On 17 Mar, 10:59, Dieter Britz wrote:
webreader wrote:
A good example of why cyclists do not help themselves.
About 16:45 today I was driving down the Reigate Road towards Ewell.
About five cars in front of me was a cyclist (man) with helmet & high
vis jacket. (not cycling in the gutter)
Cars were passing him giving him about five feet clearance.
At one point he wobbled & nearly collided with a passing car (the car
had to take avoiding action)
He rewarded this cars missing him by shouting & giving the two
fingered salute.
The rest of the cars (including me) passed him with even more
clearence.
Just by the railway bridge the cars were queuing (the road narrowed)
He passed me on the left & almost hit my car, but continued cycling
into an ever decreasing space.
The space ran out when he tried to pass the car in front, he hit the
wing mirror, hit the kerb & almost fell off.
He then decided to mount the pavement & pass the traffic that way (the
pedestrians didn't seem to think that was a good idea)
By this time the car he hit had caught up & had pulled up to check for
damage.
Mr clever cyclist stopped at that point, he was scared that the driver
might like to speak to him.
As it happened the driver must have decided that there was no damage
so left.
Mr cyclist then decided that he didn't want to go in the same
direction as the car so he dangerously road across the roundabout
using the pedestrian refuge & then continued along the pavement.
I wonder if he was insured, I wonder how many accidents he has caused,
I wonder how he could be identified.
While I was waiting for the traffic to clear another cyclist pulled
alongside mentioned something along the line of 'It's ******* like
that that give us a bad name', I could not agree more with him.
WSR

Much of this can't happen here in Denmark, where in most cities we have
cycle paths, except on some quiet roads. We do still interact with cars
at intersections and, yes, there we do have bad cyclist behaviour, while
car drivers are amazingly patient with us.

When I cycled in Australia, it was mainly cars that were the problem, with
a large number of quite rabid drivers who seemed to hate cyclists. I was
threatened a couple of times by trucks trying to squeeze me into the
curb (one time at pretty high speed) and there is a bit of abuse from
drivers. Cycleways are the answer. We had a cycleway movement in
Newcastle (upon Hunter that is), and all we got were some white lines
marking a narrow strip at the curb for bikes, which cars of course
largely ignore.
--
Dieter Britz (dieterbritzatyahoo.com)- Hide quoted text -

Unfortunately most local councils and road authorities only pay lip
service to Government targets on encouraging cycling. A bit of green
paint, white lines and a few bike symbols painted on the less narrow
bits of highway and the problem is (supposedly) sorted! I wonder how
many highway engineers have ever actually ridden a bike?

By the way, can anyone please explain what the random bike symbols
that have recently been painted onto several ordinary roads with no
cycle lanes in the Ealing area are supposed to mean or achieve?

Derek C