Attitudes towards cyclists.

Noticed some colourful attitudes towards cyclists in this thread the other day

http://www.talkceltic.net/forum/showthread.php?t=131837&highlight=cyclists&page=2

And after being nearly knocked off my bike this afternoon (again) by an entirely unapologetic driver, I'm just curious.

What do you all think about cyclists? Why does there seem to be so much hatred towards them?

edit: I've decided that if a poster clearly isn't interested in having any sort of reasonable discussion that they'll get their very own animated picture by my way of response. No point is wasting time arguing with idiots. ​

 

That's fair enough. There are plenty of cyclists out there that need to learn and abide by the rules of the road.

If we had the political will to make the massive investment in infrastructure that is necessary for such a development, I'd be happy. Segregation is how it generally works in many places abroad and they are reaping the benefits.

For now though, cyclists should stay on the road - it's not fair on pedestrians otherwise.

What rallys do you mean?


As for your second point, I've always been a bit confused by this point.

First of all - the highway code says it's fine for cyclists to ride like this.
Second - the police ride their bikes like this.


Third - surely it's more difficult to over-take two cyclists in single file than it is to overtake two cyclists side by side? Given that the law states you should give a cyclist as much room as you would a car when overtaking, going past two in a row means that you'd be further out of your lane for a longer amount of time.

Whereas two cyclists side by side is more or less the same sort of space that your average vehicle takes up on the road in the first place.

 

False. Studies have shown that in the majority of incidents involving both cyclist and drivers, drivers are solely to blame for the majority of the time.

source

The thing about your second point - I honestly think it's a simple matter of perspective. If more drivers had experienced cycling on our roads, I think they'd change their behaviour.

 

Consider the risk that a sedentary lifestyle (typified by driving instead of walking or cycling) poses (see the figures for heart disease/obesity etc) and you'll find that cycling is actually very safe.

This study =found that people who engaged in leisure-time physical activity had life expectancy gains of as much as 4.5 years

Dunno where you drive, but in rush hour Glasgow I'm miles faster on a bike. Filtering, innit :icon_mrgreen: