A van hit me ... luckily I'm fine

[Ugo51]

.. it's amazing how little of a shit some folks give.

It is, isn't it?
Scary stuff

 

[Betsy]

note: I've also had drivers and passangers hanging out of windows screaming at me for daring to be on the road in front of them, "blocking" their overtakes and moving out for dangerous junctions. Whilst not all car drivers are morons, we do seem to attract the ones that are.

True^
It's the outright aggression which gets me and its not just from red faced middle aged podgy men in £70,000 cars who're upset that you're travelling faster than they are.. I ride to work early in the am so the roads are somewhat deserted but ride home in early rush hour, i was riding home last week, in a cycle lane but i was approaching a dad with his toddler in one of those pull along trailers who was going pretty slowly, stuck my arm out and pulled out into traffic to overtake, the lady in the car 20yds or so behind accelerated to close the gap then started shouting abuse at me out of the window.. like it was 'her' road and how dare i be riding on it.. usual bullshit "use the cycle lane" & "I pay road tax" ect.. well so do i but i commute on the bike so who's supporting who here?
She was just so damn angry!

 

[Ugo51]

I think a lot of people channel their frustration on the road.
Which is worrying because angry and frustrated people tend to do stupid things...

I sometimes overreact too. Not proud of it...

 

[novocaine]

I sometimes overreact too. Not proud of it...

Snap. guess the difference is when you overreact on a bike the worst you are going to do is hurt yourself and dent someones pride and joy*, unlike in a car, where you are possibly going to cause life altering injuries.

* I have had someone get out of their car and take a swing at me because I gave them the finger and shouted rather loudly what I thought of their less than ideal act of overtaking as I approached a blind junction to turn right. I don't want to tell the story on here (it's your thread) i other than to say that hitting a bike helmet with force is bloody and painful, so is finding yourself spread eagle on the road with 170lbs of cyclist sat on you. Fighting is not the answer people, big breath and let it go.

 

[Ugo51]

Snap. guess the difference is when you overreact on a bike the worst you are going to do is hurt yourself and dent someones pride and joy*, unlike in a car, where you are possibly going to cause life altering injuries.

Definitely, but as you say, sometimes it's better (and wiser) to let go.

 

[2manyoranges]

Very glad it was not worse and you are OK.

My last encounter (I was on a green light, the motorcyclist jumped a red and hit me - and Police pursued it in my favour, all the way to court) left me with a broken back and separated shoulder. Lots of physio and riding has got me back to very good fitness.

My view now is simple.

Off road, any mistake is mine. I can do all the risk assessment and I reduce or up the risk.
On road, effing Wild West. Very time I do a road ride I feel vulnerable, and every other ride we get some form of abuse.

For me...off road wins hands down.

 

[Roasted]

I rode my bike once in London, it was one of the scariest experiences of my life, never again.

It might be better now with all the cycle lanes but as a pedestrian I thought I was going to be hit by a cyclist at any second.

 

[2manyoranges]

I rode in London for 15 years, no incidents to speak of ...well, there was the issue of youths throwing halfbricks at cyclists, but their aim was poor, and the taxi driver who opened his door on me and then went mental, and so on ... and so on ... actually it was fairly shit, but you got used to it, and rode really defensively in some places, and really offensively in others. But the single Big One I had indeed was a big one....

 

[novocaine]

riding in Nodnol has to be considered as a different approach to the majority of the rest of the country (although both Manchester and Liverpool are a half way house between the real world and the capital). If you aren't riding aggressively you are swept along and this leads to other issues. I rode for a short while in Manc as a courier and that taught me a lot about riding in a city, or so I thought, I wound up in the big smoke for a few months on a job and decided to ride instead of using the tube (which I hate), all that I learned was useful but far from enough. I survived it, but I don't envy those who have to ride there.

having said that, don't come out of capital and expect to ride in the same way on normal roads, it will land you in just as much bother as the obverse.

 

[hookooekoo]

Car /van drivers are getting worse and worse as time passes. Whether it’s overworked , lack of ability or mind on their phone It’s very rare I arrive home without having to make some sort of movement to avoid a incident. Usually minor but sometimes especially what could end up as bad accidents (for me)

I think the so-called 'gig economy' has a lot to answer for in terms of road safety. A lot of businesses don't want to employ delivery drivers and buy and maintain a fleet of vans. They want to off load all of that risk onto individuals. Why pay someone a monthly salary and incur all the expenses of owning and maintaining a delivery vehicle fleet, when you can contract people on zero hours contracts or per-parcel contracts, and make them pay for, acquire, insure, and maintain their own delivery vehicle? They also don't want the risk of paying someone when there might not be enough work/deliveries.

I don't want to get too political with this, but I think that ultimately, this is what happens when the number of workers exceeds the number of jobs. When it's an employer's market, they can name their terms and conditions, and if people don't like it, there's an almost endless supply of desperate people who will step up. Occasionally there are stories of delivery drivers caught on camera peeing or dumping somewhere they shouldn't. Of course it's horrible when delivery drivers do that, but what are they supposed to do when they have a mountain of parcels to deliver on an almost impossible schedule?

A week or so back a small car aggressively overtook me while I was driving, then sped through a red light. I thought they just weren't paying attention until I saw them squeeze past another car that was waiting at the next red light, and go through that traffic light at red too. I was close to home at that point, so imagine my surprise when I pulled into my road a minute or so later, and saw the same car completing the drop off of a takeaway meal!

Here's one of many articles on what's going on (click the text to read the full article).

Patrick Wilson’s* heavy eyelids drop momentarily as he parks on a steep terraced street on the suburban edges of north Bristol. He raises a fist to cover a deep, primal yawn that makes his whole body shudder with exhaustion. He has been on the go since 7.30am, when he filled every bit of free space in his battered VW people carrier with packages and bags from the likes of Amazon, M&S and Next. He hasn’t had time to take a break or go to the toilet and it’s now nearly 3pm.
https://www.theguardian.com/busines...as-parcel-delivery-drivers-driven-to-the-edge
“I picked up 220 parcels in the morning,” he says, examining the chunky GPS device that records and dictates his every move. “I’ve done 77 but I’ve got 143 left. That’s a lot.”

I sell cars and the amount of people who buy them who should have had their licenses removed a long time ago is insane. In the last 18 years I’ve done countless test drives and literally came back and asked them if they have considered quitting to be always met with “I’m a great driver”

Sounds interesting. If you have time, could you give some examples? Are they people who simply drive far too fast? Have you ever managed to work out which people are most likely to drive like lunatics beforehand? Do the loons tend to want to test drive powerful cars?