always check before moving my position, no matter what..
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Soldato
You can't walk down a London pavement without some muppet on an electic scooter/uniwheel thing abusing the pedestrians.
Just fine them on the spot. I've seen it work in Singapore. Or slap them with an asbo, or whatever. Just get them to stop.
Just fine them on the spot. I've seen it work in Singapore. Or slap them with an asbo, or whatever. Just get them to stop.
How do those numbers look when you add speeding to the list?
I'd love to see a truly continuous cycle network in all large towns and cities. I remember renting bikes in Amsterdam and it was wonderful, but here they do a small stretch of road and then leave you to fend for yourself in a position that is worse then if you just stuck to the road network.
Soldato
I am sure many cars are doing a little over 30, but it's not a race track.. but cyclists doing 20MPH within inches of a pedestrian is very common.
I agree, I would like to see existing pavements used, so one side of the road is a pedestrian pavement, and one side for cyclists.. proper segregation, and because roads would be narrowed, make it a 'shall' highway code rule for cyclists to use cycle ways if provided.. At least it would be far cheaper and allow more cycleways to be created without a huge change in infrastructure.. many pavements are alreayd wide enough and just need re-surfacing/resin coated with a high friction material to make them cycleways.
However, I know from more millitant cyclists in work, they hate the idea of being forced to use a cycleway purely as they have to slow down for more hazards and it's an inconvenience..
The recently re-did a few sections around here (near the centre and close to the council offices), and guess what? As there is a junction you are back on your own. So this new cycling section looks like a total token thing: we'll do it as long as it doesn't inconvenience motorists. There is also a join use pedestrian / bicycle traffic light and the centre is fenced off (as they love to do around here) and you have to go around a bend. Guess what? the fenced off bit is just a bit over a metre wide, far to narrow for bicycles, pushchairs and mobility scooters. Heck, even passing with shopping bags there is no space. Rather than making the road single carriage they continued with with the dual carriageway nonsense in a town centre settings. Two lane round about too and the two sides without traffic lights are another OAP challenge.
On the other end, the bicycle way joins the road not with any sign or anything but these set to an angle mini dragon's teeth. No sign and actually if they had taken two parking spaces out from the (I think) council owned parking space they would have had enough space to continue the bicycle lane easily.
No wonder nobody cycles here!
Caporegime
Is the font on this thread title bigger than normal or is my phone possessed?
Some hazards are one thing, as I said earlier why is every driveway, minor junction etc. allowed to break the pavements? The same should apply to cycleways. The default should always be: the pavement and cycleway continues unbroken. Motorists wishing to enter/leave/ turn have to treat it a a zebra crossing with a speed bump.
Commissario
A quick correction there.
You can ride class 3 mobility scooter (limited to 4 or 8mph) on the road, but should be aware that you can cause problems, basically don't do it if you can avoid it, but there are times when it's the only option open to the user, especially on narrow pavements, or when some idiot has parked up blocking the pavement*, or there is no safe way to get down from the pavement to the road/back up again where you need to go.
They're also quite highly regulated and must have lighting similar to a car (front/rear/indicators), and the brakes etc must meet a certain standard (even a 20 year old one will stop within about a foot or two from full speed**).
Most mobility scooters, certainly all the smaller common ones are hard limited to 4mph.
They're also typically pretty expensive things, a cheap one is around a grand.
Unfortunately some people who use them don't have a clue, or use them when their eyesight has hit a point where they shouldn't, then there are the normal number of idiots.
Basically mobility scooters are extremely regulated in the UK compared to escooters etc, largely because you can only really buy them through bricks and mortar stores, and they're priced well outside the "toy" range.
*The other option is to try and scrape by the inconsiderately parked car.
**They've got both motor braking, and usually an electromagnetic clamping brake that as soon as you release the controls will clamp down on the drive axel (the brake actively needs power to release).
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Soldato
In terms of junctions, I could go along with that, driveways I don't know the type you mean, around me they don't break the pavement and would work as is, people have to be mindful when leaving/entering their driveways which is the best compromise anyway, you can't stop them having access to their house..
So I think I am in total agreement..