Drivers!

And today, first car overtakes then I see a lady try too.

I could touch her wing mirror as she zipped between me and the car she overtook.

Keeps the blood pumping though, the angrier I get the faster I pedal and the quicker I arrive to work...

i find myself jumping up on to the pavement more often than not these days. give a toss if people think its 'inconvenient' or 'dangerous'. i'd rather take abuse/the occasional dissaproving 'tsk' at 5mph from a passing pedestrian than suffer a massive trauma to the head from a passing truck wing mirror.
i avoid roads as much as possible. too many vehicles and too many f*ckwits driving them.
the worst part of my drive is the last 500metres along a stretch of road dominated by cement mixers and heavy goods vehicles (we work in an indurtial estate). you'd need a full susser to navigate the pavements as the kerbs are about 8-9inches high with no slopes and are battered from LGVs cutting over them when turning.
scares the crap out of me just to walk on the pavement next to this road, let alone ride my bike on it.

if everyone could just f**k off between the hour of 7-8:30am / 5-6pm every weekday then i'd be happy.

twain":1ogtompt said:

.....if everyone could just f**k off between the hour of 7-8:30am / 5-6pm every weekday then i'd be happy.

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I now commute by bike and although my shifts allow me to do so outside of the regular rush hours I actually find it more dangerous to be on the roads at these times as the traffic is faster and drivers are generally less 'aware' as they already have their work heads on! :evil:

last week all these issues were being discussed by the 'get britain cycling' commitee in parliament, CTC,Sustrans and various other interest groups were there putting their cases forward. Put our voices out there by joining in, dare i say it Twitter is quite a good tool for all of this info.

joe careless":xvhwqrzx said:

last week all these issues were being discussed by the 'get britain cycling' commitee in parliament, CTC,Sustrans and various other interest groups were there putting their cases forward. Put our voices out there by joining in, dare i say it Twitter is quite a good tool for all of this info.

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I've e-mailed several MP's (including my own) on this very subject, and had absolutely no response.

However, if enough people send enough e-mails, then politician have to take notice, rather than just paying lip service to the subject.

Have a look at Chris Boardman's cycle lane video on British Cycling's web site. The committee are going to have an interesting time when Mr B visits.

Here's a link: http://www.britishcycling.org.uk/ca...is-Boardman-asks--Who-are-cycle-lanes-for---0

I cycle around 20 to 25 miles a week in and around town and it's a very rare week that I don't have a single incident with a motor vehicle. I keep my whits about me so I've never actually had a collision and often it may not necessarily be something particularly dangerous, but just rude and inconsiderate, like the other night when someone pulled out from a petrol station in front of me to wait blocking my carriage way for a gap in the traffic going the other way. I wasn't going fast and I had plenty of time to slow and go behind her, but I'm pretty sure she wouldn't have pulled out and blocked the carriageway in front of a car, or any other sort of motor vehicle.

Mostly it's incidents where cars pass too close, this is particularly irritating when they then slow to turn off or stop to park just a few hundred feet further up the road. I once had a woman squeeze past me in her massive 4x4 only to come to a complete stop about 30 feet ahead of me and remain double parked in order to let someone out of the car, to her credit, when I gave her a filthy look as I passed, she did mouth the word "sorry" and look a bit sheepish. It's also annoying when cars pass very close on wide roads where there's plenty of room for them to move out and pass with more space between you. Where there are traffic islands, I generally move out, so that cars have no choice but to wait rather than try and squeeze through with me.

Some drivers seem to expect you to ride about 6 inches from the curb, but that's not usually viable, there's often a lot of debris on the first two or three feet of road from the curb in addition to drains that are sometimes several inches below the road surface where the road has been re-surfaced many times.

I think a large probem is, that there are now more drivers on the road than ever that have never ridden a bicycle, or motorcyle, and that have no idea how disconcerting it is when someone passes very close by at a significantly greater speed. In addition, they have less idea of how much you need to pay attention to the road surface on a two wheeled vehicle and might need to move around the road to avoid potholes, bad repairs, manhole covers etc.

and we dont pay "road tax" apparently

Excellent post xerxes.

In addition to what you have said, I also believe that drivers are not aware of how to overtake correctly any more. I find this with my bike, my horse and when driving.

When I started driving numpteen hundred years ago, most trunk roads were two lane and at the National speed limit of 60 M.P.H. Now, most main roads have been de-trunked, have had their speed limits reduced, and double white lines have been painted down the middle. The only places to overtake are the occasional three lane, on a dual carriageways, or on the increasingly rare dotted white line roads.

I travel around 35,000 miles a year, in a car, on business and I have seen drivers skill and judgement go down and down, to the point where even when following a bus, on a wide trunk road where it is perfectly legal and safe to overtake, most drivers won't do it.

As far as bikes are concerned, I think it's a matter of education and awareness, but unfortunately, those that are unaware and don't want to be educated will remain ignorant (in every sense of the word).

Although a motorcycle it's still two wheels and kind of highlights not only the dangers of two wheels but the laws lack of protection when things go wrong

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... ident.html

the missus has just said I should get a car...