The problem isn’t down to motorist, cyclists or horse riders; the problem is PEOPLE. Thatchers “there’s no such thing as society” is proving to be very true indeed. We now live in the ME ME ME world of “only I matter” for many people - I see it every day - in all walks of life. The ‘red lights don’t apply to me’ the ‘I’m going to ride my horse 2 abreast cos I can’ the ‘I’m not going to ride on the cycle paths provided and ride 2 or 3 abreast on the road are only symptomatic of the problem. How about the ‘send all these immigrants back’ or the ‘how do I make more money at the expense of others’ or ‘truth and honesty don’t apply to me’! I’m all right jack and sod everyone else!
How has it come to this? I’m not sure, and I guess there are many reasons leading up to where we are now - a less tolerant country! And I don’t see an easy way out!
Best Regards - Peter
I'd hate to be with you when you're on your own.
Like hating Daily mail readers or gammons perhaps?
Move to the countryside and leave the traffic jams behind then. Your life live it.
And no, I don't read the Daily Fail regularly, or any other viewspaper come to that, the stereotype is purely from my own observations.
Started out with nothing. Still have most of it left.
Just got back from one of my dog walks and another motor (Range Rover type) straight through the red lights while the driver had the phone to his ear :(
As a Britisher living abroad, it seems to me Britain has become a poorer, meaner, angrier place in the last couple of decades...it´s a generalisation of course, there will always be outposts of civility and the relatively well to do, but referencing the place in the round. Certainly the road rage phenomenon is something else, a manifestation of the breakdown of manners, no consideration for the other fellow, really the dissolution of the ´glue´... free ´glue´ even as good manners cost nowt, that binds society together.
Last edited by Passenger; 11th April 2024 at 11:29.
I don't hate them, I mostly feel sorrow for them ...
I do live in the countryside but when I do visit the town the traffic is awful, I feel sorry for those who have to commute.
I'm curious what other stereotypes you have in your locker ... can't be just cyclists????
Last edited by Montello; 11th April 2024 at 11:46.
Gosh, you´re lucky...the rural area, market town that I´m from no longer has even the basics, Dr, Dentist, Banks, Library, all gone...at least 2 of my, say ´local peers´ went in their 30´s drink and or drugs...Even our big smoke, Skegness, has some enormous challenges with deprivation and poverty.
Last edited by Passenger; 11th April 2024 at 11:51.
Seeing as this descended in to a cycle thread….some of you might know the road which goes from the A4, across the Downs and terminates in Marlborough. A very long undulating yet picturesque journey. It’s not a particularly fast road but long nonetheless and earlier this year i happened upon a group of cyclist whilst heading to Marlborough. Sadly it was at the bottom of the long hill which goes up to the White Horse and there are literally no chances along there of passing 20 odd cyclists all in pairs. By the time i turned off left in Marlborough, they went right in to the town, there were about 40 cars behind me. They knew what they were doing, they would have been aware of the chaos behind them….however they ignored all of that and carried along that road not giving one shit to what was going on behind them. It’s that kind of consideration that makes me wonder why i should have consideration for cyclists!
Sounds annoying, lack of consideration there ...
Maybe a group that large was some sort of charity ride raising money for a good cause ... who knows ...
I'm curious, have you ever been delayed by a tractor, or horses, in a similar situation or stuck in a traffic jam ... can also be frustrating ...
Bottom line is its a few minutes ... chill out, listen to some music ...
I have lost many more minutes of my life stuck in traffic than I have being delayed by a cyclists ...
Horses, tractors especially, generally pull over and let built up traffic pass.
We’re not talking about 5 minutes here it was more like 15-20 minutes with cars behind getting ever increasingly frustrated and making silly decisions.
You can’t pass even a few of them due to gaps in traffic and being dangerous to the cyclist
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Like I said sounds frustrating, my experience is cyclists pull over like you describe of the horse/tractors.
Must be a very long hill to delay that time.
Ever been stuck in a traffic jam? Tell us about that ... ?
Couple of weeks ago I was stationary on the M2 for an hour and a half ... caused by a build up of traffic trying to get into a shopping centre ...
Because no bugger knows anything about it, you get blasted from behind by the car for waiting and the pedestrian looks at you like you’ve got 2 heads
The rule does away with common sense and goes against everything anyone who’s been driving for years knows.
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There was no accident or roadworks ... don't know where you got that from ... it was sheer weight of traffic caused by shoppers ... some sort of event at BlueWater ...
Would I then post about bloody shoppers on the internet and then maybe drive past any future shoppers I see missing them by inches whilst sounding my horn? Of course not, that would be mental ... but that is what happens to cyclists ...
I didn’t say there was and I saw why you were held up. The point was that there’s little that can be done about an accident, traffic build up for whatever reason than the example I’ve given. Yet you think I have to be patient and take a chill pill whilst cyclists show little consideration and don’t pull over. Consideration should come from one way?
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Know the road well, and aside from the piece as you get to the Mound I’ve always found it well sighted with plenty of opportunities to safely pass. Perhaps you were unlucky with oncoming traffic.
Prefer the road in the other direction, just seems to flow better when driving it. One of my favourites routes back to BoA is ditching the M4 at Hungerford for the A4.
There are places to pass but not when you have rows and rows of cyclists in front of you riding 2 abreast. If there were oncoming traffic you’d have nowhere to go other than to force yourself in to a gap of cyclists. Assuming we’re talking about the same road of course.
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So all those shoppers who held me up ... could have stayed at home ... they probably didn't need to go and waste their money at BlueWater ...
I have already said the example you gave lacked consideration but by trotting it out you just perpetuate and fuel the anti-cyclist loons some of whom think it's OK to put cyclists physically at risk to make their point, one member here has previously stated they dish out punishment passes to cyclists ...
We all need to show consideration and respect to each other ... and not get sucked into hating groups because you have previously seen someone who looks like that group do something that you consider unacceptable or selfish ...
Aside: You keep mentioning they were riding 2 abreast, you may find this video of interest, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OTGRQgw6PDA
Ffs yes I know they can legally ride 2 abreast, again you’ve missed the point. When they do ride 2 abreast it’s harder to pass on smaller roads and with more of them on the road it’s virtually impossible as finding a gap to pull in to his difficult.
I’m only trotting it out because you’ve replied and asked further questions. It’s quite simple, large groups of cyclists on roads in my opinion are a pricks.
As for hating cyclists, I don’t, I dislike large groups of cyclists… I’ve given other examples previously on here.
It sounds like you need to get that chip off your shoulder
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Last edited by Franky Four Fingers; 11th April 2024 at 14:21.
Mental, angry place, end off.![]()
Tongue in cheek... even when wafting around in a super easy to drive, whisper quiet EV...or should that easy be an especially...dunno.
Last edited by Passenger; 11th April 2024 at 14:24.
I hope you are less angry behind the wheel ...
You didn't need to trot this example out at all ... then there would be no questions ... you could have just moved on and not harboured all that hate ...
If you watch the video you will learn why riding 2 abreast actually makes it easier for cars to pass a group ...
I'll leave this alone now as I can see I am only serving to wind you up, which wasn't my intention ... apologies. Lets just all be more tolerant ... (including the large groups of lycra clad, middle age, wannabees ... )
If you spend some time on the London/Essex borders you’ll hate 80% of drivers and cyclists pretty quickly.
They’re both at war and most times they’re both in the wrong.
So 10 cyclists long in a group / train. Much easier than single file if you’re giving them the correct width.
There is only 1 A4 to Marlborough, and the turn direction to town tells me your direction. Not wishing to start an argument but you might be stuck there due to poor driving ability further up the queue.
Back on the off topic of cyclists, I think they should leave gaps for the cars to pull back in & the good clubs I see when driving locally tend to do so and purposefully vs it being an accidental set of gaps. Helps everyone live without frustration on the same tarmac.
I'm sure they appreciate your kindness.
I usually visit the town in less busy periods, so as not to add to the traffic who have to be there at those times. We can all do our bit to help.
Tell me yours, and I'll tell you mine.
Started out with nothing. Still have most of it left.
Started out with nothing. Still have most of it left.
Well I do and so do my mates on almost every ride we do … we never ride in large groups (20) usually groups of that size are rare and are usually associated with some sort of event.
Point is being delayed by a large group of cyclists is far less likely than being delayed by other cars so if you want to be angry maybe focus on them.
None of us get to chose the environments, families into which we're born, brought up is my take on it fwiw...one was something of a bad seed, the other a decent lad, such a waste. Your point may have some validity...though utility is 5, 7ths proximity and public transport isn't great in the area.
I´m not sure there´s many places around Skegness that can truthfully be categorised as very nice...if we´re being honest, less obviously in decline, pockets of relative affluence would be more like it. Though I guess it depends on your expectations, definition of very nice. I wonder whereabouts you have in mind
Last edited by Passenger; 12th April 2024 at 08:52.
It's a funny one with groups of cyclists. Big groups ain't too bad as they are pretty fast and do stay huddled together. The other day though there was a group of about 10 all in a line quite spaced apart. Now they were a nightmare to pass as they made about a 200yard train so you needed a real long clear length of road to get past. Pretty dangerous really.
It's them on bikes with engines that are out for a day ride which can be a pita. Literally up your back side gagging to over take anything they see Infront of them.
I am struggling a bit to reconcile the fact that you are a cyclist in the countryside experiencing city like traffic jams.
I also live in the countryside and any sort of heavy traffic I may have (rarely )encountered in the last few years were invariably down to roadworks and hardly delayed me by more than 10 minutes. I also usually cycle to town because I can. It’s a little more than 10km each way and weather permitting it’s through cycle paths that almost completely avoid main roads.
There are a given percentage of people who drive for casual matters but many if not most drive because they have to be somewhere at a given time, be it work, surgery, school run, shopping, etc. A group of cyclist is always riding for their own gratification, whereas a tractor or roadworks are men working. I therefore do not believe that the inconvenience they inflict on others can be compared. By not letting people through they are fuelling the sort of attitude we see on this thread and that you contribute to exacerbate by justifying it with false equivalences.
Peter was right when he said that the problem was people. A cycling commuter risks his life daily because neither the roads nor the drivers give him the respect he deserves. When riding for pleasure, alone or in a group, if you are holding up a car without safe passing options, just let them through : not only will it delay you a lot less than you will delay them, but you don’t know why he is behind the wheel, and the possible reasons that may make that delay unacceptable to him.
'Against stupidity, the gods themselves struggle in vain' - Schiller.