Thread: Having fun with cyclists

Originally Posted by rsser

FWIW I had a mini-bus driver come so close to me I had to swerve into the gutter to avoid being hit. When I caught up with him at the next Stop sign and confronted him, his reply was that he was teaching me a lesson for riding too far out on the road.

He's probably the sort of parent who disciplines his kids by force feeding them chilli sauce when they play up.

Originally Posted by rsser

FWIW I had a mini-bus driver come so close to me I had to swerve into the gutter to avoid being hit. When I caught up with him at the next Stop sign and confronted him, his reply was that he was teaching me a lesson for riding too far out on the road.

Not having ridden a pushbike since I was a teenager but have ridden a number of motorbikes [starting with an old Matchles 500 single] I find the above statement absolutely incredible

Yeah, if I'd been on the motorbike I'd have been tempted to catch up with him and kick in a panel or two.

(Used to ride a BSA 500 single; the 1000cc 4 is better!).

Originally Posted by rsser

Yeah, if I'd been on the motorbike I'd have been tempted to catch up with him and kick in a panel or two.

(Used to ride a BSA 500 single; the 1000cc 4 is better!).

One thing I did discover as a cyclist, is how fragile rear vision mirrors are. However, that is a last resort, only to be used when your escape route is planned. Also effective is a drink bottle squirted into the driver's groinal area.

LOL.

I used to fantasize about a metal water pistol filled with brake fluid.

I find the folding mirrors most cars have now are really good. You can give it a little tap which folds it against the car but doesn't damage anything. It's my form of an exclamation mark expressing my dissatisfaction with their driving abilities and is an inconvenience for them to stop and fix the mirror

I have 'tapped' a few windows of cars as they try to squeeze through gaps that were never safe as well. I figure if they're within arms reach of me on my bike then they're too close

Originally Posted by AlexS

One thing I did discover as a cyclist, is how fragile rear vision mirrors are. However, that is a last resort, only to be used when your escape route is planned. Also effective is a drink bottle squirted into the driver's groinal area.

Cyclists don't like a quick squirt from the old water bottle either...

Originally Posted by Christopha

Cyclists don't like a quick squirt from the old water bottle either...

A quick squirt from either a motorist or a cyclist doesn't achieve anything except increase the unnecessary animosity that exists between many motorists and cyclists.

I'm really sick of motorists who think they own the road and equally sick of cyclists who have the same mind set. I don't see what's so hard about reaching a compromise where both motorists and cyclists share the road.

I don't know how this can be achieved but it seems that it requires a paradigm shift in the way we approach using the road in our chosen mode of transport.

Drink bottles getting thrown from passing cars is pretty common too. I usually just ignore them completely and just continue on my way. I have found from experience that confrontations have never really been productive and just get the offenders more annoyed which was not my intention.

Originally Posted by kiwigeo

A quick squirt from either a motorist or a cyclist doesn't achieve anything except increase the unnecessary animosity that exists between many motorists and cyclists.

I'm really sick of motorists who think they own the road and equally sick of cyclists who have the same mind set. I don't see what's so hard about reaching a compromise where both motorists and cyclists share the road.

I don't know how this can be achieved but it seems that it requires a paradigm shift in the way we approach using the road in our chosen mode of transport.

Spot on there. And that's the ten billion dollar questions that no-one seems to know the answer to.

Originally Posted by I_wanna_Shed

Spot on there. And that's the ten billion dollar questions that no-one seems to know the answer to.

The key word seems to be "share"....something humans seem to be less willing to do these days.

I don't think people see the equation as "one person on a bike= one person in a car! " That's the problem. They start thinking that a car has right of way cos it is bigger! Forgetting that it is still illegal to run over someone even if they do a dumb thing!

Originally Posted by tea lady

I don't think people see the equation as "one person on a bike= one person in a car! " That's the problem. They start thinking that a car has right of way cos it is bigger! Forgetting that it is still illegal to run over someone even if they do a dumb thing!

Some people don't see anything when they're driving their car or riding their bike except themselves and "their" road.

I ride a bike as well as drive a car and I really can't see cyclists being worse than motorists when it comes to disregard for their own and other road user's safety and straight out acts of stupidity.

Last week I went for a ride and saw at least a dozen motorists merrily talking or texting on their mobile phones while negotiating roundabouts or intersections....one just about pulled out from a stop sign in front of me and only saw me because I had seen him on his phone and yelled at him to make sure hed seen me. The same day I also came across a pack of bike riders....3 abreast on a narrow winding road and one of them busy with both hands off the bars talking on his mobile phone...he got an appropriate comment from me as I went past.

Sharing is something that is completely alien to everyone these days.

Cycling is a bit of a bugger of an area, you are much faster than pedestrians and they get very cranky at you if they have to share the path and then you are much slower than road traffic who get equally as cranky at you.

Now being a pedestrian, cyclist and motorist (and former motorcyclist), you get to see the good, the bad and the ugly in all users.

As my mother says, there is nothing you can do to change others behaviour so concentrate on your own and try to be the best and most considerate you can be.

Hopefully at least one person will pay it forward.