Cycling in narrow lanes

[Cyril Haearn]

I certainly am othering 'normal drivers', the majority who routinely break the law
I am certainly othering these criminals!

I have tried adding a handful of members to 'foes' but they quote me, or others quote them so one does see them unfortunately. I try to ignore and not quote certain members, I wish they would ignore me too

I shall certainly be continuing fighting terror by pressing the buttons, next time I am in Bigtown
There has been a significant increase in fatal 'accidents' in Bigtown in recent months, despite lockdown

[eileithyia]

Just as well your driver didn't find himself in the situation I was in a couple of weeks ago, Visiting Cornwall my other half decided he wanted to see St. Enodoc church.... as John Betjeman is buried there. This is somewhere I knew well from my cornish family holidays as we frequented Daymer Bay regularly and often visited the little church. I had forgotten just how narrow the approach was....
Turned into said road to go to the car park, as we had had a full day out on the Camel trail is was 5:30pm so of course everyone was leaving the beach.
Car in front had pulled into a passing place, and I pulled into the nearest one to me... it was big enough for following vehicle to pull in behind me... no problems so far.

Car ahead continued, I pulled forward slowly saw his brake lights on and further vehicles coming up, so pulled into the now vacant passing place, closely followed by the lady behind who could not get into said passing place, blocked the road and was terrified of reverse / her electronic hand brake and rolling into me.... We now had 3 vehicles in front of us none of which could get passed her.....

It can be very entertaining, if you are not in a hurry, to be sat near the front on a rural bus in such an area in the tourist season. The looks of horror on some of the drivers faces when they find they are head to head with the bus, and they are going to have to be the one who reverses.....
I recall one such who shouted at the bus driver that he was not allowed to bring a bus down such a narrow road and they would report him to his company for doing so - to which the driver replied that of course "moi boss" knew where he was, as he had driven the bus there every Wednesday for the last 15 years.

Post surgery last year, I took the Puerta Pollensa - Soller bus into the mountains to do some walking while the fitter members of the group went off on an epic ride, the bus fare was worth it for the journey alone.. both times I was able to get a front seat by the driver..... on one particularly sharp bend he had already tooted his horn, swung around it to the horror of the lady approaching... she tried and failed to get past then had to reverse.... much to the amusement to all around.... along with all the other vehicles who had to reverse.

[Jdsk]

We were up there a few autumns ago. Great walking along the spine.

Jonathan

PS: Betjeman and Graves... are you basing your walking around the remains of writers? : - )

[DaveBeck]

I certainly am othering 'normal drivers', the majority who routinely break the law
I am certainly othering these criminals!

I have tried adding a handful of members to 'foes' but they quote me, or others quote them so one does see them unfortunately. I try to ignore and not quote certain members, I wish they would ignore me too

I shall certainly be continuing fighting terror by pressing the buttons, next time I am in Bigtown
There has been a significant increase in fatal 'accidents' in Bigtown in recent months, despite lockdown

What was it in the past that has caused you to have such a downer on drivers? Reading between the lines of your posts, it does seem that something very bad or very unsettling happened, either to you or to somebody you are close to.

And where is Bigtown? A country or county will do if you'd rather not say exactly where.

And as I've asked you, it's only fair I say where and who, I am. My name is Dave Beckinsale and I live just outside of a coastal village called Porthtowan, on the north coast of Cornwall, about 16 miles south west of Newquay. Which I'm sure most people have heard of. I cycle on a variety of roads, country lanes, all the big towns and the city (Truro) as well as a lot of the off road trails that Cornwall has. I don't consider anywhere to be off limits for me and my bicycles.

I also regularly in the summer months (well at least I did before the pandemic!) commute on my bike along the A390 through Truro to St Austell, where I work as an Outdoor Activities Instructor. I am 59 years old, 60 next month, but I can still keep up easily with people half my age.

I would be genuinely interested to know what it was, if there was anything? Not to run you down, but to understand you better.

Dave B

[Cyril Haearn]

Glad to answer
I am a very experienced 'careful' driver who obeys the law, keeps comfortably inside the maximum speed limit, leaves plenty of following room

Now I am lucky, retired, no need for a motor, shall be cycling a lot when the weather gets better

The majority of drivers routinely break the law, speed limits, stop signs, phone etc. They kill lots of people and the cops do next to nothing

Actually I have not lost a loved one in an 'accident' but I have read all sorts of horrifying reports about criminal drivers and made my own observations

The majority routinely break the law

There is a button controlled crossing near me where the waiting times are very long, crossing times are short, used by a lot of old people to get to the shops, no bridge or alternative. By pressing the button there one enables people to spend less time waiting in the wind or rain, quite possibly I have saved people getting a chill, sunstroke or worse. I have not even delayed vehicles unnecessarily, the times are so long, people wanting to cross turn up before the lights change

I am an enthusiastic driver, I sort of regret to say, I shall be driving occasionally later.I shall certainly not resent being held up if an enlightened person presses the button as I do

[DaveBeck]

Glad to answer
I am a very experienced 'careful' driver who obeys the law, keeps comfortably inside the maximum speed limit, leaves plenty of following room

The majority of drivers routinely break the law, speed limits, stop signs, phone etc. They kill lots of people and the cops do next to nothing

Ah well, I tried.

[Cyril Haearn]

[vimeo][/vimeo]

Glad to answer
I am a very experienced 'careful' driver who obeys the law, keeps comfortably inside the maximum speed limit, leaves plenty of following room

The majority of drivers routinely break the law, speed limits, stop signs, phone etc. They kill lots of people and the cops do next to nothing

Ah well, I tried.

Added some more info

One imagines most 'cyclists who drive' think likewise

Short answer: motorists are the biggest group of criminals, period!

[DaveBeck]

Glad to answer
I am a very experienced 'careful' driver who obeys the law, keeps comfortably inside the maximum speed limit, leaves plenty of following room

Now I am lucky, retired, no need for a motor, shall be cycling a lot when the weather gets better

The majority of drivers routinely break the law, speed limits, stop signs, phone etc. They kill lots of people and the cops do next to nothing

Actually I have not lost a loved one in an 'accident' but I have read all sorts of horrifying reports about criminal drivers and made my own observations

The majority routinely break the law

There is a button controlled crossing near me where the waiting times are very long, crossing times are short, used by a lot of old people to get to the shops, no bridge or alternative. By pressing the button there one enables people to spend less time waiting in the wind or rain, quite possibly I have saved people getting a chill, sunstroke or worse. I have not even delayed vehicles unnecessarily, the times are so long, people wanting to cross turn up before the lights change

I am an enthusiastic driver, I sort of regret to say, I shall be driving occasionally later.I shall certainly not resent being held up if an enlightened person presses the button as I do

Thank you for answering.

[Cyril Haearn]

@DB
The vast majority routinely break the law
Try observing at a STOP sign. My observations prove that most drivers can not read

[DaveBeck]

@DB
The vast majority routinely break the law
Try observing at a STOP sign. My observations prove that most drivers can not read

I can only answer from my observations as I drive or cycle, which is obviously totally unscientific. But at the stop signs/ red lights where I am, as I drive up to and through these points, I see the vast, vast majority obeying the law, whether that be cyclist or motorist.

I wish I knew where it was that you see this, where this "Bigtown" of yours actually is, perhaps then others on here who may live there can pass comment upon how they see it. You could well be right, but as you don't feel comfortable sharing this with the rest of us, we'll just have to respect your decision and make our own minds up.

[Cyril Haearn]

I shall certainly be continuing my fight against motor crime

What dd or anyone else thinks of me, especially their attempts to psychoanalyse me, does not interest me at all

When driving I do not resent having to stop at the lights, even if no-one is crossing
..
Indeed, many stop at red lights, but nearly all ignore stop signs. It is best to try to be anonymous on the interweb so I shall not be specific about locations, truth is, motor crime is ubiquitous

I once made the mistake of giving my address when I wrote a letter to the cops offering support for traffic law enforcement
Two officers were assigned to visit me at home, unannounced, on a Sunday morning!

[DevonDamo]

There are a couple of ways you can quote somebody without their name appearing at the head of a quote...

Thanks - much appreciated. However, my only objective in making barbed posts in these circumstances is to make sure anyone reading this doesn't get the impression that this 'them and us' attitude towards anyone in a car is generally representative of the attitude of bike riders. I don't get offended by such posts, but I'd feel really embarrassed if anyone assumed I thought that way too. The only reason I don't want to enter into debate is that I've discovered it's just shooting yourself in the foot - i.e. it gives more airtime to these antagonistic views which are unhelpful to any serious campaigning for progressive transport policies.

[Cyril Haearn]

Fact is of course that breaking the law is endemic among drivers
Fact is, they kill lots of cyclists

[pwa]

There are a couple of ways you can quote somebody without their name appearing at the head of a quote...

Thanks - much appreciated. However, my only objective in making barbed posts in these circumstances is to make sure anyone reading this doesn't get the impression that this 'them and us' attitude towards anyone in a car is generally representative of the attitude of bike riders. I don't get offended by such posts, but I'd feel really embarrassed if anyone assumed I thought that way too. The only reason I don't want to enter into debate is that I've discovered it's just shooting yourself in the foot - i.e. it gives more airtime to these antagonistic views which are unhelpful to any serious campaigning for progressive transport policies.

Like you, I don't judge people by whether they are drivers, cyclists or pedestrians. Indeed, I am all of those things. And around here most drivers are okay most of the time. I wouldn't still be cycling if that weren't the case.

[Oldjohnw]

Most of us use various forms of transport. I often wish that the ICE had never been invented and try to use as little as possible. But to demonise one whole group of people for the bad behaviour of the relatively few I can observe is not only poor evidence but is a divisive and unhelpful thing to do. And does nothing to improve transport or civil life except maintain animosity.