Abuse from motorists

[flat tyre]

Every now and then I encounter some unpleasant motorist who sees fit to hurl abuse at me, I was just wondering if I’m alone in this experience or if not how often others encounter it. I do about 5,000 miles a year for pleasure and I go out 4-5 times a week so I suppose I’m on the road quite a bit in the south downs area, so mostly rural. I would say it’s not a frequent occurrence but maybe once every couple of months or so there is some sort of "incident". This morning by way of example I was cycling along a fairly quiet road near Wickham, Hants and passed a Tee junction with two cars waiting to turn right onto the road I was on. As I passed there was a loud blast of horn aimed I think at the car in front, presumably for waiting for me to go past (my right of way). When they eventually moved off the first car passed, but the second car blasted his horn again when he passed and then stopped to shout some foul words at me before moving off again. A couple of months ago someone in a pickup truck deliberately tried to ram me head on and I only just managed to get out of the way in time. Although I would say that all is sweetness and light for most of my rides these incidents have made me wonder if this is a sad fact of life if you are a cyclist or whether I attract my undue share of morons?

[axel_knutt]

I get shouted at by passing motorists quite a lot, but I can never hear what they're actually saying. The only one I have heard was "weirdo" from another cyclist as he rode past on the pavement.

[AlaninWales]

Unfortunately you are not alone: There are those in any society who pick on people they perceive to belong to an outgroup. Unfortunately in our society cyclists are frequently cast as an outgroup and so get picked on by these small-minded bullies. The only 'cure' is for cycling to become more mainstream.

[james01]

Your experience sounds about on a par with mine.
Lots of single-track lanes with occasional passing places around here, this seems to guarantee the occasional aggravation. The absurd thing is that if I'm in my car and meet another vehicle it takes far longer to sort ourselves out than if I'm cycling (if I meet an oncoming car nobody has to reverse because I end up dismounting and inserting myself into the hedge - braving the nettles etc), yet in the car-meets-car scenario it's all smiles and waves between fellow motorists even though all that reversing has wasted far more "precious" time. Worst aggro is horn-blowing when I'm being followed and they expect me to stop in the hedge before the next official passing place.

[pwa]

Very rare for me. Almost never. I don't do city cycling, though.

I have to say that, stupid though it might sound, if someone deliberately drove straight at me I would probably stop and stand there and just wait to see what they did. I don't get out of the way for bullies, whatever the threat.

[flat tyre]

Very rare for me. Almost never. I don't do city cycling, though.

I have to say that, stupid though it might sound, if someone deliberately drove straight at me I would probably stop and stand there and just wait to see what they did. I don't get out of the way for bullies, whatever the threat.

Yes I thought about doing that......for .00001 sec before the self preservation instinct kicked in!

[bogmyrtle]

The only 'cure' is for cycling to become more mainstream.

Unfortunately idiots will still be idiots.

[Slick]

Quite right too.

I would say that my experiences are mixed. I've had the very odd horn blasted for no apparent reason, and the odd passenger shouting out exactly what they thought about me being there, despite there being no reason as the road was wide enough for them to pass without incident. I do agree with drivers meeting with all smiles and waves, as on Saturday afternoon I was on a single track road and got a wave and a smile from every car I met. I also met 3 different cyclists, and they couldn't even make eye contact despite making sure I pulled in for each of them. I suppose there are strange folk on all forms of transport.

[AlaninWales]

The only 'cure' is for cycling to become more mainstream.

Unfortunately idiots will still be idiots.

IMO the (vast majority of) these idiots only feel 'empowered' to insult cyclists because much popular media treats cyclists as an outgroup and insults / threats to cyclists as amusing. If cycling were more mainstream it is likely that sort of portrayal would become unacceptable and (IMO) the idiots would generally not screw up the courage to insult random strangers to anything like the same extent.

[mercalia]

usually young yobos in their "wheels" thinking they are the bees knees, fueled by booze probably a few weeks before they had just moved up from a push bike

[MikeF]

Every now and then I encounter some unpleasant motorist who sees fit to hurl abuse at me, I was just wondering if I’m alone in this experience or if not how often others encounter it. I do about 5,000 miles a year for pleasure and I go out 4-5 times a week so I suppose I’m on the road quite a bit in the south downs area, so mostly rural. I would say it’s not a frequent occurrence but maybe once every couple of months or so there is some sort of "incident". This morning by way of example I was cycling along a fairly quiet road near Wickham, Hants and passed a Tee junction with two cars waiting to turn right onto the road I was on. As I passed there was a loud blast of horn aimed I think at the car in front, presumably for waiting for me to go past (my right of way). When they eventually moved off the first car passed, but the second car blasted his horn again when he passed and then stopped to shout some foul words at me before moving off again. A couple of months ago someone in a pickup truck deliberately tried to ram me head on and I only just managed to get out of the way in time. Although I would say that all is sweetness and light for most of my rides these incidents have made me wonder if this is a sad fact of life if you are a cyclist or whether I attract my undue share of morons?

It even happens to BBC presenters http://forum.cyclinguk.org/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=108704

[DaveGos]

must of been the hot weather , but 2 separate incidents this week off 4 by 4 s coming in opposite direction on single track lanes, who decided they should have the complete road width to themselves.

1) Lady with one of those horrible horse boxes with a set of outside wheels wider than the towing vehicles. When she saw us she just stopped in the middle of the road leaving about 6 inches on either side, which was very difficult to get passed , 6 of us, if she pulled to one side leaving us 12 inches there would of been no issue, as we tried to get past she gave us abuse and told us we took up too much room and should of found a passing place and then let her drive by . There was a passing place 20 yds behind her. The super irony was that we are part of that group that horse riders are part of - vulnerable road users.

Next day wider single track , 9 of us - range rover purpose;y drives at us aggressively and close about 6 inches from us. one rider annoyed enough to give his wing mirror a wack as he drives by. Another pointless argument follows. These people generally just hate cyclists and logic is not going to get you anywhere. I normally avoid the arguments as it just spoils a good day cycling. The thing that gets my goat that the motorist rarely appreciates is that we go miles out of our way to find quiet lanes and avoid the vast majority of motorists only to still be targeted by some nutters and that single track lanes were not built for 2 tom chelsea tractors

[Vorpal]

It happens to everyone. The more riding I've done at peak times, in school run traffic, and in towns and cities, the more abuse and incidents I've had.

Though the worst couple of incidents have not been during peak time or school run traffic.

[Paulatic]

. The super irony was that we are part of that group that horse riders are part of - vulnerable road users.

I suspect she confines her riding to arenas.
One of the hazards I have in my area are vehicles adorned with full suspension knobbly tyred bikes. They are normally moving between one of the 7Stanes locations and never cycle on the road.

[Quetelet]

Unfortunately our society has become more fractured, discourteous and downright angry over the past 40 years. From personal anecdotal experience, between 1975-1995 I personally experienced just two 'incidents', since I got back on my bike, the past 10 years have been filled with 'incidents' becoming more commonplace, markedly so in the past 5 years. As with flat tyre's post, I also reside in a rural area, West Wales, with the majority of 'incidents' occurring on single track roads with the oh so impatient and I find, like Vorpal, that conurbation cycling is the most likely source of abuse/directed frustration, especially around the peak school times. I have also experienced some pretty abusive behaviour from pedestrians whilst using cycle paths too and it appears that this is a regular occurrence, based upon the collective comments of the members of my local cycle club.
Unfortunately, with an unsympathetic media that provokes and fuels conflict for its' own gain, this is not set to change, but just fuels the anger and resentment, this particularly disgraceful example http://www.spectator.co.uk/2013/11/off-your-bike/ setting the tone.
I see that MikeF has pasted he link to the Jeremy Vine 'incident'. Whilst a thoroughly unpleasant experience for Vine, plus all others who have been on the receiving end of such foul behaviour, I suggest that this is helpful in raising awareness of the issues for us mere plebs, as this should generate some media interest which, I hope, would cause others to perhaps rein in their bad bahaviour.