Two pet hates at the moment

[Anthony]

Pedestrians - who step off pavements, and then look, if you are lucky, to see if anything is coming. Some of them have less road crossing skills than three year-olds.

Bendy bus drivers - who overtake you safely enough initially, then forget how long they are as they swerve back to within a hair's breadth of the kerb.

[gar]

Motorists (usually women) who avoid
eye contact to verify intentions or approval.

You did not know that cyclists are on the road by approval did you?

Most motorists register vigorous approval of unusual machines tandems, recumbents and so on, and their children always do.

A cycling motorist registers approval with a wave or a gentle toot.

A non cycling motorist registers disapproval with a growl, bark or sneer (like animals theory)

[Tracy T]

Bus drivers are the pits! esp if they are at a bus stop, and start pulling out when you are half way through over taking them, and looking direct in their eyes in the mirror.

2) Drivers who over take you in slow moving traffic, and then nearly squish you as you move forward and catch them up, as though they don't know you're there.

3) oh , sorry this was just two things!

[bikerdave]

Tracy

1/ Couldn't agree more, even direct eye contact fails to register sometimes.

2/ I knocked the mirror clean off a posh car last year without hurting me or the bike in a similar incident. Tee Hee! Seriously though it's a everyday event for me in slow traffic sadly.

3/ Oh, I don't have enough material either!

[trk1983]

My cycling frustration is usually relieved as I overtake the 4x4 that thought he had got away - didn't think human leg power could be better than fossil fuels did you mate!

[bikerdave]

Pretending a bus is the peleton trying to hunt me down while i try to stay off the front is fun too!

[tomjw]

Porsche Cayenne and VW Touareg.

[TJ]

Agreed!
Those two vehicles are not only unnecessary additions to our road system, they are UGLY, and driven by people who should know better.

[gar]

I must say I do a lot of pointing at people in their car cabs but on a recumbent I am at their level
at the moment. Many saloon cars are below the average cyclist.

[Lizb.bird]

Just remember some bus drivers are cyclists as well.

[TJ]

Very good point Liz.
Instead of pointing at certain types of vehicle to stereotype the driver, wouldn't it be fairer to just point the finger at BAD drivers, whatever they happen to drive?
(Index AND middle)

[gar]

Not many bus drivers. The short run driver does not usually want to go any where near a vehicle in his time off; unlike taxi drivers who are many and varied .

Even the Royal blue/ National Express bus drivers are not keen on bikes; you may be able to provide the exceptions to this rule.... ?

[gar]

The Touraeg people are not known to be sensitive to others, but don't involve me in race remarks!

VW? what's that?

[TJ]

Your comments on bus and taxi drivers is a bit of a generalisation gar, do you have anything to back it up?

I have found that any driver who relies on the number of journeys to make a living is pretty intolerant of anyone/anything that gets in his/her way.
Everyone seems to be driven by targets dreamed up by senior management.

[gar]

I believe it was only a conversation with a National Express driver who did have one, and thought it unlikely that his colleagues did.

Train guards by comparison always used to have a bike.. to get to the station, although SW trains would not accept that and one guard will not have bikes on his train at all, and makes malicious/mishievous arrests of young men on his train! They have probably caught up with him by now.

Your comment is itself a back up for the short journey drivers.