Cycling UK Forum

Not sure if this is the right place to post this so please delete if I've put this in the wrong section. Came across this before on idiot drivers exposed and This woman is totally in the wrong I think personally. What do you guys think? bob

http://www.idiotukdriversexposed.com/wo ... -road-tax/

I must admit that I was expecting more from this video. She's very rude, but it doesn't compare to bus drivers deliberately using their vehicle as a weapon or drivers who jump out of their vans and then punch out a cyclist. EDIT: Though, she gains points for racism/xenophobia.

I've ridden similar roads in the Cotswolds and in East Leicestershire, and I (so far) have always had smiling cooperation from car and other vehicle drivers. Maybe I've just been lucky.

Happens everytime i use a road like that near here....... drivers see you, drive past a pull in and expect you to move...... at one point where there was a bit of a verge, a 4x4 refused to pull over on to it... forcing me to stop..... and expected me to get out of the way......... next time i encounter him i am going to 'hop' backwards on the bike to a passing point... making his life as difficult as possible .. just to prove the point that this is the only 'reverse' gear i have...

cyclist going fast for such a narrow road? probably shocked the car driver a bit. and the cyclis very lippy. what do u expect

I still can't get my head around carrying GoPros. I think if you are going to use them as a 'weapon' or ammo, you need to make sure you are absolutely 100% sure you were riding well, well positioned and the driver was genuinely acting illegally. If you are the type of person to loose the plot, don't use them. It makes you look like a loon. We've all called other road users a 'tw*t', but that's not going to impress an officer when shown the video.

Also have your facts confidently in your head ready to answer verbal abuse about 'road tax', helmets and 'you shouldn't be on the road: There's the path.' etc etc.

I can only see these cameras as an asset IF there is an accident. Such is life as the victims of a rubbish infrastructure, poor driving, low policing levels and car centric values.

It's a tough one and I'm glad no one got hurt.

Ride on and forget it.

Why join and make a first post of it here is my question. Along with posting it on other sites. Are you the cyclist involved?

Both parties slowed an moved to the side. No problem. No reason at all for the cyclist to shout. Just another camera warrior who does me no favours.

This is the result of a me first,might is right,get out of my way,attitude to cyclists and cycling in the UK,it's happened to me more than a few times.And to cap it all this foul mouthed woman thinks she is entirely in the right and justified in doing it,but with a total lack of law enforcement this is what things have sunk to.
FWIW in such situations I play chicken with them generally they slow down when they see me in the middle of the road,the ones that choose to hurl abuse don't get any abuse back just a smile and a thank you as I pass their stationary vehicle.

mercalia wrote:cyclist going fast for such a narrow road? probably shocked the car driver a bit. and the cyclis very lippy. what do u expect

"I've got a camera..." makes my heart sink, tbh.

I think we all protesteth too much about this video ....

It's just nice that someone has videoed this and shared it with us. He didn't have to have an argument with the woman or show it to the police: it's just nice to know that I'm not the only one incredulous when a driver feels that they really don't have to stop and allow a cyclist to pass. It's what's going on in the head of the driver that makes this an issue, not the actual outcome which was fairly OK. And I've come across lots of drivers who do stop and give way so it shows that this driver really is out of line.

A big thank you to the OP for videoing it, uploadng it and sharing it (I wouldn't be bothered to do it myself).

On a general point, this footage shows how difficult it can be to interpret what happened. I've used dashcams while driving for several years now and whenever I play anything back, I'm surprised by the impression of higher speed, even though I know I was driving at moderate speed and the actual speed is displayed on the GPS readout. One of the points that Martin Porter made in his review of the private prosecution he launched was that in court, the first impression counts, no matter what the expert analysis reveals. So my impression here is that the rider was riding too quickly for what appears to be a very narrow lane. It's also difficult to judge widths, clearances etc, so my impression is that neither oncoming driver could have left more space. I found it impossible to estimate the speed of the oncoming vehicles or whether their drivers had time to stop. The rider seemed to think that the first driver should have seen him round the corner before he was actually in view. I've looked at it several times and the glare makes it difficult for me to see clearly. No matter what errors there may be in my interpretation, I'm a sympathetic audience.

Another general point is that it can be easy to provoke somebody unintentionally and it's easier still if you do it on purpose. If it's all filmed, it may be others who decide the apparent motive.

In this case, the other party was what it seems fashionable to describe as feisty and I don't think it would be unfair to call her middle-aged. On a practical point, had the driver been a younger man, it could be a way to avoid NHS queues for a sigmoidoscopy. That's not to excuse people losing their temper and getting violent, just to say it happens.

Another practical point is that the only obvious witness to this was the driver of the second oncoming vehicle, whose driving line seemed to be the same as hers so he might well have corroborated her account.

I'm trying to look at this from the POV of a jury. The opinions of like-minded cyclists are immaterial.

Matthew 7:5

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Mmm! Not that convinced, it takes two! Riding these sorts of roads all the time I reckon the drivers were above average. He rode through, so, why not just carry on riding - gesticulating and stopping is just pointless.
Think I've seen vids on utube featuring a guy with a South African accent before, seems to be on the lookout for confrontation on a regular basis. Vids always show him shouting at drivers, and, getting into arguments, afraid if I behaved like that I'd never get anywhere :-/

gaz wrote:

Greatbob90 wrote:... Came across this before on idiot drivers exposed ...

I think the OP neither made nor uploaded the video, IMO they simply linked it

You're right. So my thanks should be passed to the cyclist who made and uploaded the video but then also to the OP who drew it to our attention.

Despite thirdcrank's very perceptive analysis of the video and what might have happened I think we're all making too much of it. The confrontation was probably unnecessary, the driving pretty normal and OK (she did move over after all) and the whole scenario was bound to be a bit awkward given the lay out and traffic. But we can still make out that she could have stopped (probably) in the passing place but chose not too and defended her decision vociferously.

What this video shows is a useful example (even if not the best) of what happens, can happen, might happen. The inference is that drivers treat cyclists differently from other vehicles and presume right of way in a way they wouldn't do with cars. So we can discuss that - it rings true even if the video is a bit one-sided. Unless of course people are saying that all drivers are polite and always give way etc etc.

The OP asked what do we think and I reckon that is the right question.

I wouldn't even know how to upload stuff, but I can see several worthwhile uses for a camera although in my case it's a dashcam.

The first is to reflect on personal standards. I sometimes replay a few minutes of my own driving, especially if it's involved some sort of incident, to see if I might have done things differently.

I also find it strangely calming, because if "some other idiot" does something silly, I'm happy to know it's been recorded, even if it will never be looked at, not even by me.

As I approach the Seventh Age of Man, it's also reassuring to know that if I witnessed something as an independent third party, it would corroborate my version or perhaps show that I had not really seen what happened. There are limitations. A couple of days ago I was driving slowly in heavy traffic when the driver of a transit-sized van in front of me stopped to allow a woman with a pram and a couple of small children to cross. She reached the central refuge and fortunately, waited. There was a horn blast as a driver attempted an impossible overtake coming the other way - prevented by the narrowing effect of the refuge. As he drove past me, it was clear he had a mobile held to his lug. The forward-pointing camera did not clearly capture that and, again fortunately, nobody was hurt.

I've even had a minor incident with a couple of cyclists coming the other way. I was driving very slowly (2-3 mph) round a right angled corner ie a road going along one side of a stone barn at the edge of the road and then turning and going along another side. (In Ledsham for locals.) Two roadies came round the corner and they managed to take avoiding action, passing on either side of my car. It would have been easy for a rider to hit the front and onto the bonnet or roof. Even more likely if it had been a group of riders. Fortunately all OK.

Finally, for anybody who likes looking at this stuff, there's no need to wait for some kind person to link to it: there's loads there for the finding.