Cyclists v Motorists

Frank the tank

Having viewed earlier this week, on GMTV an artical about the increase in cycling and the attitude of cyclists and their general disregard for the highway code and disrespect of other road users; what struck me was motorists talk about "us" as if we never drive cars.

I would say the majority of cyclists are also motorists and have a healthy respect for all traffic on the road. Whereas, only a minority of motorists are cyclists therefore the majority of them have no grasp of what it's like to ride a bike on the road.

If I had my way all motorist should be made to ride a busy "A road" in heavy traffic for 30mins once a year. That way it my dawn on some of them how dangerous it is being given no respect by our four wheeled bretheren.

STEFANOS4784

I don't drive, that said, i consider myself very considerate, mostly because i dont want to be squished

spen666

Frank the tank wrote:

Having viewed earlier this week, on GMTV an artical about the increase in cycling and the attitude of cyclists and their general disregard for the highway code and disrespect of other road users; what struck me was motorists talk about "us" as if we never drive cars.

I would say the majority of cyclists are also motorists and have a healthy respect for all traffic on the road. Whereas, only a minority of motorists are cyclists therefore the majority of them have no grasp of what it's like to ride a bike on the road.

If I had my way all motorist should be made to ride a busy "A road" in heavy traffic for 30mins once a year. That way it my dawn on some of them how dangerous it is being given no respect by our four wheeled bretheren.

How about 30 mins in morning rush hour & 30 mins in evening rush hour, 5 days a week, every week


soon cut down the rush hour congestion

Frank the tank

spen666 wrote:

Frank the tank wrote:

Having viewed earlier this week, on GMTV an artical about the increase in cycling and the attitude of cyclists and their general disregard for the highway code and disrespect of other road users; what struck me was motorists talk about "us" as if we never drive cars.

I would say the majority of cyclists are also motorists and have a healthy respect for all traffic on the road. Whereas, only a minority of motorists are cyclists therefore the majority of them have no grasp of what it's like to ride a bike on the road.

If I had my way all motorist should be made to ride a busy "A road" in heavy traffic for 30mins once a year. That way it my dawn on some of them how dangerous it is being given no respect by our four wheeled bretheren.

How about 30 mins in morning rush hour & 30 mins in evening rush hour, 5 days a week, every week


soon cut down the rush hour congestion

Crooky

It sounds like a good idea however most motorists believe cyclists are just guests on the road (as Jeremy Clarkson once said) and if they, the motorist, complain long and hard enough then the cyclist will be eventually removed. To the motorist the cyclist shouldn't really be there in the same way a novice shouldn't be on a black run on a ski slope. You can see this by the way the motorist is so outraged when a cyclist jumps a red light. "How dare they break our rules they're our guests!" Do they get so outraged when a motorist goes past them at 50 in a 30 zone or when the lights go amber and a further 5 cars go through?

So I suspect the end result of making the average motorist cycle for a few days would not have the desired effect you require in fact it would probably result in them concluding cycling is just too dangerous and driving is by far the best and safest option.

Oh by the way I drive and I drove to work today (cycled the last 4 days though). We have two cars and one of them is a 4+4! So I'm not anti-car.

downfader

Theres a guy called Goard iirc on the daily echo newspaper website and anytime traffic, motorcyclists or anything like that is mentioned in an article he goes into tirade about how cyclists should be insured, LOL. One of his recent comments was about how if cyclists recieve aggression from drivers then that means they should pay insurance.

Perhaps I should shout at his kids and upset them because their clothes are VAT free. After all, it would be their fault, they havent paid the tax. Sorry, sick joke.

Tourist Tony

An assumption that is easily disproved; drivers would show more care to two-wheelers in general if they had to spend time on bikes, mopeds or motorbikes themselves.
London cabbies. The knowledge, gained by riding round and round on mopeds.
Clearly produces a calm and generous attitude to two-wheeled road users.....

softlad

Frank the tank wrote:

If I had my way all motorist should be made to ride a busy "A road" in heavy traffic for 30mins once a year. That way it my dawn on some of them how dangerous it is being given no respect by our four wheeled bretheren.

notwithstanding the 'cabbie' example, my view is that you should only be allowed to apply for a car licence once you have spent time as a cyclist and a motorcyclist. I think that would make a huge difference to driving standards....

Richard_D

The comment about insurance you reported seems a little strange as a significant percentage of people will be insured whilst cycling through things like CTC membership, bike insurance etc. The idiots that cause some of the problems for cyclists in the eyes of the motorists are the same ones that end up driving cars without insurance so persuading every cyclist to get insurance would only penalise those that are likely to be well behaved anyway.

bluecow

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bluecow

Well i for one would be content (though not ecstatic) to pay a nominal insurance. I do for one of my bikes but not for the other.
Accidents happen and even cyclists do daft things unintentionally, like errr crashing into parked cars, not looking before changing lanes. Isnt it only fair that we are in a position to reimburse someone for the damage we cause if we are at fault?

How it would be enforced though is a different matter...

Old Tuggo

I have always been led to believe that your house insurance covers you for Third Party Liability whist riding a bike.

fnegroni

softlad wrote:

notwithstanding the 'cabbie' example, my view is that you should only be allowed to apply for a car licence once you have spent time as a cyclist and a motorcyclist. I think that would make a huge difference to driving standards....

It does and it doesn't.

Due to the weather, in Italy most people have been cyclists and motorcyclists since a young age.
Unfortunately what happens is that the memories fade and so once a driver, they forget what it means to ride a two-wheeler of some sort.

Add to that the complete disrespect for the highway code by both parts, and the mix is disastrous.

I must admit though that for those who keep up the cycling things do look better, as they tend to be more rigourous with the law and also learn to read the 'signs' of cyclists when in a car and vice versa.

I think Italian drivers, although more dangerous, are also more alert.

An Italian driver/cyclist with a British respect of the rules is the perfect driver/cyclist. Moi! ;-)

And believe me when I say that British drivers, on average, are amongst the safest on the planet.

unclemalc

Having been taken out by a motorist (again :shock: ) last w/e, I am for compulsory cycling testing as part of the highway code.
Being a driver ( for 30years) and a cyclist (for 45 years) I ride 'defensively' - ie., I assume that there is potential danger in front of me and think accordingly. However, as my recent accident showed, you cannot allow for what starts BEHIND you.
In this case, an elderly lady drove so close to me (for no reason apart from stupidity/senility) that I just felt her wing brush my leg before her wingmirror took out my handlebars.
I can't assume (defensively) that that is going to happen every time I ride otherwise I'd stay at home.

If drivers are taught that a 1.5 tonne machine moving at just 30mph will crush a guy on a bike, by actually being on a bike themselves in moving traffic, then they'd tend to give us a bit more respect. I'd love a movie of what happened to me - they could show it as part of the training.... :shock:

fnegroni

unclemac, just out of curiosity, what colour clothing were you wearing? Did you have the lights on? if yes, were they blinking or steady? What time was it?

squired

I remember a recent article on a local newspaper website about the police stopping cyclists for jumping red lights (they caught on and did a 15 year old kid for riding on the pavement). One car driver commented about how cyclists, unlike other road users, didn't follow the laws of the road. It was pointed out that his comment was rubbish as people drive cars above the speed limit, jump lights, drive uninsured, etc. His response was that the comments were typical of arrogant cyclists and that they were the problem on the road. Thus many people in cars seem completely obvlious to the fact that they break laws every day, but can't stand the fact that someone on two wheels does the same thing.

kozzach

squired wrote:

I remember a recent article on a local newspaper website about the police stopping cyclists for jumping red lights (they caught on and did a 15 year old kid for riding on the pavement). One car driver commented about how cyclists, unlike other road users, didn't follow the laws of the road. It was pointed out that his comment was rubbish as people drive cars above the speed limit, jump lights, drive uninsured, etc. His response was that the comments were typical of arrogant cyclists and that they were the problem on the road. Thus many people in cars seem completely obvlious to the fact that they break laws every day, but can't stand the fact that someone on two wheels does the same thing.

If the kid keeps it up and learns how to get away then he'll probably grow up to be like these guys http://www.digave.com/videos_drag_race.html

teulk

The thing that annoys me most when riding my bike is the amount of drivers who overtake you at the stupidest places, ie when your passing a traffic island, or just as your leaving a roundabout - you know all the places where the road narrows, why do they do this well the answer is simple - they are just to impatient to wait that extra second !
I drive and i do and always have given cyclist all the room they need even if it means holding back and holding up the traffic for a second or two.

unclemalc

fnegroni wrote:

unclemac, just out of curiosity, what colour clothing were you wearing? Did you have the lights on? if yes, were they blinking or steady? What time was it?

Broad daylight...... :shock:
From her view - my cycling jacket was bright red...

fnegroni

Did you have lights on? did you have reflective gear on?