'you're supposed to give way to cars'

Commuting, Day rides, Audax, Incidents, etc.
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Patrickpioneer
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'you're supposed to give way to cars'

Post by Patrickpioneer »

This morning on my little ride I was told 'your supposed to give way to cars. this is the fourth time in about 2 years I have been told this, always when I have priority approaching traffic calming islands and its always on the same road too! So i take my time and say nothing. Where do these myths come from?
Pat
kwackers
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Re: 'your supposed to give way to cars'

Post by kwackers »

It's not just bicycles, pedestrians too.

I had one guy doing his nut as I was crossing the road and his light changed, so he tried to turn left into the road I was crossing but couldn't quite squeeze past so had to stop.
Sadly he made the mistake of venting his frustration via his horn and I quite like to listen to the sound of horns, I'm compelled to stop and listen to their musical qualities.

I should add this is a very wide junction mouth and there are no pedestrian lights despite it being a busy junction.
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NUKe
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Re: 'your supposed to give way to cars'

Post by NUKe »

Last week my fourteen year old son was riding to school on a residential road, there were cars parked either side and did he exactly as I had told took primary to stop the cars behind squeezing through. The woman following him decided he shouldn’t be there, and leant on the horn. As the road widened she pulled alongside and started to rant at him through the open passenger window, shame she failed to see the Van coming the other way and ran straight into, fortunately he saw her and she was only going the speed of the bike. But as my son put it “Instant Karma”
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peetee
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Re: 'your supposed to give way to cars'

Post by peetee »

Where does it come from?
Arrogance fuelled by public policy incessantly prioritising the motor vehicle in preference to anything that gets in its way.
The older I get the more I’m inclined to act my shoe size, not my age.
Oldjohnw
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Re: 'your supposed to give way to cars'

Post by Oldjohnw »

One man said to me, "You have no rights on the road because you don't pay road tax."

Recognising the car he had (same as my own) I replied, "Neither do you". It worked and he drove away.
John
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Re: 'your supposed to give way to cars'

Post by whoof »

An old 'gentleman' drove his car down a narrow lane at speed towards a group of us. We had stopped but he wasn't slowing down. I stayed in the same position rather than jumping into the hedge and as he eventually stopped said, 'I thought you were going to run us all down' and he said 'I pay my road tax'. I pointed out that he probably lived on State benefits and as an income tax and national insurance payer I paid his road tax.
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gaz
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Re: 'your supposed to give way to cars'

Post by gaz »

Patrickpioneer wrote:Where do these myths come from?

They come from selective attention to the Highway Code, particularly the parts underlined and an interpretation of "long queue of traffic" as "my motor vehicle". It is also essential to ignore rules 162-167 when applying these interpretations.
Rule 168
Being overtaken. If a driver is trying to overtake you, maintain a steady course and speed, slowing down if necessary to let the vehicle pass. Never obstruct drivers who wish to pass. Speeding up or driving unpredictably while someone is overtaking you is dangerous. Drop back to maintain a two-second gap if someone overtakes and pulls into the gap in front of you.

Rule 169
Do not hold up a long queue of traffic, especially if you are driving a large or slow-moving vehicle. Check your mirrors frequently, and if necessary, pull in where it is safe and let traffic pass.

Once you've selected the rules you wish to ignore and applied those interpretations to the one's that are left, you're left with "get out of my way".
peetee wrote:Arrogance fuelled by public policy incessantly prioritising the motor vehicle in preference to anything that gets in its way.

+1
MikeF
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Re: 'your supposed to give way to cars'

Post by MikeF »

Patrickpioneer wrote:This morning on my little ride I was told 'your supposed to give way to cars. this is the fourth time in about 2 years I have been told this, always when I have priority approaching traffic calming islands and its always on the same road too! So i take my time and say nothing. Where do these myths come from?
Pat
This morning on my little ride I was told 'You're supposed to give way to cars" :wink:

I've not stopped at the give way marking on the non priority side here, but merely slowed so as not to lose too much momentum for the approaching uphill climb, and had an approaching motorist slow nearly to a hand so he could signal I had gone over the line. He was strictly correct but there is a gradual tail in here there was plenty of room for us both. I've noticed when I've been travelling in the opposite direction cars do not always stop at the line me!
"It takes a genius to spot the obvious" - my old physics master.
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rjb
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Re: 'your supposed to give way to cars'

Post by rjb »

You just need to remind them that Steam gives way to sail. :lol:

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Cunobelin
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Re: 'your supposed to give way to cars'

Post by Cunobelin »

Oldjohnw wrote:One man said to me, "You have no rights on the road because you don't pay road tax."

Recognising the car he had (same as my own) I replied, "Neither do you". It worked and he drove away.



Had a guy at work with this attitude.

Pointed out that due to the wheelchair, I need a larger car, and that as a result I paid MORE road tax than him, so in future I expected him to give way to Me!

Apparently it doesn't work that way.
Cyril Haearn
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Re: 'your supposed to give way to cars'

Post by Cyril Haearn »

Yet another situation where obeying the law is abnormal :(
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MikeF
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Re: 'you are supposed to give way to cars'

Post by MikeF »

Graham wrote:Sorry, this is a repeat . . . . . ( & might have to scroll down a bit )
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=113683&p=1118165
Not exactly. There weren't give way priority signs involved. :wink:
"It takes a genius to spot the obvious" - my old physics master.
I don't peddle bikes.
awavey
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Re: 'you're supposed to give way to cars'

Post by awavey »

a perceived level of self importance I suspect, most motorists assume roads are built only for motor vehicles, so bicycles/pedestrians are borrowing "their" space since we pay no road tax for the right to use it, in their mind of course :D

so yeah like last nights ride home theres a section of road I ride with a non mandatory cycle lane around a sweeping left corner that has the exit of a medical centre car park that leads into a couple of pedestrian islands/zebra crossing bus stop,, so its quite a complicated sequence of clear pinch points and hazards for a cyclist because if you stick to the cycle lane you encourage overtakes at the pinch points and cars leaving the medical centre have a habit of using the cycle lane as that extra little space they can pull forward in as they all seem to want to turn right, so are never looking at you.

so I dont use the cycle lane as I think its dangerous not least because alot of the overtakes on the sweeping left corner involve the vehicle heading for the apex/racing line approach which creates another pinch point,

I dont ride prime, but Im enough over into the lane it makes most people pause long enough to consider their options and wait and by and large I get through it no bother, but last night get through it, I knew there was a car behind me who then pulls alongside me, driver I assume as I couldnt see a passenger, winds down the window and just swears at me and says "YOU SHOULD BE USING THE ******* CYCLE LANE"... and then drives off and turns left at the next roundabout without indicating. :roll:

what can you do ?
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Patrickpioneer
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Re: 'you're supposed to give way to cars'

Post by Patrickpioneer »

All the people who have said this to me have been younger than myself, makes me wounder if they did some sort of cycle training in school and as kids they where told to always give way to cars and this has stuck in their minds?

but what can we do? like Churchill used to say 'just keep buggering on'

Pat
Oldjohnw
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Re: 'you're supposed to give way to cars'

Post by Oldjohnw »

In the same way that I tend not to argue with huge lorries when in my car, there are some practical reasons for avoiding cars, sometimes by giving way.

This is not to say for a moment that cars have superior road rights. They don't, but they will always come out best in an incident.
John
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