National Hate Crime Week. Should Shouting At Or Close Passing Cyclists Be A Hate

[Rockers rule]

So, the natural progression used to be, Cycle (for work & or pleasure) – Motorcycle – 3-Wheeler (& when you couldn’t get all the kids in one of Reliant’s finest) – Car - then Lorry for those of us who enjoy driving as a living.

Successive governments have done their best to discourage Motorcyclist and the young from driving (& progressing onto driving larger vehicles), but the car, as a form of everyday transport has flourished.

Where am I going?

Are we not ALL road users?

Did, while you were being taught to drive, did your instructor tell you part of driving was to HATE Cyclists, Tractor drivers, pedestrians Volvo drivers, BMW drivers, Bus drivers, etc, etc, etc, etc?

Simple answer – NO - he/ she didn’t.

You were taught to Keep Your Distance & how to anticipate what other Road users ‘MIGHT DO’.

Has something changed?

Again, the answer is – NO.

If someone, car driver, cyclist or pedestrian has put themselves in danger YOU are responsible for Your Actions.

 

Things that make me Laugh.

 

Drivers who Rant & Rave at other road users who have gotten them selves in the wrong lane.

There isn’t one of us who hasn’t done it. Do I HATE the driver? – NO.

If you are a Driver of any ability, the built-in 6th sense that the Driver at the side of you is going to want to shift lane has already kicked in. If you want to be Bloody minded – suit yourself, prevent him for doing so, but don’t forget it might be You in a new town or simply in the wrong lane at some point.

Cyclists are, or can be, a law unto themselves, always have been, yes, some jump lights, Ride on pavements, don’t adhere to the Highway Code etc. What business is that of Yours? – None.

YOU are the only one in charge of - YOUR VEHICLE.

So, what if the Cyclist / Tractor driver (etc, etc) in front of you is impeding your way have you any right to endanger them or worse still yourself & passengers?

Again, the answer is a big fat NO.

Dogs and young children both have the potential to endanger themselves in front of you, should you HATE them?

NO, - You should have anticipated the situation beforehand.

 

Not putting yourself in danger, anticipating what other are going to do are all part & parcel of the art of driving.

Yes, I see some very strange actions from all types of road users out there to the point of speechlessness (Who shouted Hurray?).

Does HATE come into my daily driving NO – Disbelief ?-  Yes.

 

 

Keep safe out there

 

Leave HATE at home.

[Caswall]

18 hours ago, Findlay said:

Can you explain your evidence for this please?

The 'explanation' is being regularly stuck behind the selfish swines, watching them block the roads in wonderment at their lack of consideration in pulling over.

 

[trastrick]

Hating someone who is a Conservative or a Republican in a two party democracy, can be more dangerous to society at large, than hollering abuse at a cyclist who refuses to obey the traffic laws.

 

Your thoughts? 

[Carbuncle]

1 hour ago, trastrick said:

Hating someone who is a Conservative or a Republican in a two party democracy, can be more dangerous to society at large, than hollering abuse at a cyclist who refuses to obey the traffic laws.

 

Your thoughts? 

You're probably in need of a KitKat.

[trastrick]

1 hour ago, Carbuncle said:

You're probably in need of a KitKat.

Make it a Cadbury's Crunchie Bar!

[Longcol]

On 14/10/2021 at 22:31, RollingJ said:

OK  - from last years figures, I accept  that 123 were slightly/seriously injured, but unless the year has got shorted to 4 months, that is not 'every day' and I note there are no pedal cyclist deaths reported.

40 cyclists seriously injured compared to 114 car drivers - out of all proportion to the numbers of cyclists v car drivers on Sheffield roads.

[Becky B]

21 hours ago, Resident said:

1st paragraph - Experiences by being the driver of large vehicles. 

2nd paragraph, various interaction responses from cyclists when such a topic crops up & personal interactions with cyclists.

Also, I left this out, mostly because it's already been said, however the majority of cyclists I come across whilst driving around South Yorkshire fail:

 

1. To have a road legal bicycle, usually missing required reflectors/lights at night 
2. To adhere to road signage (using left/right turn only lanes to go straight, against one way systems, riding through strictly pedestrain only zone, marked by NO VEHICLES signage, which includes cycles.)
3. To adhere to traffic signals
4. To signal their intent via the use of hand signals
5. To not put themselves in harms way because they don't want to wait. (Recently witnessed 2 cyclists attempting to squeeze inbetween 2 large vehicles sat side by side at traffic lights on a dual carriageway, the gap was less than 1.5m ;))
6. To not break the law by cycling on the pavement (usually to circumvent lights/one way systems).

For your reference I drive over 4000 miles total around South Yorkshire per month between my job & personal driving so when you think about dismissing what I've said as infrequent instances, let me assure you some or all of the above I witness DAILY, very often multiple times. 

 

 

How many motorists do you see with highway code/driving infractions? Or do you just forget those because you're also a motorist, and that's OK? Is it just that you feed your confirmation bias because you don't like cyclists? 

 

 

[RollingJ]

7 hours ago, Longcol said:

40 cyclists seriously injured compared to 114 car drivers - out of all proportion to the numbers of cyclists v car drivers on Sheffield roads.

That was not the point I was making - the emphasised but was no pedal cyclist deaths - which to correct a mis-statement.

[Findlay]

On 14/10/2021 at 21:31, RollingJ said:

OK  - from last years figures, I accept  that 123 were slightly/seriously injured, but unless the year has got shorted to 4 months, that is not 'every day' and I note there are no pedal cyclist deaths reported.

 

2 hours ago, RollingJ said:

That was not the point I was making - the emphasised but was no pedal cyclist deaths - which to correct a mis-statement.

 

On 14/10/2021 at 21:04, RollingJ said:

Bolded bit - you have documented proof of that claim?

You only refer to  the cyclists in the set of statistics I spent time collecting. You are welcome.

I said that someone is injured or killed on Sheffield's roads every day so it is not me that mis interpreted the data.

[Findlay]

On 18/10/2021 at 09:33, Resident said:

1st paragraph - Experiences by being the driver of large vehicles. 

2nd paragraph, various interaction responses from cyclists when such a topic crops up & personal interactions with cyclists.

Also, I left this out, mostly because it's already been said, however the majority of cyclists I come across whilst driving around South Yorkshire fail:

 

1. To have a road legal bicycle, usually missing required reflectors/lights at night 
2. To adhere to road signage (using left/right turn only lanes to go straight, against one way systems, riding through strictly pedestrain only zone, marked by NO VEHICLES signage, which includes cycles.)
3. To adhere to traffic signals
4. To signal their intent via the use of hand signals
5. To not put themselves in harms way because they don't want to wait. (Recently witnessed 2 cyclists attempting to squeeze inbetween 2 large vehicles sat side by side at traffic lights on a dual carriageway, the gap was less than 1.5m ;))
6. To not break the law by cycling on the pavement (usually to circumvent lights/one way systems).

For your reference I drive over 4000 miles total around South Yorkshire per month between my job & personal driving so when you think about dismissing what I've said as infrequent instances, let me assure you some or all of the above I witness DAILY, very often multiple times. 

 

 

I left it a while for you to have time to figure out if you understand what evidence is and how to interpret that information to reach a rationale. Even though you cover many miles it is not 1 millionth of a percent of the miles travelled across Sheffield. 

Your experience is not evidence as it is limited by time and place and does not take account of other times and places to create a set of data that can be checked and verified.

This study was not in the UK and a few years old but has clear statistical evidence https://www.forbes.com/sites/carltonreid/2019/05/10/cyclists-break-far-fewer-road-rules-than-motorists-finds-new-video-study/

Point 5 is perfectly legal and taught by Department for Transport National Standards https://www.cyclescheme.co.uk/community/how-to/filtering

 

Edited October 19, 2021 by Findlay