the nationality of drivers most considerate of cyclists

inaperfectworld

french drivers are often praised for their consideration to cyclits and there is some truth in this.
having cycled a good few times in france however it does seem that their consideration in terms of passing distance is partly a result of quieter roads ie the fact they can give you plenty of room and in towns i am not sure they are much different to here. in my experience in france the dutch are far and away the most cautious and the germans are not bad either. being as objective as i can i would say that in general the british do give you the least room

downfader

inaperfectworld wrote:

french drivers are often praised for their consideration to cyclits and there is some truth in this.
having cycled a good few times in france however it does seem that their consideration in terms of passing distance is partly a result of quieter roads ie the fact they can give you plenty of room and in towns i am not sure they are much different to here. in my experience in france the dutch are far and away the most cautious and the germans are not bad either. being as objective as i can i would say that in general the british do give you the least room

Living in Southampton where there is a large imigrant population I have noticed a few Polish plates in late pull-outs from junctions.. but yeah, the Brits are pretty crappy when all is said and done. By far and away I get the worst experiences off my fellow country men and women.

Never cycled abroad sadly.

dbb

Aussies aren't great either.

chuckcork

Being from Oz I would think that australian drivers would be pretty cr@p, but thats just the mentality torwards anyone involved in something that doesn't involve the equivalent of running into brick walls or rugby league or something similar.

Plus it would be though of as gay, which in a macho culture is not a good thing.

trickeyja

Dutch.

I was cycling through the Cotswolds on a group ride near Bibury a couple of months ago. First of all, a car zoomed past leaving us barely any room, as per British custom. I confirmed my suspicions by a glance at the English numberplate.

A few minutes later however, I was flabbergasted to find a car patiently waiting behind us, before overtaking and giving a tonne of room. Instinctively, I looked alongside the numberplate to confirm that these people were indeed foreign. They were from the Netherlands. It must have made an impression on me because I can remember this clearly! I reasoned that they must respect cyclists more seeing as cycling is a more common mode of transport in the flat Netherlands.

Ash_

Despite the supposed 'latin temprament' and the battle-scarred cars you'll see in any towns, I've actually found the Italians to be very, very courteous to cyclists. It's no surprise really given cycling is so much a part of their heritage and culture.

Here's a case to illustrate this - on the last day of a cycle tour, we were heading for Turin airport, trying to get there on back roads obviously. We got hopelessly lost, started getting desperate, and so figured we'd just ride along the hard shoulder of the motorway - carefully and out of the way of the traffic - so we could get to our destination, probably less than 10km. Anyway, we got stopped by a police car who, after ascertaining who we were and what we were trying to do said "OK follow me", escorted us to the nearest junction and then carried on escrting us all the way to the airport. Top service!

Additionally, on arrival at the airport, the terminal was still shut - this was very early in the morning. Seeing us hanging around outside, a security guard arranged for us to be able to put our bikes into a secure room and let us wait in there too until the termailnal opened and we could check our bikes in.

Somewhat differently, when cycling in England, I regard a positive cycling experience as one where I don't get spat at by some chav in a Saxo.

jellybellywmb

Curently working in Transylvania and would not dare ride a bike drive a car or anything else on the road, they are all lethal I have never seen such a free for all.

guinea

jellybellywmb wrote:

Curently working in Transylvania and would not dare ride a bike drive a car or anything else on the road, they are all lethal I have never seen such a free for all.

Try Albania.

Geoff55

Apart from a couple of days on a hired bike in France, where drivers were noticeably more considerate than in UK, my experience has been in Spain.

The Costa Del Sol no less, seems to have the strong Spanish consideration and respect for cyclists. It always takes me a few rides to get used to the close passing of many British drivers. Almost always the closest encounters are from nervous drivers, too concerned to move closer to oncoming traffic.

Stone Glider

CC's remark about Australia strikes a chord. Victoria seemed to be very considerate, NSW the opposite but Queensland!!!! (Everything I say about Oz ends up with me adding, of course its different in Queensland.

The attitude of the Dutch may be tempered by the legal status enjoyed by cyclists; if your car strikes a cyclist it is Your Fault!

chuckcork

Stone Glider wrote:

CC's remark about Australia strikes a chord. Victoria seemed to be very considerate, NSW the opposite but Queensland!!!! (Everything I say about Oz ends up with me adding, of course its different in Queensland.

The attitude of the Dutch may be tempered by the legal status enjoyed by cyclists; if your car strikes a cyclist it is Your Fault!

Depends on where you are in Qld too unfortunately, further away from the SE Corner of the state and the further back in time you're going....

plankton

I find Spanish drivers are mostly very good. Day to day and will wait on corners and only really overtake when they can do so in the other lane.
I even took a wrong turn once and ended up in a long underpass without lights. The lorry driver behind followed me at my speed so no one could overtake. Once out the other side he tooted and wave as he drove past, the nice fellow.

Some areas also have roads signs warning drivers they are entering a cyclist area and need to drive carefully.


I won't mention Gibraltar.

swagman

The Spanish are passionate about their cycling.
The brits have got a lot to learn to turn Britain around into a good country to cycle in.

dbb

chuckcork wrote:

Stone Glider wrote:

CC's remark about Australia strikes a chord. Victoria seemed to be very considerate, NSW the opposite but Queensland!!!! (Everything I say about Oz ends up with me adding, of course its different in Queensland.

The attitude of the Dutch may be tempered by the legal status enjoyed by cyclists; if your car strikes a cyclist it is Your Fault!

Depends on where you are in Qld too unfortunately, further away from the SE Corner of the state and the further back in time you're going....

and if you move away far enough you will end up in Adelaide!

ademort

Stone Glider wrote:

CC's remark about Australia strikes a chord. Victoria seemed to be very considerate, NSW the opposite but Queensland!!!! (Everything I say about Oz ends up with me adding, of course its different in Queensland.

The attitude of the Dutch may be tempered by the legal status enjoyed by cyclists; if your car strikes a cyclist it is Your Fault!

The legal status of Dutch cyclists over motor vehicles is only applicable to anyone under 14 years of age.If a motor vehicle has an accident with any person under the age of 14 then the driver must prove 100% that the cyclist was to blame for the accident, which is almost impossible. Anyone above the age of 14 involved in an accident with a motor vehicle would have there case investigated by the police just like in the U.K. and police would decide who is responsible.
Ademort

Tim Farr

In the 1990's I had four holidays in Northern Spain, Cantabria and Asturias, and always took the bike. Spanish motorists were unfailingly considerate to me on the bike - but in the car they were not always so well behaved. One day is well remembered - we ventured onto the coast road which ran west from Ribadesella; suffice to say that my wife and daughter had hysterics because of the 'crazy' overtaking and speeding.

BigG67

Alpine drivers (Swiss/French/Italian...whoever) get my vote.

I had an artic give me so much room passing from behind that he nearly ran a car coming the other way into the ditch....

chuckcork

dbb wrote:

chuckcork wrote:

Stone Glider wrote:

CC's remark about Australia strikes a chord. Victoria seemed to be very considerate, NSW the opposite but Queensland!!!! (Everything I say about Oz ends up with me adding, of course its different in Queensland.

The attitude of the Dutch may be tempered by the legal status enjoyed by cyclists; if your car strikes a cyclist it is Your Fault!

Depends on where you are in Qld too unfortunately, further away from the SE Corner of the state and the further back in time you're going....

and if you move away far enough you will end up in Adelaide!

I meant in outlook myself, far enough out of Brissie and your barely above (for an unfortunately large segment of the population, and I went to school with a representative sample) barely above knuckle dragging. Put a Cro-Magnon in a suit and he'd better dressed and probably better educated.

Adelaide by comparison?

dilemna

Jake151 wrote:

I was on my MTB with a few mates on monday around Barbary castle (for those of you who live in wiltshire) and the brits fly down these roads at 50-60-70 maybe even 80 where all going down this road in a spread out line type thing and this one car (audi) goes right out to the over side of the road slowly as well. The car stops up ahead and being a regular cyclist got a little worried but as soon as me and a mate went up along side the American woman said 'Do you know how to get to the whitehorse?' and we where like 'no' but she goes on to say 'Jeeze these drives dont care about you cyclists do they?'

So the Americans get my vote even tho I have no cycled in America :shock:

That's not my experience with Yanks. They are lethal, more often than not they are as fat as the huge cars they drive and quite likely to be on their phones too. One such driver 2 days ago tried to overtake me just before a blind bend but then cut in sharply as an approaching car appeared. I shouted C-R-A-S-H! Car stopped about 100 yds up the road and backed up toward me. Passenger window was down and so a fat knuckle head in army fatigues leant out and greeted me :

Yank : "A-hole what's your problem?"
Me : "Do you always drive like that?"
Yank : "Drive like what?! At least I'm not going to cause a crash"
Me : "Well acutally it was you who nearly took me out to avoid crashing into that on coming car. Drive like that regularly and you will have a crash."
Yank : "You're an A-hole"
Me : "Not as bigger one as you are"

Yank drives off.

About 1/2 mile up the road I came to a T- junction and General Dickkopf is standing in the middle of the road in his desert fatigues in 30 lace hole desert boots with his right arm up signalling for me to stop. I stood up on the pedals and rode toward him curling my lip. He got out the way shouting "A-hole!" I rode on. He didn't pursue me any further. I had his vehicle registration anyway.

I have been very close passed by several fat yankee cars and their yankee drivers despite giving several lifesaver looks over my shoulder. I cannot make up my mind whether they are genuinely ignorant or just arrogant selfish barstewards which is pretty much as they present themselves in many Hollywood films and US TV programmes we see on our channels. Sadly I fear it is the latter.

Round here in Cambs it sometimes feels like we are under occupation with all the US bases and their armed forces tearing around.

By far the most courteous drivers to cyclists are those whose cars are parked up , no seriously the most considerate are the Dutch by several hundred flat kilometers .

DaSy

Spain for me too, I did a stint up in the Sierra Nevada's and many times when trawling up a very long and twisty climb I would find a car sitting patiently at a safe distance behind, and stay there for 3 or 4 minutes until a safe place to pass would appear. Several times the driver would then give a toot of the horn and a big wave and smile.

I loved riding there, it really was a joy.

teagar

Next you'll be asking the sexual orientation or a racial profile of friendly drivers.. :roll:

inaperfectworld

was talking to a dutch couple in a b&b last week (they were touring uk by car) who said that in car vs. cycle it is always driver of car to blame. however ademort seems pretty well informed and it ma be that ditch people believe it true when it ishn't

chriskempton

inaperfectworld wrote:

was talking to a dutch couple in a b&b last week (they were touring uk by car) who said that in car vs. cycle it is always driver of car to blame. however ademort seems pretty well informed and it ma be that ditch people believe it true when it ishn't

Think that only applies if the bike rider is below a certain age i.e. collide with a kid on a bike in your car it's your fault, full stop.

Angus444

downfader wrote:

inaperfectworld wrote:

french drivers are often praised for their consideration to cyclits and there is some truth in this.
having cycled a good few times in france however it does seem that their consideration in terms of passing distance is partly a result of quieter roads ie the fact they can give you plenty of room and in towns i am not sure they are much different to here. in my experience in france the dutch are far and away the most cautious and the germans are not bad either. being as objective as i can i would say that in general the british do give you the least room

Living in Southampton where there is a large imigrant population I have noticed a few Polish plates in late pull-outs from junctions.. but yeah, the Brits are pretty crappy when all is said and done. By far and away I get the worst experiences off my fellow country men and women.

Never cycled abroad sadly.

Agreed!! Lots of Poles and Czechs up here, and a few have been involved in bad accidents...one or two fatalities....no insurance, no tax, no licences....


For courtesy, Icelandic drivers are hard to beat...laid-back, plenty of room when overtaking, seldom in a hurry.....

dizzydane

South Africa,

The drivers are so bad, most of us resort to MTBing.....

(Unless you're in Cape Town)

blorg

The French are the best in my experience but I have not cycled in the Netherlands. I've cycled a lot in Spain and they would be a close second. On a recent holiday in Sardinia I was very surprised by how careful and courteous the drivers were; I haven't cycled very much on the Italian mainland.

Ireland is OK, only OK... I'm used to it. Certainly worse than France, Spain or Sardinia... but I do most of my cycling here and so basically any negative incident, close passing, etc. Most days I wouldn't experience anything negative at all, maybe get a close pass once a week or so. It's a great country for cycling BTW, plenty of small roads and great views

Portugal by contrast is a disaster, they behave like they have never seen a cyclist in their life. I do think there is a correlation between how much the sport is appreciated and in the country and driver attitude towards cyclists.

Only place I have cycled in the US was Manhattan but I found drivers there very good indeed and courteous... certainly better than Dublin.

These are just my own personal experiences now.

synchronicity

I too can vouch for Spain (Tenerife) having really considerate local drivers. Hell, they're even better (more patient) than me at overtaking fellow cyclists. Sadly it's not the case for most tourists...

Another vote for OZ / Sydney being utter shite to ride around. I used to get an average of one near miss per ride.

TheDrunkMonk

Alpine drivers (Swiss/French/Italian...whoever) get my vote.

This is quite interesting. I was cycling in Switzerland before the Verbier stage of le Tour, and I found that what the alpine drivers lack is the animosity and agression that we're all used to here, but I got the impression that they also think that a miss is a miss, even if they've only given you 2.54cm gap as they pass. Similarly, when I was driving behind cyclists, they were frantically waving you by on alpline switchbacks and other narrow blind bends, so they obviously aren't expecting the nice safely wide passing that we all expect and consider courteous.

dilemna

Most dangerous drivers - Kiwis.

lloyd_bower

dilemna wrote:

Most dangerous drivers - Kiwis.

I'd agree they're generally some of the worst regarding attitudes to cyclists that's for sure.

I found car drivers in Spain, Andalucia and Mallorca excellent for attitudes to cyclists.

cyclingmev

It's not West Cumbrians, that's for sure...they're on a mission to squash and maim any cyclist who DARES to venture onto the roads...be afraid...