Crazy Motorists!

I think it’s more just crazy people rather than motorists. But either way my interaction with them is whilst I’m on my bicycle and they are in their vehicle. They put me at risk by driving dangerously and their attitude towards other road users can be life threatening!

In my books there are two kinds of crazy motorists. Those that don’t know what they have done because they are totally oblivious, and those who are just angry at everyone and just drive like an idiot and shout at you for just being where you are!

I don’t often come across either of these types of motorists, I pass and get passed by thousands of vehicles each day. 99% of these are driven in a manner which is above acceptable for me and a minority are excellent!

The problem is when you do come across them, as a vulnerable road user you are put in danger and often have to brake and in some cases come to a complete stop to avoid a collision. For some reason drivers don’t see us or see cyclists as all being slow and that they must get in front despite that some of us travel at the same speeds as vehicles.

Yesterday I came across both types of crazy motorists in a space of only 30 seconds. An idiotic driver took a racing line around a roundabout and cut across my path, forcing me to brake heavily to avoid a collision. The driver was completely obvious to what had happened, and when I pulled up alongside him, he was singing along to the music he was listening to. He was adamant that he went around the round about correctly but little did he know that I had video footage to prove otherwise. This naive thinking from drivers is what causes accidents and gets people killed. He feels perfectly safe in his little bubble and doesn’t care about anyone else.

The second driver cares not for other road users and puts us in danger. When you try to point out their mistakes, they just launch an attack of random rubbish which makes no sense and they try to be the bigger man by yelling louder. These kind of people remind me of neanderthals, primitive behaviour. Their bubble is big and they care only for them selves, they will push you around if you are not strong and they think they are the gods of the roads. These drivers are a risk to everyone, they think they are invincible and more and more of them are on the roads each time a young driver passes their test*.

Until some real education is pumped out to these road users, then we, cyclists and vulnerable road users, will continue to have issues with them. A cyclists some where each day faces a near death experience as the inability of another road user, who is in control of a dangerous vehicle, can not drive safely around us.

*may not be true 🙂


7 thoughts on “Crazy Motorists!

  1. Erm. I know how you feel when vulnerable, you do tend to overreact, but I have to say that cyclists shouldn’t use offensive language because it just inflames the situation and doesn’t get you any further. I used to do it, sure. But now take a very different approach.

    1. I can’t say i disagree. I hate watching back videos where i’m swearing. I try my best not to do it. But some people deserve to be sworn at!

  2. I, too, try very hard not to shout and swear when drivers do something silly, but it is very difficult not to in the heat of the moment, partly because of the shock of the event. I try to restrain myself to “idiot” but after some incidents it is impossible not let fly a torrent of abuse.

    That said, such incidents are rare and most of my journeys are without incidents (apart from my pet hate of drivers in the advanced stop line box and around here all the road markings are wearing away, so most drivers probably don’t even notice them). It is a pity that the experience of cycling in traffic becomes defined by the rare incidents and not the 99% of no problems.

  3. This driver vs cyclist thing has been getting me down a lot lately. The truth is that us cyclists will always be a minority in this country and such we are fighting a losing battle trying to educate people about our rights etc. We are all trying really hard to change the mentality via our blogs, our facebook posts and whenever we get the chance to talk about it with others.
    Here’s a very, very good read I found yesterday:

    http://lovelybike.blogspot.com/2011/03/backlash-why-are-we-surprised.html

    Personally I’m starting to think it’s time to leave this country and move somewhere proper like Denmark or Holland. It might sound radical but I just think life is too short to fear for your life every time you’re out on your bike…

    1. The more who abandon the UK for more tolerant cycling paradises, the less safe it will become for those that remain.

      Yes, we are sometimes put on the backfoot, but with careful counters we can get the upperhand. We can also do much to promote the more positive sides to cycling. Ask your local papers to write an article, write those letters and emails to the media, etc.

      Motoring has blossomed because of a dystopia sold by the media and advertisers, we have an upperhand in that everything said positively about cycling is true (the weight loss, the fitness and health aspects, the fun, the convenience, etc).

  4. I do think that there should be a re-test every five or so years. It is wrong that I can pass at the age of 17 and never get checked again for many years. Where I either pick up very bad habits or don’t drive at all.

    But that is no cure for crazy drivers or as I call them SillyDrivers. The sad fact there are numpty’s out there a no matter the amount of training we give them they will still be numpty’s.

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