Cycling UK Forum

Cyril Haearn wrote:Instead of trying later to think what one should have said or done one good strategy in many cases is to say/do nothing, just ignore them

This.
I used to be Mr Angry - it does you no good in that it makes your ride / day full of bile; it doesn't change the driver's attitude, in fact the next cyclist down the road may suffer; it may harm the 'image' of cyclists in general (if you believe there is such a thing).
Let it go. I developed a belief in a kind of karma - do a bad thing to me, and a bad thing will happen to you later (A close overtake? You'll get a mug of coffee in your lap at work! etc).


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Hard to say as each incident has to be judged on it's own merit. Also hard to say, cos I have had far worse and it did not sound too bad but maybe that was because the transcribed text did not convey how angrily and aggressively it was spoken / shouted.
I have cussed drivers and it has backfired to the point of having someone's hands around my neck.....
I don't always but I do try to smile sweetly and wave... that often unnerves them. Can depend on how much of an adrenaline rush i have had due to how close the encounter may have been. Now I'm running the camera more regularly I might say 'smile you're on camera'

Looking for words/arguments in another situation: colleagues talking about driving today

One fears he has been snapped by a safety camera, 31 kmh too fast, maybe 3 points and a fine of €150, he may soon get a plain brown envelope in the post

How can I join this conversation and *win the argument*? Of course I could say *150 points and only €3 to pay? !*

The company lays great store on safety in the workplace. I need to get on with my colleagues

Would it be worth mentioning that a friend or (invented) child of mine was killed by a speeder?

Should I play dumb and pretend that I do not know much about traffic law? In truth I probably know much more about it than the coworkers

A friend of mine just got done, surprisingly as she is one of the few that always aims to obey the limit.
The kids were being noisy, she was in a bit of a rush, not paying attention to her speed, she saw the policeman with the gun but didnt react because normally she is within the limit.
37mph in a 30 limit a hundred metres before the change to unlimited, she says "fair cop" and kicks herself for letting her standards slip.

meic wrote:A friend of mine just got done, surprisingly as she is one of the few that always aims to obey the limit.
The kids were being noisy, she was in a bit of a rush, not paying attention to her speed, she saw the policeman with the gun but didnt react because normally she is within the limit.
37mph in a 30 limit a hundred metres before the change to unlimited, she says "fair cop" and kicks herself for letting her standards slip.

Been there, done that. We all fall short sometimes. You might suggest always using a satnav (without setting a destination) with it set to ping at you if you stray over the limit.

I can admit to being caught twice, guilty m'lord, once was a DC in Manchester, non-residential / full of car delearships (we have residential and narrower roads near here that are 40mph), that i was doing 37mph as clearly believed it to be 40 (and being a pregnant midwife) did not cut it with the grumpy police. The 30mph sign is very poorly positioned on a spiral off slip from the Mancunian Way.

Second was again a DC, non residential, a sort of bypass road with a service road running parallel to the well set back properties... again done for 37mph

I often hear my own colleagues cursing cos they got 'done' by a speed camera etc., sometimes on their drive home from night shift on a Sunday morning when there is no traffic around....... I usually point out that it is at this time of day that people are most careless due to their belief that there is no traffic around.... when in fact there are other road users around. I didn't have sympathy for myself, so don't have sympathy for anyone else..... they should just man up and accept the consequences.

Cyril Haearn wrote:How can I join this conversation and *win the argument*? Of course I could say *150 points and only €3 to pay? !*

In Norway, they have some public service adverts with quotable information, like 'most accidents involve drivers who were over the speed limit' or 'when things go wrong, speeding greatly increases the chance of a fatality'.

The data to back these up are available on the Statens Vegvesen (Highways Agency) website.

I imagine that you could arm yourself with that sort of thing and be prepared to provide substantiating data.

My company begin meetings with HSE or Quality moments. One of the slides prepared by the corporate HSE folks to be used as an HSE moment is 5 points on speeding awareness. They have similar ones about mobile phone use, distracted driving, winter driving conditions, etc.

I don't know about winning the conversation. There are similar bits of I-have-a-right-to-speed information bullets, like, 'speeding is seldom the cause of accidents'. At least it raises awareness if people can speak intelligently about these things.

eileithyia wrote:I can admit to being caught twice, guilty m'lord, once was a DC in Manchester, non-residential / full of car delearships (we have residential and narrower roads near here that are 40mph), that i was doing 37mph as clearly believed it to be 40 (and being a pregnant midwife) did not cut it with the grumpy police. The 30mph sign is very poorly positioned on a spiral off slip from the Mancunian Way.

Second was again a DC, non residential, a sort of bypass road with a service road running parallel to the well set back properties... again done for 37mph

I often hear my own colleagues cursing cos they got 'done' by a speed camera etc., sometimes on their drive home from night shift on a Sunday morning when there is no traffic around....... I usually point out that it is at this time of day that people are most careless due to their belief that there is no traffic around.... when in fact there are other road users around. I didn't have sympathy for myself, so don't have sympathy for anyone else..... they should just man up and accept the consequences.

We all make mistakes, and we learn. Hopefully. I've been caught twice, both times just a little over the limit. No excuses. Lack of concentration. I think my remedial measures have improved my performance since. So getting caught was helpful.

eileithyia wrote:I can admit to being caught twice, guilty m'lord, once was a DC in Manchester, non-residential / full of car delearships (we have residential and narrower roads near here that are 40mph), that i was doing 37mph as clearly believed it to be 40 (and being a pregnant midwife) did not cut it with the grumpy police. The 30mph sign is very poorly positioned on a spiral off slip from the Mancunian Way. ...

This is purely idle curiosity on my part. What's a "DC"? Digital camera? (I'm stuck with detective constable, which is obviously wrong.) I'm baffled by the bit about a pregnant midwife and grumpy police. I thought the usual carry on with speed cameras was all postal. Were you stopped by somebody who suggested that you should somehow know better?

I took DC as dual carriageway, it fits the gist of the text.

meic wrote:I took DC as dual carriageway, it fits the gist of the text.

I'm sure you are right. Thanks.

Regarding speeding.
I find UK speed limit signage poor and often don't know what the limit is so default to 30mph,very often to find I'm in a 40
Drive in France and you're left in no doubt about the limit which are very well signed.

reohn2 wrote:I find UK speed limit signage poor and often don't know what the limit is...

I think that's deliberate, so they can catch more people and get more money.

Roadster wrote:

reohn2 wrote:I find UK speed limit signage poor and often don't know what the limit is...

I think that's deliberate, so they can catch more people and get more money.

If they did then they'd have more people doing the catching,surely.
I tend to think it's more a complete lack of road and signage maintenance due council cut backs.
I'll leave you to guess who's fault that is

Roadster wrote: ... I think that's deliberate, so they can catch more people and get more money.

Highway authorities erect the signs and the police enforce the limits or, more often than not, don't. A couple of the biggest clues for anybody concerned about speed cameras is that there are prominent warning signs and the cameras themselves are bright yellow. Mobile enforcement is a bit harder to spot so many (all?) forces publish lists of the locations where they operate. Around here, they are announced on local radio traffic news.

Poor signage can be a problem but IME around here, that's most obvious with intermittent repeaters in a 40. That only occurs on a "derestricted road" ie lamp posts meaning 30mph but speed limit relaxed to 40. The failsafe is to assume lampposts and no repeaters is a 30, rather than a 40 with the repeaters missing.