1. Road safety
2. Bike theft
3. No respect amongst those ‘sharing the road’
4. Poor health from Covid/Long Covid
I thought these stories would be just from London, but they’re not – how is it where you are?
Unfortunately, our infrastructure is no where near to being even at just 1% of what it should be in order to handle significant numbers of cyclists on the road.
I understand the cyclist being frustrated because they just want to cycle to work safely, and I understand the 10 cars stuck behind the cyclist being frustrated because they’re stuck doing 15mph in a 30mph as it’s not safe to pass.
It’s neithers fault. Its simply because many of our towns and cities weren’t designed with road sharing in mind because back then it wasn’t a “thing” as much.
It doesn’t help that it isn’t actively done now either. Locally we’ve had three bypass projects go in over the past decade. None of them have dedicated space for cycle lanes, including the one ongoing, so the problem continues.
I cycle a lot and live in a place that accomodates cycling in terms of infrastructure and also seemingly attitude. But yeah I imagine in other places it’s different
I’ll continue cycling but I usually have a near-death experience maybe every two hours. Bearing in mind I set off as the sun is rising to try and avoid most of the idiots, if I were cycling at busier times I’m sure it would be much more often that I fear for my life
Last week a guy cut me up so I called him a dickhead under my breath, and then he chased me home and I had to hide behind a lamppost. Like he was aiming his car off the road at me.
I’ve just accepted that it’s a high-risk activity and that I enjoy it too much to let some stupid cunts put me off. If I die I hope I really ding up their car.
My experience, on a 10mile each way mostly urban cycle commute in the Midlands, is that potholes are a FAR bigger menace than cars.
The most dangerous stretch, in fact, is a 10m section in a park where the rangers have allowed a pile of gravel to spill onto the paths, making a layer of, essentially, ball bearings.
But yes, better cycling infrastructure would be lovely. I can feel myself relax when I get to the sections with a cycle path.
Edit: I note also that the level of hate against cyclists on Facebook (Which I no longer use) is not matched by responses to council initiatives regarding encouragement to walk/cycle to school – which attract many more supportive than negative comments.
I think it’s reasonable to assume we’re never going to be like Netherlands or Denmark.
But we’ve made a pitiful attempt for years. Weak half baked ideas from a country with beautiful scenery and which produces some incredible cyclists.
The best and safest routes are the national cycle routes and they’re maintained by volunteers.
Last week I received a letter from my council acknowledging the problem of dangerous, speeding drivers in the area (another deterrent to cycle) but they had no money to implement speed humps, which was what they ideally wanted to do. So instead they’re enforcing a 20mph zone with signs.
When there’s such a cash problem it’s hardly surprising cycling infrastructure is so far down the list.
I cycle to work 8 miles a few days a week and it can be a scary experience some days.
There is pretty much zero cycling infrastructure apart from a few places where they have painted the road to narrow it to reduce traffic speeds.
I can easily see inexperienced cyclists being put off by all the close passes, impatient drivers using their horns, speeding, air quality, noise etc.
Compared to wafting along in air conditioned comfort cycling is an act of masochistic self harm.
Until the infrastructure improves cycling will be a niche method of transport
The council here advertise they have added x miles of cycle lanes, mostly they have converted two lane uncomplicated roads leading into towns that don’t have any housing. These were never much of a problem to cycle on before. As soon as you hit the town and there are junctions or housing with on road parking all the infra structure disappears and you are on your own
Councils getting Govt dosh for **total** length of cycle paths was the greatest farce – in my area, there are countless magically appearing and vanishing cycle “lanes” painted on anyway dangerous roads, without any continuity. Plus the potholes make cyclist do sudden avoiding attempts etc.
The typical narrative then attacks the effects (e.g. cyclist on the pavement as they don’t want to die within minutes on the GREAT British cycling infrastructure) instead of the causes… because causes are then pointing at decades of underfunding, nonsensical horseshit from politicians and councillors, fundamental failures in concepting etc. Oh wait that sounds familir from countless other sectors…
I live in SW London and haven’t travelled into central London during rush hour via any other means than the tube for quite a few years. I had occasion to take a cab to city airport a few weeks ago, travelling north in the road that follows the northern line. Utter chaos – essentially single lane in each direction for motor vehicles, with an intermittent cycle lane, often shared with taxis and buses and hundreds and hundreds of cyclists. They weave in and out of traffic, cross lanes, take stupid risks – I was scared for them from the back seat of the cab, let alone having to undergo that experience twice daily on a bike. I’m honestly surprised the fatal indecent rate isn’t higher.
On the rare occasions I ride to work I give thanks to my local areas importance during the industrial revolution. 10 miles on convoluted roads going up and down hills or 8 miles along the disused railway line that starts two minutes from my house and ends five minutes away from work and follows the bottom of the valleys the whole way.
Once it is accepted that our infrastructure does not support segregated cycling the next logical step would be to make cycling in traffic safer by continually working to improve public perception in its value to the individual and the wider health benefits. Like they did with drink driving back in the day…
I’m Dutch and I ride my bike to work daily. I only have to cross one road for cars 1km from my house and it’s just a two lane road with almost no traffic at 7 in the morning. From there on out I never have to leave the bicycle path. Along the entire route there’s always enough space between the bike path and the road. Just like any other country we have our issues but bicycle infrastructure sure isn’t one of them.
This is along my route and most of my commute is like this. The bike path on the right is very safe and well maintained. It makes it a joy to hop on my bike and enjoy the cold and fresh early morning air. https://i.imgur.com/EdcLcyX.jpg
They need to do more for safe bike storage, the number of people that spend £3000+ on a bike only to have some junkie steal a few weeks later it and the police not give a shit is tragic and rage inducing
Also up the speed limit on e-bikes, give them another 5-10mph and people who are new to cycling or not able to sprint up to 25mph on a normal bike will be able to cycle on the road and keep up with traffic a lot easier
It does not have to all or nothing though. I bought a bike last year and now have swapped most the shorter journeys I made by car to cycling. My overall car mileage has dropped 10-15 %.
We realy need some secure places to store bikes
When it get a bit scary during my travels I get off my bike and walk with it until I get to a street with minimal cars or bike only lane. Not going to take the risk at all.
About 5-6 years ago my council got a huge grant to inmprove the towns infrastructure. They said they were going to make it the cycling hub of Cornwall.
They made the main road through town a lot narrower and put a few cycle lane signs on the pavement. Blew the rest on making the area outside the church look pretty and some pinky red tarmac.
My cycle to work includes a long steep hill up a narrow road with no cycle provision whatsoever. Almost every day I get insults from car drivers because I’ve delayed them by 30 seconds. Always fun to catch them up at the next traffic lights and peer into their window.
Outside of the usual comments that are deemed to be the biggest factors (e.g. infrastructure, cyclists vs drivers “us vs them”), there’s definitely an additional factor at play which appears to get worse and worse each year – time, or the lack of.
Everyone is constantly in a rush to get from A to B and if they’re not moving at their maximum then that’s a big problem for them. Gone are the days of allowing some additional time for your journey in case there are blockers during it.
And that isn’t exclusively a driver’s thing, I see it on trains and the underground all the time. I can understand if your train is in two minutes late and you miss your connection but just have a little patience until your next connection arrives, or plan in some extra minutes to avoid doing that.
It is really extremely dangerous. Driving standards have taken a dive during COVID and never recovered. Before COVID, I had a scare every once in a while, and you can deal with that. Now, every ride is scary, and it feels like some drivers are trying to kill you.
Every serious cyclist I know has been purposefully run off the road at least once. It is just not worth the risk.
Cars and bikes should never mix on anything over a 20mph road in my opinion. Should be the new Pms 1st job to make it Illegal If you decide to ride a bike at 10mph along a 50mph country road even in good weather you are risking your life and the lives of the passengers of the cars who have to overtake and the lives of the oncoming lane very selfish.
I stopped cycling when a truck driver in front of us knocked my friend off the road and she fell into a ditch and lost consciousness. It was a nightmare. Fortunately she ended up okay, just with some bruises, but it was very very scary. My ex-partner’s neighbour was killed by a truck driver on his way to work in the morning. Driver claimed he didn’t see him…
I stopped cycling as I kinda like living.
My question is why is he spending £200 on locks a time? A decent U lock and Cable lock won’t set you back more than £100, surely.
Anway, if you’re cycling in a city, buy a junky bike for less than £200 and fix it up to work properly. If your bike looks like shit, people won’t steal it because there are nicer bikes.
I mean I probably wouldn’t cycle again after my best mate at uni got intentionally knocked off his bike by a guy in a pickup truck for daring to do about twenty in a thirty zone. No they didn’t catch him, cops told him to wear a camera next time.
People hate cyclists, cars are a status symbol and bikes are seen as what kids use.
Cyclists are also an easy target for hate from motorists as cyclists inconvenience them as they have to make space. Even tho cars are way bigger today then they were in previous years, a standard car now is similar to a range rover from 20 years ago. A pickup truck from 1990 is smaller than most SUVs, etc.
Let’s just accept that we love cars and don’t want to embrace cycling as a society.
I have never owned a car and always cycle when I can, and most people think I’m some kind of hippy cycle freak because I do my shopping on a bike with panniers.
Holland does it far better
Any interviews with the millions who still cycle and enjoy it???
It’s pretty clear that the current state of cycling infrastructure is pretty much only suitable for people with abnormally high risk tolerances… Which probably goes some way towards explaining certain facets of perceived cyclist behaviour such as ignoring red lights, etc.
Some people are giving up driving, because of congestion, aging infrastructure thats no longer fit for todays car ownership growth… and more idiots on the road with as much driving sense as they had on a plastic push car when they were four years old. People giving up cycling when these issues are magnified is logical and expected. Been having issues with young people using local areas as car fanatic meet points. The way they behave, there is a lack of respect for anyone other than the petrolhead ideal. Noise, pedestrians, residents… sure not in the remit for afterthought. So the road sense and courtesy would be equally as arrogant.
Brit whos emigrated to Germany here:
It’s a shame hearing all these reports about the poor infrastructure and bad attitudes back in the UK.
I grew up in Devon, and until I was in my mid 20’s I used to cycle almost everywhere – however I was lucky in that I worked only a few miles away from where I lived, and I lived in a relatively low population area (plus this was back in the 90’s so fewer people/cars in general).
Where I live now (Germany) there is a reasonable cycling infrastructure – basically the main roads through the towns and the main connecting roads between towns will either have a seperate cycle path running parallel to the road (i.e. there is some form of physical seperation between the road for cars and the cycle path), or inside the town itself a painted division as a cycle lane.
This means there is minimal physical interaction between car drivers and cyclists, so far *far* less bad attitude. Plus the cycle ride is significantly safer – just need to keep an eye on the pedestrians..
All this means that when the weather is reasonable, I can easily cycle to/from work (11-12 miles each way). Takes me about 40 minutes at a leisurely pace.
The difficulty is that these things need to be baked in to every new road or expansion of a road system as a default, and then in the UK it’s going to take a decade or two to get to a stage where it’s making a significant impact. This is not to say don’t do it – it absolutely should/must be done, but it’s more an “old man planting a tree in who’s shade he will never sit” sort of deal.
We need to look at doing it for our kids and grandkids, and not so much for us directly
r/fuckcars r/notjustbikes you’re welcom
I tried it for a while. Terrifying london traffic aside, theres only a handful of days were cycling is a pleasant experience. It’s either too wet, too cold, or too hot. I don’t want to freeze or turn up to work soaked in sweat
33 comments
1. Road safety
2. Bike theft
3. No respect amongst those ‘sharing the road’
4. Poor health from Covid/Long Covid
I thought these stories would be just from London, but they’re not – how is it where you are?
Unfortunately, our infrastructure is no where near to being even at just 1% of what it should be in order to handle significant numbers of cyclists on the road.
I understand the cyclist being frustrated because they just want to cycle to work safely, and I understand the 10 cars stuck behind the cyclist being frustrated because they’re stuck doing 15mph in a 30mph as it’s not safe to pass.
It’s neithers fault. Its simply because many of our towns and cities weren’t designed with road sharing in mind because back then it wasn’t a “thing” as much.
It doesn’t help that it isn’t actively done now either. Locally we’ve had three bypass projects go in over the past decade. None of them have dedicated space for cycle lanes, including the one ongoing, so the problem continues.
I cycle a lot and live in a place that accomodates cycling in terms of infrastructure and also seemingly attitude. But yeah I imagine in other places it’s different
I’ll continue cycling but I usually have a near-death experience maybe every two hours. Bearing in mind I set off as the sun is rising to try and avoid most of the idiots, if I were cycling at busier times I’m sure it would be much more often that I fear for my life
Last week a guy cut me up so I called him a dickhead under my breath, and then he chased me home and I had to hide behind a lamppost. Like he was aiming his car off the road at me.
I’ve just accepted that it’s a high-risk activity and that I enjoy it too much to let some stupid cunts put me off. If I die I hope I really ding up their car.
My experience, on a 10mile each way mostly urban cycle commute in the Midlands, is that potholes are a FAR bigger menace than cars.
The most dangerous stretch, in fact, is a 10m section in a park where the rangers have allowed a pile of gravel to spill onto the paths, making a layer of, essentially, ball bearings.
But yes, better cycling infrastructure would be lovely. I can feel myself relax when I get to the sections with a cycle path.
Edit: I note also that the level of hate against cyclists on Facebook (Which I no longer use) is not matched by responses to council initiatives regarding encouragement to walk/cycle to school – which attract many more supportive than negative comments.
I think it’s reasonable to assume we’re never going to be like Netherlands or Denmark.
But we’ve made a pitiful attempt for years. Weak half baked ideas from a country with beautiful scenery and which produces some incredible cyclists.
The best and safest routes are the national cycle routes and they’re maintained by volunteers.
Last week I received a letter from my council acknowledging the problem of dangerous, speeding drivers in the area (another deterrent to cycle) but they had no money to implement speed humps, which was what they ideally wanted to do. So instead they’re enforcing a 20mph zone with signs.
When there’s such a cash problem it’s hardly surprising cycling infrastructure is so far down the list.
I cycle to work 8 miles a few days a week and it can be a scary experience some days.
There is pretty much zero cycling infrastructure apart from a few places where they have painted the road to narrow it to reduce traffic speeds.
I can easily see inexperienced cyclists being put off by all the close passes, impatient drivers using their horns, speeding, air quality, noise etc.
Compared to wafting along in air conditioned comfort cycling is an act of masochistic self harm.
Until the infrastructure improves cycling will be a niche method of transport
The council here advertise they have added x miles of cycle lanes, mostly they have converted two lane uncomplicated roads leading into towns that don’t have any housing. These were never much of a problem to cycle on before. As soon as you hit the town and there are junctions or housing with on road parking all the infra structure disappears and you are on your own
Councils getting Govt dosh for **total** length of cycle paths was the greatest farce – in my area, there are countless magically appearing and vanishing cycle “lanes” painted on anyway dangerous roads, without any continuity. Plus the potholes make cyclist do sudden avoiding attempts etc.
The typical narrative then attacks the effects (e.g. cyclist on the pavement as they don’t want to die within minutes on the GREAT British cycling infrastructure) instead of the causes… because causes are then pointing at decades of underfunding, nonsensical horseshit from politicians and councillors, fundamental failures in concepting etc. Oh wait that sounds familir from countless other sectors…
The numbers correlate with the idiocy of the so-called cycling “infrastructure” trumpeted by those councils: [https://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=6fa65e58-783f-4e7e-862e-9d1a1486ce3a](https://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=6fa65e58-783f-4e7e-862e-9d1a1486ce3a)
I live in SW London and haven’t travelled into central London during rush hour via any other means than the tube for quite a few years. I had occasion to take a cab to city airport a few weeks ago, travelling north in the road that follows the northern line. Utter chaos – essentially single lane in each direction for motor vehicles, with an intermittent cycle lane, often shared with taxis and buses and hundreds and hundreds of cyclists. They weave in and out of traffic, cross lanes, take stupid risks – I was scared for them from the back seat of the cab, let alone having to undergo that experience twice daily on a bike. I’m honestly surprised the fatal indecent rate isn’t higher.
On the rare occasions I ride to work I give thanks to my local areas importance during the industrial revolution. 10 miles on convoluted roads going up and down hills or 8 miles along the disused railway line that starts two minutes from my house and ends five minutes away from work and follows the bottom of the valleys the whole way.
Once it is accepted that our infrastructure does not support segregated cycling the next logical step would be to make cycling in traffic safer by continually working to improve public perception in its value to the individual and the wider health benefits. Like they did with drink driving back in the day…
I’m Dutch and I ride my bike to work daily. I only have to cross one road for cars 1km from my house and it’s just a two lane road with almost no traffic at 7 in the morning. From there on out I never have to leave the bicycle path. Along the entire route there’s always enough space between the bike path and the road. Just like any other country we have our issues but bicycle infrastructure sure isn’t one of them.
This is along my route and most of my commute is like this. The bike path on the right is very safe and well maintained. It makes it a joy to hop on my bike and enjoy the cold and fresh early morning air. https://i.imgur.com/EdcLcyX.jpg
They need to do more for safe bike storage, the number of people that spend £3000+ on a bike only to have some junkie steal a few weeks later it and the police not give a shit is tragic and rage inducing
Also up the speed limit on e-bikes, give them another 5-10mph and people who are new to cycling or not able to sprint up to 25mph on a normal bike will be able to cycle on the road and keep up with traffic a lot easier
It does not have to all or nothing though. I bought a bike last year and now have swapped most the shorter journeys I made by car to cycling. My overall car mileage has dropped 10-15 %.
We realy need some secure places to store bikes
When it get a bit scary during my travels I get off my bike and walk with it until I get to a street with minimal cars or bike only lane. Not going to take the risk at all.
About 5-6 years ago my council got a huge grant to inmprove the towns infrastructure. They said they were going to make it the cycling hub of Cornwall.
They made the main road through town a lot narrower and put a few cycle lane signs on the pavement. Blew the rest on making the area outside the church look pretty and some pinky red tarmac.
My cycle to work includes a long steep hill up a narrow road with no cycle provision whatsoever. Almost every day I get insults from car drivers because I’ve delayed them by 30 seconds. Always fun to catch them up at the next traffic lights and peer into their window.
Outside of the usual comments that are deemed to be the biggest factors (e.g. infrastructure, cyclists vs drivers “us vs them”), there’s definitely an additional factor at play which appears to get worse and worse each year – time, or the lack of.
Everyone is constantly in a rush to get from A to B and if they’re not moving at their maximum then that’s a big problem for them. Gone are the days of allowing some additional time for your journey in case there are blockers during it.
And that isn’t exclusively a driver’s thing, I see it on trains and the underground all the time. I can understand if your train is in two minutes late and you miss your connection but just have a little patience until your next connection arrives, or plan in some extra minutes to avoid doing that.
It is really extremely dangerous. Driving standards have taken a dive during COVID and never recovered. Before COVID, I had a scare every once in a while, and you can deal with that. Now, every ride is scary, and it feels like some drivers are trying to kill you.
Every serious cyclist I know has been purposefully run off the road at least once. It is just not worth the risk.
Cars and bikes should never mix on anything over a 20mph road in my opinion. Should be the new Pms 1st job to make it Illegal If you decide to ride a bike at 10mph along a 50mph country road even in good weather you are risking your life and the lives of the passengers of the cars who have to overtake and the lives of the oncoming lane very selfish.
I stopped cycling when a truck driver in front of us knocked my friend off the road and she fell into a ditch and lost consciousness. It was a nightmare. Fortunately she ended up okay, just with some bruises, but it was very very scary. My ex-partner’s neighbour was killed by a truck driver on his way to work in the morning. Driver claimed he didn’t see him…
I stopped cycling as I kinda like living.
My question is why is he spending £200 on locks a time? A decent U lock and Cable lock won’t set you back more than £100, surely.
Anway, if you’re cycling in a city, buy a junky bike for less than £200 and fix it up to work properly. If your bike looks like shit, people won’t steal it because there are nicer bikes.
I mean I probably wouldn’t cycle again after my best mate at uni got intentionally knocked off his bike by a guy in a pickup truck for daring to do about twenty in a thirty zone. No they didn’t catch him, cops told him to wear a camera next time.
People hate cyclists, cars are a status symbol and bikes are seen as what kids use.
Cyclists are also an easy target for hate from motorists as cyclists inconvenience them as they have to make space. Even tho cars are way bigger today then they were in previous years, a standard car now is similar to a range rover from 20 years ago. A pickup truck from 1990 is smaller than most SUVs, etc.
Let’s just accept that we love cars and don’t want to embrace cycling as a society.
I have never owned a car and always cycle when I can, and most people think I’m some kind of hippy cycle freak because I do my shopping on a bike with panniers.
Holland does it far better
Any interviews with the millions who still cycle and enjoy it???
It’s pretty clear that the current state of cycling infrastructure is pretty much only suitable for people with abnormally high risk tolerances… Which probably goes some way towards explaining certain facets of perceived cyclist behaviour such as ignoring red lights, etc.
Some people are giving up driving, because of congestion, aging infrastructure thats no longer fit for todays car ownership growth… and more idiots on the road with as much driving sense as they had on a plastic push car when they were four years old. People giving up cycling when these issues are magnified is logical and expected. Been having issues with young people using local areas as car fanatic meet points. The way they behave, there is a lack of respect for anyone other than the petrolhead ideal. Noise, pedestrians, residents… sure not in the remit for afterthought. So the road sense and courtesy would be equally as arrogant.
Brit whos emigrated to Germany here:
It’s a shame hearing all these reports about the poor infrastructure and bad attitudes back in the UK.
I grew up in Devon, and until I was in my mid 20’s I used to cycle almost everywhere – however I was lucky in that I worked only a few miles away from where I lived, and I lived in a relatively low population area (plus this was back in the 90’s so fewer people/cars in general).
Where I live now (Germany) there is a reasonable cycling infrastructure – basically the main roads through the towns and the main connecting roads between towns will either have a seperate cycle path running parallel to the road (i.e. there is some form of physical seperation between the road for cars and the cycle path), or inside the town itself a painted division as a cycle lane.
This means there is minimal physical interaction between car drivers and cyclists, so far *far* less bad attitude. Plus the cycle ride is significantly safer – just need to keep an eye on the pedestrians..
All this means that when the weather is reasonable, I can easily cycle to/from work (11-12 miles each way). Takes me about 40 minutes at a leisurely pace.
The difficulty is that these things need to be baked in to every new road or expansion of a road system as a default, and then in the UK it’s going to take a decade or two to get to a stage where it’s making a significant impact. This is not to say don’t do it – it absolutely should/must be done, but it’s more an “old man planting a tree in who’s shade he will never sit” sort of deal.
We need to look at doing it for our kids and grandkids, and not so much for us directly
r/fuckcars r/notjustbikes you’re welcom
I tried it for a while. Terrifying london traffic aside, theres only a handful of days were cycling is a pleasant experience. It’s either too wet, too cold, or too hot. I don’t want to freeze or turn up to work soaked in sweat