As a mountain biker I dont do much road biking but this has gone viral on all the MTB forums...he's had idle threats thrown at him for a few days now...

Lets be honest...hard men rarely talk that much. If he was a 'hardman' he'd have got out, clobbered the cyclist and drove off...

Small man, wearing S & M gear in daylight and who couldn't afford a full fat.....Bell - end

 Is this where I put the car details and a bit about myself ?........

That made me chuckle somewhat. :

Wee man sindrome havin a midlife crisis, what a

Wonder how cyclists will support his businesses from now on. 2011 (MY12) 4.4 TDV8 Vogue
2016 Golf GTI PP

Gone
Audi A4
VW Passat
VW Corrado G60
VW Golf GTI
BMW E30
Mini
Vauxhall Chvette

Neither of them comes out of it well.

Road rage is stupid and ignorant. Using your car as a weapon is illegal and could have you in jail. Chill, give cyclists some room and get on with life. That guy was an arsehole and deserved to get whatever comes to him from the police.

However, the cyclists should use the bloody cycle path. It is there for their safety and to prevent this type of event. The "I'm within my rights to use the road" brigade of cyclists are a pain in the backside. You are also perfectly within your rights to put your hand in a meat slicer but you shouldn't expect sympathy if you get injured. Also the operator of the meat slicer might rant at your stupidity - he is probably right.

I live near the A10. It is a fast single carriageway. There is a flat even strip at each edge outside the white line. There is a footpath off to one side. There is also the old road (which is shorter) and goes through some lovely villages. But the Lycra brigade cycle on the main road inside the white lines. This is fine but nuts.

Emperor Mong wrote:

However, the cyclists should use the bloody cycle path. It is there for their safety and to prevent this type of event.

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+ 1

When the cycle path runs down the side of the footpath (as seems to be the case here) you inevitably have pedestrians, young mum's with pram's, etc wandering off the footpath and into the cycle lane - they can be really dangerous for all concerned when you are riding along at 15 - 20 MPH.

i disagree john, the amount of times i see cyclists 'dodging' drains and kerbside potholes is alarming especially when they make a sudden swerve into the path of an overtaking vehicle..
i cringe when i see heavy goods or buses try and get round cyclists and i get annoyed when there is a designated cycle path along side the road.. ... - .- -.




Y. O. L. O.
.

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I assume you don't ride a bike so will always struggle to properly understand the position and view of a cyclist.

Anyone using the Highway Code guide on the amount of space to leave when overtaking a cyclist should not have a problem when a cyclist needs to avoid a drain.

This is lifted directly from the Highway Code..




If everyone (almost anyone) give as much room as this there wouldn't be a problem ! Perhaps people would prefer a cyclist to hit a drain or pothole and fall off into the path of a passing car ??

There should be general good levels of consideration when driving around cyclists, and perhaps trying to see the road and obstacles from their point of view.

The bottom line is that too many drivers kill and seriously injure cyclists

i dont ride with lycra on but i have in the past ridden daily and in heavy traffic areas i've always stayed on paths ,cycle or normal ..

i dont object to the lycra boys ,in fact we have a gaggle of them meet round the corner from me on sunday mornings but i fear that in todays congested roads there will be more incidents... ... - .- -.




Y. O. L. O.
.

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It is of course illegal to ride on a 'normal' footpath Stan

Not really sure what difference wearing lycra makes - it's no different to putting football kit on to play football, or cricket whites to play cricket - so why do people seem to think that cyclists become different people when the put it on and ride their bike

The key problem is an attitude of both sides against each other.

I drive in central London a lot and the cyclists and Boris bikes are a nightmare, with tourists and commuters going on pavements, pulling out between parked cars, going up oneway streets the wrong way, through red lights and zebra crossings as people cross, scratching cars as they squeeze between traffic etc etc.

Also the professional couriers here are also mad, with an arrogance that would make Seb Blatter envious. There are good drivers and good cyclists out there but unfortunately they are overshadowed by the ignorant and arrogant prats that cause issues both on both sides.

While they are legally allowed their place on the road, they also have to take into consideration that motor vehicles travel faster and should be allowed to overtake. Just like farm vehicles tend to pull in to the curb when causing a queue.

Cycle lanes are a great way to sort this out, but now we have years of major road works to install them in the city. Swings and roundabouts...

In this video I believe both sides are at fault. Tom

Current Drive
2011 4.4 TDV8 Autobiography - Santorini Black - Ivory Leather

Previous Drives
2004 Model Vogue Td6 (Touchscreen) - Java Black - Parchment Leather
1994 RR Classic 3.9 V8 Soft dash - Niagara Grey - Grey Leather
1972 Series III SWB Safari - Green (Hand Painted) - Black Plastic

it might be illegal but when we [as a family] went out on 'cycle rides' ,i made sure that me,the wife, and our three boys were safer riding on the path..

my reference to lycra boys is the riders that have all the gear and no idea and ride as if they are in the tour de france and have no regard for other road users when they ride 2 or 3 abreast...i accept that not all are like this.... ... - .- -.




Y. O. L. O.
.

It is also important to put things into context of the environment and situation at the time.

Also when young children are involved I think the pavement is far safer than having them weave in front of a lorry but again it all depends where and when.

Cycling on the pavement down Oxford Street W1 at peak shopping time is very different to a deserted suburban/rural pavement with no pedestrian traffic at the time.

Unfortunately, certainly in London I am starting to think that cycling is one of the most dangerous things you can do. Even if you follow all the rules, it only takes a dodgy minicab, HGV, diplomat, newly arrived foreign driver or even a local nutter to run you over by mistake. For that reason I keep my biking to country parks. Tom

Current Drive
2011 4.4 TDV8 Autobiography - Santorini Black - Ivory Leather

Previous Drives
2004 Model Vogue Td6 (Touchscreen) - Java Black - Parchment Leather
1994 RR Classic 3.9 V8 Soft dash - Niagara Grey - Grey Leather
1972 Series III SWB Safari - Green (Hand Painted) - Black Plastic

CEEGEE wrote:

I assume you don't ride a bike so will always struggle to properly understand the position and view of a cyclist.

I seriously doubt that CEEGEE. Stan's a well balanced man of the world as are most of us. To be frank there's way too much bleating from cyclists about drivers not understanding cyclists' needs or rights. The trouble comes from the fact that very few cyclists seem to ever mention the responsibilities which go with those rights.

As for too many drivers killing cyclists, well as has been said numerous times before, it's more about way too many cyclists putting themselves in a position where they're likely to get injured or killed, like the gazillions of the local clubs who ride round our local roads in packs of 50, 4 or 5 abreast and with zero regard for anyone else. That's exactly how the dopey ran into the back of my wife's car causing a grand's worth of damage which he had no insurance to cover. Fortunately debt recovery agencies can be a good thing sometimes

More to the point, I used to drive HGVs for a living. Some years ago a colleague of mine was unfortunate enough to kill a cyclist through no fault of his own and it ruined his life. He never drove again, ended up bankrupt and ultimately took his own life. Rarely does the devastation caused by this kind of thing get highlighted. So if I sound unsympathetic towards cyclists, especially the large moron element of them, well it's because I am 100% unsympathetic. If the cyclists are looking for sympathy for the damage caused by their own lack of sense, well I guess they'll find sympathy in the dictionary somewhere between s.h1.t and syphilis.

The laws of the land don't trump the laws of physics. Motor vehicles travel faster than cycles and since this isn't going to change anytime soon it would make sense to keep self preservation uppermost on the list of priorities, something a huge majority of cyclists seem incapable of doing.

I think it is time that the UK (well rest of the world as well of course) adopts the Dutch traffic rules where a car/bus/HGV driver is automatically at fault when they run into a cyclist. Initially I was against it, especially since a lot of cyclists in Holland already ride like idiots but on the other hand, in a tin box you are pretty safe and no cyclist (apart from a very ridiculously low percentage of idiots) would do it on purpose.

Having been a cyclist since very very young, as you do as a Dutchie, you get to see both sides of the story a lot and I also think that car drivers should take a lot more care when passing cyclists. The Dutch traffic law only makes it more sensible money wise (always a good motivator for a Dutchie ).

Also think of the kids, elderly (applicable to my family especially, including my 80 year young dad that cycles between 100 and 150 km per week, every week, we just bought him a new bicycle, the old one had done 40000km plus)). The kids are still learning and need room to make a mistake and the elderly aren't all that flexible and quick to react, so give them the space. Or the parents with kids on the bike etc. etc. If a driver makes a mistake in a car, the chance of being damaged by it is a LOT smaller than on a bicycle.

What I do think is that each country should heavily invest in cyclepaths to separate them from motorized traffic (yes, like in the Netherlands) AND that cyclist should be policed heavily to ride by the rules, because with the extra protection comes extra responsibility and for the ones that don't have the responsibility, they just need to suffer the consequences (financially, not physically by being run over/down).

In the end it is all about live and let live and that is where a lot of people in the "modern western society" go wrong. It is too much about me me me and very little about responsibilities towards everyone else that we SHARE the space/world with.

Peace man................................... (now where is the dagga smoking emoticon when you need it Martin ???? )  MY 2010 5.0 SC Galway green and sand interior!!
Have the Faultmate MSV2 Extreme to be tinkering with the settings etc. !!

^ and all of the nutters, junkies and scumbags will be getting bikes and crashing into cars on purpose for a nice insurance payout..




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