The absolutely huge 'moan about cyclists' megathread

[Mmrraww 10]

Do you own a 4x4?

 

Of course lol - A proper one

 

What you got?

[Wibbs 10]

Iv just got a new bike from the ride to work scheme funded by the goverment.I must say its really scary on the roads now in 1 week iv been hit by wing mirrors twice almost knocked off with someone turning left and a few car doors opend in my path.Its not safe on the roads for bike riders now.So i stay on the pavement till a pedestrian comes and give them the right of way.

I do also drive but a Horse has more right of way than a car or a cyclist and they foul on the pavements and roads and noone cleans it up.

[Cyclone 10]

Cyclists need to take some responsibility for their own safety, I cycle from Walkley to the centre of town most days at the moment, and apart from the odd idiot over taking too close it seems relatively safe.

I don't ride so close to the gutter that I have no room to manoeuvre, and I ride in the centre of the carriage whilst going through the tram stops (this seems to annoy a few drivers, but they are probably the ones who would try to overtake at that point which is precisely why I do it). I've actually had more problems with pedestrians in the cycle path, who seem surprised when I come around a corner at 15mph and nearly run them down.

[the white rose 10]

Sorry, this is Yog Sothoth not White Rose (forgot to log in as myself)

[the white rose 10]

Sorry, mistaken post. This is Yog Sothoth!

[Yog Sothoth 10]

And this is me!

What I wanted to say was:-

 

I've nothing against cyclists who keep to the side of the road, its the ones who lump themselves in the middle of the road and hold up drivers. I even saw one fool on his bike go across the roundabout near Staples and Decathalon in town during the rush hour holding up dozens of drivers. There is a bleedin' cycle path underneath the damn thing!

 

No there isn't. I ride through that subway daily but I can assure you it's meant to be pedestrians only (unlike the one at bottom of Eccy Road). I sometimes ride across the roundabout if traffic's not so busy, holding up dozens of cars for, oooh...seconds at least. Tra la!

 

Some places I ride in the middle of the lane cos it's safest, such as going through the lights towards Chesterfield Road, by the Bridge pub, there the gap is narrow. If I stay on the left, some drivers will try and squueze through alongside me rather than waiting, and there just ain't room to do that safely. So I get in the middle of the lane and stay there until I'm through the lights, and go back to the left again.

 

I ought to add that I won't ride in the gutter for anyone, and stay about 2-3 feet out from the kerb, unless I have to get past stationary vehicles, when I might go down the inside, or I might overtake the line on the outside and cut in at the front. I'll over/undertake most vehicles which are slow or stationary, except big trucks or buses.

 

And I do pay tax already.

 

PS I've never hit a pedestrian or a car in 10 years of riding, but I have BEEN hit, through no fault of mine, by a car driver, had a van deliberately drive so close behind me he touched my back wheel, and had pedestrians walk in front of me as if I didn't exist. One day one of the latter will find out how much it hurts having a 14 stone bloke hit them at 20mph on a bike.

[sushi 10]

Last week I was cycling on the road that leads from the train station and goes past the funeral directors. A funeral car pulled out on me, as the driver of it obviously thought the correct way to pull out of a junction was to be chatting to and facing his colleague in the passenger seat. It was only his colleague shouting at him to watch where he was going that saved me from being seriously hurt.

He literally stopped an inch from me. Unfortunately this sort of thing is all too common.

I do not feel safe at all cycling on the roads in sheffield.

[mattyboy1509 10]

having just completed the tpt I have to say I was impressed by hulls efforts where it was a dual carriageway road one ENTIRE lane almost was a cycle path (car drivers getting nervous as I speak). This is the future... as for sheffield you have to cycle aggresively it is after all our road too you dont complain about car drivers driving in the middle of the lane afer all. Although afer cycling from liverpool to hornsea I can see the stirr the first car must have made.

[Squiggs 11]

having just completed the tpt I have to say I was impressed by hulls efforts where it was a dual carriageway road one ENTIRE lane almost was a cycle path (car drivers getting nervous as I speak). This is the future... as for sheffield you have to cycle aggresively it is after all our road too you dont complain about car drivers driving in the middle of the lane afer all. Although afer cycling from liverpool to hornsea I can see the stirr the first car must have made.

 

 

Kingston Road in Hull (for one example of a road leading out from the city to the outer ring road) successfully combines a free-flowing 40mph road for cars with a clear cyclepath AND free marked-out parking. All punctuated with occasional crossing facilities for pedestrians.

 

It's so easy.

[HotPhil 10]

Reports of a study from London make interesting reading http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article1695668.ece

[sheff71 10]

This has probably been mentioned here already (but there are 90-odd pages!), but it would seem that the best solution all round would be that to cycle on the roads, you would have to have been through an official cycle test, and paid for a licence to cycle on the roads (maybe say a tenner) - this would help weed out the idiot cyclists who weave all over the road or just show no consideration, and would also be an acknowledgment to drivers that these cyclists have proven they are responsible, careful cyclists who are there to get from A to B safely, and not just to annoy the drivers!

 

This would also allow the authorities to give points in a similar way to drivers for poor or dangerous cycling, and after a set number of points, the cyclist would be banned for a set time from the roads, and would need to take a retest before being allowed on the roads again. This kind of equality on the roads would reduce the moaning of drivers about cyclists too (in theory at least!).

 

Perhaps to identify at a glance which cyclists are 'approved' and which aren't, either they'd wear a particular colour top or helmet (e.g. bright yellow), or have their registration number on a sash across their chest (to make them identifiable in the event of an incident)...though I would imagine cyclists wouldn't like that

[wibbles 10]

Maybe we could get car drivers to take an official test and then pay for a license or tax to drive on the roads - surely this would help weed out the idiot drivers who show no consideration for anyone. This would surely be an acknowledgment to cyclists that these drivers have proven they are responsible, careful drivers who get there from A to B safely, and not just to annoy the cyclists.

 

This would also allow the authorities to give points for poor or dangerous driving, and after a set number of points, the driver would be banned for a set time from the roads, and would need to take a retest before being allowed on the roads again. This kind of equality on the roads would reduce the moaning of cyclists about drivers (in theory at least!).

 

Perhaps to identify at a glance which drivers are 'approved' and which aren't, either they'd drive a specific coloured car or wear a special t-shirt or have their registration number on the back of their car (to make them identifiable in the event of an incident)...though I would imagine drivers wouldn't like that ........

wait a minute.........

........that already exists and clearly does nothing to 'weed out the idiot drivers' and is most definitely not an acknowledgment that said driver is reponsible or careful

 

This has probably been mentioned here already (but there are 90-odd pages!), but it would seem that the best solution all round would be that to cycle on the roads, you would have to have been through an official cycle test, and paid for a licence to cycle on the roads (maybe say a tenner) - this would help weed out the idiot cyclists who weave all over the road or just show no consideration, and would also be an acknowledgment to drivers that these cyclists have proven they are responsible, careful cyclists who are there to get from A to B safely, and not just to annoy the drivers!

 

This would also allow the authorities to give points in a similar way to drivers for poor or dangerous cycling, and after a set number of points, the cyclist would be banned for a set time from the roads, and would need to take a retest before being allowed on the roads again. This kind of equality on the roads would reduce the moaning of drivers about cyclists too (in theory at least!).

 

Perhaps to identify at a glance which cyclists are 'approved' and which aren't, either they'd wear a particular colour top or helmet (e.g. bright yellow), or have their registration number on a sash across their chest (to make them identifiable in the event of an incident)...though I would imagine cyclists wouldn't like that