Is there a current backlash against cyclists?

[professionalman]

It would appear that people and I dont mean that rag of a paper have a bee in their bonnet generally about cyclists.

Could it be the current economic climate where petrol prices have hit the roof? Could it be attributed to falling standards of riding? Have people run out of patience with cyclists? Any other reason?

I have been cycling now for some 4 years and it is a noticable trend. Definitely a very small number of cyclists particuarly in the Capital call into question cycle ettiqute but even then there are mitigating circumstances.

The pavement argument is mooted time and time again, surely the flip side should be raised as to how times the cyclist is forced to seek refuge by some "prick of a motorist" cutting the bike up.

Whilst in many parts of the country bikes are allowed on public transport such as Merseyrail - their employees simply do not heed their employer's stance.

As for Cameron riding his bike next to his Jag to the Commons is definitely an own goal for us.

What do others think?

 

[mcshroom]

It's possible, cycling seems to be more high profile and the reactions seem to be getting more hostile IMHO.

There may be something in the cost of motoring argument (despite the costs of motoring to the state being higher than the income from drivers), I know I've had more 'road tax' arguements recently than before - the fuel price rise seems to have really upset a lot of motorists and I get the sense they are venting their frustration at anyone they can.

I prefer to believe that it's because there are significantly more cyclists on the road now than before. Ghandi summed it up rather well: -

First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.

We've had the completely ignored stage, they've laughed at the lycra and the 'eco-warrior's' on bikes and now we've got to the point where people don't like us.


Another factor could be that we are now getting to the point where more and more of the drivers on the road have never been cyclists themselves, or if they have it was playing around on mtbs and bmxs, so have no empathy for cyclists on the road.

Thirdly, most drivers seem to assume that if you cycle, it's because you are too poor to own a car. Therefore you are apparently less worthy

.

Bad cyclists make things worse, but we have very few RLJers and pavement cyclists in this part of the country compared to the cities and still the drivers find things to moan about.

 

[d87heaven]

More car journeys, the ever increasing obesity rates, congestion, more bike lanes, lazy journalism and the ever increasing sense of entitlement of having a driving licence all contribute and its probably getting to the point where its more noticable. Plus people are just generally more selfish and ill mannered these days.

 

[corshamjim]

Cyclists have since the days of the penny-farthing been outlaw dandies, despised by the general populace. I'm not convinced there's any more animosity towards us now than there has always been or that we are generally behaving any better or worse than we have always done.

 

[Bicycle]

I've been cycling regularly for 41-ish of my 47 years and have noticed little or no difference in attitudes to cycling from drivers and other road users.

I think that what may have appeared (to the outsider) to happen is that cycling has become significantly more high-profile and slightly tribal. This may make what was a fringe activity or simple daily practicality appear to be something more... something organised or tribal.

In my youth you either rode a bicycle or you didn't. You either had a bicycle of you didn't. Racing was a minority thing. Friends who rode Condor road-race bikes, competed and had rollers in the basement were few and far between. No-one could even say Colnago back in those days... it was all dark magic and whispers.

I think the profile began to change (London view here) in the mid-80s with the emergence of the early MTB and the cycle courier - although that was pre 'fixed-gear-fascination'.

Even amongst cyclists I hear dismissive comments about this or that type of rider, unheard of twenty years ago. Words like 'fakenger' are indicative of a community who are uncomfortable with other folk who travel as they themselves do. One frequently reads quite vitriolic entries from cyclists saying that fixie-mounted fakengers are only here until the next fashion comes along... Well, if they are, good for them. It's not really any of my business. I only drove a Golf until a better car came along.. I don't want to be mocked for that.

It's easier to disapprove of a recognisable group who can be identified and generalised about in the mass media. I think that's all that's happened.

I cycle regularly in London and the sticks and I feel no backlash. Most other road users are extraordinarily courteous towards me. Some are rude and some pay less attention to the road than they might, but it was ever so.

I think also that there may be a newish breed of cyclist who (knowingly or not) puts out a sort of sneering diffidence towards other road users. I think a lot of people who've been cycling for years find this sort of self-publicising moral-high-horse barrackroomery slightly embarrassing to be around. Many are the people I know who've got (like, seriously) into cycling in the last five or ten years and can drive dinner-party guests away in droves with their take on the hegemony of the motor car. They know every stage Cav ever won, but think that Fignon is a type of French biscuit.

This phenomenon combined with the current higher numbers of bicycles on the road and an unjustified feeling by some motorists that they're being 'got at' might give the impression of a backlash.

But I feel very little enmity when out riding - and certainly no more than I did in earlier life.

I cannot recall the last time I shook a fist at a car, had a word with the driver or knee-barged an FX4 (as I used to in the 80s). These days I spend a lot of time waving my thanks to drivers, but little of it feeling a need to admonish them. And I haven't lost my desire or ability to clip quickly through traffic, despite middle age.

It may also be that there's always a backlash there if you look for it... but I'm not sure I want to write that.

 

[BikeLiker]

Whilst in many parts of the country bikes are allowed on public transport such as Merseyrail - their employees simply do not heed their employer's stance.

I use Merseyrail frequently and have never had a problem, even when I commuted cross river at peak time. If I couldn't get in the carriage the guard always let me put my bike in his 'office'. What's your experience? I've ridden on and off for 20+ years and think the attitude to cyclists has improved, not worsened. Multi use paths, ASLs at lights, and more bike lanes. I know some of these are far from perfect but the intention is there.
I agree with d87heaven that people are less tolerant of others but that cuts both ways.

 

[gavroche]

Here in sunny North Wales, cyclists are well tolerated by other road users. I have never had any trouble with anybody and there are many cycles paths which well used by fellow cyclists of all ages and experience.
Maybe it is just where you live?

 

[swee'pea99]

"I cycle regularly in London and the sticks and I feel no backlash. Most other road users are extraordinarily courteous towards me. Some are rude and some pay less attention to the road than they might, but it was ever so."

Agree 100%.

As for the supposed rise in ill-feeling, my own impression is that most if not all is nothing more than lazy journalism. There's always been a place across great swathes of the media for tapping into supposed popular prejudices...the kind of bile that would once have been directed towards Germans or gypsies or gays now finds itself turned on chavs and cyclists. I honestly don't think it reflects any wider reality. As the poster quoted above says, there's a tiny minority of peanuts behind steering wheels - there always was. But in seven or eight years of hour-a-day commuting in some of London's heaviest traffic, the number of genuinely nasty encounters I've had can be counted on the fingers of one hand, with fingers to spare. By contrast, drivers being careful and considerate - even at the expense of their own progress - is a pretty much daily occurrence.

 

[lulubel]

I think there may be more resentment of cyclists, partly due to volume of traffic and partly increasing fuel prices. You can imagine someone sat in his car in a long queue watching a cyclist go past and thinking, "I'm sat in this queue paying for the privilege, and that _____ who just shot past me doesn't pay anything." And the next step is to cut up the next cyclist he comes across. (I know the driver could do something about it, and the cyclist does pay to run the bike and fuel the "engine", but it's probably a very easy mindset to get into if you're running late, sat in a queue, fed up and looking for someone other than yourself to blame. Cyclists are an easy target.)

I don't live - and never have lived - in a busy area where there's any kind of "competition" between cyclists and car drivers, so I can't offer an opinion on whether it's getting worse, but I can understand how it could be as fuel prices continue to go up, and more people take to 2 wheels to save money.

 

[Moodyman]

Cost of owing and running a car, parking costs, speeding fines and congested roads don't help. Motorists feel as if they get it from all angles.

Then they see lithe cyclists getting about a lot faster and cheaper than them and who always appear de-stressed. Am sure there is a degree of jealousy somewhere.

 

[upsidedown]

We're seen as unwelcome visitors to their roads, simple as that. The idea has been enforced for years by slick car advertising, motoring organisations and the press.

 

[lejogger]

I think we're probably overcomplicating it a little. I don't think many motorists have such deep thoughts about financial implications of owning or not owning bikes while sat in their traffic jams.

Essentially there are more cars on the road and more cyclists on the road, so the chances of being faced by a cyclist when you're behind the wheel is a much more regular occurance, and there are just a lot of motorists out there who are not very good at dealing with that situation.

I was a driver before I was a regular cyclist, and I can honestly say that the instinct is "oh god, there's a cyclist. It's going slower than I want to go, and I'm going to have to try and overtake it safely".
Not everyone can manage this. Not everyone wants to slow down and wait for an opportunity. They're wanting to get home, or to work, or to the shops before they close, and slowing to 15mph is just an inconvenience.
You can see it in their faces when they're waiting at juntions - "oh cr*p, a cyclist, I've got to get out before them or I'll be stuck behind for 10 minutes"

The truth is that slowing and waiting for a safe opportunity to pass rarely adds more than seconds onto a journey, but it's an inconvenience that people in this day and age don't want. That's not the point of this thread though.

I believe that 99.9% of incidents (i.e. close passes, cutting ups, being pulled out in front of) are merely driver incompetance. It's not because they hate cyclists or are wanting to backlash against them, they just have no confidence, skill, or perhaps even the patience to deal with them safely, and that can only be addressed by the DVLA changing the way that learner drivers are taught.

 

[cd365]

I agree with lejogge, before I got back into cycling I did not resent a cyclist for getting past me whilst I was stuck in a queue, or resent them for not paying "road tax". In fact it didn't bother me one way or the other. I probably did overtakes that a cyclist thought was bad (none I can think of though) but none would have been out of malice, just poor decision making at the time.

 

[abo]

and that can only be addressed by the DVLA changing the way that learner drivers are taught.

IMHO (and I know there is a driving instructor lurking here lol) people are taught how to pass their test. At least, that's how it was with me. I'm sure I've posted somewhere before, I passed after 7 lessons aged 17 and basically turned loose. And being an immature teenager who had been given the keys to something with a 2.2 engine, what was the first thing I did with it? I'm not going to answer it here

Was that a safe thing to have happen? This was 22 years ago now though, I hope things have changed!

 

[lejogger]

Most drivers don't have the self confidence to sit behind a cyclist to wait for a safe opportunity to overtake even when they know that overtaking is a risk - their worry is that it is they who will be blamed for the long queue of traffic forming, and making everyone behind them late because they aren't capable of doing something so simple as overtake a cyclist. So they rush past unsafely for fear of all the bad thoughts they believe are building up behind that probably aren't even there to begin with.

My personal opinion is that in these cases there is a personal responsibility on the cyclist, when appropriate, merely to recognise when drivers do show courtesy with a nod, a wave or a thumbs up of thanks to counteract the bad feelings that they may feel coming from behind. Most people by human nature are hungry for recognition, and I know it makes me feel good when i get a wave of appreciation, so more likely to do it again.