Doubling Up On Road

[benb]

No-one is saying motorists are justified in getting angry at cyclists who innapropriately cycle in primary.
Afaicu what is being said is ;
It may cause motorists to become unjustifiably annoyed/angry - this in extreme cases may result in possibly life threateningly dangerous consequences for the cyclist in question.
Cycling innapropriately is selfish and by definition wrong.

Everybody agrees with this.

But as I said before, most motorists won't know when a cyclist taking primary is doing so appropriately or not, and some will get angry no matter what the cyclist is doing. Let's face it, many motorists get angry at the drop of a hat.

 

[Bicycle]

Everybody agrees with this.

But as I said before, most motorists won't know when a cyclist taking primary is doing so appropriately or not, and some will get angry no matter what the cyclist is doing. Let's face it, many motorists get angry at the drop of a hat.

Ben, good on you for saying 'some will get angry' and 'many motorists get angry' in the above. Many posters would not qualify the remark. The inclusion of those adjectives put some welcome perspective on the matter. It is not as bad as I sometimes see it painted.

I read a lot about angry motorists and angry cyclists. Sometimes I read posts by angry cyclists.

I ride a lot in London and the sticks and I see very little anger, aggression or bad driving. Of course it is out there. I have a very stiff right shoulder because of it. But it is not the norm, or even very common.

Many years ago I was a motorcycle courier. We were at the time the magnet for much of the aggression on the roads (and the source of even more). Nonetheless, even when I was a courier I saw very little of it.

 

[Origamist]

My suggestion was merely that cyclists should take some sort of test as well as motorists Any extra training could only be a good thing couldnt it.

I never compared shouting with a close pass, I merely pointed out the inapproriate behavior.

Whilst I think cycling training is a good idea (and 100,000s have received Bikeability training, btw), I don't think it should be compulsory. I'd much rather more emphasis was placed on the driving test and how to treat vulnerable road users. Why?

In DfT data on collisions involving adult cyclists and drivers of motor vehicles, driver behaviour/error was found to have been the cause of more collisions than cyclist behaviour. When I tell this to work colleagues, etc they think I making it up; promulgating a militant, extremist cycling agenda (sound familiar?) because cyclists don't pay "road tax", don't have to pay for an MOT, and don't have to take a test / hold a licence. It flies in the face of their prejudices that cyclists would be far more likely to be at fault than drivers in collisions, because they routinely run red lights, don't wear helmets, cycle without lights etc.

 

[freecyclist]

No, what I am saying is that if you take primary when it is not appropriate this may be construed as being aggresive and is likely to be met with a poor response.

Everyone agrees with you except mcpaul and he will never agree with you.
Rather than agree with you like everyone else he will answer a completely different question as he did to you saying
"And that's where I disagree with you. It's the driver's attitude that brings the aggression, not the correct actions of the cyclist. We've all experienced poor drivers getting stroppy when they shouldn't. "
He seems to specialise in this shifty unscrupulous debating tactic , you are wasting your time imho.

 

[MissTillyFlop]

How does a cyclist establish this?

You can't, that's the point. So the safest thing to do is assume they are a drunken moron and proceed with caution.

 

[Little yellow Brompton]

Everyone agrees with you except mcpaul and he will never agree with you.
Rather than agree with you like everyone else he will answer a completely different question as he did to you saying
"And that's where I disagree with you. It's the driver's attitude that brings the aggression, not the correct actions of the cyclist. We've all experienced poor drivers getting stroppy when they shouldn't. "
He seems to specialise in this shifty unscrupulous debating tactic , you are wasting your time imho.

"everyone"? I would rather you not include me in your nose counting unless you have actually asked me and I have told you that I agree.

 

[John the Monkey]

This is all very well, but when is this "Mc Paul" fellow going to step up and throw down some wikkid rhymes here, Yo?

 

[Bicycle]

I have a terrible feeling that this thread, which I and others have loved and nurtured, is dying.

I am filled with a terrible melancholy and a sense of coming grief and misery.

Opinions have been voiced and (frankly) I won all the arguments.

There were some attempts at insurrection by slightly militant car-haters, but I knew my message of love and courtesy between all road users would win the day.

If the dying of this thread were a car, it would be a 1972 Austin 1300 GT: Hinting at what might have been had Messrs Cooper and Issigonis been trusted to make real their dreams, but ultimately used as a vehicle of convenience by uninterested housewives in Epping.

We are all agreed, of course, that all road users should be lovely to each other. Hooray!

 

[montyboy]

I have a terrible feeling that this thread, which I and others have loved and nurtured, is dying.

I am filled with a terrible melancholy and a sense of coming grief and misery.

Opinions have been voiced and (frankly) I won all the arguments.

There were some attempts at insurrection by slightly militant car-haters, but I knew my message of love and courtesy between all road users would win the day.

If the dying of this thread were a car, it would be a 1972 Austin 1300 GT: Hinting at what might have been had Messrs Cooper and Issigonis been trusted to make real their dreams, but ultimately used as a vehicle of convenience by uninterested housewives in Epping.

We are all agreed, of course, that all road users should be lovely to each other. Hooray!

Ah, not many left I suspect.

 

[dellzeqq]

http://www.flickr.co...157627943729443

click at your peril!!!!!!!

we were frequently four abreast! And in groups of thirty!

 

[Poacher]

......and as for those Zooriders in Portland..at times they were taking up a whole lane (or more). Absolutely disgraceful!

 

[MissTillyFlop]

......and as for those Zooriders in Portland..at times they were taking up a whole lane (or more). Absolutely disgraceful!

That looks terrifying! I was squeezing my brakes and thinking "why am I not slowing down?". I then realised I was watching a video. Sat on a couch.

 

[ianrauk]

http://www.flickr.co...157627943729443

click at your peril!!!!!!!

we were frequently four abreast! And in groups of thirty!

58 miles to Brighton mostly in primary.. what a naughty boy I am...

 

[rowan 46]

Since I got my new commuter I get very few problems with fellow road users in fact I would go as far as to say that discourtesy is a thing of the past.

 

[Little yellow Brompton]

Ah, not many left I suspect.

and all of them that colour!