I blame the internet.

[MaC]

I think the biggest issue is that cyclists demand the right to go where they want, but they refuse to learn either courtesy or behave to basic guidelines. When did you last see one dismount to walk next to folks instead of breenging past at speed ? There's a footbridge across the river here, it becomes a nightmare when a group of cyclists decide they have every right to ride across it.
There is a Highway Code for the cycling, maybe they need to be tested to be allowed out on roads.....and insured too.

Renton's example is clear cut of just why Cyclists Dismount that isn't obeyed ought to be a traffic offence.

 

[BorderReiver]

I think the biggest issue is that cyclists demand the right to go where they want, but they refuse to learn either courtesy or behave to basic guidelines. When did you last see one dismount to walk next to folks instead of breenging past at speed ? There's a footbridge across the river here, it becomes a nightmare when a group of cyclists decide they have every right to ride across it.
There is a Highway Code for the cycling, maybe they need to be tested to be allowed out on roads.....and insured too.

Renton's example is clear cut of just why Cyclists Dismount that isn't obeyed ought to be a traffic offence.

Ah for the days of a prod in the solar plexus with a 5 cell Maglite and a "don't do it again" from the local bobby.

 

[Quarterstaff]

Went into town today and came across a cycling event coming the other way. FFS quite a few of them were totally oblivious to the fact they’re on a public road and the road is in the UK and they’re meant to to keep to the left
I can imagine if there was some sort of incident due to bad cycling and no dash cam footage it’d be the motorist at fault!

 

[MaC]

@Quarterstaff

I think cycling is a great idea; in the right situations.
I don't think that most of the time that situation if footpaths though.

I do think cyclists need road lessons, and I do think that they need insurance.
After all, if they're going to use the roads it behoves them to adhere to the road safety, for everyone. If insurance makes them think about that, that's a good thing.
Drivers have to learn how to deal with pedestrians and cyclists, it would really help if cyclists en masse learned how to deal properly with drivers and pedestrians.

 

[BorderReiver]

@Quarterstaff

I think cycling is a great idea; in the right situations.
I don't think that most of the time that situation if footpaths though.

I do think cyclists need road lessons, and I do think that they need insurance.
After all, if they're going to use the roads it behoves them to adhere to the road safety, for everyone. If insurance makes them think about that, that's a good thing.
Drivers have to learn how to deal with pedestrians and cyclists, it would really help if cyclists en masse learned how to deal properly with drivers and pedestrians.

Insurance requires a way of identifying the guilty, and licensing scores of thousands of cyclists would be too big a job for our "government" to bother about when they have wealth to make for themselves and cronies.

 

[Stew]

I think the biggest issue is that cyclists demand the right to go where they want, but they refuse to learn either courtesy or behave to basic guidelines. When did you last see one dismount to walk next to folks instead of breenging past at speed ? There's a footbridge across the river here, it becomes a nightmare when a group of cyclists decide they have every right to ride across it.
There is a Highway Code for the cycling, maybe they need to be tested to be allowed out on roads.....and insured too.

Renton's example is clear cut of just why Cyclists Dismount that isn't obeyed ought to be a traffic offence.

Yes I do.

 

[MaC]

Yes I do.

I am so pleased to hear that; do you think you could teach others ? because they certainly don't.
Instead they curse and shout at folks to get out of their way.

I know that I'm rather tarring all cyclists with the same brush, but honestly, they've gone beyond being an annoyance and they are actually a danger round here.

M

 

[noddy]

Just back from erranding on the bike. Heard an awful lot of car-on-car hootering and shouting. And, as usual, watched a couple of people almost get run over, and saw a couple of red lights run.

Twats on the road are twats on the road, whether on foot, on a bike or in a truck. Truck drivers are the worst offenders though. By metric miles. If pushed, I'd say that, for general entitlement and not knowing where the ends of their vehicle are, RAM drivers edge it over the general population of other truck drivers

 

[MaC]

On the roads, cyclists are just vulnerable here. I think they're actually being incredibly brave (foolhardy ? :dunno: ) risking it, tbh. It's the central belt, the roads are busy.
It's on the pavements, the footpaths, through the lanes, that they become dangerous to others though.

I am careful driving around cyclists; they're just too easily thrown and damaged and I'm driving a ton of metal. I do see a lot of other drivers really cutting it close to them. Looks rather hairy being a cyclist at times.

 

[Stew]

On the roads, cyclists are just vulnerable here. I think they're actually being incredibly brave (foolhardy ? :dunno: ) risking it, tbh. It's the central belt, the roads are busy.
It's on the pavements, the footpaths, through the lanes, that they become dangerous to others though.

I am careful driving around cyclists; they're just too easily thrown and damaged and I'm driving a ton of metal. I do see a lot of other drivers really cutting it close to them. Looks rather hairy being a cyclist at times.

Do you think you could teach those other drivers to be more respectful?

 

[MaC]

Do you think you could teach those other drivers to be more respectful?

I honestly think most try. Like me they're really aware that the cyclist is vulnerable, but when the blighters cut in front, or wobble out into the road without care, it's damned hard to respect them much as we slam on the anchors. They are a concern. They are not cycling carefully enough, all too often they have no awareness of other road users, just head down do what they want. Pity they don't come with indicators cos they certainly don't use their hands.

 

[Beachlover]

Pity they don't come with indicators cos they certainly don't use their hands.

Perhaps they own Audis and BMWs in their other life?
Seriously though, I think FBD had it right in that it’s all about mutual respect and that’s lacking on all sides as too many seek to use too few resources ( the story of most of the world’s problems just now) and are actively encouraged to do so by those who make huge profits from the products they convince us to buy.

 

[ElThomsono]

Cyclists get treated badly round here, very few people give them the minimum 1.5m passing space; if you can't fit a king-size bed between their handlebars and your mirror then you can't overtake them.

 

[Juttle]

The only way to get into Brixham is to use the main road from Torquay. On this heavily used stretch there are cycle lanes or cyclists are allowed, or indeed encouraged, to use the pavements. Apart from one short section, cyclists are provided with a safe route which takes them off the busy road. I have never seen a cyclist on it! If cyclists were forced to have some form of insurance would it not be possible to add a clause to their policy that made it mandatory to use cycle paths if and where available? The cycle paths are well maintained, free of potholes, and are in considerably better condition than the surrounding roads. There are also no pedestrians to get in their way.

Instead, they prefer to use the road which is full of potholes so that they can force the traffic to stay behind them or run the risk of a head on collision. Frequently, there will be one lone pushbike slowly ambling his or her way along this stretch with a bus following on behind, with absolutely no chance of making an overtake, followed by the inevitable miles of traffic. Should anyone have the temerity to actually pass one of these idiots, they are assailed with a torrent of foul language and gestures and are usually chased by the bike, at high speed, where the cyclist then proceeds to smash mirrors and windscreens and occasionally the car driver with a length of pipe that he/she had secreted on the bike!

 

[Stew]

Well that escalated rapidly….

 

[MaC]

Cyclists get treated badly round here, very few people give them the minimum 1.5m passing space; if you can't fit a king-size bed between their handlebars and your mirror then you can't overtake them.

I've never heard of that distance. Our safe distance signs (there's a poster up on the bus stop) still show a girl on a bike with her arms stretched full out, and that's the minimum distance drivers are supposed to give when passing.
Many of our roads are too narrow to allow 1.5m passing space even with cars let alone bikes.

p.s. checked the Highway code,
"give motorcyclists, cyclists and horse riders and horse drawn vehicles at least as much room as you would when overtaking a car (see Rules 211 to 215). As a guide: leave at least 1.5 metres when overtaking cyclists at speeds of up to 30mph, and give them more space when overtaking at higher speeds."

30mph would be speeding here, most of the roads are 20.

 

[Stew]

I've never heard of that distance. Our safe distance signs (there's a poster up on the bus stop) still show a girl on a bike with her arms stretched full out, and that's the minimum distance drivers are supposed to give when passing.
Many of our roads are too narrow to allow 1.5m passing space even with cars let alone bikes.

p.s. checked the Highway code,
"give motorcyclists, cyclists and horse riders and horse drawn vehicles at least as much room as you would when overtaking a car (see Rules 211 to 215). As a guide: leave at least 1.5 metres when overtaking cyclists at speeds of up to 30mph, and give them more space when overtaking at higher speeds."

30mph would be speeding here, most of the roads are 20.

It was a change to the Highway Code last year.

 

[Renton]

I've never heard of that distance. Our safe distance signs (there's a poster up on the bus stop) still show a girl on a bike with her arms stretched full out, and that's the minimum distance drivers are supposed to give when passing.
Many of our roads are too narrow to allow 1.5m passing space even with cars let alone bikes.

p.s. checked the Highway code,
"give motorcyclists, cyclists and horse riders and horse drawn vehicles at least as much room as you would when overtaking a car (see Rules 211 to 215). As a guide: leave at least 1.5 metres when overtaking cyclists at speeds of up to 30mph, and give them more space when overtaking at higher speeds."

30mph would be speeding here, most of the roads are 20.

The 1.5m is an update to the highway code. Not everyone stays up to date and it has been more widely publicised between cyclists than among car drivers.

 

[Andylaser]

Seems very one sided in that you must give the cyclist 1.5m when passing. But if you are stationary, they are entitled to scrape ttheir handlebars down the side of your vehicle trying to get into a gap that is far too small for safely passing.

 

[MaC]

So does that mean that as a pedestrian I can insist that cyclists give at least the same distance ?
Because the blighters most certainly do not; not crossing the bridges, not in the lanes (do your housing estates have lanes between gardens to the next street ?) and not on the pavements.

Hah! found it. They're supposed to give pedestrians at least 2m.

"

• Pass horse riders and horse-drawn vehicles at speeds under 10 mph and allow at least 2 metres of space.
• Allow at least 2 metres of space and keep to a low speed when passing a pedestrian who is walking in the road (for example, where there is no pavement). "

Britishcycling.org.uk/campaigning/article/20220210-campaigning-news-Highway-Code--Close-passing-0

Well they certainly don't do that.
One kicked out last week at one of my elderly neighbours (two hips replaced) at the jouk in the lane and told her to get out of the ******* way.
The lane isn't 2m wide.

 

[E. By Gum]

One didn't give me 1.5 metres recently on the path back from the canal. It's the north south offshoot of the trans pennine trail, so they seem to use full blast as the chosen speed. One mamil must have been 70 if he was a day, he didn't slow down to pass, nevermind give me great distance.

 

[Stew]

One didn't give me 1.5 metres recently on the path back from the canal. It's the north south offshoot of the trans pennine trail, so they seem to use full blast as the chosen speed. One mamil must have been 70 if he was a day, he didn't slow down to pass, nevermind give me great distance.

Well he wasn’t a Mamil then….

 

[noddy]

Oapil?

 

[MaC]

A cyclist has knocked down a 66year old pedestrian in Edinburgh.
I know that road, I drove it several times every year, it's flat down there, it's open with good visibility, but cyclists coming down from the Canongate brae tear down there and zip through any traffic.
I have no idea if that's what happened, but the 20 year old cyclist is fine, and the 66 year old pedestrian has died.

Woman dies after being hit by cyclist outside Scottish Parliament

The 66-year-old was rushed to the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh after being hit by the bike on Horse Wynd, but later died from her injuries.

news.stv.tv