Has this been covered? Critical Mass

raidan73":3rjsdg7x said:

xerxes":3rjsdg7x said:

I can get pretty agressive with car drivers that cut me up and don't hold back with hand gestures indicating my score out of ten for their driving; usuallay 1 or 2.

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I often score them a zero, and shake it up an down a bit just so they get the message

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i often score them in descending numerical order
the aggression from the driver - whether they are aware of their wrong doing or not, is what really gets me going.
i've said it before, but it seems that the driving experience is an isolated one and often turns people into wildly arrogant beasts when their 'little private bubble' is interfered with (whether it is their fault or not).
i will certainly be investing in a camera in the very near future as my commute to work has increased on my bike.

that youtube video link of the 'commuters montage' seems all too familiar. I very rarely get an apology from drivers, its either a complete blank, or an instinctive almost knee jerk aggressive gesture from them.

i think video evidence would make it harder for the law to ignore and also easier for them to process cases for these situations - which may make them more inclined to start acting more consciously on our behalf and bring this issue into the public eye more often. (whether that will suppress the unwarranted anger of the minority i don't know).

i always prepare for confrontation when i get on my bike for the daily commute - sadly this makes it a less enjoyable experience sometimes....:roll:

Hitting the door is the better option, it seems with the door zone thing that your instinctive hard wired reaction is to avoid the door, causing riders to swerve into oncoming traffic.

I mean its a no brainer, would you rather hit a door or go head on into a car travelling towards you . In that split second instinct kicks in .

This is what appears to have happened in this case where the guy avoids the door and goes head on into a bus

http://www.islingtontribune.com/news/20 ... afer-roads

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/b ... arked-cars

for me it was a revelation i now have this constant awareness of the door zone .

Its the fact that to us its life or death and its that that drivers dont get, we would leave a tiny mark if anything at all on their car and we would be dead, for me it means leaving a widow and my children without a dad

Do i get angry when cycling on the road at poor and dangerous driving. Hell yeah!!!

Ive been doored, at speed, on a bend, car stopped/broken down, opened without looking... BANG

Fortunately (sort of) it was a convertable, so I went straight over the top of the door and into a bush. Luckily there was no oncoming traffic. Ripped the forks out of the frame tho!

I always say in threads like this, that as the most vulnerable of all raod users, cyclists must ASSUME that NOBODY else on the road has seen you, and that they ARE going to pull out, open their door, hit you from behind, or walk in front of you.

YOU must take responsibility for yourself
ALWAYS be ready to evade

I always look through the parked car for an occupant


Someone on here has as his signiature, something about the sound of a car door being the rifle bolt being pulled back.... sage words indeed

G

again, couldn't agree more with Mr Gsif.
the thing with opened car doors is that you are either heading toward the exterior panel side - one can assume this would lead to a 'softer' impact as they are designed to behave a certain way when impact occurs
or
the interior side which does not have the same level of design consideration.
the interior side has that nasty door edge, which i've read stories of leaving a size-able gap in ones chest if struck upon.

i'm extremely diligent when passing parked cars and also weaving through backed up traffic (taxi's being the hazard here, as passengers often get out at the lights)
i look through the car and also in the wing mirror itself as some cars have no rear view and i check for movement or faces.

as mentioned in the link to the article about the tragic death of that fathers son, if we (the government/nation/whoever is in support) are trying to encourage more cycling, there needs to be more consideration with regards to the travel system and safety of cyclists.

cars have this kind of consideration during design and even the road systems themselves are built around them these days: (forgive me if these aren't the best examples)
-central reservations on motorways with the big metal barriers.
- cats eyes
- loose gravel traps,
- 'speed cameras' (?)
- NCAP safety tests (not sure how much they include 'cycle impact safety') but they sure do for pedestrians.
- ABS brakes
- Airbags

all of this predominantly protects the driver, but very little protects what its colliding with....

the simplest solution would be to separate cycling systems from vehicle transport systems completely.
to be honest this would be ideal, as i hate breathing in the crap that cars excrete and enjoy the parts of my commute that take me away from all this the most

i'm pretty sure it'd be a lot easier and cheaper to cut through a couple of hedges here and there to allow a flow of off road cycling routes rather than slapping some red tarmac down right next to all the traffic on the busiest roads in town centres (often placed right next to bus lanes - of which every time a bus passes, i renew my faith in god and quickly make a deal with him before the bus passes)

Sorry but you did ask for opinions on the matter....

I pretty much totally disagree with critical mass, just don't see how winding up another group of road users is going to improve the situation & find that being a confident rider whilst still remaining courteous & considerate to other road users is the best ploy.

As for that youtube vid up there, yes some of the driving is pretty poor & sometimes downright dangerous but helmet cam man doesn't exactly cover himself in glory - he would be better off concentrating on getting from A to B safely & calmly rather than documenting every perceived infringement of "his"?? road space.

So did my first Critical mass ride last night and I must say it was pretty darn well cool. Really good disorganised atmosphere. Crazy mix of cyclists from a tall bikes to a top hated man riding a tricycle, lots of hipster single speed/fixed gear types and the bikes were predominantly road type bikes. Turn out was about 50 cyclists.

Was buzzing after, simply from the feeling of liberation, with a small dash of anarchy thrown in for good measure, of being able to ride safely on the road.

The group were a really friendly bunch, it was quite crazy cycling along, us taking the whole width of the road, just making chit chat about this and that

Very few impatient car drivers at least they were not making their impatience known, it really seems to even things up when they are surrounded by so many cyclists. They just had to wait and weren’t going to argue. Rode all over Birmingham City Centre and the main A roads into and out of town on a Friday night rush hour, bringing all to the sedate pace of bicycles. Completely swamped the big 5 ways island with bikes and went round it twice for good measure.

Not sure how I feel yet about the jumping of red lights and other misdemeanours committed , helmets were very much in the minority and it seems after what Wiggins has said the group were more determined not to wear them, but I will definitely go again.

On the way home i nearly got run over by a bus which overtook me then turned left, which brought me very much back down to earth
:roll:

Living in Vancouver, I'd say that the number of cyclists that are complete idiots pretty well rivals the car drivers. Also, being a cyclist, driver and user of public transit, I've got a pretty well rounded view of what goes on on the roads. Thus, there's no way in hell I'd join the critical massturbators.