Safe Speed Forums

I'm with Johnsher - except for the potential road-rage inducing actions.

I just go around. I can't know if a driver has deliberately tried to block me; even if they did, so what! If I'm on a road where vehicles have trouble passing me then chances are I can keep up with them anyway (granted I can't speak for everyone else).

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Views expressed are personal opinions and are not necessarily shared by the Safe Speed campaign

The kind of cyclists I tend to see are the bicycle-clip and basket bregade who need half of the road just to move in a straight line...

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Science won over religion when they started installing lightning rods on churches.

Na - This is the best site





I used to shave everything when I was into bodybuilding, but my six pack is more like a bumper pack these days I feel I should send you an e-slap you naughty thing. How can you possibly know if a dweeb is cycling or Lance Armstrong?

I get it happening to me, where some goof overtakes me even when I'm doing the speed limit. It's like they see a cyclist and simply have to overtake because, well, it's a cycle and they go slowly don't they? Duh...

The same thing happens when they pull out in front of me - they just assume I must be doing 5 mph and then wonder why I overtake them. Duh again…

A good cyclist on the right bike will achieve 40mph on many roads.

I think I got out the wrong side of the bed today

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The views expressed in this post are personal opinions and do not necessarily represent the views of Safe Speed.
You will be branded a threat to society by going over a speed limit where it is safe to do so, and suffer the consequences of your actions in a way criminals do not, more so than someone who is a real threat to our society.

And a good cyclist on a decent bike wouldn't hold me up...

The vacant expression and complete lack of ability to ride at anything over 3mph generally tells me that it isn't Lance Armstrong!

I've been known to shout at other motorists for overtaking a cycle and then turning left...used to really pee me off that one...

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Science won over religion when they started installing lightning rods on churches.

Hang on a mo Sixy.

I often scrub off speed because a car, or more often a bus, is asphyxiating me so I have to decide to either back off, (go slowly, but not because I'm feeble), or decide whether I may be able to get ahead far enough so that I don't get into the repeat overtaking you mention.

If it irritates you having to keep overtaking cycles only to be overtaken yourself, please believe me when I say it's far more irritating for the cyclist.

When I'm a driver I try and let them pass by at all times.

Cycles and motorbikes are like the sand that fits between the pebbles in a jar. They don't impede the traffic, they fill the gaps.

Not falling out with you but I don't think you should bog cyclists down as you described.

Luv Tone

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The views expressed in this post are personal opinions and do not necessarily represent the views of Safe Speed.
You will be branded a threat to society by going over a speed limit where it is safe to do so, and suffer the consequences of your actions in a way criminals do not, more so than someone who is a real threat to our society.

Hold on...I'm just trying to find the keys to the JCB...

I should have said, the only place I find it necessary to do this is on one particular road on my way home. The traffic usually averages 25 - 30mph, so a good cyclist (and hopefully one taking primary road position ) would keep with the flow rather than gutter-crawling.

The question is, (and I ask this as a genuine question, not just to be pravocotive), if you're effectively keeping pace with the traffic, ie not actually gaining any ground by passing cars, only to be passed yourself a short while later, why not just take up a good road position and stay there rather than playing the cat and mouse game? Same deal when I filter - if I can gain ground and there's actually somewhere to go I'll filter, but if not I'll merge with the traffic because it's easier and safer.

Most of the time you'll find me actually waiting BEHIND cyclists for a safe place to pass rather than just squeezing through, taking your gloves off with my mirror (happened to me once, and OH how I wish I'd had a gimlet in my bar-end...) which is why I get a little...erked when said cyclist keeps putting me in a position where I have to wait, if you see my point...

Tone - have to tried one of those filter masks - I used to use one all the time and they really do make a huge difference.

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Science won over religion when they started installing lightning rods on churches.

Hey?

I'm not sure where you cycle but on my route I go up and down hills. I am, as you say, effectively keeping pace with the traffic but not for the entire journey.

You can't keep up with the traffic up the hill where the road is clear but on the flat and downhill you can of course. I can pass the same vehicle three times on my short route to work. They overtake me up the hill, I overtake them in the jam. That's how it goes for all cyclists isn't it?

Gotta go now. Nearly time to squeeze my bum in the Lycra and go to aerobics. Not a pretty sight

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The views expressed in this post are personal opinions and do not necessarily represent the views of Safe Speed.
You will be branded a threat to society by going over a speed limit where it is safe to do so, and suffer the consequences of your actions in a way criminals do not, more so than someone who is a real threat to our society.

You have that kind of traffic? I pass a bike, I don't see it again!

Extending this principle to its logical end: should cyclists have to move to the rear of any such queue so minimising the hassles/dangers of being overtaken later on?
OR: wait at the kerbside until all the traffic has passed before pulling away.

While these could be the safest option it could also be seen as being the most unreasonable (analogous to limiting all vehicles to walking speed). I would hope cyclists recognise the inconvenience and dangers that each case presents and act accordingly (perhaps even avoiding the more risky routes).

Is there really room to the left of the typical line of cars waiting at a set of lights for a cyclist to pass safely without riding on the pavement?

I would think they should allow at least 2 feet of room between themselves and the cars.

Touching cars is at the very least rank bad manners and the type of behaviour likely to provoke a negative reaction from drivers.

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"Show me someone who says that they have never exceeded a speed limit, and I'll show you a liar, or a menace." (Austin Williams - Director, Transport Research Group)

Any views expressed in this post are personal opinions and may not represent the views of Safe Speed

A big incentive to getting people to commute by bicycle would be changing facilities and perhaps place to have a "wash down"

I don't cycle to work - it really is too far to be viable time wise for me. I also travel between hospitals within the Trust on occasion and outside our Trust also on occasions when the patient's best chances lie in Manchester's excellent expertise.

But .. when we did the last "epic" for charity (long ride across Austria last October for one of the health causes we actively support) - we found a simple "Wet One" served to freshen up any stale sweaties






We support "Give Cyclists Room!" and we do so at all times. If we cannot pass - we stay behind. We find most cyclists get nervous and stop to wave us on though .. We ease off all the more as we know most of these roads and where to do the overtake properly But we are locals and tourists are not perhaps as familiar as we are.

These do tend to be the tourists who hired a mountain bike for the day . I think.




Not seen these here .. only at Toucan crossings. I thus think not legal for motorised bike including the "electric bicycle"

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If you want to get to heaven - you have to raise a little hell!

Smilies are contagious
They are just like the flu
We use our smilies on YOU today
Now Good Causes are smiling too!

KEEP SMILING
It makes folk wonder just what you REALLY got up to last night!

Smily to penny.. penny to pound
safespeed prospers-smiles all round! !
But the real message? SMILE.. GO ON ! DO IT! and the world will smile with you!
Enjoy life! You only have the one bite at it.

2 feet? Some of us can ride a straight line you know...

These are less than 2 feet wide and are easy enough to ride on.

yes you are (not that I mind):
RULE 154

Franklin does say to stay in the line but in "primary" in the line as a car up ahead may be turning left at the lights and not be expecting to be undertaken by a cyclist approaching - but he'd really be riding in the gutter - a really

I took IG's advice on this one. I followed his lead when on a ride out with him and his pals once. They "jammed" or filtered through on the normal "right" of the driver to reach the head of queue and any ASL area

But it's common sense and you do what you judge to be the safest/most courteous option given the circumstance you find yourself in


I try to apply this whether I ride my bicycle or drive my car.

_________________
If you want to get to heaven - you have to raise a little hell!

Smilies are contagious
They are just like the flu
We use our smilies on YOU today
Now Good Causes are smiling too!

KEEP SMILING
It makes folk wonder just what you REALLY got up to last night!

Smily to penny.. penny to pound
safespeed prospers-smiles all round! !
But the real message? SMILE.. GO ON ! DO IT! and the world will smile with you!
Enjoy life! You only have the one bite at it.

Plenty of them in and around London, where they seem to be mostly used by those wit moped riders whos dictionaries define "filtering through a queue of traffic" as "weaving in and out of traffic, making as many changes of direction as possible in as short a distance as possible, before finally taking up position in the green box reserved for cyclists", and who always seem to be wearing helmets that really don't look like they fit properly...

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Chris

As twister said, plenty around London. They do make me laugh though as they are a complete waste of time/space/money. I mean... if a cyclist has managed to make their way to the front of a queue of traffic do they seriously think they are actually going to STOP at the red traffic light and wait

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www.misspelled-signs.com - A tribute to illiterate signwriters.

well how about you take a look. We cyclists are stopped in the box. The cunts who happen to be riding bikes are the ones going through the reds along with the similarly named motorists.

Not if Red Ken gets his way

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Views expressed are personal opinions and are not necessarily shared by the Safe Speed campaign

OUCH! Not disagreeing but hey - not in front of the children

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The views expressed in this post are personal opinions and do not necessarily represent the views of Safe Speed.
You will be branded a threat to society by going over a speed limit where it is safe to do so, and suffer the consequences of your actions in a way criminals do not, more so than someone who is a real threat to our society.

I don't want to drift off topic, although we're a bit late now, but in answer to a question - I haven't tried one of those masks because I was told they're kinda sweaty and restrictive. I wasn't sure if they only filter particulates and I'm just as interested and concerned about the other harmful stuff.

I'm likely to be controversial now but I do have some sympathy for those who go over on red lights because otherwise, when everyone moves off, the cyclist can be left in a plume of smoke. (been there, done it, got the smoky lungs) Not very good for a so-called healthy pursuit

So while I don't run red lights myself, I can understand why someone would so long as it's safe to do so. (Is someone going to tell me it's never safe?)

In answer to another question; it is quite hilly where I live although when I saw cyclists from the Milk Race going up the one big long hill I use it made me realise what a wimp I am. I think they went up it the way I go down it. Jack of all, master of none - that's me.

'Milk Race' what ever happened to that I wonder? Here I Google…

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The views expressed in this post are personal opinions and do not necessarily represent the views of Safe Speed.
You will be branded a threat to society by going over a speed limit where it is safe to do so, and suffer the consequences of your actions in a way criminals do not, more so than someone who is a real threat to our society.