Outreach to motorists

[screenman]

IMO motons become possessive, aggressive and completely irrational because they haven't allowed enough time for their journey.

I am a motorist and do not fit that description, mind you what with all cyclist jumping red lights and riding at 20mph on the pavement whilst nicking phones and handbags.

 

[matticus]

I think it's more like they become scared. Car crashes, being mutilated, dying all that plays on their mind at least at a sub conscious level and that makes them edgy.

The poor things! We must help them. I'm thinking of a charity pop single - who's with me??

 

[Sterlo]

Sadly, due to the fact that in the UK so few people especially motorists see cycling as a valid form of transport and regularly cycle themselves, compared with other countries, you won't be able to shake the image of cyclists as being different and looked down on.

Therefore it's vital to keep younger people cycling.

I'd take being "looked down on" as a big step up

 

[classic33]

Cars are remarkably good nowadays at protecting their occupants. It's the poor buggers outside that shell that drivers need to worry about.

Which gives many of their drivers the feeling nothing can harm them. This steel shell gives them immunity from any injury whilst inside.

They then demonstrate this immunity when they get out onto the roads. Only yesterday I witnessed the aftermath of one such display. A steel pole, which had a sign on it, bent almost 90° with a car sat on it, front end off the ground.

 

[classic33]

I think it's more like they become scared. Car crashes, being mutilated, dying all that plays on their mind at least at a sub conscious level and that makes them edgy. Not sure what value someone on a bike has to people in traffic other than what's been stated we cut down on the number of cars on the road. That helps but you still get the risk of bikes being hard to see, silent and very small. One bump from a car can be deadly if you're on a bike. Bike lanes or where ever possible bike routs separate from traffic would be ideal.

Why should I be forced off the road, onto something I'd rather not use, for the benefit of someone who can't drive in traffic?

 

[snorri]

Why should I be forced off the road, onto something I'd rather not use, for the benefit of someone who can't drive in traffic?

If the segregated route complied with government design and construction standards I wouldn't need to be forced off the road.

 

[classic33]

If the segregated route complied with government design and construction standards I wouldn't need to be forced off the road.

You mean like the Leeds - Bradford "superhighway", where cars are parked in parts of it. It goes 'around the houses", to avoid the shortest route(They didn't have to narrow the road on the shortest route, doing it this way). That would have put the motorist at a disadvantage and we can't have that can we.

 

[mjr]

You mean like the Leeds - Bradford "superhighway", where cars are parked in parts of it.

Nope. Not compliant. Substandard, even if it had been built as originally consulted without the further compromises.

That sort of dodgy work is probably why the new Active Travel England is being given inspectorate powers.

 

[Richard A Thackeray]

If someone gives me room, be it, when they're overtaking, I'm turning, at a roundabout, not squeezing past at a 'pedestrian refuge' (traffic island), they get a thumbs up that hopefully they can see
It invariably generates the same, or a wave, as they pass

 

[mjr]

If someone gives me room, be it, when they're overtaking, I'm turning, at a roundabout, not squeezing past at a 'pedestrian refuge' (traffic island), they get a thumbs up that hopefully they can see
It invariably generates the same, or a wave, as they pass

Are you sure they/you can tell the difference between that and a waved fist or a finger up?

 

[Richard A Thackeray]

Are you sure they/you can tell the difference between that and a waved fist or a finger up?

I'm sure most can tell the difference between a thumb & a finger (single, or double)
I've not had a digit gesture in return

 

[Drago]

I'm a big fan of the winning smile and cheery wave when another road user is respectful around me. Spread the love.

 

[sheddy]

When giving a thumbs up, I hold my hand across my chest to give the motorist a clear view.

 

[BoldonLad]

I'm a big fan of the winning smile and cheery wave when another road user is respectful around me. Spread the love.

Very true, in many situations.

My youngest daughter was a particularly surly teenager. I regularly explained to her "you get further with a smile, than a frown". At 44, she has (mostly) taken it on board.

 

[RichardB]

Cars are remarkably good nowadays at protecting their occupants. It's the poor buggers outside that shell that drivers need to worry about.

I seem to remember reading, not long after the seat belt laws were introduced, that the (much heralded) reduction in casualties amongst drivers and passengers was almost exactly matched by an increase amongst pedestrians and cyclists. In other words, the harm hadn't been reduced, merely transferred out of the vehicle onto innocent passers-by.

It's the old risk homeostasis, 'spike in the centre of the steering-wheel' argument.