Being shouted at when on the bike - increase recently?

[echazfraz]

I've just started to get into cycling again - recently bought a Giant Defy 1 and some new gear (helmet, jerseys, bib shorts, etc) so that I feel the part when out on it.

Now I don't think that I'm particularly tardy at getting away from lights, etc. and I don't think I look too much of an "all the gear, no idea" rider as I try and crack on generally. And I do take primary where I feel it necessary and when it's my right of way I'll use it.

Over the last few weeks I've seen a marked increase in abuse from drivers and passengers - is it just me?

Two examples:

1) Parked cars along opposite lane / pavement, I get to the open lane on my side first, Fiesta driver coming the opposite way ploughs on anyway and calls me a "cheeky " out the window as he passes very close in the same lane as me on his way through

2) Approaching a roundabout where I need the middle lane to go straight across. There is one lane, splitting into three (including the middle that I need), with the lanes being unmarked for a bit as they go from one to three. So I take the middle of the road, ending up in the middle of the middle lane as the lane becomes defined by white lines, and then moving immediately to the left of this lane. BMW driver going left and his passenger shouts something incomprehensible as they peel off but I presume something to do with my positioning.

Cool starry bra, etc. but are people getting more ttty? Is it the sunshine? The imminent unlocking of the country? Or just me?!

[towser44]

Been cycling since 2011 a fair bit and not noticed any more or any less to be honest, but think it depends when/where you're out

[ChocolateFrog]

Probably get verbal abuse on average around one in every 3 rides, usually bellends in white vans that think they're hilarious.

[BoRED S2upid]

Not sure your positioning in the second example was necessary do you need to be in the middle of the middle lane to go straight across? You’re not a car. Outside of lane 1 would still have been fine, bmw would have passed and not felt the need to give you abuse.

I’ve not experienced any increase in hostility very rarely do but then I prefer to give way to cars or let them pass if I’m holding them up.

[Louis Balfour]

echazfraz said:

I've just started to get into cycling again - recently bought a Giant Defy 1 and some new gear (helmet, jerseys, bib shorts, etc) so that I feel the part when out on it.

Now I don't think that I'm particularly tardy at getting away from lights, etc. and I don't think I look too much of an "all the gear, no idea" rider as I try and crack on generally. And I do take primary where I feel it necessary and when it's my right of way I'll use it.

Over the last few weeks I've seen a marked increase in abuse from drivers and passengers - is it just me?

Two examples:

1) Parked cars along opposite lane / pavement, I get to the open lane on my side first, Fiesta driver coming the opposite way ploughs on anyway and calls me a "cheeky " out the window as he passes very close in the same lane as me on his way through

2) Approaching a roundabout where I need the middle lane to go straight across. There is one lane, splitting into three (including the middle that I need), with the lanes being unmarked for a bit as they go from one to three. So I take the middle of the road, ending up in the middle of the middle lane as the lane becomes defined by white lines, and then moving immediately to the left of this lane. BMW driver going left and his passenger shouts something incomprehensible as they peel off but I presume something to do with my positioning.

Cool starry bra, etc. but are people getting more ttty? Is it the sunshine? The imminent unlocking of the country? Or just me?!

You need a helmet cam and Youtube channel. Practice shouting car number plates as you pursue wrongdoers.

I last rode a week ago and started when bikes had solid tyres, by the way.

[MrBarry123]

BoRED S2upid said:

Not sure your positioning in the second example was necessary do you need to be in the middle of the middle lane to go straight across? You’re not a car. Outside of lane 1 would still have been fine, bmw would have passed and not felt the need to give you abuse.

I’ve not experienced any increase in hostility very rarely do but then I prefer to give way to cars or let them pass if I’m holding them up.

I would say the OP’s positioning is fine. Positioning himself further to the left of the lane before it split into three may suggest to drivers that he is going to take the left lane when it does split.

And regardless, it’s perfectly okay for a cyclist to cycle in the middle of the lane they’re travelling in, and especially so given the state of the roads and the detritus that litters the roadside.

[BoRED S2upid]

MrBarry123 said:

BoRED S2upid said:

Not sure your positioning in the second example was necessary do you need to be in the middle of the middle lane to go straight across? You’re not a car. Outside of lane 1 would still have been fine, bmw would have passed and not felt the need to give you abuse.

I’ve not experienced any increase in hostility very rarely do but then I prefer to give way to cars or let them pass if I’m holding them up.

I would say the OP’s positioning is fine. Positioning himself further to the left of the lane before it split into three may suggest to drivers that he is going to take the left lane when it does split.

And regardless, it’s perfectly okay for a cyclist to cycle in the middle of the lane they’re travelling in, and especially so given the state of the roads and the detritus that litters the roadside.

The BMW driver didn’t think it was perfectly fine. That’s the only point I was making. Yes it’s fine what he did in the Highway Code but not if your an irate bmw driver hence the abuse.

[popeyewhite]

echazfraz said:

...so that I feel the part when out on it.

Either you want to feel the part or you don't.

[echazfraz]

Louis Balfour said:

You need a helmet cam and Youtube channel. Practice shouting car number plates as you pursue wrongdoers.

I last rode a week ago and started when bikes had solid tyres, by the way.

Not entirely sure of the points you're making - I last rode a week ago too, and some bikes still have solid tyres

What I did in both cases that I used as examples is just crack on, rather than go all Cycling Mikey or similar, and was asking if it was normal to get abuse and is said abuse on the increase

But cheers for the input

[Ferruccio Fan]

Drivers toot or shout at me when I'm on foot ,for no reason whatsoever .

Morons should STFU and leave me alone !

[echazfraz]

BoRED S2upid said:

Not sure your positioning in the second example was necessary do you need to be in the middle of the middle lane to go straight across? You’re not a car. Outside of lane 1 would still have been fine, bmw would have passed and not felt the need to give you abuse.

I’ve not experienced any increase in hostility very rarely do but then I prefer to give way to cars or let them pass if I’m holding them up.

Not necessarily in the middle, no, but it's hard to know where you'll end up in the lane as there are no markings for a bit so I just aim for "the middle".

The left lane is a left filter so being in that lane then going straight would be cheeky and I'd expect to get abuse!

And I don't think that I held the BMW up per se, he'd have been able to go to the left of me very early on, so I really don't know what his passenger's beef was.

[SoliD]

I actually thought when the rules lifted last week, that people were a little bit more politer, almost like they're happir people. But in the weeks and months of the last lockdown, everyone was very angry.

[echazfraz]

popeyewhite said:

Either you want to feel the part or you don't.

I'm a firm (well, slightly soft in certain areas) convert to full lycra on a road bike - so much more comfortable.

[MrBarry123]

BoRED S2upid said:

The BMW driver didn’t think it was perfectly fine. That’s the only point I was making. Yes it’s fine what he did in the Highway Code but not if your an irate bmw driver hence the abuse.

You also suggested the OP’s positioning wasn’t “necessary” because he’s not “a car” which is exactly how the BMW would perceive the situation.

[BoRED S2upid]

echazfraz said:

And I don't think that I held the BMW up per se, he'd have been able to go to the left of me very early on, so I really don't know what his passenger's beef was.

Could have just been a tt and you were unlucky. The margins when cycling are very fine couple of inches one way your cycling in the gutter couple of inches the other and your deemed to be in the middle of the lane.

[anonymous-user]

I’ve not had it for a while. Last I’ve witnessed was when I was running (on the pavement) and some wannabe motivational speaker suggested I . . .

“Run faster you slow ”

Which was probably fair enough tbh.

[J4CKO]

Its a freaky thing to feel compelled to shout at passers by, simply by virtue of the fact they are in a faster vehicle and are able to get away.

Sometimes its just "Fun", though trying to distract or make someone jump isnt great, sometimes its making a point that you got in their way momentarily, thing is they cant afford that delay but will be prepared to have a barney at the side of the road.

I do see some of those videos where cyclists are a bit passive in a confrontation but some days I swear I would have chinned some of them

This one,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_6e0t8sDevs&t=...

[yellowjack]

BoRED S2upid said:

MrBarry123 said:

BoRED S2upid said:

Not sure your positioning in the second example was necessary do you need to be in the middle of the middle lane to go straight across? You’re not a car. Outside of lane 1 would still have been fine, bmw would have passed and not felt the need to give you abuse.

I’ve not experienced any increase in hostility very rarely do but then I prefer to give way to cars or let them pass if I’m holding them up.

I would say the OP’s positioning is fine. Positioning himself further to the left of the lane before it split into three may suggest to drivers that he is going to take the left lane when it does split.

And regardless, it’s perfectly okay for a cyclist to cycle in the middle of the lane they’re travelling in, and especially so given the state of the roads and the detritus that litters the roadside.

The BMW driver didn’t think it was perfectly fine. That’s the only point I was making. Yes it’s fine what he did in the Highway Code but not if your an irate bmw driver hence the abuse.

Similar experience to the OP at a roundabout about a year or 18 months ago. Approaching a roundabout, lane splits into two, left for left turn only, right for straight over and right turn. I want to make a right turn, so I check behind and continue into the right turn lane. Suddenly I've got a Nissan Micra driver alongside me on my right, and he's using the car to try to force me out of the lane. He gets his car thumped, then starts yelling something about being "security". He follows me along for a short distance telling me to pull over and "exchange details". I tell him exactly how many hopes he's got of that happening. Suddenly he decides he wants to 'u' turn, and disappears back the way he came.

A short distance later I've got blue lights behind me. At the approach to another roundabout a female police officer draws alongside and asks me to turn left so she can "have a word". Micra boy is behind her. Turns out he'd spun around back to where she'd been parked when we both passed her car. Matey-boy launches into a tirade, accusing me of all sorts. Wanting "justice" for me "smacking his car". She asked me for my side, but matey-boy won't shut his pie-hole. She offers to shut him in her car if he doesn't calm down. Asked if I'd hit his car I said I had. Asked why, I told her that I'd been in fear for my life, and with no horn to sound lashing out to draw attention was my only recourse. Told I shouldn't hit cars, I reply that, in accordance with local signage, I expect to be given 1.5 metres by passing cars. And that the Highway Code strongly advises against overtaking "at or approaching a junction" (which a roundabout most definitely is ). I point out the length of my arm, and ask her if it's unreasonable for me to expect cars to stay out of hitting distance. Then she beckons matey-boy back over, and he starts bawling again. She asks him to point out any damage, and I rather helpfully point out to her that there isn't an undamaged panel on the entire car. anyway, the interaction comes to an end when (without requiring any details from me) she thanks me for my time and asks me to leave, and the fat Micra driving security guard gets invited for a chat at her car. No idea where that conversation went, nor do I care, but the situation clearly didn't go the way this malodourous lump wanted/was expecting it to.

Other times I've been abused for "not riding in the bike lane", even when the bike lane is full of contractors vans outside a building site. Or when cars are illegally/inconsiderately parked in said bike lane. And similar to the OP I've also been shouted at/beeped at by car and van drivers a) where parked vehicles are blocking their lane AND I was already established alongside those parked cars, and b) where a defined priority pinch point has been installed, with priority clearly marked in my direction of travel AND I got there first. There are just a hardcore minority of wkspangles who posses outstanding levels of arrogance/ignorance, and who appear to have got their driving licences from a Christmas Cracker.

In short, many drivers will say that cyclists "should obey the law, and the rules, just like drivers do". Except when you ride like you would drive, they don't much like that either.

And for what it's worth I no longer use passing places on one section of New forest road to allow vehicles behind me to pass. Clearly I don't need to, judging by the number of oncoming drivers who'll happily drive right past a passing place without pulling in. If passing places aren't needed when going head-to-head with a bicycle on a single lane section, then they aren't needed to pass a cyclist either. You can't have your cake AND eat it, as they say...

[popeyewhite]

J4CKO said:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_6e0t8sDevs&t=...

They both seem appalling people!

[Kawasicki]

I get the odd shout, I always assume it’s women hurling compliments in my direction, as I’m quite attractive in my cycling gear.