Driving behaviour towards cyclists

SleepDoc

Deleted User wrote: »

TROLL ALERT TROLL ALERT!!

This Paul Watson character can usually be found starting troll like threads on AH.

He also plays golf.

"Porto golf links.

75, with a nice 34 on the back nine. Two club breeze, but the flat stick was hot."

Says it all.

Raam

SleepDoc wrote: »

He also plays golf.

"Porto golf links.

75, with a nice 34 on the back nine. Two club breeze, but the flat stick was hot."

Says it all.

And his name is Paul Watson.

Cookie_Monster

Deleted User wrote: »

This Paul Watson character can usually be found starting troll like threads on AH.

some are quite funny actually

But seriously, Paul, whats wrong with cyclist cycling 2 abrest? You could overtake them when its safe and if you can't overtake the two you probably shouldn't be overtaking a single one anyway on most roads

DirkVoodoo

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

some are quite funny actually

But seriously, Paul, whats wrong with cyclist cycling 2 abrest? You could overtake them when its safe and if you can't overtake the two you probably shouldn't be overtaking a single one anyway on most roads

If he hadn't bought a Saab he probably could overtake them with ease, I reckon it's something of a struggle in one of those (sorry Saab drivers, they lost their cool after the 80s).

coolbeans

PAULWATSON wrote: »

hate to break the news to you, but drivers are sick to the back teeth with jumped up cyclists. Was out the other day and a couple were cycling two abreast taking up the whole lane, upwards of ten cars behind.

Get over yourselves.

Fcuk off there Paul like a good man. :P

tomasrojo

WAPAIC wrote: »

Adding a pannier on the right had side also seems to have helped - it makes me look wider than I am or maybe it makes me look like a ould fart who might wobble around the road.

Affecting a slight wobble definitely makes cars overtake you with greater care and more clearance. Probably should be used very sparingly.

Raam

tomasrojo wrote: »

Affecting a slight wobble definitely makes cars overtake you with greater care and more clearance. Probably should be used very sparingly.

On a slightly related note...
I once heard a very experienced racer advise people to ride a little erratically in the bunch just to make others a little less inclined to want to ride past you.

SerialComplaint

WAPAIC wrote: »

That said I nearly got clipped this evening near Airfield farm, scared the bejayis out of me because I hadn't heard her behind me. Kind of funny having a good looking girl scream and shout abuse at me though; she had a very attractive middle finger, I could see it quite clearly. She overtook me again later but I still beat her past my house:)

I'm trying to avoid the shouting matches these days, but I will generally try to have a little chat with the driver once I catch them up. I explain that a pothole or gust of wind will have me under their wheel if they don't leave enough room. Mixed reactions, as always.

Beasty

coolbeans wrote: »

Fcuk off there Paul like a good man.

Personal abuse will not be tolerated

Beasty

coolbeans

Quite right too. Apologies PW.

Captain Havoc

Raam wrote: »

On a slightly related note...
I once heard a very experienced racer advise people to ride a little erratically in the bunch just to make others a little less inclined to want to ride past you.

Worked for Abdujaparov (I don't care how it's spelt).

cdaly_

DirkVoodoo wrote: »

If he hadn't bought a Saab he probably could overtake them with ease, I reckon it's something of a struggle in one of those (sorry Saab drivers, they lost their cool after the 80s).

Excuse me! I'll have you know that my late 80s / early 90s classic Saab 900s have become cooler over the years...

DirkVoodoo

cdaly_ wrote: »

Excuse me! I'll have you know that my late 80s / early 90s classic Saab 900s have become cooler over the years...

Saab 900s will always be cool, but the likes of the Saab 93 or the 95 (new one in particular) are just boring cars, probably loads of room for golf clubs though, and you can bore people to tears about the jet plane inspired dash.

I guess that's what happens when GM meets the Swedes...

Lumen

DirkVoodoo wrote: »

Saab 900s will always be cool, but the likes of the Saab 93 or the 95 (new one in particular) are just boring cars, probably loads of room for golf clubs though, and you can bore people to tears about the jet plane inspired dash.

I guess that's what happens when GM meets the Swedes...

DirkVoodoo

I like that: "Saab: Wow! We're still here!"

WAPAIC

SerialComplaint wrote: »

I'm trying to avoid the shouting matches these days, but I will generally try to have a little chat with the driver once I catch them up. I explain that a pothole or gust of wind will have me under their wheel if they don't leave enough room. Mixed reactions, as always.

As I recall I didn't say a word to her, she saw me glance in the window as I rolled by and she let rip. I probably looked upset or annoyed. I used to have a go now and again but lately I really do find being calm and making the safety point is very disarming and less stressful. Shouting abuse at a lone female occupant isn't cool in my book anyway, no matter how uncool she is. Asking her if her mother raised her to use language like that is ok though:)

niceonetom

The swedes are now inventing a means to make hitting cyclists with your saab no big deal.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7Oud3iGXWY

Now, after an impact with a swede you can, rather than being dead, affect an avant-garde fasionista look.

PAULWATSON

Beasty wrote: »

Personal abuse will not be tolerated

Beasty

coolbeans wrote: »

Quite right too. Apologies PW.

Worry not friends, I'll won't take the comments to heart.

PAULWATSON

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

some are quite funny actually

That's the ego appeased for the day.

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

But seriously, Paul, whats wrong with cyclist cycling 2 abrest? You could overtake them when its safe and if you can't overtake the two you probably shouldn't be overtaking a single one anyway on most roads

It's not the overtaking that bothers me, it is the out and out arrogance of the act.

DirkVoodoo wrote: »

If he hadn't bought a Saab he probably could overtake them with ease, I reckon it's something of a struggle in one of those (sorry Saab drivers, they lost their cool after the 80s).

She's a nice 93 turbo, plenty of poke.


Just another thing, I'm not a cyclist hater. I'd advise you lot to calm it down for a number of reasons. You have had a free run a things for the last 5 years, that will change. Slowly but surely the drive will begin for tax and insurance for bikes, as well as penalty points on the licence for cycling offences.

I'm not a lover of authority and unlike 99% of people here, I actually would prefer to live in a somewhat free society. Don't give the clowns a reason to hang you out to dry.

niceonetom

DirkVoodoo

PAULWATSON wrote: »

Just another thing, I'm not a cyclist hater. I'd advise you lot to calm it down for a number of reasons. You have had a free run a things for the last 5 years, that will change. Slowly but surely the drive will begin for tax and insurance for bikes, as well as penalty points on the licence for cycling offences.

Where, might I ask, are you getting this from?

Free run? Have you cycled in Dublin? If these measures ever came in I would just say "feck it" and go back to driving everywhere. If I'm going to be taxed for riding something that produces no emissions, doesn't damage the roads, etc. then I may as well be warm, sitting on leather seats, listening to 4FM while getting my backside massaged.

BostonB

PAULWATSON wrote: »

...You have had a free run a things for the last 5 years, ....

5 years? What happened over the last 5 years.

DirkVoodoo

BostonB wrote: »

5 years? What happened over the last 5 years.

Apparently we had a total exemption from the law. Why did no one tell me? I would have been cruising around on my bike with a bottle of jack in one hand, a pound of blow in the other and a hooker across the top tube.

PAULWATSON

BostonB wrote: »

5 years? What happened over the last 5 years.

Bike lanes, tax break cycles, dublin city bike schemes, crazy car speed restrictions, massive anti car- pro bike propaganda and so on.

As usual, a bugger agenda is at work.

Lumen

PAULWATSON wrote: »

As usual, a bugger agenda is at work.

Backs to the wall lads!

DirkVoodoo

PAULWATSON wrote: »

Bike lanes, tax break cycles, dublin city bike schemes, crazy car speed restrictions, massive anti car- pro bike propaganda and so on.

As usual, a bugger agenda is at work.

But you're not against cyclists, right? Did it ever occur to you that this isn't so much pro-cyclist as it is pro-dublin? Cars are great, I love cars, but Dublin can only handle so many.

You conveninently excluded other measure like operation freeflow, the luas, QBCs, the planned metro from your analysis and for some reason decided to focus all your frustrations on cyclists. Unless you take the measures you listed in the context of a greater traffic management plan for Dublin, you are just skewing the facts to suit your dislike of bikes.

BostonB

Yeah but where did you get 5 yrs from? Some of that happened only recently and some of it, well before that. Whats a bugger agenda?

carthoris

PAULWATSON wrote: »

Bike lanes, tax break cycles, dublin city bike schemes, crazy car speed restrictions, massive anti car- pro bike propaganda and so on.

I would expect that many people in this group have been cycling for more than the past 5 years, so anything that we got in our "free run" would not be missed that much. And some we would gladly give back (bike lanes).

The Dublin bikes scheme have been a big success and beneficial to more than just cyclists (who surely would have their own bikes).

The crazy car speed restrictions were not that crazy and when you take into account the number of roads that have been reclassified to allow high speed limits on the new transnational routes, changing a few town centres to a lower speed is hardly a big thing.

If you were to look, you would find as much anti-bike pro-car propaganda. Just look at the recent articles in some of the papers and your own rant for examples.

As usual, a bugger agenda is at work.

You can keep that agenda for yourself.

ThisRegard

I'm a cyclist, but also drive, as do most of us. Am I therefore excluded from all these laws and stuff when in my car ?

SerialComplaint

DirkVoodoo wrote: »

I would have been cruising around on my bike with a bottle of jack in one hand, a pound of blow in the other and a hooker across the top tube.

Just make sure you wear your helmet.

Beasty

Right - can everyone calm down - no attacking individual posters, and no making general comments attacking the cycling community and/or infrastructure. Specific on-topic points are fine (and the topic is "driving behaviour towards cyclists" in case anyone has forgotten)

Beasty

tomasrojo

niceonetom wrote: »

The swedes are now inventing a means to make hitting cyclists with your saab no big deal.

Funny take on it here:
http://bikesnobnyc.blogspot.com/2010/10/swelled-head-shock-of-pneumatic.html

On the other hand, it's easy to fake one of these collars (pre-expansion), so maybe it's a stalking horse to undermine mandatory helmet laws.

What happens if you put the collar on your shoulders back to front? Suffocation?

Chips Lovell

PAULWATSON: One month ban for trollerisation of the cycling forum.