WHo do you pefer to knock over? Let's try again.

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dralex

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WHo do you pefer to knock over? Let\'s try again.

We have several busy congested roads near us and I cannot help but notice the number of motorists who pull over to let motorbikes pass unhindered. The problem I have with that is they pull over into the cycle lane and very often impede cyclists. Are these motorists just wanabee bikers and crave the acceptance and thankful wave of the bikers? The last time I noticed, bikers have no special privileges on the road, except when they have flashing blue lights.

I have nothing against bikers ( except when they come screaming towards me on my side of the road) and would even consider getting one ( a motorcycle!!) myself, except am scared stiff of the injuries I have seen them sustain.







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Re: WHo do you pefer to knock over? Let\'s try again.

Neither I would say, hit the brakes would be the most practical. If I had to choose I'd go for the motorist, little chance a small child would be riding it as opposed to the bicycle.

Stop using you car could also be an option....

Arno
 
Re: WHo do you pefer to knock over? Let\'s try again.

Easy for someone from the flatlands to say /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif- you should see some of the hills around here.
 
Re: WHo do you pefer to knock over? Let\'s try again.

Wouldn't DREAM of having a motorbike, mainly for the reasons you say.

Been a keen cyclist all my life, but wouldn't ride one in amongst traffic. Load them on to the carrier on the back of the car, and drive to a local park, or we've got some old railway tracks round here we can use.

/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
Re: WHo do you pefer to knock over? Let\'s try again.

Ah, but would there be so much congestion if it was'nt one person in a car?
I don't really have much choice as I commute about 120 miles a day from Kent into Wimbledon, no easy way by public transport, by car anything between 2 hours each way upwards, by motorcycle about an hour and a bit.
I'm very grateful when people let me pass and don't think its my right.
As for who should get knocked off, perhaps neither, it might cause one of those nasty injuries you mention.
 
Re: WHo do you pefer to knock over? Let\'s try again.

I used to pull over in the car to let motor cyclists pass and they were generally courteous to the gesture. However now I cycle everywhere and alot on main roads - I would run them down without a second thought if it was between them and me on my little old mountain bike.....
 
Re: WHo do you pefer to knock over? Let\'s try again.

As a motorcyclist most of the time (some of us are part time car drivers, cyclists and/or pedestrians as well,) I would, while not wanting to discourage car drivers from being courteous to motorbikes, suggest that they hold their course and don't pull over. It doesn't really help your driving and it kicks up a lot of gravel etc. from the gutter into the road. Not to mention knocking over cyclists and clouting pedestranians with your wing mirrors. Most of the time if a bike wants to go past you while you're moving they will just do it; if they can't get past without you making room then it is either not safe or not worthwhile. Or they're on a restricted 125 in which case it will take about 10 minutes anyway.

re the injuries bit, it isn't actually compulsory to ride like Barry Sheene on a suicide mission, hard though that is to believe on some weekends in Hampshire, so life-threatening injuries are not always inevitable. If you drive a car to work every day you won't actually live any longer, it'll just feel that way /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
Re: WHo do you pefer to knock over? Let\'s try again.

I commute into London on a motorbike on far too a regular basis for my liking and am with you on this.

I will make my way past a car when I am ready to and not before. If they pull over in a safe manner and give me a gap they wil get the nod or wave that they deserve.

What I do not appreciate is when on a motorway a car pulls halfway out of the lane while dong 70 and expects me to shoot past the outside of him. He either moves all the way or I stay put. ( Not that I would exceed the speed limit to pass him of course......ahem)

Another thing that gets me is when a biker hoots at the cars to get them to give him a gap. Gives the rest of us a bad reputation and if I was the car driver, I would not go out of my way to help his progress.

W
 
manners maketh a biker?

Yes, although I don't do much motorway riding (none actually) to have that cause me any bother. Hooting from a bike in the outside lane is like flashing someone from a BMW.
I think we all suffer from the plonkers who try and shave the last few seconds of their ride to work, though.
A mate at work loathes and detests bikers because of the antics of some of them in Southampton, and I have to agree with him to an extent. Riding to the front of the queue at the lights then turning left across the lane is one of his pet hates. Not to mention mounting the pavement to overtake.

Then there are the scooterists who are completely immune to all harm, or at least you'd think so by the way they race each other through 2-lane traffic that's already doing 30mph. Do all towns have them these days? It gives me the heebie-jeebies just watching them. They'll probably move on to drive souped up hot hatches with boom boxes. Maybe I'm just getting old? I'll be hankering after a Harley next!
 
Re: manners maketh a biker?

So what about the cycle rider, you know the ultra environmentalist who takes a kick at your car, either just because its there?

If you have'nt experenced this, try Brighton!
 
Re: WHo do you pefer to knock over? Let\'s try again.

Having seen many a motorcyclist lying in the road waiting for an ambulance to arrive, I try to keep out of their way and will always make an obvious move to make it clear I have seen them and am prepared for them to overtake me (colregs for bikes in London I think). There was one occassion however when I was sitting in a slow moving line of traffic on Wimbledon Common and a motorbike overtook the queue in what I coinsidered was an outrageously agressive manouvere and at a speed that was way too fast for the conditions. I immediately commented to my fellow passenger that he was an accident waiting to happen.
When I saw him 2 minutes later next to his bike which was burried in the side of a van - I 'm afraid I laughed very loudly through the fully open window.
 
Re: WHo do you pefer to knock over? Let\'s try again.

Shame on you Dralex
I thought I was the only person to make space for motorcyclists as I have almost never observed other motorists doing so
I do this in the hope that other car drivers might do the same (perhaps it worked)
From past polls it seems that the only motorcyclist "seen" by most
drivers are police. In fact drivers see but ignore them
(they don't count, type of mentality)
In the Highway Code it used to be the case that you give way to a motorist (any motorist) wishing to overtake
The vast majority of motorcycle accidents are caused by four wheeled vehicles. I suspect that car drivers who are considerate to motorcyclists
are probably themselves riders or ex riders.
Remember a rider is usually another car off the road

Regards Briani
 
Re: WHo do you pefer to knock over? Let\'s try again.

We get hordes of bikers on flashy, noisy bikes with particularly ineffective silencers in the Lakes. They move en-masse (what is the collective noun for bikers? - how about arseholes?)
What gets our goat is that they have absolutely no - zero - regard for speed limits. "20-30-40mph we've got them all, but bikers couldn't give a toss. They just wind back the grip until they come to another queue of traffic which they pass by crossing double white lines The LDNPA got the wrong target when they went for power boats.
 
Re: WHo do you pefer to knock over? Let\'s try again.

I too tend to move over in traffic, wherever safe, to allow bikes through. I am always a little concerned at the potential for the sort of shunt that Colin describes.

Some years ago I took my PCV test, on checking my licence the examiner immediately picked on my bike qualification, suggesting that he expected me to be well aware of the dangers that large vehicles can present to bikers (powered or not). Would have been very embarrasing if I had failed to see any bikes.
 
Grateful bikers.

Typical example:

In traffic recently I stopped to allow a car to turn right out of a side street. In my mirror I spotted a bike coming down the outside of the queue of vehicles behind me. I stuck my arm out the window and made it very clear he should stop which he (sensibly) did. It was all too obvious the reason why I had stopped him and, although he may well have stopped without my indications, there was not the slightest hint of acknowledgement or gratitude.

Incidently he was wearing a London Ambulance reflective jacket.
 
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