Blame cyclists for stoking the flames of the road culture war - The Telegraph 17/6/22

[libraryguy]

You could have something there....There may be a carry-over into modern times, of that quaint notion from back in the day, when only the most well-heeled had cars. A notion which required that the 'poor' person on a bike should show deference to his/her superior with a car, by getting out of the way. Any rider who did not, would be considered an 'ignorant pleb upstart' and summarily barged past by 'His Lordship' as if they didn't exist.

Anything to put down the motorist!!! From what I can remember of historical bicycle adverts, they had well-to-do ladies in long skirts out for rides with their lady friends, boy-friends or husbands, even the Lord of the Manor is likely to have had a bicycle.

You really do have a large heavy chip on your shoulder about motor vehicles. If you took the heavy weight off your shoulders you would find life a lot easier.

[The PNP]

Anything to put down the motorist!!! From what I can remember of historical bicycle adverts, they had well-to-do ladies in long skirts out for rides with their lady friends, boy-friends or husbands, even the Lord of the Manor is likely to have had a bicycle.

You really do have a large heavy chip on your shoulder about motor vehicles. If you took the heavy weight off your shoulders you would find life a lot easier.

In Victorian times, yes bikes were all the rage.....However, once the car appeared and the 'man walking in front with a red flag' rule was abolished, the well-to-do in their expensive motor cars changed all that.

[Stuartli]

In Victorian times, yes bikes were all the rage.....However, once the car appeared and the 'man walking in front with a red flag' rule was abolished, the well-to-do in their expensive motor cars changed all that.

It's called progress. I know it's difficult for someone with their head in the sand like you to appreciate, but man has always wanted to do things better, quicker and more exciting than in the past and will never stop doing so.

[sandGroundZero]

Most cyclists are people who perhaps cannot drive, or afford to, but also need to have mobility.
…

…
Nowadays, the economics of personal transport are very much different. Anyone can buy a 'runner' for £1k and drive to their hearts content. …

Purchase price is a comparatively minor component of the total cost of motor vehicle ownership.

* * * * * * * * * *

It is useful in this context to make a distinction between people who rely on a bicycle as their primary mode of travel — i.e. commuting; shops; etc. — versus and recreational /fitness "lycra-clad " cyclists.

Also, youths (& others) who I see somewhat recklessly cycling on Lord Street's pavements are not representative of typically cautious, budget conscious cyclists.

Having said that, the greater hazard comes from motor vehicle operators who refuse to believe that they do not have priority in all circumstances!

[MICK/GILLY]

You could have something there....There may be a carry-over into modern times, of that quaint notion from back in the day, when only the most well-heeled had cars. A notion which required that the 'poor' person on a bike should show deference to his/her superior with a car, by getting out of the way. Any rider who did not, would be considered an 'ignorant pleb upstart' and summarily barged past by 'His Lordship' as if they didn't exist.

Ha ha “ back in the day “ don’t you mean yesterday, today and tomorrow.

[libraryguy]

Having said that, the greater hazard comes from motor vehicle operators who refuse to believe that they do not have priority in all circumstances!

Having said that, the greater hazard comes from bicycle riders, who are under the misguided believe that they have priority in all circumstances!

[carliol]

"believe that they have priority in all circumstances"

Numerically a very small minority from both groups, but due to their size and speed capability. vehicles are a greater hazard.

[Alikado]

Having said that, the greater hazard comes from bicycle riders, who are under the misguided believe that they have priority in all circumstances!

In the Highway Code hierarchy they do have priority in most circumstances.

[local]

The problem for so many cyclists is they often prioritise themselves for first-aid treatment.

They don't need a vehicle in sight.

My very minority cycling does seem to create some disproportionate effects on roads.

Surprised we aren't all banned

[The PNP]

My very minority cycling does seem to create some disproportionate effects on roads.

Surprised we aren't all banned

That's easily solved - stick to your car, lol!

[local]

I am one of those strange beasts who appreciates the entirely free provision of roads and paths for the likes of me.


And last time I went on a bike I managed to get off it and remove some detritus from the cycle lane.

Thank you to all the motorists who are currently paying eye-watering taxes and costs to drive.

I even managed to keep myself in from the edge of the cycle lane so I left plenty of room for vehicles to pass didn't make a bit of difference to me.

This better weather is great.

[sandGroundZero]

Blame cyclists for stoking the flames of the road culture war

The self-appointed sheriffs of Britain’s highways and cycle lanes, with their Twitter feeds full of GoPro footage, are simply infuriating.
…

Why?

… 77-year-old Wayne Humphreys notched up a fine and costs totalling £4,500 after a magistrate deemed he’d left insufficient room when overtaking a cyclist near Bridgend …

I spend half my life on two wheels, so I’m mustard-keen on motorists giving bikes safe passage. Equally,

• I loathe the self-important, bulging-calved, Lycra-clad, road-hogging behaviour of Serious Cyclists on their 10-grand racers – mowing down pedestrians and yelling obscenities at Nissan Micras.
  
  …
• [Richmond Park] was ruined by packs of Mamils (middle-aged men in Lycra) bearing down on you like Tolkien’s Nazgul. …
  Even so, I don’t whip out my iPhone to record their trespasses against humanity. Because if there’s one thing worse than calling your mate Pete to announce, “I’ve just beaten my personal best”, it’s a determination to get other road users into trouble.
  
  
• In fact, it’s my observation that sharing incriminating GoPro footage has become the province of people who once campaigned to be school prefects just so they could report fellow pupils to teachers.
  
  …
• They don’t confess to cycling the wrong way up a one-way street and making a stressed-out mum perform an emergency stop. In Cambridge, cyclists mount pavements, jump lights, whizz the wrong way up “pedestrianised” Trinity Street and let fellow students ride pillion. It’s like Gotham City at its most lawless, but I still don’t pull out my iPhone to get a second-year physics student sent down.
  
  …
• Nor do the GoPro cycling vigilantes concede their own motoring mishaps in a Volvo estate:
  
  …
• The self-appointed sheriffs of Britain’s highways and cycle lanes, with their Twitter feeds full of GoPro footage, are somewhat entertaining. But the “two wheels good, four wheels bad” vibe makes me want to station these cameras by Vauxhall’s frantic cycle paths to see how much grace cyclists give pedestrians.
  …

— Rowan Pelling writing in The Telegraph

A sardonic parody to gratify choleric Telegraph readers which alludes incidentally that the behaviour the author finds most irritating is likely to be perpetrated by individuals who put in many more miles in their automobiles. Rowan Pelling mentions in passing problematic provision of cycle infrastructure, but fails to say precisely why "77-year-old Wayne Humphreys notched up a fine and costs totalling £4,500 …". Of course, it was for obstinately presuming entitlement to inconvenience an unfortunate cyclist!

[MICK/GILLY]

Rowan Pelling seems to be telling it like it is
“Mowing down pedestrians” “yelling obscenities”, “a determination to get other road users into trouble”.

“They don’t confess to cycling the wrong way up a one-way street and making a stressed-out mum perform an emergency stop. In Cambridge, cyclists mount pavements, jump lights, whizz the wrong way up “pedestrianised” Trinity Street and let fellow students ride pillion. It’s like Gotham City at its most lawless, but I still don’t pull out my iPhone to get a second-year physics student sent down”

The self-appointed sheriffs of Britain’s highways and cycle lanes, with their Twitter feeds full of GoPro footage, are somewhat entertaining. But the “two wheels good, four wheels bad” vibe makes me want to station these cameras by Vauxhall’s frantic cycle paths to see how much grace cyclists give pedestrians.
All this is what people have been going on about for years because this is how it is … and it’s wrong .
It’s also wrong to skim past cyclists, you should give them some room even if they are riding 2 or 3 abreast on a busy road instead of using the cycle lane a meter away. Nobody likes them but you can’t endanger them, just look at them as mentally and socially deficient and have sympathy and it’s cruel to laugh.

[The PNP]

I am one of those strange beasts who appreciates the entirely free provision of roads and paths for the likes of me.

As do I and countless others, whenever we take to the roads with our electric vehicles, lol.
And long may that continue to be the case!

[The PNP]

It’s also wrong to skim past cyclists, you should give them some room even if they are riding 2 or 3 abreast on a busy road instead of using the cycle lane a meter away. Nobody likes them but you can’t endanger them, just look at them as mentally and socially deficient and have sympathy and it’s cruel to laugh.

Seems to me, it's cyclists who are laughing now - every time pump prices go up!