Four Colleagues knocked off in a week!

[plastic_janner]

At my work in Plymouth loads of people cycle since parking is scarce.
In the last week four guys have been knocked off their bikes by motorists not paying attention or giving way.
(Start rant:)
I had a delightful encounter this evening with one of Plymouth's finest, I was creeping past a queue of stationary cars on the inside going uphill when this moron deliberately cut me up causing me to stop and fall into the road. I quickly sorted myself and my chain out and set off after him, When I tapped on his window the chap exploded out of his car confirming my opinion of his character:

Me: You just knocked me off my bike.
Moron: You what!?
Me: You just knocked me off my bike, back there.
Moron: Well you shouldn't come up my inside!
Me: You cut me up on purpose, Use your mirrors.
Moron: Don't you tell me you f**.....etc etc.
Me: USE YOUR MIRRORS.
(wipes chain-grease all over white wing-mirror and cycles off)

This guy did it again on purpose further up the road once he overtook me. Fortunately I spotted him and switched to his outside much to his disappointment
(End Rant)

In hindsight my advice about mirrors was pointless since the chap saw me and did it anyway and the chain-grease thing wasn't very mature or sensible but made me feel great . I do this route everyday and am all too aware of the dangers of cycling on the inside of moving (or stationary!) vehicles but with morons like that on the road it doesn't matter.

As for the colleagues, I've come off lightly, one of the guys was grazed quite badly and cracked his helmet. Seems to be a theme in Plymouth lately!

[reohn2]

We're a threat to them!
Think about it,you're sat in you're £xx,ooo state of the art reccomended by Clarkson turbo charged whaatsimicallit ,0 to the moon in 3.9seconds car,but the bl@@dy things stuck in a traffic jam,now to cap it all along comes Mr Nobodypoorman on a bike and has the audasity to ride past me.I have to do something about it!!!..........so I'll knock him off that'll balance the scales a bit.


Its sad really.......for them .

I'm taking a pychcology degree becoming a trickcyclist (with my own couch)and advertising my self as an ear to the hard done to motorist,theres a fortune to be made .

[Mick F]

So sad to hear of your altercations down in Plymouth. I ride there from time to time, a week ago was the latest. Never had any problems. Mind you. I don't commute there any more - not for the last 12 years, at any rate!

It's 'The Big City' with big city attitudes, dog-eat-dog and every-man-for-himself I suppose. Just be careful, keep your cool, and keep your eyes peeled!

My biggest problem is Overtakers. The roads round here are twisty and windy, with lots of double-white lines. But they still overtake when they can't see far enough ahead!

[reohn2]

So sad to hear of your altercations down in Plymouth. I ride there from time to time, a week ago was the latest. Never had any problems. Mind you. I don't commute there any more - not for the last 12 years, at any rate!

It's 'The Big City' with big city attitudes, dog-eat-dog and every-man-for-himself I suppose. Just be careful, keep your cool, and keep your eyes peeled!

My biggest problem is Overtakers. The roads round here are twisty and windy, with lots of double-white lines. But they still overtake when they can't see far enough ahead!

And we all know which way they'll go when the unexpected car comes in the opposite direction.
I always take the primary position on left hand bends making them wait for my safety.

[fatboy]

If I'm overtaking a line of traffic about 70% will do nothing, 15% will give you more room and 15% will block on purpose, it's just predicting who is who!

[vernon]

Me: You just knocked me off my bike.
Moron: You what!?
Me: You just knocked me off my bike, back there.
Moron: Well you shouldn't come up my inside!
Me: You cut me up on purpose, Use your mirrors.
Moron: Don't you tell me you f**.....etc etc.
Me: USE YOUR MIRRORS.
(wipes chain-grease all over white wing-mirror and cycles off)

This guy did it again on purpose further up the road once he overtook me. Fortunately I spotted him and switched to his outside much to his disappointment
(End Rant)

In hindsight my advice about mirrors was pointless since the chap saw me and did it anyway and the chain-grease thing wasn't very mature or sensible but made me feel great . I do this route everyday and am all too aware of the dangers of cycling on the inside of moving (or stationary!) vehicles but with morons like that on the road it doesn't matter.

As for the colleagues, I've come off lightly, one of the guys was grazed quite badly and cracked his helmet. Seems to be a theme in Plymouth lately!

You and the motorist identified the solution in the midst of your rantings - don't trickle up the inside of cars. it's not a particularly safe strategy.

Have a look at Rule 139 in the Highway Code - you might choose to modify your riding and your rant...

[Chang Gainer]

Can't we just Mace the lot of 'em?

[plastic_janner]

You and the motorist identified the solution in the midst of your rantings - don't trickle up the inside of cars. it's not a particularly safe strategy.

Have a look at Rule 139 in the Highway Code - you might choose to modify your riding and your rant...

You're absolutely right. However I cycle 6 miles on busy city roads and if I didn't bend Rule 139 it would take me twice as long to get to work.
I like to think of it as perks of being a cyclist.
If there's traffic I'm not going to sit in it.

[james01]

You're absolutely right. However I cycle 6 miles on busy city roads and if I didn't bend Rule 139 it would take me twice as long to get to work.
I like to think of it as perks of being a cyclist.
If there's traffic I'm not going to sit in it.

A point well made. We can't be expected to sit in a stationary traffic jam if
there's reasonable space to filter up the inside, we might as well leave the bike at home & use the car. However, caution & a mature approach are advisable.

[Lady Python]

Look on the bright side. When Mr Moron is lying in a hospital bed after suffering a heart attack, on the rehab programme the first form of exercise that he'll be told to take up is....CYCLING

[Howard Peel]

You and the motorist identified the solution in the midst of your rantings - don't trickle up the inside of cars. it's not a particularly safe strategy.

Have a look at Rule 139 in the Highway Code - you might choose to modify your riding and your rant...

Then again the official safe-cycling manual 'Cyclecraft' points out that filtering is a perfectly legitimate manoeuvre. In this case the cause of the crash was entirely the deliberate and malicious actions of the driver.

[ThePinkOne]

Maybe that's one reason why I don't get anything like as much hassle on the trike.... I mean, I can't filter I'm too wide so must be patient and wait.

Thinking aloud here: the thing about hating "queue jumpers" is pretty ingrained in the UK psyche, and perhaps that's one explanation why filtering is annoying to motorists in the queue?

I know that's prob not a popular view on here and yes when I rode a DF I used to filter too (tho far more in "high side" than "low side" as I found that much safer and more accepted) and I did the usual bunny-hop onto pavement short-cut type stuff, but these days having had to switch to the trike I'd had to calm down a little...

P.

[2Tubs]

Maybe that's one reason why I don't get anything like as much hassle on the trike.... I mean, I can't filter I'm too wide so must be patient and wait.

Thinking aloud here: the thing about hating "queue jumpers" is pretty ingrained in the UK psyche, and perhaps that's one explanation why filtering is annoying to motorists in the queue?

I know that's prob not a popular view on here and yes when I rode a DF I used to filter too (tho far more in "high side" than "low side" as I found that much safer and more accepted) and I did the usual bunny-hop onto pavement short-cut type stuff, but these days having had to switch to the trike I'd had to calm down a little...

P.

As far as queue jumping goes, I don’t think that’s what cyclists do. We aren’t holding traffic up, it’s all the cars on the road that do that. I have no problems with motorbikes or cycles moving through the traffic when I’m driving and stuck in a queue. They aren’t going to impede my journey so why should I be such a bottom* that I should want to impede theirs for no good reason?

Gazza

* I wanted use a stronger word that rhymes with farce, but thought better of it. Not the Americanised version that rhymes with pass, because we’re British and have a better grasp of the language >;o)

[ThePinkOne]

Maybe that's one reason why I don't get anything like as much hassle on the trike.... I mean, I can't filter I'm too wide so must be patient and wait.

Thinking aloud here: the thing about hating "queue jumpers" is pretty ingrained in the UK psyche, and perhaps that's one explanation why filtering is annoying to motorists in the queue?

I know that's prob not a popular view on here and yes when I rode a DF I used to filter too (tho far more in "high side" than "low side" as I found that much safer and more accepted) and I did the usual bunny-hop onto pavement short-cut type stuff, but these days having had to switch to the trike I'd had to calm down a little...

P.

As far as queue jumping goes, I don’t think that’s what cyclists do. We aren’t holding traffic up, it’s all the cars on the road that do that. I have no problems with motorbikes or cycles moving through the traffic when I’m driving and stuck in a queue. They aren’t going to impede my journey so why should I be such a bottom* that I should want to impede theirs for no good reason?

Gazza

* I wanted use a stronger word that rhymes with farce, but thought better of it. Not the Americanised version that rhymes with pass, because we’re British and have a better grasp of the language >;o)

No, but if that's how motorists PERCEIVE it... we're not talking rationalty here remember.

P.

[rower40]

* I wanted use a stronger word that rhymes with farce, but thought better of it. Not the Americanised version that rhymes with pass, because we’re British and have a better grasp of the language

Where & when I learnt to talk, farce does rhyme with pass. And grass, glass and brass. Unlike mass, crass, impasse and Bass.

Back-on-topic:
One of my gripes is this; I'm waiting at a red light, in the middle of my (left-turning) lane. What do I do when another cyclist undertakes me (and anything else in the queue), jumps the red light, and turns left? I sometimes call out that "red means stop". Another possibility, thanks to the rear view mirror in my helmet, is the unexpected left-turn signal. At least my presence at the line (until the light turns green, or at least red+yellow) indicates that there are some cyclists who obey lights.