Women are trying to kill me!

Feltup

Twice in 3 days!

Sundays Fred Whitton I actually came off after a lady pulled out on me but luckily got away very lightly with just a tweaked knee and very luckily no damage to the bike.

This morning just setting off and round the first corner and there were a couple of cars coming up to the line on a side road. The first car stopped appeared to look and then pulled straight out on me stopping half way across the road as she spotted me sliding towards her. I just shook my head and carried on but am now thinking that women are out to get me!

Ladies of the forum, do you know something I should know

lost_in_thought

Actually a woman tried to kill me this morning, it's such a regular occurrence with the school run mums that I've started to block it out.

You know how stereotyping doesn't happen by accident? Most women are bad drivers and have little spatial awareness. Fact.

Oh and yeah, you made a sexist remark 9 years ago you chauvinist pig and now you're on the list.

bluesacs

lost_in_thought wrote:

You know how stereotyping doesn't happen by accident?:

In this case it does, it appears.

Kieran_Burns

Meh - I had a WVM pull out on me on Sunday - he was looking the other way while pulling out and I had to lock up completely. I'm screaming "WOH!" at the top of my lungs and when he finally looks and slams his brakes on - he gets all shirty like it's my fault! :roll:


Stereotypes DO exist.

Feltup

lost_in_thought wrote:

Actually a woman tried to kill me this morning, it's such a regular occurrence with the school run mums that I've started to block it out.

You know how stereotyping doesn't happen by accident? Most women are bad drivers and have little spatial awareness. Fact.

Oh and yeah, you made a sexist remark 9 years ago you chauvinist pig and now you're on the list.

Damn it you women do like to gossip!

greg66_tri_v2.0

Isn't the problem here not so much with stereotypes of drivers, but with the fact that people naturally react defensively when confronted with an accusation?

Necessarily, the person most likely to be the root cause of an RTA didn't see it coming. They suddenly find themselves in a situation they hadn't foreseen, with someone else pointing the finger at them.

It's only natural for them to be defensive. They don't have the objective view of events prior to the accident that's needed to assess who was at fault and how. And usually, they can't think clearly, objectively or quickly enough in a position of stress immediately post-RTA to form a dispassionate view of what happened in enough time to head off the finger accusation with a sincere "sorry".

jeepie

Greg66 raises a sage point. I can't say I've ever challenged any driver who has been at fault and actually got a sorry or a satisfactory reply. It's just not worth it. A WHOA or look out is all you can do.

Has any confronted a reckless driver or someone at fault on the road and had a good outcome?

lost_in_thought

Jeepie wrote:

Greg66 raises a sage point. I can't say I've ever challenged any driver who has been at fault and actually got a sorry or a satisfactory reply. It's just not worth it. A WHOA or look out is all you can do.

Has any confronted a reckless driver or someone at fault on the road and had a good outcome?

Once. I was very, very angry and they were very, very apologetic.

EDIT: to explain, I was on the inside of a truck, he looked down, we made eye contact, lights turned green, no indication from him, moved off then he suddenly indicates and immediately turns left, knocking me sideways and trapping my bike between his truck and one of those helpful fences. God knows how but I scrambled off the bike and over the fence as my handlebars were bent inwards. I ran up and banged on the driver's door, I was (understandably) very unhappy with him.

jonginge

Jeepie wrote:

Greg66 raises a sage point. I can't say I've ever challenged any driver who has been at fault and actually got a sorry or a satisfactory reply. It's just not worth it. A WHOA or look out is all you can do.

Has any confronted a reckless driver or someone at fault on the road and had a good outcome?

Yep. Been knocked off 3 times and each time the driver admitted liability (well, kinda in the last case until the police turned up )

Ist was a taxi that did a u-turn from the curb with no indication. Almost swerved around him but got side-swiped. Was on moorgate with sooo many witnesses he couldn't help but admit fault.
2nd was a WVM that just didn't stop when entering a mini-rbt that I was already in the middle of. He said the sun was in his eyes :roll:
3rd was a left-hook on NKR when an audi-man started turning left when his passenger door was alongside me :roll: :roll:

No shouting, no anger in any of the incidents...

Porgy

My own experience is that women tend to be much better drivers than men, generally, when it comes being aware and acting appropriately around cyclists, and much less likely to get out and kick the sh*t out of you when you complain.

However, exceptions - there are many posh women pootling around the Baker street area can't drive and sometimes I wonder if they're driving on their husband's license.

Many younger women seem to have very poor cyclist awareness and their youth makes it much less likely that they will admit they've made a mistake....and I've heard some of the worst language ever as a result of daring to complain about their inability to drive.

School run mums are like Sunday church-going drivers - their lack of driving experience makes them terrible drivers...and with an inflated sense of righteousness.

lost_in_thought

Alright, alright, I should have included a after my facutal reporting on women drivers...

However, I really do think the school run mums are a menace.

Soul Boy

Think I only got an apology once. Caught up with a courier van and explained that he had passed too close and too fast (about an inch at over 30). He looked up and said sorry, then even waved me ahead, though I was in shock and let him go while I recovered from the apology.

Mostly its a mouth full of abuse, but its true, can't say how I'd react if suddenly cofronted by a sweaty and agressive, high pitched me......

But as to whether women are better/worse than men, dunno, theres good and bad drivers (and cyclists) in both camps.

Soul Boy

...and crikey LiT, that sounds like a very lucky escape there.

Almost got pinned myself around Elephant & Castle a few years back, sobering as its the exact spot of a recent fatality. Didn't chase him down, he just drove on oblivious :evil:

jonginge

lost_in_thought wrote:

EDIT: to explain, I was on the inside of a truck, he looked down, we made eye contact, lights turned green, no indication from him, moved off then he suddenly indicates and immediately turns left, knocking me sideways and trapping my bike between his truck and one of those helpful fences. God knows how but I scrambled off the bike and over the fence as my handlebars were bent inwards. I ran up and banged on the driver's door, I was (understandably) very unhappy with him.

Fark. Close one

il_principe

JonGinge wrote:

lost_in_thought wrote:

EDIT: to explain, I was on the inside of a truck, he looked down, we made eye contact, lights turned green, no indication from him, moved off then he suddenly indicates and immediately turns left, knocking me sideways and trapping my bike between his truck and one of those helpful fences. God knows how but I scrambled off the bike and over the fence as my handlebars were bent inwards. I ran up and banged on the driver's door, I was (understandably) very unhappy with him.

Fark. Close one

Double fark!

This is exactly why the missus is under strict instructions to never ever ever go down the inside of a large vehicle EVER. Problem is she's not confident enough to go round the outside most of the time so her London journeys can be a bit slow but it's a small price to pay.

nation

I had an encounter (well, series of encounters) with a school run mum this morning.

The first couple of mile of my commute has some stretches with a lot of lights and junctions at which queues form, so the traffic rarely gets above 20mph and when it does it's only for a few hundred metres before you hit the back of another queue.

I tend to spend most of those stretches in primary position, filter when the lights are red or the queues are stationary, and re-take primary in the lane just before the traffic moves off. The lanes are wide so once the traffic's free-flowing I move back to secondary.

This seemed to annoy schoolrun mum in her fiesta with the two kids in the back, who passed really aggressively twice while I was in primary, the second time almost slamming into the back of the queue of traffic 50 metres up the road. The third time she accelerated hard on the wrong side of the road through a junction (to the surprise of several judging by the horns), and flew straight across a zebra crossing with people on it as she accelerated off (I stopped, naturally). Did I mention that the zebra crossing is outside a primary school?

Passed her again two sets of lights down the road and didn't see her again, but still, bizarre stuff.

redvee

lost_in_thought wrote:

However, I really do think the school run mums are a menace.

The lesser of my two commuting incicdents, both of which were female drivers, was a schoolrun mum. She just pulled out in front of me and I ended up half sat on her wing and got a mouthed apology through the windscreen

Jay dubbleU

Actually school mums are just as much a menace out of the car - I regularly pass a few on the shared cycle path, usually on the mobile, totally oblivious of what's going on around them and completely unaware of where the kids are - nightmare

pst88

Feltup wrote:

...I actually came off after a lady pulled out on me...

OOh err... come on, I can't be the only person to have maybe read that the wrong way. Although was it you pulling out... you know what, just forget it. Glad you're alright!

Roger_This

Had a close encounter with a scool run camper van a while back. Luckily the lady driver spotted us just in time, braked and looked a bit shocked / sheepish, then got all indignant and pointed at her head. Apparently we should have been wearing helmets :roll:

lost_in_thought

jashburnham wrote:

JonGinge wrote:

lost_in_thought wrote:

EDIT: to explain, I was on the inside of a truck, he looked down, we made eye contact, lights turned green, no indication from him, moved off then he suddenly indicates and immediately turns left, knocking me sideways and trapping my bike between his truck and one of those helpful fences. God knows how but I scrambled off the bike and over the fence as my handlebars were bent inwards. I ran up and banged on the driver's door, I was (understandably) very unhappy with him.

Fark. Close one

Double fark!

This is exactly why the missus is under strict instructions to never ever ever go down the inside of a large vehicle EVER. Problem is she's not confident enough to go round the outside most of the time so her London journeys can be a bit slow but it's a small price to pay.

Very much so. This was almost 4 years ago now, and the incident that taught me never to trust drivers to do what they're indicating, as well as to never go down the inside of a large vehicle unless you're really sure it's not going to move.

I did write a letter to the council about the fence, one of those ones on a corner, and was told they were for safety. :roll:

EDIT: this was also the reason why I waited so long before going clipless - I don't know how I managed to get away, but I wasn't sure that I'd have been able to if I had been clipped in.

Porgy

Roger_This wrote:

Had a close encounter with a scool run camper van a while back. Luckily the lady driver spotted us just in time, braked and looked a bit shocked / sheepish, then got all indignant and pointed at her head. Apparently we should have been wearing helmets :roll:

It's a little get out clause in their demented heads so they can continue to feel superior. Once when a car load of lads by Euston station had failed to see me in front of them indicating and nearly ran into me. At first they were quiet while I complained. Then one of them piped up that I was breaking the law. I asked them how and apparently not cycling in the gutter and not wearing a helmet was what they came up with. If this is the level of ignorance of motorists then I despair of things ever getting better for us.

I once had a woman drive into me at a junction as she wasn't indicating and unexpectedly turned right. Her defence - and she was quite indignant - was that she was signalling. I said that I didn;t see her signal. she said that's becasue it's broken - but she defintely signalled. Again - we have no chance against such stupidity.

redvee

Mums and prams and mobiles on the pavements :roll:

Cafewanda

[quote="jashburnhamDouble fark!

This is exactly why the missus is under strict instructions to never ever ever go down the inside of a large vehicle EVER. Problem is she's not confident enough to go round the outside most of the time so her London journeys can be a bit slow but it's a small price to pay.[/quote]

Jash, your missus and I are in the same space. I tend to 'behave like a car' in heavy traffic to and from work whilst the other cyclists slide up the inside/outside or down the middle

Re women cyclists: one or two have pulled out in front of me without looking, but it's the male commuting (racing) fraternity that jangle my nerves the most right now. Hopefully that will change as I get more road confident.

SpinningJenny

I'm a laydee and I agree that mums driving kids in cars are a living, breathing nightmare!

Having been in a car with my sister-in-law, her little boy and my OH, I can tell you I was absolutely petrified. She spent more time dealing with the little one than paying attention to the road, she drove too fast and at one point, darling child had a paddy in his front seat, front-facing child seat and I thought we were going to end up driving into a brick wall! AAAGH!

I do tend to keep away from such drivers if I can - and dogs

jedster

I genuinely think that mothers are at a real disadvantage driving with kids in the car. I find it much easier to ignore what's going on in the back than my wife does - if conditions are remotely dicey I can block them out. I think women are genetically programmed to find the squealing of their kids impossible to ignore.

J

the_hundredth_idiot

For me, school-run mums provide far and away the most number of heart-stopping moments. But it's the blokes who provide the most fundamentally dangerous moments. (Which broadly ties in with insurers' experience - women tend to have more than their fair share of the 5mph car-park prangs that result in a new bumper; men tend to have more than their fair share of the 100mph motorway write-off prangs that result in hospital treatment and a a new car.)

I ride past a few schools on my commute (including Alleyns, epicentre of the swine flu pandemic) and the 4x4 dummy-mummy set provide no end of slightly hairy moments. I have to cover the brakes and crawl along keeping a very careful eye for rear doors opening while the car is sat in traffic, sudden swerves as they find a parking space big enough for their tank, sudden swerves as they look back to the rear seats to give their little darlings a good shouting to, slamming on the brakes to wind down the window and have a chat to their friend who is driving in the opposite direction, ...

But the three nastiest moments in the last year? The ones where there was a real risk of serious injury to me? The ones where the car driver was behaving like a complete and utter tw4t (rather than simply being careless)? Male drivers every time. :evil:

cjcp

Jeepie wrote:

Has any confronted a reckless driver or someone at fault on the road and had a good outcome?

Depends what you mean by "confronted". A passenger in a cab who "doored" me a couple of years ago was very, very apologetic, as was an Aussie who crossed in front of me going south over Col de Putney Bridge. And a driver who knocked me for six on a roundabout had an asthma attack and I ended up feeling sorry for him.

But I think that's about it. As said above, it's natural for the driver to be defensive. However, I'm not always looking for an apology.

Porgy

The Hundredth Idiot wrote:

But the three nastiest moments in the last year? The ones where there was a real risk of serious injury to me? The ones where the car driver was behaving like a complete and utter tw4t (rather than simply being careless)? Male drivers every time. :evil:

I tend to agree with you about male drivers, however I have noticed just recently that very young female drivers can get just as aggressive as males, but instead of getting out and trying to hit you, they're more likely to swear like a trooper, and/or try to run you over with their car - or egg on some passing bloke to beat you up on their behalf.

Soul Boy

So men = agressive dangerous and women = hapless dangerous. Still, theres a common thread.

Had a women come past on the Harrow Rd, knocking my right handle bar clean out of my hand with her wing. Very nearly had me off and onto the pavement. I knocked on the window when she stopped to straighten her mirror. Of course she hadn't seen me, or indeed noticed that she'd hit a cyclist, seemed quite shocked. Funny (not ha ha) thing was I had been sat in the primary, directly in front of her, though the full phase of lights, with a blinking rear light on my bike, and another on my courier bag, which has large reflective chevrons on!!!

Theres none so blind as those who don't bother looking (or drive whilst looking over their shoulder...)

DonDaddyD

On the way back from the Morpeth I'm riding through Balham when a cab driver nearly left hooks me. Rage takes me so off my bike up against his window shouting at him to use his wing mirrors (which were turned inward). Oh yeah, he said sorry many many many times.

By the very nature of their job cab drivers are by far the worst and on average the most aggressive of all motorists.

Next I would say the ladder of danger goes:

School-run Mum's or Dad's are simply a menance.
White Van man
Pr*ck in a nice car (Audi A3, BMW Merc CLK etc)
Bus drivers/HGV's