Messages

[Rule 212]

I pay tax, lots of it, my taxes pay for the roads

Where do you stand on tractors? Should they be allowed on the road? By your rationale they pay motor tax so they should but I'd cycle quicker than a tractor

On the whole tractor drivers:

1. respect the rules of the road &
2. let cars past where possible

Same cant be said for cyclists on either count

I honestly think cyclists breaking the rules of the road comes from them being, and maybe observing, drivers in the first place.

Hopping onto kerbs when there is a red light wouldnt be a done thing for drivers?

Moving across the road when someone attempts to overtake you wouldnt be a done thing either with drivers?

Does a cyclist riding on the footpath (which is illegal) really affect motorists that much?  As pointed out above you should be giving a cyclist the same room as you would a car to overtake so why would a cyclist veer across the white line just to annoy you?

I think you'll be a much happier bunny if you follow the rules and guidelines of the highway code yourself?

Rule 212
When passing motorcyclists and cyclists, give them plenty of room (see Rules 162 to 167). If they look over their shoulder it could mean that they intend to pull out, turn right or change direction. Give them time and space to do so.

Rule 213
Motorcyclists and cyclists may suddenly need to avoid uneven road surfaces and obstacles such as drain covers or oily, wet or icy patches on the road. Give them plenty of room and pay particular attention to any sudden change of direction they may have to make

I pay tax, lots of it, my taxes pay for the roads

Where do you stand on tractors? Should they be allowed on the road? By your rationale they pay motor tax so they should but I'd cycle quicker than a tractor

On the whole tractor drivers:

1. respect the rules of the road &
2. let cars past where possible

Same cant be said for cyclists on either count

I honestly think cyclists breaking the rules of the road comes from them being, and maybe observing, drivers in the first place.

[I cycle out from the ditch so that anyone passing me has to actually cross the white line to do so]

Long before I ever started cycling properly I drove a tractor, the amount of people that blow the horn at you for being on the road is ridiculous. I'd consider myself fairly courteous, I pull in when I can and let the traffic pass. What i've learned is that people do not like being held up at all, they don't see you as traffic they see you as holding up traffic.

There is a large portion of cyclists who are sanctimonious pr**ks, there is no doubting it but some things cyclists do are for their own safety. I cycle out from the ditch so that anyone passing me has to actually cross the white line to do so, the guy in the car has to treat me like traffic.
I personally obey the ROTR on a bike, much more so than I do when I'm in a car and I see in Dublin hoards of cyclists breaking red lights, or my pet hate in Galway people cycling on the footpath but watch any traffic lights and see how many people break the lights, go on any road and see how many people overtake you when you're doing the speed limit. Who decides which laws are ok to break and which aren't?

Going back to my original point, people just don't like being held up and never will so they act like arseholes which in turn makes people react like arseholes and soon we're all arseholes

Typical attitude of a cyclist.

Genuine question, whats wrong with that attitude?

I'll elaborate in saying that if I don't make cars cross the white line (and actually overtake) then they will just try and go by even if there is a car coming towards them

You are making it more dangerous than ever for drivers then.

Roads were built for cars and drivers pay tax.
When are car comes behind you would it be an idea to actually stop if you are holding them up too long?

Earlier in this thread the highway code was used to support the fact that cyclists riding two abreast is not a fixed right.  This is what it says about overtaking:

Rule 163

Overtake only when it is safe and legal to do so. You should:

give motorcyclists, cyclists and horse riders at least as much room as you would when overtaking a car.

Did a cyclist run away with punt kick's woman (or fella - it is 2017 after all) or something? He seems very angry with them?

Definitely single i'd guess.

[I cannot understand the levels of rage on here for cyclists, some of the comments are hysterical and some are so inane as to be surely the result of hysteria]

I am  mainly a motorist but do an occasional bit of cycling. I live in an area where there are lots of cyclists and a few cycling clubs. When I get caught behind a cyclist or a group of cyclists it can be a bit frustrating but tbh this wouldn't happen any more than 3 or 4 times a year.

By the sounds of things some people on the board are sitting behind groups of cyclists on a daily basis and being held up for considerable periods. I don't know where they live that this can happen, most cycling clubs go out in the evening or of a weekend morning not at rush hour or other peak periods. Anybody who is out in the morning at rush hour is probably cycling to work.

I have been out on my own and holding near the side of the road on an A road with nothing coming the other way and have had cars passing me with inches to spare on many occasions when I clearly haven't held them up at all as the road had been clear for a good while before they came up behind me.

I cannot understand the levels of rage on here for cyclists, some of the comments are hysterical and some are so inane as to be surely the result of hysteria. Though Eamonca has gone a bit too far himself lol.

Driving licences used to say on the back "care ,courtesy and consideration saves lives"....we would maybe all do well to exercise this maxim more often.

Takes a few reads to separate the WUMs from the real headers!

As a casual cyclist (i.e. Out by myself, not in a club, not racing) opinions like the ones on this thread scare the absolute crap out of me.

I'm a driver too and it frustrates me to see cyclists flouting the rules of the road knowing that other drivers are observing this and treating all cyclists as a menace. In fact I would argue that with every road law a cyclist breaks they put another cyclist in danger of a road rage incident.

There is definitely an arrogance and misunderstanding on both sides. I just hope that when people see me out on the road (in Lycra!) they don't see the "cyclist" that for example  jumped onto the pavement to avoid a red light but they might actually consider that I'm a dad, husband, son and brother.

If Carlsberg did GAA Board posts

[some]

The point is if a cyclist is an idiot (of which clearly there are some) they are moving at relatively low speed on a machine weighing under 10kgs. If a motorist is an idiot he is likely in a machine weighing enough to maim, crush, kill someone should they hit a cyclist. The arrogance of some on this thread is quite astounding.

Some! Have you looked at those videos? What strikes one about those clips is that they are perfectly everyday. The behaviour illustrated is not exceptional - we see it all the time. In every example, more cyclists are breaking red lights than aren't.

So it's not just SOME cyclists who are dangerous, arrogant idiots. It's a very large proportion, if not a majority in some cases. They insist on equal status with motorised traffic by militantly asserting their supposed right to hold up road users whose normal pace is higher than theirs, but at the same time insist on ignoring the laws and rules that all but a minuscule percentage of the rest of road users obey.

How many cars, buses or trucks did you see breaking red lights while cyclists were merrily ignoring them? That's the whole point of what we're talking about here.

And I'm sorry, but the argument that it's OK as they're small and won't do much damage is idiotic.

And it was at this point that I realised that this thread was a wind up.