Are cyclists becoming more aggresive towards vehicle drivers? Or is it just my age!

tonysj

Strange but I thought I would ask you guys.

I was with a small group ( 3 ) today cycling through Matlock in Derbyshire. The roads were busy, typical weekend in Matlock and as we neared a small roundabout in the town centre 2 younger cyclists, aged 25 to 30yrs, kitted out and obviously keen on road cycling joined us after a cafe stop at the side of the road.

We all stopped at a Pelican light crossing some 20 meters from a small roundabout that's always busy.
I rolled up to the crossing and stopped at the side of one of the guys struck up a breif conversation while people walked across the road, said goodbye and started to ride off. Now they were turning right and I was going straight forward and there was a Pickup/ranger type car just behind us, as the 2 guys road off they both looked round at the driver of the pickup and stuck their middle finger up at the driver. I didn't see any aggressive driving or horn blasting by the driver yet they gestured to him in a confrontational way which to me seemed totally out of the blue for no obvious reason.

Me and my riding buddies all commented on the way these 2 cyclist reacted to the driver and thought it wasn't called for.

Is it me at my age, 56yrs and similar aged mates, that thinks this is not helping with the attitude of motorists towards cyclist as I normally just gesture in a helpful advisory manner, open palm for wait there etc and or generally wave at aggressive motorists in a friendly manner as if I'm not phased by their impatience and anger.

Don't get me wrong I get p*ssed when motorists cut me up in a dangerous manner etc but I always try and stay calm and explain to the driver the safety concerns regarding their manner of driving.

What do you think?

Regards.

T.

shirley_basso

Age

Cheeseface22

Sounds like an isolated, unusual scenario.

I'm going to make a sweeping statement.

Youth are generally aggressive and selfish due to their immaturity and lack of life experience. It doesn't matter whether they are walking, cycling, driving, longboarding, etc. In my early 20s, I admit I was cycling and driving irresponsibly. Because I was young and had that “I know everything” attitude which in fact was totally untrue. Nearing to the 30s now, I’m more now mature, realise my actions have consequences and have responsibilities for not just me but for my partner and her family’s view on me so I can’t be behaving like that.

But I’m sure there are sensible and very mature youth out there. I wasn't. And now being much older, I realise my shortcomings in my youths.

Wayne Plunger

Perhaps said cyclist knew said driver and it was a bit of fun.

tonysj

Wayne Plunger wrote:

Perhaps said cyclist knew said driver and it was a bit of fun.

Possibly, but they didn't seem to suggest that it was a bit of fun, who knows but I was immediately thinking No wonder cyclists get bad rep all to often in the press/media..

jgsi

No excuse for unwarranted bad behaviour on either side , but who knows the situation you saw.

As an urban commuter ,it is a rare week I dont have my welfare put at risk by thoughtless, ignorant and careless driving.
Am I supposed to roll over and have my belly tickled?
No, I will give severe verbals if necessary... only last week on errands , I had my front wheel nearly taken away on a fast roundabout by a stupid person.
Bad driver training and attitude it is only a f## cyclist.
I'm old and tbh sick of it at times... possibly down to the fact I was first put down onto tarmac at the age of 9 on my way to school by someone who wanted his paper and fags more than looking after a kid on a bike.

sloppyschleckonds

^whs

New people to cycling just don't get the animosity from some people driving vehicles directed towards cyclists.

Deliberate close passes, objects thrown from vehicles, slamming of brakes when overtaken to name a few behaviours.

cookeeemonster

99% of aggressive behaviour in my experience is from drivers towards cyclists, pretty much all of it without provocation.

People are in a rush and don't like being held up by people they see (wrongly) as having less of a right to use the roads as them. Combine that with virtually 100% of the population not knowing the highway code and the sections relating to cyclists and the result is there to see.

Luckily, it genuinely is a relatively small minority of people (probably actual psychopaths with little empathy towards others) that have the aggression. The vast majority of people don't act like that regardless of their opinion towards cyclists largely dictated to them these days via clickbait media

awavey

but theres aggressive and theres thoughtless behaviour towards cyclists on the road from drivers, whilst I might only encounter a handful of the truly aggressive who will deliberately drive as close to you as they can at speed, theres a whole bunch of thoughtless people doing essentially the same thing but not understanding what they are doing puts you in danger, youd hope the aggressive ones understand that it does or they truly are pschopaths.

now as much as I try to be as patient as I can, and have learnt over time, so maybe age is a factor, that not all these motons are attacking me so try not to take it as personally as I once did, there is still a cumulative effect and a tipping point will be reached, and depending on my mood at the time I may well flip and launch a volley of abuse or sign language and it may in isolation have seemed a complete overreaction to bystanders to that one event, but you know you cant explain to them thats the umpteenth time today someone has put me in danger on the road and Im getting a bit fed up of it now.

Matthewfalle

the general public seem to be getting more aggressive with each other generally - the MFs have sern this malaise increasing in Britain.

bizarrely, europe seems as chilled out as ever.

ugo.santalucia

Matthewfalle wrote:

bizarrely, europe seems as chilled out as ever.

As proven by the rise of extremist/populist/neonazi parties across the continent

Matthewfalle

don't see them having punch ups at the teaffic lights though.

suppose they are on a par with ukip etc though.

ugo.santalucia

Matthewfalle wrote:

don't see them having punch ups at the teaffic lights though.
.

... but this is not new... I've been in this country for nearly 20 years and I remember the same scenes back then... it's part of the British culture... you have a history of violence and aggression that dates back millenia

surfercyclist

Much worse in groups, I drove towards a pack of cyclists who were all over the road on both sides so quite justifiably beeped and gestured for them to move over so I didn't take out about 6 of them and all I got was a torrent of abuse and gestures. I of course responded in kind. Cyclists = wankers, same as inconsiderate drivers.