Why are people just so aggressive on the roads anyway in general. Its like some sort of switch that getting into a car activates everyone’s twat mode.
When I drive I hate cyclists, when I’m cycling I hate drivers.
It’s led me to conclude that everyone in the UK is actually a dick, me included.
Because it highlights their own personal failings.
They are too lazy to cycle, they are stuck in traffic, and they are paying for the privilege to do so.
I think maybe some people have the need to hate an ‘other’. Maybe externalised personal failings? Whatever the reason, there are identities in the UK that you can still kinda get away with hating. In this society it’s not okay to hate someone for their race, sexual preference or religion anymore, so cyclists, trans, vegans – anything they don’t understand – get the hatred released upon them. Because they can still kinda get away with it.
For people who lack power and control in their lives and are resentful of it, driving presents one of the very few ways they can have power over other people.
For people who have power and control and like to abuse it, it is just another way for them to have power over other people.
Some people learn from a young age to hate cyclists, they sit in the car with their parents cursing about “bloody cyclists”.
Some people learn from the media to hate cyclists, eg the Daily mail recently calling cyclists “rats”.
There is no single reason, people are influenced by different things.
I think it’s less about hating cyclists and more about being an asshole. And then add in some weird kinda cultural acceptance of being an ass to cyclists and there you go.
Part of it comes down to car drivers not being able to correctly judge the speed of other road users, Theres a hill I regularly go down on my bike, I can get just over 40mph on the bike, its a 30mph road and if a car sees me going fast, they feel like they need overtake, so the car ends up doing 50mph in a 30 zone. But if i’m in a car, everyone does 30mph no problem every single time.
Car drivers have been told by the papers that cyclists always break the rules, so they arent expecting cyclists to use the lanes properly, they expect them to just stay in the gutter. So when a cyclist pulls out into the middle of the lane, or goes round a parked car or attempts to turn right, it makes them go insane.
​
cycle lanes are designed around minimising impact on cars, not around being good to cycle in, they’re built on nackered ground, have road signs/cars/bins/street lamps/trees/tree roots etc in the middle of them, they completely lock you out of turning right/going straight on at junctions, so cyclists often dont use them, which then makes drivers mad.
​
Cycle lanes often send you up onto pavements for long/mostly unmarked sections, drivers dont pay attention to the signs but they do see the cyclist on the pavement, which for some reason makes them mad.
​
I could sit here all day typing these examples out lol, pretty much all of them come down to bad driving.
Because everyone punches down. Cars intimidate cyclists, cyclists intimidate pedestrians. Cannot tell you the number of times when I had a pram people would cycle right at us on the pavement, trying to force us into the road out of their way by not slowing until the last second, whilst I’m pushing my baby as far to the inside I can without just shoving him into a ditch. I don’t cycle but this seems to be the same treatment cyclists get from motorists, only potentially more dangerous. It’s an attitude problem
I’ve been a cyclist for nigh on 45 years now and have spent a good proportion of that driving. When I’m in the car I see cyclists doing the most dangerous and annoying things on the road and as a cyclist I’ve seen and experienced drivers doing very dangerous stuff with a cyclist. What I do know though, is that if you react aggressively as driver you can cause severe harm to cyclist but as a cyclist you might damage the car a bit.
These days I try to take a chill pill (not literally) whilst driving and try to be a better behaved cyclist when on my bike although I’m certainly not perfect.
I had an incident a while back where a driver in a landrover was moving in towards me basically trying to squeeze me out. I turned and look at him. It was then that he noticed the blinking light of the gopro mounted on the front of my helmet and decided to back off.
Since then i have tried vsrious positions for mounting my gopro and have found that if you put it on the top of your helmet to be as visible as possible from all angles you are less likely to get car drivers doing stupid and agressive things towards you. The camera doean’t even have to be on to have the desired effect.
Drive a small car. I have a VW Polo and I swear driving a small car puts crosshairs on your back.
Dicks in compact SUV’s or Chelsea tractors will no doubt be up your arse with an inch to spare regardless of what speed you do. I can only imagine the rage they feel when they see a cyclist.
I also cycle, drivers turn into absolute rage filled lunatics for no real reason whatsoever
As a car driver they don’t really bother me.
As a pedestrian I think they’re a bunch of self-righteous pricks.
Cyclists and drivers just need to be united a common foe. Enter the illegal scooters driven dangerously by people with no knowledge of, or regard to the rules of the road.
As a pedestrian, the number of cyclists who seem to think as they have two wheels, rules don’t apply to them, it’s shocking.
People treat cyclists like dirt, this in turn rubs off on the cyclist who naturally becomes irate and takes it out on motorists or pedestrians who intern take it back out of cylists.
Really it’s a vicious cycle…
Joking aside, as one of life’s predestrians I know where I stand with cars, essentially I follow the stop and look rule and don’t take risks I am fine and have fortunately never been hit by a car.
Cyclists on the other hand yes, i got clipped hard in the elbow by someone who was on the pavement and didn’t ring their bell, naturally the fucker fell off and then proceeded to berate me, I was in shock as it was so sudden so didn’t get angry or think through, I just managed to stammer sorry under the barrage of verbal abuse as I gripped my elbow… damn thing came out as a huge swelled bruise and it hurt for weeks…
And that will always stick with me, so whenever I read anything punching down to the cyclist I don’t think “their not all the same” I think “you get what you fucking deserve” and that’s really the issue with the human condition it just takes one bad experience. You don’t go back to the same restaurant you got food poisoning from right? It’s kinda like that.
So sorry I know all the benefits etc, but I honestly feel unsafe whenever I see someone cycling and keep a wide berth often walking in the mud if I see one, I think they need their own paths just like cars, that’s the only real solution I can see.
As a cyclist and a driver, i really don’t get the hostility drivers have. If i see a cyclists i just wait to pass safely, it really isn’t a big issue. I feel better keeping everyone safe by waiting, and giving the cyclist a wide berth. I don’t understand why people risk themselves and other people driving into oncoming traffic and then passing too close to gain 10 secs, it’s incredibly irrational. Or the passing on blind corners is so selfish because if they meet another car what are they going to do? Crash into the car or crash into a soft human and run them off the road?
I will say as a cyclist the people that pass dangerously are vans, sporty SUVs and daily mail types in shitty MPVs that hate their life, there seems to be no exceptions.
People can hate cyclist all they want as long as they drive safely and respectfully.
Why do car drivers feel like it’s their god given right to abuse and endanger other road users?
Because the infrastructure in the UK places cyclists and cars on the same bit of tarmac. If cities, towns etc were designed well, with cycling in mind, the bikes and cars would largely not cross paths and everyone would be happier.
When I’m driving, I see the worst behaviour in cyclists. When I am cycling I see the worst behaviour in motorists.
The key point that everyone needs to learn though, is that, despite other road users behaviour. It is your job to protect road users more vulnerable than yourself.
Cyclists need to look out for pedestrians.
Motorcycles need to look out for pedestrians and cyclists
Cars need to look out for all of the above
LGVs need to look out for all of the above and especially cars that think they can take on a truck and win.
You take two forms of transport, shove them both in a tiny space going different speeds and heypresto you have yourself a recipe for rage.
I’ve made similar comments before but having lived in France for a number of years it throws the generally abhorrent British attitude into real focus.
Over here all motor vehicles and drivers go out of their way to accommodate people on bikes be it in towns the country or out in main roads.
The only times I was ever endangered by a car whilst cycling the offenders inevitably had a GB sticker pinned to the back of their motor.
It is appalling that what seems to be the majority of British drivers would rather risk seriously injuring or even killing one of their fellow citizens rather than them suffering the unthinkable and not being able to continue their journey at maximum speed for a few seconds.
The bigger reason your commute is so long is all the people driving when they could walk or use public transport.
The problem with the UK is that cycling infrastructure is just piss poor. If it was better, drivers and cyclists wouldn’t have to share roads and annoy each other or worse, endanger each other.
Sometimes when I walk along the canal near my house it irritates me that I’m constantly having to dodge cyclists, but they’re probably equally irritated that they constantly have to dodge pedestrians and the real problem is that the footpath is just too narrow. It could easily be widened. Overgrown bushes on the side make it awkward but I usually try to walk on the edge/grass whenever possible so cyclists can get by me easily.
Basically we just need better infrastructure. Cycling is good, it’s cheaper and it’s healthier. People sitting there moaning about obesity but then it’s damn near impossible to live a healthier lifestyle and we’re basically encouraged to use cars. What we should be doing is encouraging less cars on the road, not more. More public transport options, better cycling infrastructure and of course WFH – whenever possible and if people want to, of course.
I cycle to work but also have a car and both are insured. I always remain calm, wear a helmet camera, and send off about one video to the week from a road raging driver. So far I’ve been to court about 5 times, and have been responsible for around £50k in fines as a result of my reporting the crimes.
I stay calm and wait for the day I don’t have to do this.
(Before anyone gets triggered, I stop at red lights and always give way to pedestrians. I agree it’s frustrating that some cyclists don’t do this but ultimately your life is on the line on a bike in a way it isn’t when driving. When you swerve into a cyclist or speed past giving them 2cm, you can seriously injure or kill them and you shouldn’t be allowed to drive)
I was cycling in West london, 15mph, in the middle of the lane BC I plan to turn, signalled to turn right and I can see a 4×4 trying to overtake me using the oncoming traffic lane. I manage to turn, and as I look back, the driver is flipping me off and cursing me out with her child in the back seat.
I feel like she could have easily killed me.
As a person on a bike (as Boardman would put it) I’m really grateful that someone put into words the rush of adrenaline, fear and anger that explodes out of me when someone in a car threatens my life – whether purposely or through negligence.
Its a completely natural human reaction to bark as loud as you can when someone threatens you, and especially when you don’t have a bloody car horn to communicate with. However I have noticed that more often than not it immediately escalates the situation and now I find myself quietly taking the danger, aggression and sometimes threat to life on the chin because its just the easiest way out.
I used to ride a -lot- and have found that my chosen sport, one that I was really quite competitive at 4 years ago, has now potentially fallen by the wayside permanently because I’m frankly fed up of handing my life (and really that of my family’s too) into some stranger’s hands and it makes me immeasurably sad. Without ever hurting anyone else my sport feels like its being stolen away from me by a few choice cunts who revel in ruining other people’s days. Just imagine for a second if someone were to regularly but unpredictably tear across a local football pitch in a van, to the point where heading out for a sunday morning training session with your mates included a small but very real calculation of whether you’d come home alive or not. Thats how it fucking feels. And imagine the ‘othering’ and dehumanisation of a rider in lycra being applied to lads wearing a football shirt in the park.
Whenever I ride in literally any other country in Europe all I get is consideration, care and positive support from drivers around me on the road.
We are an angry, frustrated and habitually aggresive little island.
Story time!
I don’t have a car and cycle everywhere and one evening I was cycling back from my folks house.
There’s a bike lane in Stretford, but the powers that be decided to make it safer by demarking it with cones. A fine idea to keep cars from parking in it, but on a windy day the bike lane is now full of cones.
A man in a van noticed I wasn’t cycling in the cone lane on my way back, so kindly drove alongside me to scream that there’s a bikelane I should be in. He then pulled in front of me and slammed on – forcing me to brake reallllly hard not to crash in to him.
I went up to his window and he just kept screaming at me telling me there’s a bike lane. He had plenty of space to safely overtake me on this road, and whats more it was a 30 road and I was cycling about 25 mph… I really wasn’t inconveniencing him any more than he was now inconveniencing himself.
I was very pissed off at this point because he nearly killed me just to tell me something so pointless. I told him he could get out of the van or he could fuck off. He just kept repeating ‘you should be in the [cone-filled] bike lane’, so I just gave up and started cycling off again down the road.
As I’m cycling, he catches up to me and drives alongside me dangerously close to hitting me, he yells something out the window, and then drives on ahead. He gets about 50m up the road from me, slams on, pops his hazards on [safety first] and then tries to FUCKING WHIP ME as I cycle past with a cable or a belt or something.
I cycle around him onto the other side of the road to avoid getting hit; absolutely bemused. He then gets back in the van, drives past me again very nearly clipping me, gets about 50m ahead and puts his hazards on again [so very safety conscious] so he can have another pop at me.
I just turned off the road so I could avoid another whipping, but the rest of the cycle home freaked me the fuck out… that he might be lurking behind me and run me over like some kind of outback hillbilly road-murderer film… All cos I wasn’t in a cycle lane full of cones. Every bike ride after that I’m worried he’ll be there, recognise me and try to kill me.
It absolutely boggles the mind that people can be so hostile to a category of road user; especially the ones who are trying hard to be more active, environmentally sustainable, and reduce traffic congestion… which makes it less miserable for those in cars!
I don’t hate cyclists. I hate inconsiderate and poor road users. From the past week these include:
The pair of old dears in a banana yellow Corsa on a national speed limit back road doing 26. Mostly over the centre line. And slowing on corners.
Mr and Mrs middle aged all over body condom weekend tour de france wannabes riding side by side down again a national speed limit backroad and blocking the progress of traffic, and then getting all arsey when I floored it to overtake them on a long straight.
The pair of absolute bellend teenagers flying down the road and through a red light on a pair of motorised scooters.
The dickhead local teenager who seems to have fitted a baked bean can as an exhaust to his two wheeled hairdryer because he wants us to know his location at all times, I assume.
Twattery is not the reserve of the four wheeled, the two wheeled, the young or the old.
28 comments
Why are people just so aggressive on the roads anyway in general. Its like some sort of switch that getting into a car activates everyone’s twat mode.
When I drive I hate cyclists, when I’m cycling I hate drivers.
It’s led me to conclude that everyone in the UK is actually a dick, me included.
Because it highlights their own personal failings.
They are too lazy to cycle, they are stuck in traffic, and they are paying for the privilege to do so.
I think maybe some people have the need to hate an ‘other’. Maybe externalised personal failings? Whatever the reason, there are identities in the UK that you can still kinda get away with hating. In this society it’s not okay to hate someone for their race, sexual preference or religion anymore, so cyclists, trans, vegans – anything they don’t understand – get the hatred released upon them. Because they can still kinda get away with it.
For people who lack power and control in their lives and are resentful of it, driving presents one of the very few ways they can have power over other people.
For people who have power and control and like to abuse it, it is just another way for them to have power over other people.
Some people learn from a young age to hate cyclists, they sit in the car with their parents cursing about “bloody cyclists”.
Some people learn from the media to hate cyclists, eg the Daily mail recently calling cyclists “rats”.
There is no single reason, people are influenced by different things.
I think it’s less about hating cyclists and more about being an asshole. And then add in some weird kinda cultural acceptance of being an ass to cyclists and there you go.
Part of it comes down to car drivers not being able to correctly judge the speed of other road users, Theres a hill I regularly go down on my bike, I can get just over 40mph on the bike, its a 30mph road and if a car sees me going fast, they feel like they need overtake, so the car ends up doing 50mph in a 30 zone. But if i’m in a car, everyone does 30mph no problem every single time.
Car drivers have been told by the papers that cyclists always break the rules, so they arent expecting cyclists to use the lanes properly, they expect them to just stay in the gutter. So when a cyclist pulls out into the middle of the lane, or goes round a parked car or attempts to turn right, it makes them go insane.
​
cycle lanes are designed around minimising impact on cars, not around being good to cycle in, they’re built on nackered ground, have road signs/cars/bins/street lamps/trees/tree roots etc in the middle of them, they completely lock you out of turning right/going straight on at junctions, so cyclists often dont use them, which then makes drivers mad.
​
Cycle lanes often send you up onto pavements for long/mostly unmarked sections, drivers dont pay attention to the signs but they do see the cyclist on the pavement, which for some reason makes them mad.
​
I could sit here all day typing these examples out lol, pretty much all of them come down to bad driving.
Because everyone punches down. Cars intimidate cyclists, cyclists intimidate pedestrians. Cannot tell you the number of times when I had a pram people would cycle right at us on the pavement, trying to force us into the road out of their way by not slowing until the last second, whilst I’m pushing my baby as far to the inside I can without just shoving him into a ditch. I don’t cycle but this seems to be the same treatment cyclists get from motorists, only potentially more dangerous. It’s an attitude problem
I’ve been a cyclist for nigh on 45 years now and have spent a good proportion of that driving. When I’m in the car I see cyclists doing the most dangerous and annoying things on the road and as a cyclist I’ve seen and experienced drivers doing very dangerous stuff with a cyclist. What I do know though, is that if you react aggressively as driver you can cause severe harm to cyclist but as a cyclist you might damage the car a bit.
These days I try to take a chill pill (not literally) whilst driving and try to be a better behaved cyclist when on my bike although I’m certainly not perfect.
I had an incident a while back where a driver in a landrover was moving in towards me basically trying to squeeze me out. I turned and look at him. It was then that he noticed the blinking light of the gopro mounted on the front of my helmet and decided to back off.
Since then i have tried vsrious positions for mounting my gopro and have found that if you put it on the top of your helmet to be as visible as possible from all angles you are less likely to get car drivers doing stupid and agressive things towards you. The camera doean’t even have to be on to have the desired effect.
Drive a small car. I have a VW Polo and I swear driving a small car puts crosshairs on your back.
Dicks in compact SUV’s or Chelsea tractors will no doubt be up your arse with an inch to spare regardless of what speed you do. I can only imagine the rage they feel when they see a cyclist.
I also cycle, drivers turn into absolute rage filled lunatics for no real reason whatsoever
As a car driver they don’t really bother me.
As a pedestrian I think they’re a bunch of self-righteous pricks.
Cyclists and drivers just need to be united a common foe. Enter the illegal scooters driven dangerously by people with no knowledge of, or regard to the rules of the road.
As a pedestrian, the number of cyclists who seem to think as they have two wheels, rules don’t apply to them, it’s shocking.
People treat cyclists like dirt, this in turn rubs off on the cyclist who naturally becomes irate and takes it out on motorists or pedestrians who intern take it back out of cylists.
Really it’s a vicious cycle…
Joking aside, as one of life’s predestrians I know where I stand with cars, essentially I follow the stop and look rule and don’t take risks I am fine and have fortunately never been hit by a car.
Cyclists on the other hand yes, i got clipped hard in the elbow by someone who was on the pavement and didn’t ring their bell, naturally the fucker fell off and then proceeded to berate me, I was in shock as it was so sudden so didn’t get angry or think through, I just managed to stammer sorry under the barrage of verbal abuse as I gripped my elbow… damn thing came out as a huge swelled bruise and it hurt for weeks…
And that will always stick with me, so whenever I read anything punching down to the cyclist I don’t think “their not all the same” I think “you get what you fucking deserve” and that’s really the issue with the human condition it just takes one bad experience. You don’t go back to the same restaurant you got food poisoning from right? It’s kinda like that.
So sorry I know all the benefits etc, but I honestly feel unsafe whenever I see someone cycling and keep a wide berth often walking in the mud if I see one, I think they need their own paths just like cars, that’s the only real solution I can see.
As a cyclist and a driver, i really don’t get the hostility drivers have. If i see a cyclists i just wait to pass safely, it really isn’t a big issue. I feel better keeping everyone safe by waiting, and giving the cyclist a wide berth. I don’t understand why people risk themselves and other people driving into oncoming traffic and then passing too close to gain 10 secs, it’s incredibly irrational. Or the passing on blind corners is so selfish because if they meet another car what are they going to do? Crash into the car or crash into a soft human and run them off the road?
I will say as a cyclist the people that pass dangerously are vans, sporty SUVs and daily mail types in shitty MPVs that hate their life, there seems to be no exceptions.
People can hate cyclist all they want as long as they drive safely and respectfully.
Why do car drivers feel like it’s their god given right to abuse and endanger other road users?
Because the infrastructure in the UK places cyclists and cars on the same bit of tarmac. If cities, towns etc were designed well, with cycling in mind, the bikes and cars would largely not cross paths and everyone would be happier.
When I’m driving, I see the worst behaviour in cyclists. When I am cycling I see the worst behaviour in motorists.
The key point that everyone needs to learn though, is that, despite other road users behaviour. It is your job to protect road users more vulnerable than yourself.
Cyclists need to look out for pedestrians.
Motorcycles need to look out for pedestrians and cyclists
Cars need to look out for all of the above
LGVs need to look out for all of the above and especially cars that think they can take on a truck and win.
You take two forms of transport, shove them both in a tiny space going different speeds and heypresto you have yourself a recipe for rage.
I’ve made similar comments before but having lived in France for a number of years it throws the generally abhorrent British attitude into real focus.
Over here all motor vehicles and drivers go out of their way to accommodate people on bikes be it in towns the country or out in main roads.
The only times I was ever endangered by a car whilst cycling the offenders inevitably had a GB sticker pinned to the back of their motor.
It is appalling that what seems to be the majority of British drivers would rather risk seriously injuring or even killing one of their fellow citizens rather than them suffering the unthinkable and not being able to continue their journey at maximum speed for a few seconds.
The bigger reason your commute is so long is all the people driving when they could walk or use public transport.
The problem with the UK is that cycling infrastructure is just piss poor. If it was better, drivers and cyclists wouldn’t have to share roads and annoy each other or worse, endanger each other.
Sometimes when I walk along the canal near my house it irritates me that I’m constantly having to dodge cyclists, but they’re probably equally irritated that they constantly have to dodge pedestrians and the real problem is that the footpath is just too narrow. It could easily be widened. Overgrown bushes on the side make it awkward but I usually try to walk on the edge/grass whenever possible so cyclists can get by me easily.
Basically we just need better infrastructure. Cycling is good, it’s cheaper and it’s healthier. People sitting there moaning about obesity but then it’s damn near impossible to live a healthier lifestyle and we’re basically encouraged to use cars. What we should be doing is encouraging less cars on the road, not more. More public transport options, better cycling infrastructure and of course WFH – whenever possible and if people want to, of course.
I cycle to work but also have a car and both are insured. I always remain calm, wear a helmet camera, and send off about one video to the week from a road raging driver. So far I’ve been to court about 5 times, and have been responsible for around £50k in fines as a result of my reporting the crimes.
I stay calm and wait for the day I don’t have to do this.
(Before anyone gets triggered, I stop at red lights and always give way to pedestrians. I agree it’s frustrating that some cyclists don’t do this but ultimately your life is on the line on a bike in a way it isn’t when driving. When you swerve into a cyclist or speed past giving them 2cm, you can seriously injure or kill them and you shouldn’t be allowed to drive)
I was cycling in West london, 15mph, in the middle of the lane BC I plan to turn, signalled to turn right and I can see a 4×4 trying to overtake me using the oncoming traffic lane. I manage to turn, and as I look back, the driver is flipping me off and cursing me out with her child in the back seat.
I feel like she could have easily killed me.
As a person on a bike (as Boardman would put it) I’m really grateful that someone put into words the rush of adrenaline, fear and anger that explodes out of me when someone in a car threatens my life – whether purposely or through negligence.
Its a completely natural human reaction to bark as loud as you can when someone threatens you, and especially when you don’t have a bloody car horn to communicate with. However I have noticed that more often than not it immediately escalates the situation and now I find myself quietly taking the danger, aggression and sometimes threat to life on the chin because its just the easiest way out.
I used to ride a -lot- and have found that my chosen sport, one that I was really quite competitive at 4 years ago, has now potentially fallen by the wayside permanently because I’m frankly fed up of handing my life (and really that of my family’s too) into some stranger’s hands and it makes me immeasurably sad. Without ever hurting anyone else my sport feels like its being stolen away from me by a few choice cunts who revel in ruining other people’s days. Just imagine for a second if someone were to regularly but unpredictably tear across a local football pitch in a van, to the point where heading out for a sunday morning training session with your mates included a small but very real calculation of whether you’d come home alive or not. Thats how it fucking feels. And imagine the ‘othering’ and dehumanisation of a rider in lycra being applied to lads wearing a football shirt in the park.
Whenever I ride in literally any other country in Europe all I get is consideration, care and positive support from drivers around me on the road.
We are an angry, frustrated and habitually aggresive little island.
Story time!
I don’t have a car and cycle everywhere and one evening I was cycling back from my folks house.
There’s a bike lane in Stretford, but the powers that be decided to make it safer by demarking it with cones. A fine idea to keep cars from parking in it, but on a windy day the bike lane is now full of cones.
A man in a van noticed I wasn’t cycling in the cone lane on my way back, so kindly drove alongside me to scream that there’s a bikelane I should be in. He then pulled in front of me and slammed on – forcing me to brake reallllly hard not to crash in to him.
I went up to his window and he just kept screaming at me telling me there’s a bike lane. He had plenty of space to safely overtake me on this road, and whats more it was a 30 road and I was cycling about 25 mph… I really wasn’t inconveniencing him any more than he was now inconveniencing himself.
I was very pissed off at this point because he nearly killed me just to tell me something so pointless. I told him he could get out of the van or he could fuck off. He just kept repeating ‘you should be in the [cone-filled] bike lane’, so I just gave up and started cycling off again down the road.
As I’m cycling, he catches up to me and drives alongside me dangerously close to hitting me, he yells something out the window, and then drives on ahead. He gets about 50m up the road from me, slams on, pops his hazards on [safety first] and then tries to FUCKING WHIP ME as I cycle past with a cable or a belt or something.
I cycle around him onto the other side of the road to avoid getting hit; absolutely bemused. He then gets back in the van, drives past me again very nearly clipping me, gets about 50m ahead and puts his hazards on again [so very safety conscious] so he can have another pop at me.
I just turned off the road so I could avoid another whipping, but the rest of the cycle home freaked me the fuck out… that he might be lurking behind me and run me over like some kind of outback hillbilly road-murderer film… All cos I wasn’t in a cycle lane full of cones. Every bike ride after that I’m worried he’ll be there, recognise me and try to kill me.
It absolutely boggles the mind that people can be so hostile to a category of road user; especially the ones who are trying hard to be more active, environmentally sustainable, and reduce traffic congestion… which makes it less miserable for those in cars!
I don’t hate cyclists. I hate inconsiderate and poor road users. From the past week these include:
The pair of old dears in a banana yellow Corsa on a national speed limit back road doing 26. Mostly over the centre line. And slowing on corners.
Mr and Mrs middle aged all over body condom weekend tour de france wannabes riding side by side down again a national speed limit backroad and blocking the progress of traffic, and then getting all arsey when I floored it to overtake them on a long straight.
The pair of absolute bellend teenagers flying down the road and through a red light on a pair of motorised scooters.
The dickhead local teenager who seems to have fitted a baked bean can as an exhaust to his two wheeled hairdryer because he wants us to know his location at all times, I assume.
Twattery is not the reserve of the four wheeled, the two wheeled, the young or the old.