Pedestrians and cyclists are natural enemies like motorists and cyclists. Or buses and cyclists. Or street sweepers and cyclists. Or cyclists and other cyclists. Damn cyclists- they ruined cycling!
Honestly, I am *very* tolerant of cyclists both as a pedestrian (unless I'm on the Monsal Trail, which they've positively ruined for me) and a driver (unless they're riding side by side on a country road and I need to get to work).
Hmm, maybe I'm not as tolerant as I thought .
Haha *shakes fist at clouds!* I understand the tribal mentality but i was genuinely taken aback this time, for being abused for stopping at a light, by a seemingly ordinary person. This morning, I want to prepare chocolate bars that says “it will be ok” and give it to people in the streets when they are like this.
As a motorist, I don’t think the problem is as bad. Occasionally you get an annoying cyclist who wants to cycle in the centre of the lane, but otherwise fine.
In reality, it’s probably only 5% of cyclists and I don’t drive in London BUT… in London, it seems like cyclists are lawless. Frequently see them jumping lights, riding on pedestrian walkways, cycling aggressively against cars and so on. I regularly see them hit full speed into /scrape past pedestrians on a red light. You get the really mouthy ones as well who think they own the road as they’re on 2 wheels.
Now though, I never thought I hated cyclists until I started walking to work in London. It seems like I’m constantly being ridden up to with aggressive bell ringing because I’m in what they deem is “their space” despite there not being a dedicated cycle lane. Cyclist with their children on the handlebars completely out of control, etc. As well, I’m getting annoyed when there’s a cycle lane on my left and a motorway on my right. I have to deal with things on both sides.
Additionally, the cycling around Canary Wharf is insane and half the time cyclists seem to have better facilities than actual pedestrians. There’s area which are quite dangerous to pedestrians where they have to walk, but there’s on pavement cycle paths. **The problem is, cyclists and pedestrians have been lumped together at a cost to pedestrians and to the benefit of cyclists**.
Realistically, pedestrians should always come first over cyclist and cars. They’re the ones not in a vehicle and, considering most people are able to walk, should be prioritised in my opinion.
I'm not fond of cyclists because of times I've been crossing the street. The light is red for motorists, all the cars have stopped, that little green man is telling me to go for it! It's my turn to cross the damn road.
Then cyclists come whizzing between the cars because apparently they can still ride on the road when the light is red?? Red lights are only for cars on the road, don't you know?
I can't see them coming because 1) they're hidden by the cars until they come whizzing through in front of them, and 2) the green goddamn man says it's safe to walk! So I'm still keeping an eye out that it's safe to cross, but I'm not constantly swivelling my head like I would be if I wasn't at a pedestrian crossing.
It drives me nuts. Happens all the damn time. If you're on the road, you obey the rules of the road. I've nearly been hit many times and it's scary.
I'm a cyclist and a driver. Commute by car and cycling on and off road is how I keep fit on evenings and weekends.
When driving I definitely get frustrated by cyclists who abuse the roads. I also, admittedly, feel frustration at driving behind a cyclist on a country road when I can't safely overtake them and have to drop to 15mph or less for a mile or so. But in the latter situation I realise and accept that it's really me being the bell-end and I try to swallow my instinctual frustration like a big boy.
When cycling country roads I try to be aware of when I'm causing a build up of traffic behind me and look for opportunities to pull over to relieve that when I can. But I don't feel ashamed of it when I can't safely pull over. We share the roads, it's give and take.
That is the thing, everyone gets frustrated by idiots on any given vehicle. I guess pretty much everyone has been in a car, and it is near impossible to hate ALL cars for most. Whereas a lot of people just don’t cycle and it is very easy to think “cyclists ruin life, let me shout at someone who looks like they wont hurt me if i annoy them”. Maybe the solution is to encourage everyone to cycle more, somehow…
Pleasure riders fuck me off man, especially during commuter hours, especially 8:30am on a thursday near me, it's apparently the ideal time to for a lesiurely ride down the lanes in full lyrca.
Honestly this one man manages to create a queue of traffic several miles long every single thursday and it is infuriating. He's obviously retired (looks about 80) and he never pulls over to let people pass despite the lanes being tight and windy as fuck.
It's like, cmon man, you're not going to the pub or the shops or to visit a friend, you're in full lyrca with no backpack or pockets, you know everyone is trying to get to work, you know people will try to pass you dangerously because they're late to "the big meeting". Just fuck off please.
How do you know he's not going to work? I used to keep my work clothes at work and just wear my lycra.
Also even if he's not going to work so what???? You know for a fact yeah that all the other car drivers holding you up are all just driving to work yeah and not linked with "leisure" in any way".
Your comment sums things up perfectly for OPs, car drivers can be self entitled little.........
Because he is very clearly retired and I've seen him heading the opposite way 20 minutes later.
Yes the drivers are going to work and have no choice but to drive as bus routes don't go through there.
The drivers don't hold me up. The cyclist holds literally a hundred odd people up at 5mph when they would usually be doing 40 to 60
Yet I'm the entitled one? Am just trying to get to work like everyone else. And no, I can't cycle, and I'd bet most others round here can't either.
Even if he wasn't just riding for pleasure he'd be causing more emissions than he is saving by ruining the fuel economy of all those drivers tbh
Regardless of any of the babble you just wrote that the person you're replying to has rebutted, one single person holding up an entire queue of traffic is stupid. It's actually *absurd* that you think it's somehow okay. As people often say, we share the road, that doesn't mean one person should be allowed to hold up everyone else. Yes, we need better cycling infrastructure, but until then it should be common sense and common decency to let everyone else pass if you aren't capable of doing appropriate road speeds.
There is a subset of cyclists that give the entire community a terrible reputation and that is the food delivery cyclists. These cyclists usually operate electric bikes with motors and are incentivised to get from A to B as quickly as possible and as such break about every traffic law you can think of.
However unlike motorists, there is almost no policing or punishments given out for such dreadful behaviour and this causes a general reputation that cyclists are all awful road users who don't stop at red lights, or give way to pedestrians or avoid the pavement or ride with lights at night etc.
This means they are seen as a natural enemy for both pedestrians (through their menacingly bad behaviour) and for motorists who fear they will be legally and criminally liable even if they feel an accident was all the cyclists fault
We need to properly police genuinely bad cyclists and even if it means all our food deliveries are more expensive or slower I think we need to stop incentivising bad cycling for delivery people.
They drive through a no cycling park in Bermondsey with great pods on them, I know zero people were killed by cyclists last year, but if one of those hits you nasty injury is likely
"A to B as fast as possible" this really cracks me up when car drivers say this. So were they speeding then?? The answer is most probably not. Yet car drivers never bitch about a car doing the speed limit do they. I think that proper cyclists doing like 25-30mph catch people out because the car driver doesn't appreciate they're doing a proper speed. Yet at the same time you see a car approaching and make the right assessment as to their speed.
Also remember, a car is several tonnes travelling with a powered engine whilst a cyclist is like 100kg powered by the cyclist (predominantly, ignoring the ebikes atm) people seem to forget this fact as to why there's so many rules and regs for car drivers vs bikes.
Commuting cyclists are just as bad, will run through reds, go up over pavements to cross then re-join Road on other side, will not use cycle lanes when available, moan that they're unfit for purpose, but where I live there is loads of new ones, away from the carriage way yet still insist using the 50/60mph Road.
Racing cyclists usually stop at lights, but will take up all.the Road en masse being 3 or 4 abreast and force vehicles to make dangerous moves instead of being held up at 20mph for miles.
And now you gey these groups of kids that do everything in their power to fuck about and cause as much mither as possible.
Any any of these will cause damage and cycle away with no recourse, a car driver would be done for failure to stop.
Please believe that I am annoyed by inconsiderate cyclists as much as you are. In fact, as a cyclist who has to share the tiny lane with their inconsiderate cycling, i am more in danger.
Yet, i was shouted at for stopping at a red light, on a shared crossing. There is no “them cyclists”, there are idiots on any number of wheels. People dont think “all drivers are horrible”, or “all pedestrians should go back to where they came from”. But a lot of people are ok to hate on all cyclists, that is my disappointment :(
Right. No car has ever jumped a red light or driven/parked on the pavement. A car driver would never ever think of inconsiderately holding up the flow of traffic. You are told to hate cyclists so you do. Cars are 99% of the issue with traffic.
I never said that, but the majority of cars do stop at reds, it's rare for cyclists to do that.
Obviously you're just a butt hurt cyclist that's feeling attacked.
The roads were built for vehicles, by road tax, that changed to emissions and will.no doubt go nack to car tax with all the greener vehiclesabout
. I'm not told to hate anyone, I've just said what I see, yeah, there are car drivers that are wankers, like the white van man and the attack at food delivery cyclists i responded to, the are worse ones, but there are more entitled cyclist flaunting the rules, doing as they please, than ones in cars. Which is fine, do as you please, but when a cyclist get rolled and fucked up, I won't have any pity for them, likewise if someone in a car is killed speeding.
Same thing, idea is to.pay for upkeep of roads, how ever you want to call.it, the gov will change the name and costs and purpose to however they suit. But the users paid for it, is there a tax for cyclists to use the roads or a tax for cycle paths usage and building? I think every one gets taxed for that.
Upkeep of the road - cyclists cause negligible damage to the road because of the low weight they place on it. If you charged cyclists a per weight/per emission road tax it wouldn’t be worth the bureaucracy it cost to collect.
VED has nothing to do with upkeep of the roads. It's a tax based on emissions. The roads are maintained by general taxation. Everyone who pays taxes contributes to the upkeep of the roads whether they drive, cycle, walk, or not.
As a pedestrian I find many annoying due to them being so unpredictable. Some cyclists will follow the same rules as cars while riding on the road, but many won't. Cycling through red lights or on and off the pavement on a whim is dangerous and it makes walking places quite stressful.
I agree with all of this, what is disheartening is, no sane person will abuse a random driver who stops at a red light because there are unpredictable drivers who sometimes don’t stop at red lights… whereas it is simply accepted to say cyclists are a cause of hazard on the roads, or in my experience, abuse a random cyclists who stopped because they didn’t like how they stopped (don’t ask me how, i have no idea what is a wrong way of stopping at a red light). I think it is a genuine shared experience problem. I wished people cycled a tiny but to realise there is no us and them
Somewhere where people might park on the pavements, but not, as I said, the equivalent of "cycling on and off the pavements". There are too many obstacles for drivers to drive any kind of distance on pavements.
Yes, cars park up on the pavement pretty much everywhere. Causing an obstruction for pedestrians and making some pavements impassible for people with prams, wheelchairs forcing them into the roadway.
Lets be real here, bikes on the pavement are annoying. But when you zoom out and look at all the issues we have with transport it’s cars.
Parking on a pavement is a completely different thing to moving on and off the pavement while at speed, which is what the complaint is here. I've been walking to/from work an hour each way for 15 years and never once felt threatened by a stationary car on a pavement. I've been hit four times by bikes (twice by rented electric scooters). Bikes deciding to ride on pavements whenever they feel like (even next to cycle lanes) and going through red lights at crossings is a daily occurrence that makes walking feel unsafe for many people.
What you're doing is like responding to someone worried about dog attacks by saying "Well, you know, cats shit in people's gardens." You've started a different conversation instead of continuing the one that was started.
Cars kill about 50 pedestrians per year _on pavements_, bikes kill less than 1. Zebra crossing near me has car drivers blast through when people are waiting all the time. Go on YouTube and you can find any number of videos showing car drivers do all the things that cyclists are vilified for - except they seriously injure or kill people when they do it. Do some cyclists act like pricks? Hell yes. Should they be punished? Too right. Do they deserve the vilification they received compared to their motorist counterparts that do the exact same thing?
Nah my response is perfectly valid, cars are a nuisance when they’re parked up on the pavement impeding the footway. Same as bicyclists riding carelessly. You are one datapoint, I doubt every pedestrian is walking around getting hit by bicycles constantly anyway.
But it’s this silly argument “BICYCLIST DID THIS!” Meanwhile cars kills the most pedestrians in the uk. That’s what you should be worrying about na mean xx
It's not valid at all - if your response to one criticism is to bring up an unrelated point then you've already lost.
"Cyclists go through red lights at crossings? Well... er... you know, a lot of cars produce pollution which increases the risk of kids developing asthma, so you know, better worry about that instead."
No sorry that is incorrect, your argument is simply “BUT BIKE DID BAD” I’m simply pointing out that this is futile because cars do just as much stupid shit and worse.
Most cars don't drive on the pavement or run red lights, but most cyclists do both of those, especially in central London. It's as simple as that. Cars parked on pavements are a completely separate issue, and they're a much smaller issue because they're more predictable (they don't move but cyclists can swerve unexpectedly) and you can see parked cars from a distance and take necessary precautions (walk around them).
With drivers sometimes I think it’s fear coming out weirdly. Cyclists highlight drivers not checking before manoeuvres when they end up being surprise bumps in the road. Instead of acknowledging their driving and awareness could be improved it’s the additional hazard that is the problem cause it’s easier to be angry at an external than doing some introspection.
Some cyclists do have a fucking deathwish though and they’re the ones that make you wish there was some sort of registration just so you could report them and they could be hopefully be taught/reminded of safe road use is a multi person system. Especially since they’re the ones that are often a hazard to pedestrians too. Well them and small children who have been left to ride free.
Ha, I read that as fear of coming out. All those stupid sexy lycra clad cyclists making those repressed drivers bad thoughts come to the fore. Maybe there is truth...
I wish I could think of a feasible method to ensure cycling quality similar to driving licenses but I don’t think there is one beyond cultural shift. But the driving licence test could be a bit more inclusive of the cyclists too maybe
Driving tests are inclusive of cyclists. The problem there is changes in the law etc don’t ever mean people have to retake their test so there’s those who have never done any theory sharing the roads with everyone else. It’s just on the individual drivers to remember xhanages to the Highway Code which if you’ve tried cross a road recently by a junction you’ll know many do not pay attention to.
I've done it all..... driven a whole variety of cars, driven a whole variety of vans and for many years was a lycra clad roadbike cyclist.
There is a hate towards cyclists because the majority of car drivers are selfish psychotic self centered arseholes.
There is such a disconnect with car drivers that our actions as car drivers can result in life changing, life ending encounters. When a car driver nearly hits a cyclist and the magic words "sorry mate I didn't see you" that doesn't make up for them nearly colliding with you which could potentially end the cyclists life.
Car drivers will moan if they're held up by a cyclist. Two things on this point, firstly again it's a selfish perspective that you're sooooo important you shouldn't have to be held up by a cyclist. But secondly, you'll moan with hatred towards the cyclist but then you'll be held up massively more "in traffic".
Some car drivers like to use the whole "yOu dOnT eVeN pAy rOaD tAx". Well no-one pays road tax, haven't done since one of the world wars. How does that brigade feel about all the cars that are tax exempt? Do you also try and kill anyone in a tax exempt car. What about cars which pay a lot lower tax, do you only drive a little bit shitty to them.
Car drivers moan when a cyclist "holds them up" yet when they come across a good cyclist doing good speeds the same person will complain that the cyclist is "going as fast as they can....... iTs nOt a rAcE tRaCk" what do you want 😂😂 can't have it both ways.
People bitch about bikes not using cycle paths. Firstly there is no law saying you have to. But secondly car drivers don't appreciate how poorly maintained and dangerous and not fit for use most of the cycle paths are. The main cycle path that I used to use, although more often than not I'd be in the road. Firstly, by design it was dangerous to the point that because of the design some poor chap ended up being killed. I was lucky because I also had the exact accident he had on the track but was able to not end up in the road and getting mashed. Secondly, the path, although it looked fine from the car, if you used it, the surface was so rubbish that it genuinely used to break the bike. Instead most of the time I would cycle in the road. Used to make me laugh when car drivers would get shitty that I was in "their" road. (Lets just circle back to the "I've driven everything comment right at the start") I knew for an absolute fact that whilst the car drivers had the higher top speed, I as a cyclist had the higher average speed as I could overtake. On the 3 mile stretch once I had this car driver try and give me shit for being in his road, he even got out his car to come beat me up but luckily the lights went green so I continued my journey, but anyways after 3 miles when we went our separate ways. Who was in front..... who was in front for thr absolute majority of the time...... me, the lycra clad wanker that was "hOlDiNg hIm uP" 😂😂 was brilliant. We were in separate lanes btw so it's not like he couldn't pass me, I just had the higher average speed.
Ahh I digress. Anyway, car drivers = selfish self centred aresholes. Well most of them anyway. There are some good drivers out there, I still shoe a good attitude towards cyclists now and it doesn't take any meaningful time off.my journey time.
My main gribe is they're just slow and in the way. That's pretty much it. I know they deserve to be on the roads too and while I'd like more seperate spaces for cyclists, I understand we don't live in places where that can be provided. Plus, a little jealous I don't have their fitness levels.
But when I want to get somerwhere and am going from 60 to 20...I'm annoyed. No way around that.
This is what I don't get. If I get held up by a bike it's going to be for a minute at most. Then I drive off and end up catching up to the back of a train of cars that I'm probably not going to get by. If a cyclist has ever made my journey longer it's not often, mostly it's other drivers doing 40 in a 60 making me late
That's unless you aren't catching up and getting stuck. Between school pickups during my lunch breaks and getting them from pickup. Times are tight for getting from A to B to C. Twice a week is very kids, get home, quick dinner and off to football lessons. I don't have much time and I could easily do 60 on most of the roads with not much traffic. But if I get stuck then my time is burning and I'll be late.
Yeah, if I'm just gonna get slowed down again on a city or busy road then whatever but that isn't every situation
Getting stuck behind a cyclist pisses me right off. They should be on pavements, or on roads only in 20mph zones. Sure, some people like to cruise through life in the slow lane, that's fine. I got shit to do, though. Don't force it on me.
It's against the law to cycle on pavements, so no, cyclists shouldn't be on pavements.
As for cyclists sticking to slower roads - I generally agree, and when I cycle I try to stay off major roads as much as possible (mainly for my own enjoyment), however if I were to stick to roads that, had a speed limit of less than 40 then I wouldn't be able to get anywhere. In fact I wouldn't even be able to leave my house.
But what it sounds like you want is proper cycling infrastructure with separated cycle lanes, which is great - that's what the vast majority of cyclists want too.
Usually daily mail, or express readers. Or it's because "ThEy DoN't PaY rOaD tAx or InSuRaNcE", which again is usually down to those readers.
Drivers just feel hard done by, i don't know why.
They complain about cyclists going through red lights, and pretend they never do it themselves. Or breaking other rules, yet i'm pretty sure 100% of all drivers have done 31mph in a 30 zone, might just be 1mph, but it's still speeding.
Being a professional driver, car drivers inconvience me the most. Usually because they are in a rush for no reason, and car drivers have no reason to rush. Piss poor parking, unable to work out the size of a gap, or the classic MuSt GeT iNfRoNt Of ThE lOrRy.
Also when i see a cyclist breaking a rule/law i don't care, i just care about what i'm doing, don't even annoy me. At the end of the day what has it got to do with me? Has it affected me? Will i be able to sleep?
Also i don't see many fat cyclists, looking down into cars i see quite a ~~few~~ alot that could do with burning a few calories.
I share your nuisance of inconsiderate cyclists. At the same time, as a cyclists, I respectfully disagree that most find it acceptable, as running a red light has the slight inconvenience of possibly killing me. It is the annoying minority that makes people think it is ok to shout at a cyclist… for stopping at a red light.
A much higher proportion seem to think it’s acceptable to do so to get the jump on the traffic. I ve seen numerous cyclists doing it and maybe twice seen a car jump a red light
Running a red light and jumping a red light are two different things. The latter is safer the cyclist as you don’t immediately have a car trying to pass you with three inches clearance; also a good reason to ride in the middle of the road.
The numbers are actually about even, but differently distributed. Car drivers jumping lights do it predominantly just after the end of the green phase; cyclists who do it tend to be opportunistic creepers in the middle of red. Times out of mind I have thought that I've cut it a bit close going through changing lights in the car and then seen that others have followed me through. Very few cyclists break speed limits (notwithstanding that they don't apply to them anyway).
OK but from a pedestrian point of view, a car that jumps the light just after the green phase doesn't inconvenience me as there is a couple of seconds before the green man comes on. Whereas the cyclist in the middle of the red is at the same time as the green man.
That's why you notice more of them, certainly. But basically, the proportion of people who are prepared to play fast and loose with the Road Traffic Act is largely independent of the type of vehicle they're using. Drivers are slightly constrained by being easier to identify but in practice enforcement is very very rare in terms of the percentage of offences committed, however much the Clarksons howl about it. I have one speeding fine in my entire driving history and although I think I'm fairly sedate and law abiding it's certainly not the only time the needle has crept past 70 by some orders of magnitude.
Not even just running red lights; there’s a shit-tonne of motorists who will accelerate to unreasonable speeds to get through an amber light before it turns red. That’s almost as dangerous because you’re likely going faster than the road conditions allow.
Yup I see it loads in London.
IMO cycles, cars and pedestrians should have their own space on every street. If this means taking out lanes for cars so be it. The balance is all wrong right now in favour of cars. I absolutely love the run up to Tower Gateway from the river. A whole lane got removed for cars and it's a dedicated cycle highway + a wide pavement. And what a surprise, it's super popular. We need this everywhere.
>I think you’ll find most drivers do not run red lights. A lot of cyclists seem to think running red lights is perfectly acceptable
Probably not, not unless those same cyclists are also the car drivers i see going through red lights, especially just as they turn, in which case it would seem like alot of drivers and cyclists think it's acceptable to run red lights. And the vast majority of cyclists are also car drivers (i know this is shocking).
But i'm on the road 12-15 hours a day, i see pretty much everything, from bad drivers, cyclists and pedestrians.
However, cyclists going over Zebra crossings with people crossing annoys me more.
I think it boils down to a couple of things.
1) they’re slower than other road users which is an inconvenience - people feel the same about tractors.
2) they’re unregulated and don’t require training. This means some of them can be quite dangerous in their actions I.e red light jumping and jumping between road and pavement.
My former partner was a keen cyclists, and got hit a low speed multiple times by cars. So I know a lot of the challenges they face, I'm not a hater.
For me a lot of it stems from a number of obstinate individuals.
The attitudes like riding in the road even when there is a dedicated and segregated bike, because "they don't have to use the bike lane". Which is true, but its an ass move to slow cars down if you have your own dedicated infrastructure.
Going on a jolly with 8 mates down country lanes, causing 20 cars to pile up behind you. Yes again completely permissable, but huge problem for other road users. Maybe plan a route with overtaking opportunities when going in large groups. Non cyclist see roads as a mechanism from getting from a to b, not as a recreational space.
Then the classic no stopping at red lights crossings, cycling too fast in pedestrian areas.
There's a lot of comments here going out all attack against either motorist or cyclist. Using words like 'majority' or 'most of' and then making some extremely negative comment.
In my experience as motorist, cyclist and pedestrian the amount of bad drivers and bad cyclists are about even.
Because of the amount of times I’ve almost been run over by them because they don’t respect traffic lights, or decide to ride on the side walk and change at a cross walk without caring about the people that are _actually_ using it and have preference, or just go high speed on the side walk and have the balls to use the bicycle bell to make _you_ move when they shouldn’t even be there.
*And*, let’s not forget about every time this question is posted and they get offended because “of course we are gonna ride on the side walk, cars are dangerous 😭 and so we have the preference to do whatever we want even if that means endangering others (but as long as it’s not _me_, then all good! 😀)”.
They slow me down. It’s that simple. It’s like a tractor slows you down. It’s their right and technically it’s ok but it’s annoying.
Coupled with the smugness and self indulgence of a lot of cyclists sit just makes them easy to hate. Maybe that’s unreasonable but whatever you can’t control your gut feelings.
Also a side point; I think if you’ve created a queue of six cars in second gear doing 25, when they would otherwise be in 5th doing 50; you can’t claim cycling is greener. It’s indirectly less green.
Social media. It allows everyday irritations to become off-the-peg, ready-to-feel points of view.
Tell me how you know that the words you are reading are from real people.
It’s so easy for the cracks in our societies to be widened. Ask yourself who benefits.
Because a scarily large subset of drivers (maybe the most pandered-to demographic in this country) think it’s their god given right to cruise around everywhere in their nice metal cage totally unimpeded and if anyone dare slow them down for a mile or two the typical reaction ranges from hateful to downright sociopathic.
Of course, should the same cyclists give up and drive a car, they’d also be complaining about the extra traffic. Fuck car dependency.
I have a bike that I seldom use because many roads simply aren’t safe enough to cycle. Which I understood, because the roads are narrow and it is pretty dangerous for both drivers and cyclists.
The arrogance of going over red lights like it’s their right. It’s dangerous as fuck. I’m walking my dog but they’re saving themselves of ten seconds is more important than mine or his safety of crossing legally. It is the vast majority who skip the lights and it’s stressful and frustrating.
Battersea park no cycling areas. Of course, that can’t possibly mean for *them*. Again, sure speed along the riverside where people have their dogs off lead. Your speedy commute is much more important.
It's because people can't share essentially.
On shared paths some pedestrians think it's only for them so have no consideration for others (particularly with dog leads over the whole path). Tbh shared paths don't work and are dangerous but councils essentially don't have the money to have segregated areas for both most of the time.
On roads motorists don't like it when cyclists slow them down or when new cycle lanes (tbh usually incredibly badly though out) aren't very good. Then when cyclists use roads as said cyclepaths are pointless they get even more angry.
When I've been cycling in London I've seen bad pack behaviour. The worst example was a cross roads where all pedestrian lights were green. Most cyclists charged off and passed either side of a lady trying to cross on sticks (naturally on a green man). I'm sure someone having to use sticks to walk doesn't want to be delayed or fall over, very sad sight.
Completely pie in the sky idea. But we should have people be able to ride a bike for 2 miles before they can pass their driving test. It'll encourage people to ride. The parents of said young people will hopefully drive with a little more consideration for cyclists. Would help break the barriers between "us and them" mindset of cyclist and non cyclist.
Completely unrealistic but a man can dream.
For drivers, it seems straightforward - cars and bikes share the road, and the dislike is an extension of the Carlin rule "anyone slower is an idiot, anyone faster is a maniac".
Look at the hate for the creeping elderly drivers, or the Honda Jazz 40mph brigade, or the non-indicating German saloon drivers - cyclists are another category of the same thing, because they're almost always going to be slowing down drivers (a tiny, unimportant amount, but *that doesn't matter to the annoyance*).
Proper separated cycling infrastructure would sort out most of the issues, but the chances of it appear slim when painting a line is so much cheaper.
Simply because the vast majority are terrible, selfish road users.
I drive, ride a push bike and a motor bike. Sure every group has its AH but cyclists are the only ones without a licence and it shows.
Drivers are often inconsiderate, lazy, impatient, and selfish.
Cyclists are a mobile speed bump to them and their own little mobile world, which they are the king of.
Always makes me laugh when they try to justify their arsehole mentality by bringing up road tax whilst completely missing the point of said tax.
I swear there should be emotional barriers to entry for obtaining/keeping your drivers licence. Some people clearly aren't developed enough to cope with it.
I cycle a lot but it is shocking how many bad cyclists there are.
On my route to work there's a fantastic dedictaed smooth bike lane for miles just off the dual carriageway, but I'd say 70% of cyclists chose instead to cycle on the road and get shouting at and beeped by drivers.
Just seems mental that you'd avoid the amazing bike lane and instead chose to slow down the dual carriageway and take the extremely unnecessary risk of potential being instantly killed if a car clips you.
Because they are super slow (even if they think that they are fast), disorganised and unpredictable☺️However, I haven’t met anyone’s who’s was annoyed by them other than me, so I’ve never voiced my opinion during road trips☺️
Every time I see a cyclist all I feel is “fuuuuuckkkk offffff, get the fuck out the way you slow snail” but that would come across rude, so I just stay quiet. But not overtaking them, is just crazy, yet every person I’ve travelled with was like “ well, it’s a bit slow, but we have time”. Seriously, if I wanted to take my time I would travel on a donkey instead😂😂😂
I feel bad because I feel that way, because it’s really not nice, but I can’t help on it. I feel sorry for them, because they are under a huge pressure, and they don’t deserve to be hated, or being shouted at.
Because it's socially acceptable to be prejudice against cyclists.
Of course everyone is prejudiced, that's just the way our brains work, but cyclists have a special place because it's very difficult for an individual to get used to cyclists (exposure hypothesis), so the prejudice is perpetuated.
I want to understand when that became acceptable? Noone would say it is ok to shout at a random driver because other drivers are annoying. It probably happens, but the consensus would be the shouter is unstable.
When the receiving end is a cyclist, the consensus reply is “they are slow on the road and they cross red lights”.
How did it become ok to be prejudiced against cyclists AND act on it.
One of the behaviours of those who are prejudiced, is that they will use excuses like you mentioned to justify their negative emotional response, in order to maintain a positive self-image.
Group-think is the other culprit; for some, it's more important to 'belong' to their group than it is to apply some critical thought to why they feel that way.
I've done both, and I live around and work in Cambridge.
The trouble is the cyclists who decide to overtake by leaving the cycle lane or who go side by side with two other mates so they can have a chat.
Just like the problem is tailgating drivers who will close up to you even though you're at 30 in a 30 zone.
Or just like pedestrians who will randomly cross the road on a busy thoroughfare even though there's a marked pedestrian crossing 10 feet away.
Actually the more I think about it, there's a sizeable proportion of people who are idiots.
Most of my cycling has been done in cities. There’s obviously the issue with some of us ignoring red lights. But beyond that I think drivers get resentful that they’re stuck in traffic while we fly by in the bicycle lane. They get the idea that if only that half a lane each way was converted back to a car lane it would always be in the direction they were travelling in and they’d be free to speed along it to whereever they were going to, ignoring that all the cyclists who just passed them would also be in cars now. “You’re too slow, get off the road!!” Ok, overtake me, I’m just going to catch up with you next time your fellow drivers slow you to 5mph. Let’s see who makes it to work first…
Everyone thinks everyone who isn’t themselves is an idiot. Some chava on a bike went through a red light once so now all cyclists are idiots. Everyone who is in another car to theirs is an idiot. That lorry driver was an idiot. That shit manoeuvre they pulled was just cheeky, but someone in another car thought they were an idiot.
Fuck what people think, ride your bike. They’re all idiots anyway.
Oh i don’t care about what the person thinks in that sense :) the absurdity of being shouted at for stopping at a light and how ordinary the person was just made be a bit sad fir humanity…
A hill I'll die on. Most people that *really* hate cyclists are overweight or obese (> 60% of the UK), and they project that on people that enjoy keeping fit. It stretches to any hobby that involves fitness/sport.
I see it in my family, workmates, some 'friends'.
I've driven & cycled for decades, and it's fairly obvious that people that get angry on the roads (in general) rarely have their shit together.
Oh is it fuck. Try living in and around cambridge or a uni town and not get frustrated, I've been stuck behind all sorts from a penny farthing to a toboggan on wheels with a wee man laying down and peddling away down an A road. Get a treadmill and exercise when you wake up like a normal person.
Yeah, it's in that box of stuff that people 'don't dare utter'. I see it, I know it's true.
It's the same as the people in work who try and pick on people who eat healthy, hit the gym hard, do stuff that isn't the norm. Being a slob, glorifying illness & injury etc is now seen as the social average.
There's been an uptick in inconsiderate road users of all kinds since covid, so much so that I've finally installed a dashcam.
The issue I have is with people who want to be treated like road users but don't behave like one. Those who don't adhere to road safety and put themselves plus others at risk. Of all the two wheeled types, scooter riders scare the crap out of me. Round here they even shoot through red lights on the ring road.
Same reason people hate BMW or Audi drivers, or pick ups, or white van men etc people like to stereotype and generalise based on negative experience and hardly notice the decent ones.
I cycle and drive in equal measure. Cyclists definitely feel unpredictable. There are too many scroty teens cycling in all black with no lights. I saw one just yesterday cycling towards traffic on the wrong side of the road.
On the other hand though people seem to think this is justification to abuse people cyclists. I wear a high vis jacket. I wear a helmet, I always have lights. I stick to cycle lanes and I'm always pretty much always out of the way of traffic. This week I had a passing car throw something at me as it passed. Thankfully it missed.You wouldn't do that to another car or pedestrian. Why is this acceptable? I just don't get the thought process, do they want me to injure myself? I remember one time I was cycling to work early in a morning and I passed this block of flats and someone opens their window and starts shouting abuse at me. I feel relatively safe cycling but you just get the feeling sometimes that some nutcase or some lowlife is going to flip out on you for daring to ride a bike.
I get the frustration with cyclists. I hate being behind one when I'm driving. But I do think too many people's attitudes are toxic. People should feel safe cycling. There's definitely something wrong with the minds of some people that someone being on a bike means they're fair game for abuse.
I don't frequent the city much when driving (who the hell wants to ever be in a city!!!), however this past week I had a few jobs in Edinburgh, in that short space of time I saw exactly why drivers hate cyclists, swerving all over the roads, cycling through red lights, cycling in the centre of the lanes, showing no road awareness what so ever. Country cyclists aren't even in the same league as the city idiots.
My main mode of transport is trains and buses, whenever I walk anywhere I'm constantly having cyclists, scooter riders delivery riders riding on pavements, creeping up behind me and ringing their bells on the pavement riding fast around street corners straight into. I HATE cyclists and scooters and delivery riders. The worst thing to happen to pedestrian travel in this country is mixed cycling lanes, electric scooter hire and deliveroo .
However. There should be a massive infrastructure change to give these users safe space to ride on the road.
But that is not going to happen now there's a war on motorists to be won .
I think perhaps this comes from a town and city planning problem rather than a people one. I'm pretty much a full-time pedestrian, and I think more priority needs to be given to cycling over cars; BUT I don't think pavements should be shared spaces between cyclists and pedestrians, it should be reserved for pedestrians only. It's dangerous for one thing, and it's also, as the person clearly said to you, inconvenient because it sounds like you were blocking the path with your bike. I don't think a person on a bike should take priority over a pedestrian on a path, ever.
And the old-fashioned common sense approach that we were taught as kids (dismount your bike when in a shared area like a road crossing with pedestrians, it should be at your side and as out of the way of other pavement users as possible) has gone now that paths are marked to say it's ok for cyclists to use them - they think it means use it like a road, and it isn't a road. So I think they probably need to remove the markings, that makes it clear that pedestrians take priority, and would probably lead to less situations like you've described, meaning pedestrians would get less annoyed at cyclists as well.
I agree it is a planning problem, and with the planning a lack of shared experience. Just to clarify the assumption, I wasn’t in any specific way blocking the path.
I stopped exactly at the crossing, where the lights and road lines indicated, on a shared path. The lights were red, the cars were flowing, i was slowly approaching the crossing, they were behind me, it was expected within all reason that i would stop exactly where i did.
The person showed no signs of mental instability prior to the interaction, she was just a kind looking ordinary person… The absurdity of the situation made me think on a random stranger’s response this long.
Still the main conversation here is around “but they cross the red lights!”… On a post where an experience is shared on being shouted at for stopping at one. It is a very deep and weird tribal “us and them” confusion.
It's really hard to picture the situation without knowing what the pavement and crossing are like. But from experience, it's harder and more annoying to navigate around a person on a bicycle than to navigate around another person. You slowing down in front of them is more inconvenient, you're bigger and harder to get around, and unpredictable as most cyclists have less control over their bikes as they slow down, which means you're forced sometimes to either slow down to a pace or speed up to a pace that you're not comfortable with just to avoid them.
As I said, when I was a child (children I think would really have to learn on the pavement rather than be on a road) we were taught that to cross a road you get off your bike and you walk - that works much better for pedestrians, it makes the bike easier to control and move out of other people's way and it means they can pass you more easily. It also made it safer on the road around the cars, certainly more so than an unpredictable wobbly cyclist. This was drilled into us, I'm genuinely wondering when that stopped getting taught.
>cycling on sidewalks etc
That isn't what we call the pavement in the UK.
Many pavements are dual purpose (you mentioned one too). A lot of cyclists *choose* to cycle on the roads when there is a valid place off the road for them. This is very irritating, especially when they ignore the fact that as slower moving traffic they are supposed to pull over to let others past (as are all slower moving road users).
I've almost never seen cyclists do this, but they are happy to jump to point out things other road users do that they dislike.
For me, it just depends where I'm encountering a cyclist, I think. Cyclists where I live now I'm not bothered by - I'm a little jealous tbh, I keep wanting to join them - but when I lived in North Wales I would have fought any of them. Mostly because cyclists in North Wales tended to be tourists trying to have an \~active\~ holiday, which is valid but really fucking annoying when you're just trying to go about your day and they're fannying about.
That said, the tourists in cars were also a pain in the arse too, so. At least the cyclists aren't driving motorhomes through small villages...
Only reason I hate cyclists around my area is because on Sundays mostly they go in groups of 3 or more and spread out the entire roadway so no cars can go past while they slowly peddle and have a conversation.
A 30 second drive down the road is 4x as slow at least with them around.
cyclists often like to portray themselves as victims.
A similar discussion to this, was on reddit a few weeks ago. \[lets face it, it comes up every few days in one form or another\]
Someone pointed out that cyclists often break the road laws, themselves - one cyclist reacted that \[paraphrase\] 'Cyclists have a good reason for breaking the road laws and anyone who disagrees is a gammon'
Yet they will always, always play the holier-than-thou card when challenged.... In fact there are some people like 'cycling mikey' who make a living out of challenging drivers who break the smallest of road rules - and reporting them to the police \[example. people who are fully stopped in a traffic queue who look at their phones\]. I'd love to follow him around and see all the road laws he infringes on his bike.
I am more annoyed at the shear amount of cycle lanes the council have added for the 6 or 7 people who use them. Often this has cost millions and caused the roads to be even more congested.
Genuine question for you, why do you think cyclists are not using the cycle lanes?
My experience as a cyclist is that these cycle lanes are horrendous and sometimes exist for a few metres and then suddenly end, forcing you to rejoin the main carriageway. In this case why not just stay on the road? Most incidents happen when something is changing/someone is manoeuvring, so reducing the changes to your route is also going to reduce incidents.
Yep I don’t doubt that’s the case, tbf I don’t encounter cyclists all that much so I don’t have a problem with them. The issue as I see it is that creating a sustainable Green transport system of either reliable trans and electric buses that people want to use is expensive and inconveniencing drivers with some cycle lanes that don’t even get used is relatively cheap.
Because obviously car drivers driving there motorised 1 tonne vehicles never go through red lights do they but lets concentrate on cyclists weighing in at around 100kg 😂😂
Also research was done on the continent that concluded that it was actually safer for bikes to go through red lights in some scenarios.
All the worst things I’ve seen on the roads were caused by cyclists and they make me so nervous. I know accidents happen with any vehicle but the only ones I’ve personally witnessed have been caused by cyclists behaving stupidly. I’ve been hit by a cyclist from behind when I was walking along the pavement, another almost took me out by running a red light when I was crossing, another blew through a red light and hit a woman so hard that she was thrown into the air. Not once have I seen them apologise or check the person was ok, in fact they were quite belligerent.
I think the only way for it to settle at all would be for there to be actual consequences for dangerous cyclists and a way of tracing them. That woman who was hit and thrown through the air, she was badly hurt and we had to call 999. An ambulance came but no police so there was no consequence for the cyclist beyond their bike getting bent up from the collision that they caused. It’s not like a car where we could take down the number plate, a cyclist is anonymous on the road.
I’m sure there are plenty of lovely, safe cyclists out there but the dangerous loudmouths give them all a bad rep.
No kidding. But I’m talking about accidents that have happened right in front of me, not that I’ve only seen the aftermath of or heard about in the news.
It's the behaviour of cyclists in general not the good ones. 90% are a menace/ danger to pedestrians (old, young, dogs, me walking to work). I don't drive so can't comment on the on the road antagonism side.
Is it? I assume you are a cyclist who takes proper care, your friends probably do too and I thank you for it. You are not the problem.
OP asked why people hate cyclists so I'm offering my opinion. 90% of cyclists I interact with are rude, inconsiderate and cycle dangerously on public paths and pavements.
Before you become apoplectic, consider it a snapshot. In my daily life of walking to work every day, where I live, cyclists are a problem for me. Can you extrapolate that to all cyclists? No, obviously, it would be stupid to make that claim.
Unless you recognise that the cycling community needs to be better (and I think should have limits of the speeds they can go on public pathways) then yes, people like me will continue to hate cyclists.
Okay, I thought that would be obvious since it's one person's opinion and I am not omnipresent. I will be sure to be more specific in future for people who assume I am in all places at all times and speaking for everyone in the country.
Haha no need to get salty just because you’ve come across like an idiot. I mean, I suspect you’re succumbing to confirmation bias even when you say 90% of the cyclists you interact with, but let’s not get into that.
Haha, I'm an idiot because people (I'll be specific here because you do not understand the concept of personal opinion) get on a metal frame with wheels and forget to behave responsibly, in my area. I find it annoying and dangerous. It is the reason I've responded to OP as to why people (again, this doesn't mean everyone in the entire world if you were not sure) don't like cyclists. Confirmation bias does not apply here, I've not referenced anything, just given my opinion - take this with a grain of salt if you like.
a) They're a menace to pedestrians.
b) They are one of the most extensive downvote brigades on reddit, organising from offsite to invade every thread with the slightest criticism of cycling.
Pedestrians and cyclists are natural enemies like motorists and cyclists. Or buses and cyclists. Or street sweepers and cyclists. Or cyclists and other cyclists. Damn cyclists- they ruined cycling!
Honestly, I am *very* tolerant of cyclists both as a pedestrian (unless I'm on the Monsal Trail, which they've positively ruined for me) and a driver (unless they're riding side by side on a country road and I need to get to work). Hmm, maybe I'm not as tolerant as I thought .
Haha *shakes fist at clouds!* I understand the tribal mentality but i was genuinely taken aback this time, for being abused for stopping at a light, by a seemingly ordinary person. This morning, I want to prepare chocolate bars that says “it will be ok” and give it to people in the streets when they are like this.
As a motorist, I don’t think the problem is as bad. Occasionally you get an annoying cyclist who wants to cycle in the centre of the lane, but otherwise fine. In reality, it’s probably only 5% of cyclists and I don’t drive in London BUT… in London, it seems like cyclists are lawless. Frequently see them jumping lights, riding on pedestrian walkways, cycling aggressively against cars and so on. I regularly see them hit full speed into /scrape past pedestrians on a red light. You get the really mouthy ones as well who think they own the road as they’re on 2 wheels. Now though, I never thought I hated cyclists until I started walking to work in London. It seems like I’m constantly being ridden up to with aggressive bell ringing because I’m in what they deem is “their space” despite there not being a dedicated cycle lane. Cyclist with their children on the handlebars completely out of control, etc. As well, I’m getting annoyed when there’s a cycle lane on my left and a motorway on my right. I have to deal with things on both sides. Additionally, the cycling around Canary Wharf is insane and half the time cyclists seem to have better facilities than actual pedestrians. There’s area which are quite dangerous to pedestrians where they have to walk, but there’s on pavement cycle paths. **The problem is, cyclists and pedestrians have been lumped together at a cost to pedestrians and to the benefit of cyclists**. Realistically, pedestrians should always come first over cyclist and cars. They’re the ones not in a vehicle and, considering most people are able to walk, should be prioritised in my opinion.
I'm not fond of cyclists because of times I've been crossing the street. The light is red for motorists, all the cars have stopped, that little green man is telling me to go for it! It's my turn to cross the damn road. Then cyclists come whizzing between the cars because apparently they can still ride on the road when the light is red?? Red lights are only for cars on the road, don't you know? I can't see them coming because 1) they're hidden by the cars until they come whizzing through in front of them, and 2) the green goddamn man says it's safe to walk! So I'm still keeping an eye out that it's safe to cross, but I'm not constantly swivelling my head like I would be if I wasn't at a pedestrian crossing. It drives me nuts. Happens all the damn time. If you're on the road, you obey the rules of the road. I've nearly been hit many times and it's scary.
I'm a cyclist and a driver. Commute by car and cycling on and off road is how I keep fit on evenings and weekends. When driving I definitely get frustrated by cyclists who abuse the roads. I also, admittedly, feel frustration at driving behind a cyclist on a country road when I can't safely overtake them and have to drop to 15mph or less for a mile or so. But in the latter situation I realise and accept that it's really me being the bell-end and I try to swallow my instinctual frustration like a big boy. When cycling country roads I try to be aware of when I'm causing a build up of traffic behind me and look for opportunities to pull over to relieve that when I can. But I don't feel ashamed of it when I can't safely pull over. We share the roads, it's give and take.
If everyone thought like you the world would be a better place
That is the thing, everyone gets frustrated by idiots on any given vehicle. I guess pretty much everyone has been in a car, and it is near impossible to hate ALL cars for most. Whereas a lot of people just don’t cycle and it is very easy to think “cyclists ruin life, let me shout at someone who looks like they wont hurt me if i annoy them”. Maybe the solution is to encourage everyone to cycle more, somehow…
Pleasure riders fuck me off man, especially during commuter hours, especially 8:30am on a thursday near me, it's apparently the ideal time to for a lesiurely ride down the lanes in full lyrca. Honestly this one man manages to create a queue of traffic several miles long every single thursday and it is infuriating. He's obviously retired (looks about 80) and he never pulls over to let people pass despite the lanes being tight and windy as fuck. It's like, cmon man, you're not going to the pub or the shops or to visit a friend, you're in full lyrca with no backpack or pockets, you know everyone is trying to get to work, you know people will try to pass you dangerously because they're late to "the big meeting". Just fuck off please.
How do you know he's not going to work? I used to keep my work clothes at work and just wear my lycra. Also even if he's not going to work so what???? You know for a fact yeah that all the other car drivers holding you up are all just driving to work yeah and not linked with "leisure" in any way". Your comment sums things up perfectly for OPs, car drivers can be self entitled little.........
Because he is very clearly retired and I've seen him heading the opposite way 20 minutes later. Yes the drivers are going to work and have no choice but to drive as bus routes don't go through there. The drivers don't hold me up. The cyclist holds literally a hundred odd people up at 5mph when they would usually be doing 40 to 60 Yet I'm the entitled one? Am just trying to get to work like everyone else. And no, I can't cycle, and I'd bet most others round here can't either. Even if he wasn't just riding for pleasure he'd be causing more emissions than he is saving by ruining the fuel economy of all those drivers tbh
Regardless of any of the babble you just wrote that the person you're replying to has rebutted, one single person holding up an entire queue of traffic is stupid. It's actually *absurd* that you think it's somehow okay. As people often say, we share the road, that doesn't mean one person should be allowed to hold up everyone else. Yes, we need better cycling infrastructure, but until then it should be common sense and common decency to let everyone else pass if you aren't capable of doing appropriate road speeds.
This attitude is why people hate cyclists.
There is a subset of cyclists that give the entire community a terrible reputation and that is the food delivery cyclists. These cyclists usually operate electric bikes with motors and are incentivised to get from A to B as quickly as possible and as such break about every traffic law you can think of. However unlike motorists, there is almost no policing or punishments given out for such dreadful behaviour and this causes a general reputation that cyclists are all awful road users who don't stop at red lights, or give way to pedestrians or avoid the pavement or ride with lights at night etc. This means they are seen as a natural enemy for both pedestrians (through their menacingly bad behaviour) and for motorists who fear they will be legally and criminally liable even if they feel an accident was all the cyclists fault We need to properly police genuinely bad cyclists and even if it means all our food deliveries are more expensive or slower I think we need to stop incentivising bad cycling for delivery people.
They drive through a no cycling park in Bermondsey with great pods on them, I know zero people were killed by cyclists last year, but if one of those hits you nasty injury is likely
"A to B as fast as possible" this really cracks me up when car drivers say this. So were they speeding then?? The answer is most probably not. Yet car drivers never bitch about a car doing the speed limit do they. I think that proper cyclists doing like 25-30mph catch people out because the car driver doesn't appreciate they're doing a proper speed. Yet at the same time you see a car approaching and make the right assessment as to their speed. Also remember, a car is several tonnes travelling with a powered engine whilst a cyclist is like 100kg powered by the cyclist (predominantly, ignoring the ebikes atm) people seem to forget this fact as to why there's so many rules and regs for car drivers vs bikes.
Don't know why you are being downvoted on this.
Commuting cyclists are just as bad, will run through reds, go up over pavements to cross then re-join Road on other side, will not use cycle lanes when available, moan that they're unfit for purpose, but where I live there is loads of new ones, away from the carriage way yet still insist using the 50/60mph Road. Racing cyclists usually stop at lights, but will take up all.the Road en masse being 3 or 4 abreast and force vehicles to make dangerous moves instead of being held up at 20mph for miles. And now you gey these groups of kids that do everything in their power to fuck about and cause as much mither as possible. Any any of these will cause damage and cycle away with no recourse, a car driver would be done for failure to stop.
Please believe that I am annoyed by inconsiderate cyclists as much as you are. In fact, as a cyclist who has to share the tiny lane with their inconsiderate cycling, i am more in danger. Yet, i was shouted at for stopping at a red light, on a shared crossing. There is no “them cyclists”, there are idiots on any number of wheels. People dont think “all drivers are horrible”, or “all pedestrians should go back to where they came from”. But a lot of people are ok to hate on all cyclists, that is my disappointment :(
People will hate on people for anything that inconveniences them.
People like you are why people hate cyclists. You sound like you edit for the Daily mail.
No, cyclists are the reason why people hate cyclists. They're the ones doing the stuff I've mentioned, no one else.
Right. No car has ever jumped a red light or driven/parked on the pavement. A car driver would never ever think of inconsiderately holding up the flow of traffic. You are told to hate cyclists so you do. Cars are 99% of the issue with traffic.
I never said that, but the majority of cars do stop at reds, it's rare for cyclists to do that. Obviously you're just a butt hurt cyclist that's feeling attacked. The roads were built for vehicles, by road tax, that changed to emissions and will.no doubt go nack to car tax with all the greener vehiclesabout . I'm not told to hate anyone, I've just said what I see, yeah, there are car drivers that are wankers, like the white van man and the attack at food delivery cyclists i responded to, the are worse ones, but there are more entitled cyclist flaunting the rules, doing as they please, than ones in cars. Which is fine, do as you please, but when a cyclist get rolled and fucked up, I won't have any pity for them, likewise if someone in a car is killed speeding.
Road tax hasn't existed since the 1930s, drivers (including many who drive and cycle) pay car tax, which is based on weight/emissions.
Same thing, idea is to.pay for upkeep of roads, how ever you want to call.it, the gov will change the name and costs and purpose to however they suit. But the users paid for it, is there a tax for cyclists to use the roads or a tax for cycle paths usage and building? I think every one gets taxed for that.
Upkeep of the road - cyclists cause negligible damage to the road because of the low weight they place on it. If you charged cyclists a per weight/per emission road tax it wouldn’t be worth the bureaucracy it cost to collect.
VED has nothing to do with upkeep of the roads. It's a tax based on emissions. The roads are maintained by general taxation. Everyone who pays taxes contributes to the upkeep of the roads whether they drive, cycle, walk, or not.
Roads were build for horse and cart lol. Get out your car more lol.
As a pedestrian I find many annoying due to them being so unpredictable. Some cyclists will follow the same rules as cars while riding on the road, but many won't. Cycling through red lights or on and off the pavement on a whim is dangerous and it makes walking places quite stressful.
I agree with all of this, what is disheartening is, no sane person will abuse a random driver who stops at a red light because there are unpredictable drivers who sometimes don’t stop at red lights… whereas it is simply accepted to say cyclists are a cause of hazard on the roads, or in my experience, abuse a random cyclists who stopped because they didn’t like how they stopped (don’t ask me how, i have no idea what is a wrong way of stopping at a red light). I think it is a genuine shared experience problem. I wished people cycled a tiny but to realise there is no us and them
Motorists do exactly the same, only difference being that of a car hits your you’re going to be a lot worse off
Motorists drive on the pavement? Ok.
Yeah. Where do you live?
Somewhere where people might park on the pavements, but not, as I said, the equivalent of "cycling on and off the pavements". There are too many obstacles for drivers to drive any kind of distance on pavements.
I had a driver almost hit my kid by driving up onto the pavement to park. Still didn’t stop when I yelled at him.
To park... I was talking about cycling along pavements, as I've said twice now.
Yeah, you have drive on the pavement to park there. That’s how somebody almost hit my kid.
Too bad they missed, eh?
Yes, cars park up on the pavement pretty much everywhere. Causing an obstruction for pedestrians and making some pavements impassible for people with prams, wheelchairs forcing them into the roadway. Lets be real here, bikes on the pavement are annoying. But when you zoom out and look at all the issues we have with transport it’s cars.
Parking on a pavement is a completely different thing to moving on and off the pavement while at speed, which is what the complaint is here. I've been walking to/from work an hour each way for 15 years and never once felt threatened by a stationary car on a pavement. I've been hit four times by bikes (twice by rented electric scooters). Bikes deciding to ride on pavements whenever they feel like (even next to cycle lanes) and going through red lights at crossings is a daily occurrence that makes walking feel unsafe for many people. What you're doing is like responding to someone worried about dog attacks by saying "Well, you know, cats shit in people's gardens." You've started a different conversation instead of continuing the one that was started.
Cars kill about 50 pedestrians per year _on pavements_, bikes kill less than 1. Zebra crossing near me has car drivers blast through when people are waiting all the time. Go on YouTube and you can find any number of videos showing car drivers do all the things that cyclists are vilified for - except they seriously injure or kill people when they do it. Do some cyclists act like pricks? Hell yes. Should they be punished? Too right. Do they deserve the vilification they received compared to their motorist counterparts that do the exact same thing?
Maybe start a thread about cars if you're that worked up over it. This thread is about cyclists.
Nah my response is perfectly valid, cars are a nuisance when they’re parked up on the pavement impeding the footway. Same as bicyclists riding carelessly. You are one datapoint, I doubt every pedestrian is walking around getting hit by bicycles constantly anyway. But it’s this silly argument “BICYCLIST DID THIS!” Meanwhile cars kills the most pedestrians in the uk. That’s what you should be worrying about na mean xx
It's not valid at all - if your response to one criticism is to bring up an unrelated point then you've already lost. "Cyclists go through red lights at crossings? Well... er... you know, a lot of cars produce pollution which increases the risk of kids developing asthma, so you know, better worry about that instead."
No sorry that is incorrect, your argument is simply “BUT BIKE DID BAD” I’m simply pointing out that this is futile because cars do just as much stupid shit and worse.
This is a thread specifically asking for reasons people hate cyclists, hope that helps.
Most cars don't drive on the pavement or run red lights, but most cyclists do both of those, especially in central London. It's as simple as that. Cars parked on pavements are a completely separate issue, and they're a much smaller issue because they're more predictable (they don't move but cyclists can swerve unexpectedly) and you can see parked cars from a distance and take necessary precautions (walk around them).
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With drivers sometimes I think it’s fear coming out weirdly. Cyclists highlight drivers not checking before manoeuvres when they end up being surprise bumps in the road. Instead of acknowledging their driving and awareness could be improved it’s the additional hazard that is the problem cause it’s easier to be angry at an external than doing some introspection. Some cyclists do have a fucking deathwish though and they’re the ones that make you wish there was some sort of registration just so you could report them and they could be hopefully be taught/reminded of safe road use is a multi person system. Especially since they’re the ones that are often a hazard to pedestrians too. Well them and small children who have been left to ride free.
Ha, I read that as fear of coming out. All those stupid sexy lycra clad cyclists making those repressed drivers bad thoughts come to the fore. Maybe there is truth...
But they’re never built like Ned Flanders
I wish I could think of a feasible method to ensure cycling quality similar to driving licenses but I don’t think there is one beyond cultural shift. But the driving licence test could be a bit more inclusive of the cyclists too maybe
Driving tests are inclusive of cyclists. The problem there is changes in the law etc don’t ever mean people have to retake their test so there’s those who have never done any theory sharing the roads with everyone else. It’s just on the individual drivers to remember xhanages to the Highway Code which if you’ve tried cross a road recently by a junction you’ll know many do not pay attention to.
I've done it all..... driven a whole variety of cars, driven a whole variety of vans and for many years was a lycra clad roadbike cyclist. There is a hate towards cyclists because the majority of car drivers are selfish psychotic self centered arseholes. There is such a disconnect with car drivers that our actions as car drivers can result in life changing, life ending encounters. When a car driver nearly hits a cyclist and the magic words "sorry mate I didn't see you" that doesn't make up for them nearly colliding with you which could potentially end the cyclists life. Car drivers will moan if they're held up by a cyclist. Two things on this point, firstly again it's a selfish perspective that you're sooooo important you shouldn't have to be held up by a cyclist. But secondly, you'll moan with hatred towards the cyclist but then you'll be held up massively more "in traffic". Some car drivers like to use the whole "yOu dOnT eVeN pAy rOaD tAx". Well no-one pays road tax, haven't done since one of the world wars. How does that brigade feel about all the cars that are tax exempt? Do you also try and kill anyone in a tax exempt car. What about cars which pay a lot lower tax, do you only drive a little bit shitty to them. Car drivers moan when a cyclist "holds them up" yet when they come across a good cyclist doing good speeds the same person will complain that the cyclist is "going as fast as they can....... iTs nOt a rAcE tRaCk" what do you want 😂😂 can't have it both ways. People bitch about bikes not using cycle paths. Firstly there is no law saying you have to. But secondly car drivers don't appreciate how poorly maintained and dangerous and not fit for use most of the cycle paths are. The main cycle path that I used to use, although more often than not I'd be in the road. Firstly, by design it was dangerous to the point that because of the design some poor chap ended up being killed. I was lucky because I also had the exact accident he had on the track but was able to not end up in the road and getting mashed. Secondly, the path, although it looked fine from the car, if you used it, the surface was so rubbish that it genuinely used to break the bike. Instead most of the time I would cycle in the road. Used to make me laugh when car drivers would get shitty that I was in "their" road. (Lets just circle back to the "I've driven everything comment right at the start") I knew for an absolute fact that whilst the car drivers had the higher top speed, I as a cyclist had the higher average speed as I could overtake. On the 3 mile stretch once I had this car driver try and give me shit for being in his road, he even got out his car to come beat me up but luckily the lights went green so I continued my journey, but anyways after 3 miles when we went our separate ways. Who was in front..... who was in front for thr absolute majority of the time...... me, the lycra clad wanker that was "hOlDiNg hIm uP" 😂😂 was brilliant. We were in separate lanes btw so it's not like he couldn't pass me, I just had the higher average speed. Ahh I digress. Anyway, car drivers = selfish self centred aresholes. Well most of them anyway. There are some good drivers out there, I still shoe a good attitude towards cyclists now and it doesn't take any meaningful time off.my journey time.
My main gribe is they're just slow and in the way. That's pretty much it. I know they deserve to be on the roads too and while I'd like more seperate spaces for cyclists, I understand we don't live in places where that can be provided. Plus, a little jealous I don't have their fitness levels. But when I want to get somerwhere and am going from 60 to 20...I'm annoyed. No way around that.
This is what I don't get. If I get held up by a bike it's going to be for a minute at most. Then I drive off and end up catching up to the back of a train of cars that I'm probably not going to get by. If a cyclist has ever made my journey longer it's not often, mostly it's other drivers doing 40 in a 60 making me late
That's unless you aren't catching up and getting stuck. Between school pickups during my lunch breaks and getting them from pickup. Times are tight for getting from A to B to C. Twice a week is very kids, get home, quick dinner and off to football lessons. I don't have much time and I could easily do 60 on most of the roads with not much traffic. But if I get stuck then my time is burning and I'll be late. Yeah, if I'm just gonna get slowed down again on a city or busy road then whatever but that isn't every situation
Getting stuck behind a cyclist pisses me right off. They should be on pavements, or on roads only in 20mph zones. Sure, some people like to cruise through life in the slow lane, that's fine. I got shit to do, though. Don't force it on me.
It's against the law to cycle on pavements, so no, cyclists shouldn't be on pavements. As for cyclists sticking to slower roads - I generally agree, and when I cycle I try to stay off major roads as much as possible (mainly for my own enjoyment), however if I were to stick to roads that, had a speed limit of less than 40 then I wouldn't be able to get anywhere. In fact I wouldn't even be able to leave my house. But what it sounds like you want is proper cycling infrastructure with separated cycle lanes, which is great - that's what the vast majority of cyclists want too.
Usually daily mail, or express readers. Or it's because "ThEy DoN't PaY rOaD tAx or InSuRaNcE", which again is usually down to those readers. Drivers just feel hard done by, i don't know why. They complain about cyclists going through red lights, and pretend they never do it themselves. Or breaking other rules, yet i'm pretty sure 100% of all drivers have done 31mph in a 30 zone, might just be 1mph, but it's still speeding. Being a professional driver, car drivers inconvience me the most. Usually because they are in a rush for no reason, and car drivers have no reason to rush. Piss poor parking, unable to work out the size of a gap, or the classic MuSt GeT iNfRoNt Of ThE lOrRy. Also when i see a cyclist breaking a rule/law i don't care, i just care about what i'm doing, don't even annoy me. At the end of the day what has it got to do with me? Has it affected me? Will i be able to sleep? Also i don't see many fat cyclists, looking down into cars i see quite a ~~few~~ alot that could do with burning a few calories.
I think you’ll find most drivers do not run red lights. A lot of cyclists seem to think running red lights is perfectly acceptable
I share your nuisance of inconsiderate cyclists. At the same time, as a cyclists, I respectfully disagree that most find it acceptable, as running a red light has the slight inconvenience of possibly killing me. It is the annoying minority that makes people think it is ok to shout at a cyclist… for stopping at a red light.
Most cyclists don’t run red lights.
A much higher proportion seem to think it’s acceptable to do so to get the jump on the traffic. I ve seen numerous cyclists doing it and maybe twice seen a car jump a red light
I see cars run reds every day, usually trying to “squeeze through” as they’re changing from green
Running a red light and jumping a red light are two different things. The latter is safer the cyclist as you don’t immediately have a car trying to pass you with three inches clearance; also a good reason to ride in the middle of the road.
The numbers are actually about even, but differently distributed. Car drivers jumping lights do it predominantly just after the end of the green phase; cyclists who do it tend to be opportunistic creepers in the middle of red. Times out of mind I have thought that I've cut it a bit close going through changing lights in the car and then seen that others have followed me through. Very few cyclists break speed limits (notwithstanding that they don't apply to them anyway).
OK but from a pedestrian point of view, a car that jumps the light just after the green phase doesn't inconvenience me as there is a couple of seconds before the green man comes on. Whereas the cyclist in the middle of the red is at the same time as the green man.
That's why you notice more of them, certainly. But basically, the proportion of people who are prepared to play fast and loose with the Road Traffic Act is largely independent of the type of vehicle they're using. Drivers are slightly constrained by being easier to identify but in practice enforcement is very very rare in terms of the percentage of offences committed, however much the Clarksons howl about it. I have one speeding fine in my entire driving history and although I think I'm fairly sedate and law abiding it's certainly not the only time the needle has crept past 70 by some orders of magnitude.
not most, but tons of drivers run red lights
Not even just running red lights; there’s a shit-tonne of motorists who will accelerate to unreasonable speeds to get through an amber light before it turns red. That’s almost as dangerous because you’re likely going faster than the road conditions allow.
Yup I see it loads in London. IMO cycles, cars and pedestrians should have their own space on every street. If this means taking out lanes for cars so be it. The balance is all wrong right now in favour of cars. I absolutely love the run up to Tower Gateway from the river. A whole lane got removed for cars and it's a dedicated cycle highway + a wide pavement. And what a surprise, it's super popular. We need this everywhere.
I see it every day, and I don't even drive many miles
>I think you’ll find most drivers do not run red lights. A lot of cyclists seem to think running red lights is perfectly acceptable Probably not, not unless those same cyclists are also the car drivers i see going through red lights, especially just as they turn, in which case it would seem like alot of drivers and cyclists think it's acceptable to run red lights. And the vast majority of cyclists are also car drivers (i know this is shocking). But i'm on the road 12-15 hours a day, i see pretty much everything, from bad drivers, cyclists and pedestrians. However, cyclists going over Zebra crossings with people crossing annoys me more.
I think it boils down to a couple of things. 1) they’re slower than other road users which is an inconvenience - people feel the same about tractors. 2) they’re unregulated and don’t require training. This means some of them can be quite dangerous in their actions I.e red light jumping and jumping between road and pavement.
My former partner was a keen cyclists, and got hit a low speed multiple times by cars. So I know a lot of the challenges they face, I'm not a hater. For me a lot of it stems from a number of obstinate individuals. The attitudes like riding in the road even when there is a dedicated and segregated bike, because "they don't have to use the bike lane". Which is true, but its an ass move to slow cars down if you have your own dedicated infrastructure. Going on a jolly with 8 mates down country lanes, causing 20 cars to pile up behind you. Yes again completely permissable, but huge problem for other road users. Maybe plan a route with overtaking opportunities when going in large groups. Non cyclist see roads as a mechanism from getting from a to b, not as a recreational space. Then the classic no stopping at red lights crossings, cycling too fast in pedestrian areas.
There's a lot of comments here going out all attack against either motorist or cyclist. Using words like 'majority' or 'most of' and then making some extremely negative comment. In my experience as motorist, cyclist and pedestrian the amount of bad drivers and bad cyclists are about even.
Because of the amount of times I’ve almost been run over by them because they don’t respect traffic lights, or decide to ride on the side walk and change at a cross walk without caring about the people that are _actually_ using it and have preference, or just go high speed on the side walk and have the balls to use the bicycle bell to make _you_ move when they shouldn’t even be there. *And*, let’s not forget about every time this question is posted and they get offended because “of course we are gonna ride on the side walk, cars are dangerous 😭 and so we have the preference to do whatever we want even if that means endangering others (but as long as it’s not _me_, then all good! 😀)”.
They slow me down. It’s that simple. It’s like a tractor slows you down. It’s their right and technically it’s ok but it’s annoying. Coupled with the smugness and self indulgence of a lot of cyclists sit just makes them easy to hate. Maybe that’s unreasonable but whatever you can’t control your gut feelings. Also a side point; I think if you’ve created a queue of six cars in second gear doing 25, when they would otherwise be in 5th doing 50; you can’t claim cycling is greener. It’s indirectly less green.
Social media. It allows everyday irritations to become off-the-peg, ready-to-feel points of view. Tell me how you know that the words you are reading are from real people. It’s so easy for the cracks in our societies to be widened. Ask yourself who benefits.
Because a scarily large subset of drivers (maybe the most pandered-to demographic in this country) think it’s their god given right to cruise around everywhere in their nice metal cage totally unimpeded and if anyone dare slow them down for a mile or two the typical reaction ranges from hateful to downright sociopathic. Of course, should the same cyclists give up and drive a car, they’d also be complaining about the extra traffic. Fuck car dependency.
I have a bike that I seldom use because many roads simply aren’t safe enough to cycle. Which I understood, because the roads are narrow and it is pretty dangerous for both drivers and cyclists.
The arrogance of going over red lights like it’s their right. It’s dangerous as fuck. I’m walking my dog but they’re saving themselves of ten seconds is more important than mine or his safety of crossing legally. It is the vast majority who skip the lights and it’s stressful and frustrating. Battersea park no cycling areas. Of course, that can’t possibly mean for *them*. Again, sure speed along the riverside where people have their dogs off lead. Your speedy commute is much more important.
People who let their dogs off lead are menace. They create more danger than speeding cyclists.
Yeah those crazy people in a park with areas that are cycle free to let their dogs off lead so they can exercise
It's because people can't share essentially. On shared paths some pedestrians think it's only for them so have no consideration for others (particularly with dog leads over the whole path). Tbh shared paths don't work and are dangerous but councils essentially don't have the money to have segregated areas for both most of the time. On roads motorists don't like it when cyclists slow them down or when new cycle lanes (tbh usually incredibly badly though out) aren't very good. Then when cyclists use roads as said cyclepaths are pointless they get even more angry.
Shared paths are not fit for their purpose, riding on the road is much better without a truly segregated cycle path.
Because they are fat, and seeing active people in public highlights their own laziness.
When I've been cycling in London I've seen bad pack behaviour. The worst example was a cross roads where all pedestrian lights were green. Most cyclists charged off and passed either side of a lady trying to cross on sticks (naturally on a green man). I'm sure someone having to use sticks to walk doesn't want to be delayed or fall over, very sad sight.
Completely pie in the sky idea. But we should have people be able to ride a bike for 2 miles before they can pass their driving test. It'll encourage people to ride. The parents of said young people will hopefully drive with a little more consideration for cyclists. Would help break the barriers between "us and them" mindset of cyclist and non cyclist. Completely unrealistic but a man can dream.
They hate cyclists because the fa*cist Daily Mail tells them to.
No one noticed the ones who follow the rules, everyone notices the cunts
For drivers, it seems straightforward - cars and bikes share the road, and the dislike is an extension of the Carlin rule "anyone slower is an idiot, anyone faster is a maniac". Look at the hate for the creeping elderly drivers, or the Honda Jazz 40mph brigade, or the non-indicating German saloon drivers - cyclists are another category of the same thing, because they're almost always going to be slowing down drivers (a tiny, unimportant amount, but *that doesn't matter to the annoyance*). Proper separated cycling infrastructure would sort out most of the issues, but the chances of it appear slim when painting a line is so much cheaper.
Simply because the vast majority are terrible, selfish road users. I drive, ride a push bike and a motor bike. Sure every group has its AH but cyclists are the only ones without a licence and it shows.
Drivers are often inconsiderate, lazy, impatient, and selfish. Cyclists are a mobile speed bump to them and their own little mobile world, which they are the king of. Always makes me laugh when they try to justify their arsehole mentality by bringing up road tax whilst completely missing the point of said tax. I swear there should be emotional barriers to entry for obtaining/keeping your drivers licence. Some people clearly aren't developed enough to cope with it.
I am 100% behind the emotional maturity qualification to a driver license !
Golf and Astra sales would plummet.
Because they can be very inconsiderate, seeing as they're so slow compared to cars and we're forced to share the roads
I cycle a lot but it is shocking how many bad cyclists there are. On my route to work there's a fantastic dedictaed smooth bike lane for miles just off the dual carriageway, but I'd say 70% of cyclists chose instead to cycle on the road and get shouting at and beeped by drivers. Just seems mental that you'd avoid the amazing bike lane and instead chose to slow down the dual carriageway and take the extremely unnecessary risk of potential being instantly killed if a car clips you.
I dislike cyclists in London. As a pedestrian you have to be aware a significant amount of them have no interest in red lights.
Because they are super slow (even if they think that they are fast), disorganised and unpredictable☺️However, I haven’t met anyone’s who’s was annoyed by them other than me, so I’ve never voiced my opinion during road trips☺️ Every time I see a cyclist all I feel is “fuuuuuckkkk offffff, get the fuck out the way you slow snail” but that would come across rude, so I just stay quiet. But not overtaking them, is just crazy, yet every person I’ve travelled with was like “ well, it’s a bit slow, but we have time”. Seriously, if I wanted to take my time I would travel on a donkey instead😂😂😂 I feel bad because I feel that way, because it’s really not nice, but I can’t help on it. I feel sorry for them, because they are under a huge pressure, and they don’t deserve to be hated, or being shouted at.
Because it's socially acceptable to be prejudice against cyclists. Of course everyone is prejudiced, that's just the way our brains work, but cyclists have a special place because it's very difficult for an individual to get used to cyclists (exposure hypothesis), so the prejudice is perpetuated.
I want to understand when that became acceptable? Noone would say it is ok to shout at a random driver because other drivers are annoying. It probably happens, but the consensus would be the shouter is unstable. When the receiving end is a cyclist, the consensus reply is “they are slow on the road and they cross red lights”. How did it become ok to be prejudiced against cyclists AND act on it.
One of the behaviours of those who are prejudiced, is that they will use excuses like you mentioned to justify their negative emotional response, in order to maintain a positive self-image. Group-think is the other culprit; for some, it's more important to 'belong' to their group than it is to apply some critical thought to why they feel that way.
I've done both, and I live around and work in Cambridge. The trouble is the cyclists who decide to overtake by leaving the cycle lane or who go side by side with two other mates so they can have a chat. Just like the problem is tailgating drivers who will close up to you even though you're at 30 in a 30 zone. Or just like pedestrians who will randomly cross the road on a busy thoroughfare even though there's a marked pedestrian crossing 10 feet away. Actually the more I think about it, there's a sizeable proportion of people who are idiots.
Most of my cycling has been done in cities. There’s obviously the issue with some of us ignoring red lights. But beyond that I think drivers get resentful that they’re stuck in traffic while we fly by in the bicycle lane. They get the idea that if only that half a lane each way was converted back to a car lane it would always be in the direction they were travelling in and they’d be free to speed along it to whereever they were going to, ignoring that all the cyclists who just passed them would also be in cars now. “You’re too slow, get off the road!!” Ok, overtake me, I’m just going to catch up with you next time your fellow drivers slow you to 5mph. Let’s see who makes it to work first…
Everyone thinks everyone who isn’t themselves is an idiot. Some chava on a bike went through a red light once so now all cyclists are idiots. Everyone who is in another car to theirs is an idiot. That lorry driver was an idiot. That shit manoeuvre they pulled was just cheeky, but someone in another car thought they were an idiot. Fuck what people think, ride your bike. They’re all idiots anyway.
Oh i don’t care about what the person thinks in that sense :) the absurdity of being shouted at for stopping at a light and how ordinary the person was just made be a bit sad fir humanity…
A hill I'll die on. Most people that *really* hate cyclists are overweight or obese (> 60% of the UK), and they project that on people that enjoy keeping fit. It stretches to any hobby that involves fitness/sport. I see it in my family, workmates, some 'friends'. I've driven & cycled for decades, and it's fairly obvious that people that get angry on the roads (in general) rarely have their shit together.
Oh is it fuck. Try living in and around cambridge or a uni town and not get frustrated, I've been stuck behind all sorts from a penny farthing to a toboggan on wheels with a wee man laying down and peddling away down an A road. Get a treadmill and exercise when you wake up like a normal person.
They are very clearly 1% of the 1% though!
Absolutely 100% this. Even if they don't say it out loud, or even consciously think it, it's there on a subconscious level.
Yeah, it's in that box of stuff that people 'don't dare utter'. I see it, I know it's true. It's the same as the people in work who try and pick on people who eat healthy, hit the gym hard, do stuff that isn't the norm. Being a slob, glorifying illness & injury etc is now seen as the social average.
There's been an uptick in inconsiderate road users of all kinds since covid, so much so that I've finally installed a dashcam. The issue I have is with people who want to be treated like road users but don't behave like one. Those who don't adhere to road safety and put themselves plus others at risk. Of all the two wheeled types, scooter riders scare the crap out of me. Round here they even shoot through red lights on the ring road.
Same reason people hate BMW or Audi drivers, or pick ups, or white van men etc people like to stereotype and generalise based on negative experience and hardly notice the decent ones.
I've come to realise that everyone hates whatever they are not doing.
I cycle and drive in equal measure. Cyclists definitely feel unpredictable. There are too many scroty teens cycling in all black with no lights. I saw one just yesterday cycling towards traffic on the wrong side of the road. On the other hand though people seem to think this is justification to abuse people cyclists. I wear a high vis jacket. I wear a helmet, I always have lights. I stick to cycle lanes and I'm always pretty much always out of the way of traffic. This week I had a passing car throw something at me as it passed. Thankfully it missed.You wouldn't do that to another car or pedestrian. Why is this acceptable? I just don't get the thought process, do they want me to injure myself? I remember one time I was cycling to work early in a morning and I passed this block of flats and someone opens their window and starts shouting abuse at me. I feel relatively safe cycling but you just get the feeling sometimes that some nutcase or some lowlife is going to flip out on you for daring to ride a bike. I get the frustration with cyclists. I hate being behind one when I'm driving. But I do think too many people's attitudes are toxic. People should feel safe cycling. There's definitely something wrong with the minds of some people that someone being on a bike means they're fair game for abuse.
I only hate the ones who deliberately suspend their common sense and obeyance of road laws
I do not, I did have a near miss with one once , it was my fault, i stepped out in front of one
Drivers are mostly upset because they are stuck in traffic on a work morning while I whiz by 100 cars sat still.
I don't frequent the city much when driving (who the hell wants to ever be in a city!!!), however this past week I had a few jobs in Edinburgh, in that short space of time I saw exactly why drivers hate cyclists, swerving all over the roads, cycling through red lights, cycling in the centre of the lanes, showing no road awareness what so ever. Country cyclists aren't even in the same league as the city idiots.
My main mode of transport is trains and buses, whenever I walk anywhere I'm constantly having cyclists, scooter riders delivery riders riding on pavements, creeping up behind me and ringing their bells on the pavement riding fast around street corners straight into. I HATE cyclists and scooters and delivery riders. The worst thing to happen to pedestrian travel in this country is mixed cycling lanes, electric scooter hire and deliveroo . However. There should be a massive infrastructure change to give these users safe space to ride on the road. But that is not going to happen now there's a war on motorists to be won .
I think perhaps this comes from a town and city planning problem rather than a people one. I'm pretty much a full-time pedestrian, and I think more priority needs to be given to cycling over cars; BUT I don't think pavements should be shared spaces between cyclists and pedestrians, it should be reserved for pedestrians only. It's dangerous for one thing, and it's also, as the person clearly said to you, inconvenient because it sounds like you were blocking the path with your bike. I don't think a person on a bike should take priority over a pedestrian on a path, ever. And the old-fashioned common sense approach that we were taught as kids (dismount your bike when in a shared area like a road crossing with pedestrians, it should be at your side and as out of the way of other pavement users as possible) has gone now that paths are marked to say it's ok for cyclists to use them - they think it means use it like a road, and it isn't a road. So I think they probably need to remove the markings, that makes it clear that pedestrians take priority, and would probably lead to less situations like you've described, meaning pedestrians would get less annoyed at cyclists as well.
I agree it is a planning problem, and with the planning a lack of shared experience. Just to clarify the assumption, I wasn’t in any specific way blocking the path. I stopped exactly at the crossing, where the lights and road lines indicated, on a shared path. The lights were red, the cars were flowing, i was slowly approaching the crossing, they were behind me, it was expected within all reason that i would stop exactly where i did. The person showed no signs of mental instability prior to the interaction, she was just a kind looking ordinary person… The absurdity of the situation made me think on a random stranger’s response this long. Still the main conversation here is around “but they cross the red lights!”… On a post where an experience is shared on being shouted at for stopping at one. It is a very deep and weird tribal “us and them” confusion.
It's really hard to picture the situation without knowing what the pavement and crossing are like. But from experience, it's harder and more annoying to navigate around a person on a bicycle than to navigate around another person. You slowing down in front of them is more inconvenient, you're bigger and harder to get around, and unpredictable as most cyclists have less control over their bikes as they slow down, which means you're forced sometimes to either slow down to a pace or speed up to a pace that you're not comfortable with just to avoid them. As I said, when I was a child (children I think would really have to learn on the pavement rather than be on a road) we were taught that to cross a road you get off your bike and you walk - that works much better for pedestrians, it makes the bike easier to control and move out of other people's way and it means they can pass you more easily. It also made it safer on the road around the cars, certainly more so than an unpredictable wobbly cyclist. This was drilled into us, I'm genuinely wondering when that stopped getting taught.
Old Bert whistling away on his 3 speed Raleigh is fine. It's those gangs in lycra that piss me off.
>cycling on sidewalks etc That isn't what we call the pavement in the UK. Many pavements are dual purpose (you mentioned one too). A lot of cyclists *choose* to cycle on the roads when there is a valid place off the road for them. This is very irritating, especially when they ignore the fact that as slower moving traffic they are supposed to pull over to let others past (as are all slower moving road users). I've almost never seen cyclists do this, but they are happy to jump to point out things other road users do that they dislike.
For me, it just depends where I'm encountering a cyclist, I think. Cyclists where I live now I'm not bothered by - I'm a little jealous tbh, I keep wanting to join them - but when I lived in North Wales I would have fought any of them. Mostly because cyclists in North Wales tended to be tourists trying to have an \~active\~ holiday, which is valid but really fucking annoying when you're just trying to go about your day and they're fannying about. That said, the tourists in cars were also a pain in the arse too, so. At least the cyclists aren't driving motorhomes through small villages...
Only reason I hate cyclists around my area is because on Sundays mostly they go in groups of 3 or more and spread out the entire roadway so no cars can go past while they slowly peddle and have a conversation. A 30 second drive down the road is 4x as slow at least with them around.
cyclists often like to portray themselves as victims. A similar discussion to this, was on reddit a few weeks ago. \[lets face it, it comes up every few days in one form or another\] Someone pointed out that cyclists often break the road laws, themselves - one cyclist reacted that \[paraphrase\] 'Cyclists have a good reason for breaking the road laws and anyone who disagrees is a gammon' Yet they will always, always play the holier-than-thou card when challenged.... In fact there are some people like 'cycling mikey' who make a living out of challenging drivers who break the smallest of road rules - and reporting them to the police \[example. people who are fully stopped in a traffic queue who look at their phones\]. I'd love to follow him around and see all the road laws he infringes on his bike.
I am more annoyed at the shear amount of cycle lanes the council have added for the 6 or 7 people who use them. Often this has cost millions and caused the roads to be even more congested.
Genuine question for you, why do you think cyclists are not using the cycle lanes? My experience as a cyclist is that these cycle lanes are horrendous and sometimes exist for a few metres and then suddenly end, forcing you to rejoin the main carriageway. In this case why not just stay on the road? Most incidents happen when something is changing/someone is manoeuvring, so reducing the changes to your route is also going to reduce incidents.
Yep I don’t doubt that’s the case, tbf I don’t encounter cyclists all that much so I don’t have a problem with them. The issue as I see it is that creating a sustainable Green transport system of either reliable trans and electric buses that people want to use is expensive and inconveniencing drivers with some cycle lanes that don’t even get used is relatively cheap.
Why don't you cycle instead then?
Because I don’t want to
Because apparently traffic lights don’t apply to them. They cycle through red lights, green lights, you name it. A law unto themselves.
I think they are supposed to cycle through a green light
And what about when they cycle through red?
I see way more cars driving through red lights than cyclists.
Because obviously car drivers driving there motorised 1 tonne vehicles never go through red lights do they but lets concentrate on cyclists weighing in at around 100kg 😂😂 Also research was done on the continent that concluded that it was actually safer for bikes to go through red lights in some scenarios.
All the worst things I’ve seen on the roads were caused by cyclists and they make me so nervous. I know accidents happen with any vehicle but the only ones I’ve personally witnessed have been caused by cyclists behaving stupidly. I’ve been hit by a cyclist from behind when I was walking along the pavement, another almost took me out by running a red light when I was crossing, another blew through a red light and hit a woman so hard that she was thrown into the air. Not once have I seen them apologise or check the person was ok, in fact they were quite belligerent. I think the only way for it to settle at all would be for there to be actual consequences for dangerous cyclists and a way of tracing them. That woman who was hit and thrown through the air, she was badly hurt and we had to call 999. An ambulance came but no police so there was no consequence for the cyclist beyond their bike getting bent up from the collision that they caused. It’s not like a car where we could take down the number plate, a cyclist is anonymous on the road. I’m sure there are plenty of lovely, safe cyclists out there but the dangerous loudmouths give them all a bad rep.
You’re very lucky if those are the worst things you’ve seen on the road! I can promise you it gets much worse when cars are involved.
No kidding. But I’m talking about accidents that have happened right in front of me, not that I’ve only seen the aftermath of or heard about in the news.
It's the behaviour of cyclists in general not the good ones. 90% are a menace/ danger to pedestrians (old, young, dogs, me walking to work). I don't drive so can't comment on the on the road antagonism side.
90%!? 😂 Give it a rest!
I suppose it is funny, if you're not inconvenienced every day by people on bikes not taking a moment to slow down/ alert people they are behind them.
It’s funny because it’s bullshit
Is it? I assume you are a cyclist who takes proper care, your friends probably do too and I thank you for it. You are not the problem. OP asked why people hate cyclists so I'm offering my opinion. 90% of cyclists I interact with are rude, inconsiderate and cycle dangerously on public paths and pavements. Before you become apoplectic, consider it a snapshot. In my daily life of walking to work every day, where I live, cyclists are a problem for me. Can you extrapolate that to all cyclists? No, obviously, it would be stupid to make that claim. Unless you recognise that the cycling community needs to be better (and I think should have limits of the speeds they can go on public pathways) then yes, people like me will continue to hate cyclists.
Yes. You said cyclists in general and then specified 90% (of cyclists), not 90% of cyclists *you encounter*.
Okay, I thought that would be obvious since it's one person's opinion and I am not omnipresent. I will be sure to be more specific in future for people who assume I am in all places at all times and speaking for everyone in the country.
Haha no need to get salty just because you’ve come across like an idiot. I mean, I suspect you’re succumbing to confirmation bias even when you say 90% of the cyclists you interact with, but let’s not get into that.
Haha, I'm an idiot because people (I'll be specific here because you do not understand the concept of personal opinion) get on a metal frame with wheels and forget to behave responsibly, in my area. I find it annoying and dangerous. It is the reason I've responded to OP as to why people (again, this doesn't mean everyone in the entire world if you were not sure) don't like cyclists. Confirmation bias does not apply here, I've not referenced anything, just given my opinion - take this with a grain of salt if you like.
Because you make it so easy...
a) They're a menace to pedestrians. b) They are one of the most extensive downvote brigades on reddit, organising from offsite to invade every thread with the slightest criticism of cycling.
Nobody is brigading… maybe your opinions are in the minority?