Are you irritated by bicycles on the road?

I'm a cyclist and a driver. I can't stand some cyclists.

The ones that ride two, three or four abreast or in a big group. Yes I know you have the right to use the road too but if you're cycling at 10mph and I'm driving at 30mph then you should let motor vehicles pass.

The ones who refuse to use cycle lanes on busy roads. We live near one of the major routes out of the city. £millions was spent a few years ago creating cycle tracks so that the cyclists don't have to go on the road and risk their lives in 60mph traffic.

The ones who don't have/refuse to use a bell or warn pedestrians that they're about to overtake.

The ones who think the highway code doesn't apply to them so go through red lights or turn suddenly without indicating.

The ones who don't think they have to stop at zebra/pelican crossings.

The ones who insist on undertaking because there is a 6 inch space between the motor vehicle and the kerb.

Adult cyclists who don't stay with the children they're cycling with. It's no good rushing off at your normal speed and leaving the children to cope. They need protection and support as they learn to ride longer distances.

The ones who think they're visible when wearing dark clothing on dark roads. For heaven's sake buy some decent lights.

I love cyclists who remember that there are other road users and that cycle tracks are often paths too so watch out for pedestrians.

I once heard a radio programme discussing this and I was impressed and amused by one caller. He said 'well, I've got a silver Mercedes, it's more expensive and faster than anything else out there, so I think all other road users should get out of my way'.

The roads are shared space but the invention of the car and its effect on those who drive one has been to bring a sense of entitlement and a barrier between themselves and other human beings who happen to be doing something else in the same shared space.

Just as speed limits are not a target to aim at, roads are not allocated solely to the owners of cars.

P. S. I'm tempted to start a thread headed 'are you irritated by cars on the road?'
It would be followed by irritations such as drivers who speed, who are impatient and intolerant of others, who use phones and eat at the wheel, who park in considerately in cycle paths and over driveways, who complain bitterly when they can't drive straight up to the shop they intend visiting and then the ones who drive without tax or insurance and who run away from accidents if they possibly can. The latter leaving dead or irretrievably injured humans in their wake. Goodness, makes cycling four abreast quite innocent really.... Why not just run them over?

if they cleaned up the cycle lanes, removed rubbish, plants and hedging material and if they were wide enough, then yes cyclists would use them. They are often just a very narrow add-on and are never maintained. Many of us cyclists are also car owners btw and yes some groups of cyclists do ride in a very selfish manner, there is an etiquette that they should be following.

There are car drivers who get into their cars and use that car like a weapon, dog walkers, pedestrians, cyclists are all at risk as the drivers come hurtling around narrow bends

Yes I am but it's my problem not theirs.

I would just like to know why, when there is a cycle lane, a lot refuse to use them

I used to wonder this myself. Now I know why: it's often because cycle lanes are not maintained very well and end up being very uncomfortable to cycle on.

Another reason, which I had to deal with in north Oxford, is that cycle lanes that share pavement space (when there is enough width for both riding and walking) have to give way to EVERY garden gate. This is utterly ridiculous. Bikes are traffic. So are pedestrians and vehicles on the road. Pedestrians and cars don't have to give way at every garden gate so why do bikes?

Cyclists and pedestrians should have priority over cars everywhere and drivers have to get over this feeling of entitlement on the roads. We are facing a climate crisis and some of us are getting tired of breathing in fumes and dodging fast cars!

I see that craftyone has said the same things about bad cycle lane maintenance. Just so. It can even be quite dangerous. One cycle lane I was in recently was covered with quite large stones that had spilled over from the verge between the road and the cycle lane. If you have road tyres rather than off-road tyres on your bike, such stones can cause you to skid and fall off.

We have an unbelievable amount of cycle lanes in my area, one in particular, highlighted in a national newspaper, mainly because it was extended to take up half a busy road into town, thus causing traffic jams, whilst the "odd" cyclist or two whizz past, cars are squeezed into one lane, from what was two and some on occasions," the double the size normal cycle lane" is completely empty contrasting with the other half of the road practically gridlocked. When their lane eventually fizzles out the cyclists are then spewed out into heavy traffic anyway having been lulled into a false sense of security. Like the general population both demographics produce good and bad, people People I know who work up in London, before the lockdown tell me that "SOME" cyclists up there behave like pigs and will think nothing of ploughing into pedestrians and expecting them to literally jump out of the way. Undoubtedly cyclists suffer more at the hands of the motorists, nevertheless, it hasn't been unknown to have pedestrian fatalities caused by cyclists.

I had a woman ride into me in our local town on what is a pedestrian thoroughfare she had slowed down so it was more a screech of the brakes before impact, so a non collision, but she still had the cheek to say to me "not to tell her to get off her bike because she knew what she was doing" in spite of the "no cycling" signs some cyclists, like some drivers, are still a law unto themselves.

I used to drive along a very busy road which had a cycle lane. The problem was that people parked in the cycle lane causing the cyclists to move out into a steady stream of traffic, which was a danger to themselves and the cars.

Are we not allowed on the roads either? There’s a thread running about cyclists on pavements, which is wrong of course. We cycle a lot, mainly on cycle tracks avoiding roads. Most of them are not in good repair, overgrown, potholes, etc. One track we go on, which is a well known cycle path, we have to give way to pedestrians and horse riders! Boris wants us to cycle, we want to cycle, but we’re at risk of losing our lives on the roads, and tracks put by for cyclists make everyone else a priority. It does put us off, but is such a lovely and productive way to exercise.

what is worse is when cyclists insist on driving on the pavement - where are pedestrians supposed to go ? i accept little kids but adults then no. and what is wrong with ringing a bell if they are behind you? i do not have eyes in the back of my head so why should i be forced to move when the cyclist can see me.?

Are you irritated by the cyclists on the road ?
No because I am one of them
Whenever I go on a cycle track I get a wandering pedestrian going from side to side in front of me or knock into by mobility scooters If I go on the road car drivers open their doors as I m passing, come out of side roads without stopping (punctured my daughter in laws lung doing that) and drive so close you could shake hands with them
So no I don’t think I should irritate YOU

Cyclists round here are a danger to themselves. I'm all in favour of people cycling but I don't want to be charged with killing or injuring one of them when they have dangerously ridden in front of my within-the-speed-limit-car. Fortunately, I believe local councils are to be given money to build cycle lanes. Let's hope they are given enough to maintain them as well.

Was reading the other day that car drivers should open doors with their left hand, this means you have twisted and have the chance to see any cyclist coming up. Seems a good idea as cyclists have actually been killed by car doors opening.

Yes I am, very irritated by (some) cyclists. Recently there was a cycling thread and it was obvious that the contributors were knowledgeable, experienced and extremely safety -conscious.
But so many of the people taking to their bikes at the moment are inexperienced, unfit and seem to think traffic laws simply don't apply to them, because there isn't so much traffic about. In the past few weeks I have seen all the following: riding on and off pavements without warning, weaving through traffic, going through red traffic lights, riding the wrong way down one-way streets, (3 different people) and last Friday, unbelievably, crossing the no-entry hatchings and cycling the wrong way round a traffic island. I did an emergency stop; she cycled on blithely, not even a helmet to protect her.
Very dangerous because so unpredictable. (Yes I know some motorists are too, but generally they are not so vulnerable; a cyclist is far more at risk if even touched by a car.)

I do think all bicycles should be made with reflective paint as standard - as VampireQueen says up-post, too many cyclists wear dark clothing and their bikes have no lights (particularly youngsters, is my observation), so a paint job that shows up in car headlights would be a very useful thing.

Narrow windy roads and lanes round here - meeting cyclists is fraught with hazard. Worst thing is that some swerve into the middle of the road just when I have found a safe place to overtake and sort out the maniac up my arse who cannot see why I am going so slowly and is getting impatient.

No lights, dark clothes, no helmet - they are so very vulnerable and I really do not want to be the one that does them harm.

I'm ok with cyclists who know the Highway Code but there are a lot on the roads now because people have rightly decided to use bikes as exercise/transport etc due to lockdown but have just taken to the roads without learning how to use them or even wear helmets. I have encountered people fly out of side streets without looking or stopping, wibble wobble from side to side in the middle of the road with no helmets on, cycle zig zag using whole road, same on pavements and probably been ok because roads have been quieter but are now getting busier. It is nerve racking being behind them or over taking in case they do something unpredictable or knock over DGC if on the pavement. I'm talking about adults probably over 40ish and in Edinburgh area. I think there should be a test or something before people take to the roads.

No cycle lanes in our rural area. Lots of cyclists in groups cycling around narrow bendy roads. Once going round a bend which had a high hedge, so not much visibility we were confronted with a group of cyclists riding across the entire road - one had to stop himself by using our car.

Narrow country lanes around here. Last Sunday, I was driving very, very slowly, fully anticipating a cyclist to come pelting down towards me, in the middle of the road. The 5 cyclists that did just that were all grouped together, heads down, cycling like fury. It's a good job for them that I was looking ahead and not at my tyres.

It is not the situation that cyclists riding in groups of two or three abreast cause to car drivers, it is, more importantly, the danger they cause to themselves and all other road users when they are holding up heavy goods vehicles, coaches and buses etc.

The above vehicles have no real acceleration to pass cyclists riding in such a manner and often the drivers of such vehicles can only follow those cyclists for many miles before any safe opportunity will come about to pass.

The build-up of traffic behind a heavy goods vehicle can cause frustration in those drivers following and also that of the large vehicle driver causing a dangerous situation to develops.

In such circumstances many cyclists seem to revel in the Chaos they cause often looking back and grinning at the large vehicle driver trapped behind them.

Many large vehicles also have warning signs informing cyclists not to progress up the nearside of such vehicles when they are stopped at junctions and traffic lights etc. However, still many cyclists ride down the nearside of those vehicles in an effort to cross over the traffic lights or crossings even when they are set to red against them, they can then be crushed under the rear wheels of the heavy vehicle if it manoeuvres to the left as it turns.

Many cyclists have been recorded as killed carrying out the above but still many seem to conduct the action.

I often think that many cyclists (but not all) are totally selfish, Revel in as much chaos as they can cause and when riding in groups do not have a real intelligent brain between any of them.

We live in a University City - lots of students cycle, but few have helmets or lights. Weaving in and out of the traffic on dark evenings renders them almost invisible. Some even have a mobile phone clamped to an ear!
I’m sure their loved ones at home would have heart failure if they saw them.

I am amazed at how many parents allow their children to cycle to school. When we take the grandchildren to school we see quite a few even though our roads are narrow and there are almost no cycle lanes. The town is small but busy and although the children are riding carefully I think of what might happen. I was knocked off my bike by a dog running out of a side road when I was on my way to school through quiet country lanes and it is so much busier now. Cyclist don't annoy me but I am concerned for them.