Sabotage and hatred: what have people got against cyclists? | Life and style | The Guardian
http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle ... t-cyclists

They're often twats when on the road, never mind the footpath, that's what. Most are great, but there's a disproportionate amount of nutters IME. That said, as a true pedestrian lol, I don't think drivers are any better.

This just about sums up why....
Youtube clicky

Arrogance & entitlement. Ironically the same thing your more ardent cyclefacists claim about everyone else.

That seems to be a very English problem.

Nearly everybody has a bike over here and rides a lot. I don't ride that often, but most years we make at least one day outing, usually riding to the next town (40 mile round trip) and short rides in the countryside.

Both daughters cycle to work / uni. The eldest is also an avid mountain bike and racer rider.

But the attitude is very different here, cyclists tend to follow the rules, although there are some idiots that ignore the cycle paths / roads and ride on the main road and as nearly everybody cycles, there is a lot more tolerance for them.

Some argue there isn't enough provision for cyclists. i.e. insufficient cycle paths etc..

That may be the case in some areas, but the island is criss-crossed with cycle paths yet the more militant cycle-pricks insist on using the roads and making themselves as wide as possible - that would account for the ill-feeling toward them over here at least. A few months back one particularly annoying pair, I've encountered several times, got puddle-sprayed by an artic, right in front of me. When I say puddle, well, small lake would be more accurate - it stretched across most of the road. That gave me a warm glow inside that lasted all morning!

However, some people are getting particularly aggressive when overtaking cyclists - too fast and too close - as if to make a point. I fear it isn't going to end well.

When I was a youngster, the chief copper sent me a written warning that he took a very dim view of me "riding" on the pavement. I had been clipped by a car and the bicycle went up the road breaking one of the pedals. Luckily I only had cuts and bruises. So I was scooting home standing on the remaining pedal, keeping out of the way of the nasty car people. No mention of the car or driver and no I was not riding like an idiot, I was just going into town. My brother had an incident where he was hit and run too, left for dead at the side of the road. I despair at people. I still have 2 bicycles and a motorbike and a driving license

I'm not a fan of cyclists but would never even think about sabotage. The cyclists I like are the ones who wear helmets, hi-vis clothing, have lights on at dawn/dusk/night, and are good road users. They'll check over their shoulder to see if they're holding up traffic and will stop to one side to let a queue go past. They give appropriate hand signals. The ones I hate are the ones who cycle at night without any visibility or lights, no helmet etc but if they get hit by a car in the dark, it's automatically the driver's fault.

A bit +1 to this.

Can I mention how much I hate the ones that don't abide by highway code? I am fed up of having to be careful crossing when the light is green for pedestrians for muppets plowing through people at 40 + kph.

For every cyclist who is a twat (and there are definitely cyclists who are) there are just as many car drivers who are irresponsible dickheads. The difference, when a driver is not looking or tries to left hook a cyclist the result is that the cyclist dies.

Overtaking too close or too fast is being more of a twat than a cyclist taking the middle of the road (which they are perfectly allowed to).

Take a look at some of the helmet cam videos on YouTube. In one, a woman was driving with her child in the back of the car. The woman was reading a book. The cyclist told a police car that happened to be in the same queue and the woman then started accusing the cyclist of all sorts.

As much as you can complain about cyclist. Cyclists can complain about drivers.


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You can complain like this because there are no drivers that drive over the speed limit... Or use a mobile phone while driving? Or overtake in a no overtaking zone? Or jump red lights?

Oh wait...

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This thread is about cyclists. If there was a thread about drivers, I would also complain about them.
Two wrongs does not make a right.

I never said they do make a right. You can complain all you want. I'm just pointing out that there are more drivers who drive like dicks than there are cyclists who do the same (actually probably more then there are cyclists in total). Drivers seem to be the most vocal people about cyclists while also ignoring the fact that they do the same things every day. Also, drivers are at far less risk from cyclists than cyclists are from drivers.

People also complain about cyclists when they are doing nothing wrong. The only people behaving in an arrogant or entitled way are the drivers who can't seem to wait a few seconds for a cyclist.


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My comment was about cyclists being a danger to pedestrians, in particular delivery boys

And there's delivery men that drive like idiots.

What IS your point exactly? Oli has already said that all kinds of vehicles and people drive badly on the roads.