Cycling UK Forum

Having been cycling to work for the last 18 months I have been interested to read all the forums and stories about cyclists and their relationship with other road/pavement/cycle path users .

It seems to me that there is a lot of aggression out there in the cycling community. On more than one occassion I to have been guilty of swearing after motor vehicles I have judged to be driving badly, but who am I to judge?

I often have to ask myself was I riding assertively or was I being overly aggressive and dominating the road for my own commuting/cycling purposes?

I would be interested to hear what other more experienced cyclists think?


PS, I completed the National Standards Cycle Instructor course earlier this year, so I know my cycling has improved in a big way !

Sometimes yes, cyclists can be guilty of aggro. Sometimes this is because of a straw breaking the camel's back effect, sometimes it just because they're frightened/nervous... there will always be idiots though.

One person's aggression is another's assertion.

Twice today I was cycling on a residential street, with cars parked on the other side so I took primary. Despite this, on each occasion a car decided to pull out and overtake the parked cars, heading straight for me on my side of the road.

I didn't give way. Neither did the cars. They didn't pull in towards the parked cars or even slow down. On both occasions, I was forced to swerve to the very edge of the road.

As I had right of way, I'd say I was being assertive but the car drivers were being aggressive. But I would suppose they would tell it differently.

snibgo wrote:One person's aggression is another's assertion.

Twice today I was cycling on a residential street, with cars parked on the other side so I took primary. Despite this, on each occasion a car decided to pull out and overtake the parked cars, heading straight for me on my side of the road.

I didn't give way. Neither did the cars. They didn't pull in towards the parked cars or even slow down. On both occasions, I was forced to swerve to the very edge of the road.

As I had right of way, I'd say I was being assertive but the car drivers were being aggressive. But I would suppose they would tell it differently.

Same happened to me today.

I also had a muppet try and road rage me. I was heading over a minirab and he nearly pulled out from my left into my leg, all I did was shout "hold on a sec!" to get his attention. He then tailgated me through between a tight road with parked cars on either side - I took primary and decided "s*d you mate, you can wait 5 seconds". Wasnt god enough for him, he floored it and managed to come parallel eyeballing me and then pulled his steering wheel at me.

I lost me rag and openly invited the guy to stop and "chat face to face" but really showing me how much of a man he is he floored it... nearly taking out a second cyclist in the process. The second cyclist heard me shouting and being a proper gent stopped and chatted for a while. I was a little stressed by this, to an outside it might have appeared that I'd been the one being aggressive. Had the red mist not descended I might have got the damn reg.

Need to get a new helmet camera..!

snibgo wrote:One person's aggression is another's assertion.

Twice today I was cycling on a residential street, with cars parked on the other side so I took primary. Despite this, on each occasion a car decided to pull out and overtake the parked cars, heading straight for me on my side of the road.

I didn't give way. Neither did the cars. They didn't pull in towards the parked cars or even slow down. On both occasions, I was forced to swerve to the very edge of the road.

As I had right of way, I'd say I was being assertive but the car drivers were being aggressive. But I would suppose they would tell it differently.

On the last 20 metres of my commute I often have the same problem of cars 'forgetting' who has right of way. The problem is that on those last 20 metres of my commute I am faced with the school run parents rushing to get away from the school. The road is where there are cars parked on the opp side to me and a badly surfaced road on my side. I then tend to adopt the primary position, but this often does not stop people forgetting i have right of way and pulling out onto my side, assuming I am going to pull over and cycle in the gutter!

Quite often now, on this last stretch I will cycle to totally block the road to oncoming traffic, but it is apparent that people have no idea why i might do this. More often than not I get bemused looks from the school run Mum's! (and yes in my expereince it is mostly Mum's, although the majority of bad drivers are men, again in my experience)

As others have mentioned, perhaps one persons assertion is anothers aggression.......it just seems to me that there needs to be more education both ways, but more so for metal box drivers (of either sex)!

My near-misses were both from women, quote possibly on school runs. It was in a place that seems totally devoid of cyclists. Perhaps they have all died out. More details at http://cycleseven.org/papworth-everard

This sort of thing does not help our case

http://www.theargus.co.uk/news/8623643. ... _his_life/

Clearly any form of assault cannot be condones, but its funny how when the boot is on the other foot it gets headlines, cant remmber reading too many driver attacks cyclist stories

only proves there are many nutters about, with 2 wheels or 4 with little respect for others

Guilty, but often with good justification.

The relative value of the things risked by each road user should be looked at. Cyclists get angry when pointlessly or dangerously overtaken:
Cyclist - risk to life or limb
Motorist - risk of a 10 second delay

In disagreements with pedestrians the shoe is often on the other foot...

[XAP]Bob wrote:Guilty, but often with good justification.

+1. Especially when working hard: 'red mist' effect

In my experience, motorists will not slow down or deviate from their path unless they absolutely have to. Therefore, the more opportunity you give them to try and come past when it's not appropriate, the more likely they are to take it.

Where I live, there are lots of roads with small central islands in the middle of the carraigeway. If I ride in the gutter, there's just enough room for a small car to squeeze past. However, I don't want them squeezing past, so I ride about a third of the way out into the carraigeway, blocking their overtake. I pull back in slightly once past the island, so they can overtake. But they will overtake me when I want them to, not when they want to. If I'm being overly aggressive in my riding, frankly I don't give a damn. My safety is paramount.

I've been cycling for 37 years, done approx 140,000 miles and been knocked off by a car once in that time, so my approach seems to work.

Sometimes its a matter of judgement. My normal reaction is self preservation, put the person down to being a prat and move on. Touch wood, I have never had a big off as a result of a motorist, but many near misses involving the ususal stuff - car doors, squeezing & oncoming, so probabably not best placed to comment on why we get really angry.

Like my refusal to cycle in London after my commute by bike then train, I try not to take risks by puting myself in difficult positions/ Probabably comes from a defensive driving course that was compulsory for all company car drivers at a former employers.

Saying that a couple of weeks ago, getting fed up of being forced over/off in Church Lane in my village - travel along it every day and downhill have right of way becuase of parked cars, I decided to keep primary and cycle towards the "pillock" who thought it would be OK to ignore the highway code. He saw me coming and stopped dead, with me facing his bonnet wagging my finger in a tut tut sort of way. Felt guilty when I saw the colour of his eyes, sweet little old chap in his 80's - hombug hat, driving gloves in his rover 216 with walnut veneer.

Got me thinking. I probabably would not have been so lucky had it been one of the younger fraternity who think our village is a race track.

Wont do it again - back to self preservation and trying to keep calm

Just because he was a "sweet little old chap in his 80's - hombug hat, driving gloves in his rover 216 with walnut veneer" doesn't mean that he wasn't a " "pillock" who thought it would be OK to ignore the highway code". It's natural to have an extreme emotional reaction when your life is threatened. That's the way we're built as humans.

Big T wrote:Where I live, there are lots of roads with small central islands in the middle of the carraigeway. If I ride in the gutter, there's just enough room for a small car to squeeze past. However, I don't want them squeezing past, so I ride about a third of the way out into the carraigeway, blocking their overtake.

Don't get me started about 'central islands' <rant>TheA259 Shoreham to Lancing section used to have a few, now it's got lots of squeeze points spaced so close together (combined with parked cars) that overtaking vehicles have to break the 30mph speed limit to get past a cyclist at 18mph or so, the alternatives being to stick behind for 2/3 mile (doesn't seem a popular option ) or squeeze the cyclist.</rant>