van v. cyclist: driver sacked

[Paulottie]

Luckily I am in a brief window...old enough not to have to tear around the place with no consideration but not to old to be incompetent and unaware behind the wheel.

manners and a little patience is all it needs...but if you pushed me on the issue perhaps roadtax for bikes and more dedicated lanes is not such a bad idea?

Whilst I cycled a lot in London...it seems even more dangerous on country lanes.

However the thing I can't fathom.... Why is it that patently unfit and often overweight weekend cyclists feel the need to graphically outline themselves in lycra?...You ain't going to go any faster...your not in the tour de France...so do we all have to cop an eyeful?...have some dignity.

[taff]

Funny all this.

No one is going to admit they're a crap driver and have been inconsiderate to cyclists. No one is going to admit they have ridden a bike inconsiderately.No one is going to admit to having walked in front of a car instead of the the crossing.

Whatever mode of transport anyone takes at any timeis going to be the one they're most interested in at the moment.If you've driven somewhere,you'll remember the idiot who nearly ran into you,ditto bikes,ditto on foot.

i mssed seeing a scooter today,nowhere near an accident, but if he'd been going faster and me slower,it would have been ugly and I would be guilt stricken, more than I am anyway.


people are not infallible, they make mistakes.Usually it doesn't end badly.

Is there no way we can agree that mostly we know what we're doing but occasionally we don't?

[organic]

manners and a little patience is all it needs...but if you pushed me on the issue perhaps roadtax for bikes and more dedicated lanes is not such a bad idea?

I suggest we start with road tax for trucks first, then for cars, motorbikes, and then move on to bicycles after that. Tax in order of damage done.
Road tax hasn't existed since Churchill's time.

Cyclists already pay for the roads out of general taxation (oh and for the record, I'm not exactly keen on Vehicle Excise Duty - I'd like to see it done away with - but that's another discussion).

Dedicated bike lanes do have a place, but they really aren't for fast cyclists - they are meant to be on the road. The problem with cycle facilities is that even most of those we have are completely inadequate. Most lanes are far too narrow (about a quarter to a third of the width they should be) and very often they finish right where you actually need them the most - like going through a narrow point.

Facilities could indeed be a part of the answer, though they'd need far more involvement from cyclists in the design and planning phase than there has been historically.

Then there are still the issues of getting between the facilities and point of origin and destination (which would have to be on local roads), unprovided routes (local errands for example) and so on. All that's going to do the job there is careful driving and cycling.



Taff - I don't expect anyone to admit anything.
I just hope those who recognise some elements of their own driving (or cycling - so noone takes offence at this) in any of these posts will make the appropriate changes to make the roads a safer place for everybody.

[Glutton4...]

...However the thing I can't fathom.... Why is it that patently unfit and often overweight weekend cyclists feel the need to graphically outline themselves in lycra?...You ain't going to go any faster...your not in the tour de France...so do we all have to cop an eyeful?...have some dignity.

PMSL - I wouldn't be seen in Lycra nowadays - for that very reason!

[Hazel at the Hill]

At the risk of going round the dance floor again, as a driver and a cyclist, I thought that the most salient point made amongst the zillions of words on this thread are:

Everyone who wants to take a driving test so they can get behind the wheel in a car should be obliged to spend some time on the road on a bicycle.*

I think that we've done to death the good cyclist/bad drivers and bad cyclist/good driver discussion, but I suspect although that the majority of cyclists can or do drive (so can appreciate a driver's perspective), not all drivers have cycled on a road.

If you want to drive a car, it would do you good to appreciate the viewpoint of another road user.

*I'm paraphrasing here - with apologies to the person quoted

[piskieinboots]

....wants to take a driving test so they can get behind the wheel in a car should be obliged to spend some time on the road on a bicycle

As motorcyclists - we say this often

[organic]

It's probably a common one among cyclists too, I think. I know I've said it often enough, but I'm not a "scene" cyclist so maybe it's not so.

[jackie j]

I nearly got run down by a cyclist cyling very fast on the pavement today, he came speeding past me from behind and swerved past me. I didnt hear him till he was going past. Idiot.

[organic]

Jackie - while I'm inclined to agree that he probably is a bit of an idiot... how do you know he swerved past you if you only heard him as he was passing?

You know, I just thought, on a forum somewhere (probably a fishing one) there could well be a thread just like this one with someone grumbling about how I passed them like some kind of hooligan on that ride I mentioned in Post 192 above. I'm not saying that your guy was being safe and corteous, he certainly doesn't sound it, but the thought still made me chuckle a wee bit.

[jackie j]

Jackie - while I'm inclined to agree that he probably is a bit of an idiot... how do you know he swerved past you if you only heard him as he was passing?

You know, I just thought, on a forum somewhere (probably a fishing one) there could well be a thread just like this one with someone grumbling about how I passed them like some kind of hooligan on that ride I mentioned in Post 192 above. I'm not saying that your guy was being safe and corteous, he certainly doesn't sound it, but the thought still made me chuckle a wee bit.

He was going so fast and its a busy area plus the angle of his bike. I jumped as he went past, if it had been a small child he would have knocked it over, maybe swerved was the wrong word, weaving very fast then. You know, that rush of wind feeling.

[organic]

Ah yes - I do know that feeling.
Cycling on the pavement is one thing... cycling fast on the pavement when it's busy really gets me.

"Idiot".

[jackie j]

Ah yes - I do know that feeling.
Cycling on the pavement is one thing... cycling fast on the pavement when it's busy really gets me.

"Idiot".

It is a sort of pedestrian area very wide but even so to cycle like that is idiotic, it was an adult not a teenager. I was walking crossways to cross the road that it leads to. hard to explain the area really.

[lindyloo]

in defense of chubby cyclists everywhere; i think one of the worst sights i encounter on my daily drives are bony bottoms in lycra, and why are they always poked up at eye level, as i am waiting to safely pass??

[organic]

I think the common thread here is the lycra. It's just wrong regardless of who is wrapped in it.

[jackie j]

My OH has just bought some shorts that look like normal kahki knee length shorts but inside thet have the padding etc they look so much better. Cost £70 though.