Why does the UK hate cyclists?

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Try the crossing at Southwark bridge every day for a few weeks. I guarantee that there will be at least one day where you nearly get run down by a cyclist skipping a red light or just being a dick.

It's insane and I've almost got to the stage where I want to kick the light skipping idiots off their bikes.
It would be lovely if jumping lights were the preserve of cyclists, but loads of car drivers do it, and they’re much more dangerous.
 
And how many car drivers skip the lights at that junction?
They're all doing about 2mph most of the time so hardly any.

Bikes have a dedicated road with their own lights.

Edit: honestly all traffic has stopped but these idiots pelt through regardless despite their own signals being red way before they hit them. The number of deaths at that junction before it was changed is testament to the sheer ignorance of cyclists pulling inside of HGVs regardless of lights.
 
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No, I find it unusual that everything is timed so perfectly that every single day without fail you encounter so many impassable cyclists on your route to work. Do you set an alarm? Do you all coordinate this or something?

How far are you driving to work and where? Can I come and ride along with you? I would seriously love to see the horde of cyclists that holds you up for 40 minutes every single day.

Utter tripe.

Lol yes I set an alarm! Most people do on a morning...thats how they get up to go to work. Aaand like most people I have the same morning routine so it takes me the same amount of time to leave the house. I then drive to the same destination which is in one of the largest conurbations in the country (north tyneside). I drive from a rural area. All the roads, with the exception of one half mile stretch are single carriageway. Many are old wagonways and so are narrow, twisty and have hedgerows either side making it hard to see approaching traffic.

You don't need a horde. All it takes, as I've pointed out, is a single rider doing a quarter of the speed limit. As we're all aware there are multiple cyclists in the world so you don't just encounter 1. You encounter many.

A mile at 60mph takes 60 seconds. At 15mph it takes 4 mins. Thats 3 extra minutes being stuck behind one cyclist for just a mile. My total drive is about 17 miles.
 
You burn more energy as a cyclist thus eat more. You buy more which means the supermarkets have to bring in more food which means more lorries which do probably do more damage to the road, lorries take more space and are slower to accelerate causing more congestion. Cyclists are the real problem here :p.
Most people consume to much energy anyway, so they don't necessarily have too eat more.:p
 
Lol yes I set an alarm! Most people do on a morning...thats how they get up to go to work. Aaand like most people I have the same morning routine so it takes me the same amount of time to leave the house. I then drive to the same destination which is in one of the largest conurbations in the country (north tyneside). I drive from a rural area. All the roads, with the exception of one half mile stretch are single carriageway. Many are old wagonways and so are narrow, twisty and have hedgerows either side making it hard to see approaching traffic.

You don't need a horde. All it takes, as I've pointed out, is a single rider doing a quarter of the speed limit. As we're all aware there are multiple cyclists in the world so you don't just encounter 1. You encounter many.

A mile at 60mph takes 60 seconds. At 15mph it takes 4 mins. Thats 3 extra minutes being stuck behind one cyclist for just a mile. My total drive is about 17 miles.
I don’t believe you. And if I did I’d suggest you find an alternate route. Yours is clearly not fit for cars.
 
No, because you're lying and I'll be 17gbp down for it.

If my commute was delayed by 40mins every day due to cyclists I'd already have a film of it that I'd have sent to the council demanding some infrastructure improvements.

The council can't afford to repair pot holes up here. The A1 is still a single carriageway ffs! That's the main route from England to scotland!
You think they're gonna install cycle lanes down every village road?
 
Watch out chaps, we've got a clever one here!



I could cycle 17 miles faster than 40 mins ;-)

So can i. Not everyone can. Particularly at 8 in the morning or after 10 hours at work.

Actually no I can't, just checked 23mph was my best average speed.
 
Aside from the comments already made in this thread I think another contributing factor is British motorists are just more aggressive than many other countries.

Perhaps it’s related to the working culture the UK has compared to many other parts of the world. People work longer, have more stress and less free time compared to many other places. Maybe this means people want to get from A-B faster and causes greater anger when they perceive themselves being “delayed” by another road user. That may have a knock on effect of making cycling on roads only accessible to aggressive cyclists, who themselves are trying to get from A-B as fast as possible for the same reasons.

The circle of “life” is then complete.
 
The council can't afford to repair pot holes up here. The A1 is still a single carriageway ffs! That's the main route from England to scotland!
You think they're gonna install cycle lanes down every village road?

Ok, rather than videoing it, record your next 5 commutes with something like Strava and upload the results so we can see these "delays" you speak of.
 
Well as a motorist I am personally considerate of cyclists because i understand their vulnerability being a cyclist myself.

I just don't think the same courtesy is extended to pedestrians by many cyclists.
 
I've encountered hundreds of cyclists on similar rural roads around here. Not once have I been held up for an entire mile behind one. In fact, I don't think I've ever been held up more than 30 seconds behind a cyclist, either before being able to overtake normally, or before they've pulled in to let me pass.

Compared to caravans, tractors, horse boxes, large trucks and elderly drivers, they are about the least obstructive road users I encounter. All of the above are slow and annoying, yet fast enough to justify not pulling over to let you past, so hold you up for longer and for further,. Yet it's only cyclists which get constantly derided.
 
I just don't think the same courtesy is extended to pedestrians by many cyclists.

This does irk me when I see it.

I have a short 400m section on my commute which is share use cycle/ped (which I do use as it's actually useful) and I always go quite slowly on it and give way to peds (peds after all have priority over all other traffic inc on the road), but I have seen some cyclists fly down that stretch (I blame Strava, a curse on cycling imho).
 
I've encountered hundreds of cyclists on similar rural roads around here. Not once have I been held up for an entire mile behind one. In fact, I don't think I've ever been held up more than 30 seconds behind a cyclist, either before being able to overtake normally, or before they've pulled in to let me pass.

Compared to caravans, tractors, horse boxes, large trucks and elderly drivers, they are about the least obstructive road users I encounter. All of the above are slow and annoying, yet fast enough to justify not pulling over to let you past, so hold you up for longer and for further,. Yet it's only cyclists which get constantly derided.

Tractors here aren't generally an issue due to being seasonal and on the roads at specific times. Oldies are the big one as they WILL NOT overtake and yeah, pootle along at 30 or 40 nomatter what the limit. Trucks know the roads aren't suitable for them so steer clear. Caravans can be a problem but again are normally seasonal - remember we don't get the weather you do down on the south coast so there's fewer of them.

I can categorically state I've never witnessed a cyclist let a car pass. Ever. I'll also admit I don't think I've done it unless it was on a single track road.
 
IKR!

Look at all these cyclists holding up all these poor car drivers!


Oh, wait...........

Cyclists don't cause congestion, cars cause congestion.
Cobblers. Rush hour is hell because of all the cars. If I cycle to work it is quicker than driving.


IKR!

Look at all these cyclists holding up all these poor car drivers!


Oh, wait...........

Cyclists don't cause congestion, cars cause congestion.

I live in a rural area, where the only means of travelling from town to town are B roads, early in the morning on almost single file roads having to follow a cyclist for nearly 30 minutes because its unsafe to overtake is infuriating.. im obviously not talking about cities or motorways..
 
I can categorically state I've never witnessed a cyclist let a car pass. Ever. I'll also admit I don't think I've done it unless it was on a single track road.

Whereas I have never seen a cyclist NOT let a car past as soon as it becomes clear that they are unable to overtake normally.

But the point is that there are poor road users on/in all sorts of vehicles, including other cars, yet it's only the ones on bikes which get mentioned regularly despite objectively being the easiest to pass. If everyone posted as enthusiastically about the amount of delays, inconsideration and general negativity that they suffered at the hands of other roads users that weren't on bikes, I'm willing to bet that proportionally, cyclists would seem a much smaller problem.
 
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