Why Is Cycling Making People So Angry? | GCN Show Ep. 593 

We are overwhelmed by the comments under this show! There are lots of experiences shared by so many of you Just to make sure there are no crossed wires, by ❤'ing a comment we are not necessarily showing we love what is in the comment, sometimes it is shown as a thanks for the comment!

I'm a cyclist located in the United States (Colorado) and we have the anti-cyclist issue here as well and it is also political here too. Note that Colorado is arguably one of the friendlies states in the union for cyclists! I have had people get angry at me when we are in a vehicle and I ask that they slow down for just a moment or give a cyclist a little extra space because it is a tight shoulder or turn. More than one person I've been in a car with has said statements such as "if he gets killed it's not my fault, he shouldn't be on the road". That is INSANE to feel that way about another human being.

People are angrier in general these days, cyclists are just an easy target.

Motorists: "Cyclists shouldn't be on the road!" Also motorists: "Stop spending money on cycling infrastructure that gets cyclists off the road!!"

I think one of the issues is perception. If a cyclist violates a law, people remember it and apply to all cyclists. If a driver breaks a law, people (who are generally drivers) dont really perceive it as a problem, for example speeding, mobile phone use, tailgating etc. I was thinking about this when a car just rolled over a pavement out of a driveway when it was my right to walk past. If that was a cyclist, a lot of people would get angry, but as it was a driver, people just accept it and dont really perceive it.

I think social media has really exacerbated this problem

In the UK 99% of drivers are ok towards cyclists. It's important not to make the 1% who dislike cyclists seem like 50%. Legacy media is on its last legs. National newspaper circulation is so low now it's not worth worrying about anything they write. As for the BBC, well they'll be gone soon anyway. Keep calm and carry on riding.

I've enjoyed road biking for more than thirty years, but I have never been so demotivated to ride my bike than under the current climate, where there is so much hostility towards cyclists. How did we get to this? It's utterly depressing.

I am personally terrified of riding on the road, I usually ride on trails. I had a friend pass away due to a distracted motorist and another gravely ill in the hospital for the same reason. "Funfact": the motorist that almost killed one of my fellow cyclist kept telling the police officer, "I don't know why you are here, I was doing the speed limit". I think we are doomed as a society...

Yesterday someone tried to overrune me on purpose. At first he overtake extremly close with his SUV. Then he blocked the road in front of me and screamed at me. I was full of adrenaline an screamed back, wich i shouldn't had do. The he tried to overrune me. This was so close. Was about 300m from home after a 3h ride. I never cried after a ride. Happend in germany on a public holiday.

Most cyclists are also drivers. Very few drivers are also cyclists. Right there is a big part of the problem - it allows the non-cycling drivers to treat the drivers who cycle as some sort of enemy tribe. Another part of the problem are the lies told to drivers. They are sold ever more expensive vehicles (and have to pay ever more to use them) via advertising that promises them wide, empty roads. Whereas the reality is an hour-long crawl into work in the morning, and an hour-long slog to get home again at the end of the day. On pothole-riddled roads. Who gets the blame for the potholes? "bloody cyclists", who pay nothing towards the roads' upkeep (apart from those cyclists who own cars, or pay any sort of tax, obviously - but let's not mention them). Who is actually to blame for potholes? Those who are responsible for squeezing road maintenance budgets, in combination with those who drive heavier and heavier vehicles. But we don't want drivers blaming the actual source of the problem, when there is a convenient minority all ready set up to be scapegoated.

This phenomenon does not exist in the Netherlands. Main reason is that we have lots of separate bike paths. A lot lot. Even in nature reservats where can come with bike, not with car, sometimes yes you could come with car, but only as a rural small dead-end street. Once you push bikers, motorists and pedestrians on one giant pile where you get all the conflicts. The root of all the angrynes. So solution: more separate bike paths. Convert some rural roads into dead-end street for cars, but where bikes can still go on. Add new roads around the towns. Add more bike/pedestrian tunnels or bridges. Or Just lift the road. Add some trains and busses.

Motorists are going to have to deal with the reality of driving in cities: As they expand to fit more people, not everyone will be able to drive in a single passenger vehicle everywhere. It's simple math. This is why future-thinking councils are adding more cycling infrastructure and transit. But this frustrates drivers who think "I was able to drive my car from A to B in 15 minutes 15 years ago!" so they lash out at people riding bikes, thinking we are a special interest group rather than people who are doing the logical thing and enjoying themselves while riding to school and work. Paris is figuring this out, Amsterdam has been doing it, Copenhagen etc etc.

Whenever the government wants to detract attention from some scandal of their own making, they tend to bring up any one of a number of classic “potential policies” as they know us idiots will start debating them and forget the other stories of the week. Examples include - raising the speed limit on motorways, insurance / license plates for cyclists, etc. it works nearly every time…

The "MH-14" was a joke, as it's a Microphone Holder, and Park always name their tools with the initials of exactly what they do. E.X. Chain Checker is CC-4, Bottom Bracket Tool is BBT-9, Saw Guide is SG-7.3 etc. Ollie and Bartholomew would have gotten it... Also, Kudos to Connor for pronouncing my name right!

A percentage of cyclists ride inconsiderately, holding up traffic by riding 2 abreast, or in big groups, jumping traffic lights, weaving through traffic, or with no lights…. In short, cyclists are seen as an unwelcome road hazard by both drivers and pedestrians… That motorists also drive inconsiderately seems not to factor in.

I love the idea that being nice to an angry motorist will descalate the situation. I've always found that being nice and friendly to angry drivers just inflames the situation as they think I'm mocking them (What? Moi?). My worst road-rage incident while on a bike was a guy that followed me along a narrow country lane sounding his horn to try to get me to levitate out of his way. when I could pull into a passing place, I waved in a friendly manner as he passed. So what did he do? Just an emergency stop, jumped out and was all set to clobber me (60 year old woman) when the following driver actually drove his car between us to cut him off and then told him where to get off.

One of the main reasons people hate cyclists is jealousy, in general general people tend to have animosity towards people who are doing something about their health. You see someone doing something that deep down you know you should probably be doing, and instead of dealing with the subconscious thoughts about your own health, you lash at the people doing things that trigger your insecurity about your lack of fitness and health

I’m in the US. I think people are angry at cyclists because they hate driving. It’s a chore, and it makes them irrationally angry when anything at all gets in their way or slows them down in the slightest. People drive angry. When I personally drive I almost always see someone else on the road acting out with their car. I want things to improve but for myself I’m not willing to be a martyr for the cause. The ghost bikes I see are enough of a deterrent. I seriously think it’ll take people not being able to afford their vehicles anymore and looking for alternate transit to get the views to change. Until then it’s rail trails for me!

I’m a cyclist and also drive a BMW - I have no friends 😢

I got stuck in traffic at rush hour the other day. It took me 20min to go about 1.5km. A few cycle commuters, and I'm talking about 5 I saw in that time, sailed on past effortlessly and disappeared off into the distance right to the front of the queue at the next lights. No stress, or frustration. I so wished I was on my bike that day! Funny how motorists don't see one of the obvious solutions.

Why is the attitude to cyclists so different in France? Every summer I tour through France, the French love cycling and cyclists. I agree the government are trying a deflection tactic. And boy, do they need one!

The Daily Telegraph (effectively Tory party Pravda) has been going with cyclist hating headlines for weeks. Today "I fought the blob after Cyclist killed my wife", yesterday "number plates for cyclists to solve road mayhem". It's insidious and incredibly dangerous, as it all contributes to the zeitgeist over and above winding up the frothing readership. The fact that they would onky mount this sort of campaign with the approval/encouragement of our current governing party is profoundly depressing.

In addition to everything mentioned, we subconsciously attribute car issues to the cars directly, but attribute cycling problems to the human involved. For example, “that car almost hit me!” Vs “that cyclist almost hit me!” We believe cars are just part of the environment that we have to deal with, while cyclists are humans that can be banned, limited, changed, etc.

I pretty much only ride on trails and roads with very little traffic nowadays. All it takes is one idiot to ruin your life

Cage rage. It's actually a psychological term. The rage can be aimed at anything, really. Bikes are just more "in the way" for cars than other means of transportation..

Here in the Seattle area we've got more cyclist paths and bike lanes... which some people (I've noticed mostly older generation) think they get to block with dog walking or standing and chatting. They then don't move with an initial "on your left" and an "excuse me" leads to angry looks. I'll admit I'm not the type to keep silent and will indeed give them full attitude

I respectfully disagree with the idea of taking the Gandhi route to anger against cyclists. The fact that most of the civilised Europe has moved towards a cycling friendly attitude - Spain, France, NL, Italy, Sweden, Denmark, Belgium, Germany all come to mind - whereas UK is receding into the middle ages says the way forward is to fight back. I will not turn the other cheek when a driver cuts me off because he thinks it's his right to drive the way he wants.

Considering yet another person has been killed by a dangerous dog today, if there is any kind of argument for 3rd party insurance for cyclists surely the same has to happen for owners of dogs of prescribed breeds as a far higher priority.

50 years motor industry experience and I can tell you the standard of driving is at an all time low. A trainee RAF officer using lights and a family man was killed by a motorcar user, he was let off because he was a businessman

I had a conversation with a friend who hates cyclists. After a long discussion we isolated it to the fact that “they’re in my way”.

No idea what to do about all that rage. I live in the Netherlands and am both a cyclist and a driver. The world is at peace...

Okay - cancelling my trip to the UK next week. Reporters are obviously on a rampage and will be trying to put me in jail because I will be riding a bike. Hillarious!

Most drivers are courteous and give cyclists room because a few seconds' delay isn't going to harm them. However, I experienced a situation only today where I moved to the right of the lane to turn right after clearly signaling. A car then raced up behind me and undertook me, shouting, "What the f**k are you doing?" Some drivers will get a stern reply when they act like this.😡

But you can still kill someone on a bike with a car, and it's just an accident. What a dumb ass law.

Being inside a car is stressful.. everything is out there to 'harm' you (or your pocket) speed cameras, traffic agents, other vehicles might damage your car, you may hit a huge pothole and damage your car, even the weather can damage your car.. That's all out of my mind when I'm cycling.

In all things; on a bike, in a car, at work or at home, I advocate for the "show, don't tell" approach. Hold yourself to the highest level of civility and respect that you want to engender in those around you. People don't generally respond well to lectured, regards of how tactful you are. Collectively we will make positive change!

Cyclsts are an easy to "other" or "out" as a group as it's a minority mode of transport in the UK. The tories are desperate to do anything to appeal to their base who at this point are more right wing than they usually are. Cyclists are an easy target for them. Most people aren't made angry by cyclists. Conservative party members however ( the sort that thought Liz Truss would make a good PM, to give you an idea of their competence) get very angry at cyclists so given the tory party's current goals, they're an easy and risk free group to attack. Meanwhile British cyclists suffer more dangerous driving as a result having been whipped up by rags like the Daily Mail and Telegraph, goaded on by the tories.

I've noticed that many motorists seem to forget that most of us cyclists (99.9%) also own and drive motor vehicles as well. When I've reminded some of this obvious factoid, they seemed to deflate and walk away.

Only 4 pedestrians are killed by cyclists compared to 400 people killed by cars

My small act of resistance was cancelling my subscription to the Telegraph Online. Been meaning to do it for a while but it felt good telling the ‘win back’ agent that it was because of their anti cycling stance. The fat blobs!

Am I the only one who would love to see video with Connor's mother in law giving advice on how to fold cycling shorts?

Bicycles are not "motor vehicles" so by law they don't need insurance in order to be ridden. In the case of e-bikes with a throttle it may be different depending on how fast it can go.

A smile and a thumb's up to angry motorists goes a long way to confuse the hell out of them long enough for the situation to pass.

Should pedestrians carry their insurance papers too then? They walk in the middle of cycling lanes with headphones on and totally oblivious to cyclists, regardless of bells, shouting bike back. Bloody dangerous. Here in Perth, Oz motorists hate cyclists yet complain about traffic, CO2 emissions 🙄🙄etc.jokers!

I bet the motorists who are angry at me when i'm on my bike and the motorists who get angry at me when i obey the speed limit in my car are probably the same

Start cycling a while ago, maybe two weeks. Cycling on the road is a nightmare, even though I already cycling on the white thingy at the side of the road, but still many motorcycles and cars just honk at me to move out of the way. There's even a motorcyclist yelling at me to move out of the way, even though I'm on the shoulder of the road. For this time I gave up cycling on the road and just went for small uphill and trail roads. Another worst case I ever had is, as a cyclist you just get ignored, like you never existed. Car or motorcycle passing you? they just went by not even moving a little bit to pass you. Want to use a traffic light? Nuh uh, there's a motorcyclist who wants to turn, you just happen on the wrong side, and boom your front tire just gets hit. Want to stop at the shoulder of the road or get out of the road? Nuh uh, get honk again to move out of the way.

I ride in The States (Southwestern Ohio) mainly on Rail Trails accessible 2 miles from home. Safety is my main concern at 66 year old but when I road ride I do it from 9am to 3pm to avoid rush hours on 2 lane local roads. Retired and every day is a Saturday...

Simon Pegg posted a “joke” video slagging off cyclists on Instagram whilst he was driving and my goodness the hornets nest of hate he stirred up was frightening. He basically made it okay for these people to voice their vitriol, even insulting people who said they lost cycling family members to motorists. Yet go to Europe and cyclist are not demonised

On the topic of how to respond to an environment hostile to cycling, I am on board with Si to keep cycling and be happy about it as much as possible. I've been bringing my girls to school by bike for 2 years, and I've slowly seen more families arriving by bike and scooter. I hope that seeing someone doing this was enough to encourage a few families to make the jump to active transport.

I agree with Si’s point about being courteous and friendly. I try to make eye contact with oncoming motorists and give them a wave. More often than not I get a wave back. At intersections I will let drivers go before me, they will likely pass me if I go first.

Since I've started cycling, one comment ive heard often is "dont let the ebikes on hiking trails, theyre too dangerous" but nobody is going extra fast downhill with a motor and most people use them to creep up the climbs without wearing themselves out. When I point this out, they usually concede and get upset about something else cyclists do

Proabably multiple reasons. Impatience is one. Road rage is directed at other drivers as much as cyclists. Everyone is in a hurry. And, the other reason is semi political. Cyclists especially on the road in lycra are stereotyped as healthy, possibly vegeterian, and environmentally conscious. And that means far left liberal.

I love road cycling, but I’m always very careful to choose my routes carefully. I’ll always do my best to avoid busy, main roads. It’s not always possible to exclude them completely - but with a little planning and map reading you can minimise how much time you have to spend sharing the road with busy traffic. I always thank cars that wait to pass me when it’s safe - but I’m amazed by how many he need to overtake on corners or the brows of hills, just to save a couple of seconds. I try to pull over if I sense I’m holding someone up and there’s a safe spot to do this.

I have heard that drivers are far more considerate when cameras are around. I already look stupid in a bright orange bike helmet and now I have to plant a camera on top to make people behave.

I am a car driver and own 7 bikes… cyclists need to follow the rules of the road, car drivers need to be less angry! But if you kill someone by your actions (as a bike rider) then you should expect a similar sanction to any other case of manslaughter.

Some people want to drag everybody else down to their level. If that's paying tax, sitting in traffic, being miserable, they want everybody else to suffer too.

Society hates cyclists in Britain, when I started in the 1980s people would think you were weird riding a bike and wearing all the gear. That’s more acceptable now but the roads are far busier and the country is massively over populated. I drive and cycle and you can see people getting stressed driving because the roads are so busy. I do see the odd nice driver when I’m out but cyclists are considered disposable by the general public. I will only ride on certain roads now due to it being too dangerous. I wouldn’t recommend any to ride on the road. Also the law considers cyclists non people compared to other countries. I see cars go through red lights 10 times a day and nobody says anything but when a cyclist does it it’s big news. Both are dangerous .

Sense of entitlement, the misguided belief car owners also own the road, jealousy, anger issues relating to other aspects of their lives. A whole range of factors come into play. Cyclists are just the easiest target at the end of it all. If a driver can’t pass safely/give the appropriate amount of space they shouldn’t be on the road at all, simple as that (I both drive and ride) One can only hope they have a lot more patience with the partner and kids back home…

As a bike courrier from a coop, in a small city in France, i can concur that MOST interactions with motorists are cordial and fine. There will alway be your average SUV driver overtaking at an unsafe distance on an intersection, but you learn to keep your cool. We don't have such aggressive policies coming our way, (yet) right now the latest debate is on the generalisation of mandatory technical checks for motorbikes... Something specific to bike courrier tho is with the growth of Uber-like plateforms for food deliveries, most of those courrier are encouraged to ride carelessly, often cutting the way of cars and pedestrians. This is due to the platefom paying them near to nothing for every course and the alocated time for each course slowly but surely shrinking. And i feel some kind of resentment from pedestrians and some motorists when I'm riding with a food-grade backpack, like they are anticipating me doing something crazy. Strangely i don't have this when i ride my cargo bike. I feel like if something like mandatory insurance for cyclists comes to France it will be anounced as a way to police the platefoms' courriers, as a lot of them are undocumented, and as said earlier some of them are causing trouble ; but it would be a shame !

We cycle out of the city and more on country roads with less cars. Still people honk and yell at our group. The self entitlement is unreal. Always thought that driving was a privilege and not a right. If you can wait 5 plus minutes in a drive thru for a coffee then you can wait 30 seconds to pass us. Oh yes....i also drive.. Lastly how would you feel if a family member of yours that cycled was put at risk by a driver?.

The "sausage check" was unnecessary until the UCI banned the super tuck

My bike was hit by an 18 year old in a corvette going at 100+ mph. Fortunately, bike was in the back seat area of my truck which was totaled - bike in perfect condition, drivers too. I notice a homicidal idiot on the road on every bike ride, and drive these days..... Covid has turned many drivers into a Mad Max universe character that won't share the road with cyclists, pedestrians, animals, or other motorists...or maybe its always been that way

This is genuinely depressing. Can’t help feeling like the only way it will get better is ‘with time’ as today’s kids don’t seem bothered by cars and the world of work is slowly going remote. I know I a lot of motorists feel like they’re being priced off the roads so they take their anger out everyone else. My main interests are bikes AND cars so I always find it confusing how everyone seems to hate each other

There’s some barmy stuff going on here: Insurance for cycling. That should only ever be an option, not a necessity. Cows are cool, just talk to a farmer and understand how to be around them. Finally - Lycra is a choice we should all be allowed to make. If you don’t want to see a persons sausage bulge, stop looking at their shorts.

The more I cycle and the more I got into it, the more I noticed complaining and drivers who hate us. And the more traffic violations I notice. It seems like things compound more and more especially with the addition of E-Bikes on top.

I’ve always thought it would be great if one of the soap operas had a storyline where one of the main characters could take up cycling for his or her health and really get into it and enjoy it and it became socialised as a normal thing to all the people who watch such shows, millions of them.

When a motorist gives me grief I just wave and smile - pretend that it is a mate saying hello! Usually defuses the situation...

It's been my experience over the 40 years I've been riding on the road, A-holes are gonna A-hole. What I always tell people is, if confronted by an angry motorist, just wave. They are trying to get a reaction out of you and when it's not what they expect, it ruins their day. Happened last weekend when doing a gravel race. We were on a rode transition when some A-hole, who was going the opposite direction was honking his horn and giving us the finger. Just wave to the guy. See ya A-Hole!

MH-14 - Microphone Holder - 14. That means Park Tools has made at least 13 other versions of the Microphone Holder.

7:56 you are making great points in the "what do we do about it". Unfortunately, having high adrenalin during the rides makes it difficult to handle situations calmly. The best advice is to get out and ride, power is in numbers.

I commuted every day for fifteen years riding on roads around a busy town. I can count on the fingers of one hand the amount of times drivers gave me any grief. This is culture war, pure and simple, a nasty government seeking to sow division to cause people to blame one another rather than them for more than a decade of their failures.

I often think drivers are doing something they don't want to do. Driving to work, driving to the supermarket, driving to their 98 year old grandfather in law (who can't even remember his own family's names, let alone theirs), etc. More often than not, they are rushing to finish these things. They then see somebody riding a bike which means they have loads of spare time and are having fun. The driver wants to be doing fun things and like a child, lashes out to spoil other peoples fun. How dare anybody have all this spare time to think about waxing and nutrition.

#captioncompetition: No sir, Tadej needs neither your spare tyre nor your inner tuba

I'm a commuter cyclist in Lancaster County Pennsylvania. The presents of horse, and buggy is a more hot issue around here. Also, jealousy is a big issue. The fact that traffic jams are avoided on an uninsured vehicle, that burns no fuel. Becomes a hot topic.

There's a petition on our county website to ban cyclists from a stretch of road as the limit is 60mph and said to be dangerous for cyclists, there is a parallel cinder path...not fit for road cycle tyres or speeds. The petition has a single signee. My cyclist head says the obvious solution is to drop the speed limit and look to get more people on their bikes. My motorist head says happy to drive slow for a cyclist

Anti-cyclist attitude comes down to one thing - we are faster than cars when they are stuck in a traffic jam, which is often.

Hence the rise in popularity of gravel. I spend as little time on roads as possible, just long enough to get me to a forest track or rail trail. I think the ‘gig economy’ is giving cyclists a bad name. Most of the Deliveroo/Uber Eats delivery people are on e-bikes. If your income depends on how many deliveries you make and you get penalised if your delivery is late, sure you are going to ride through red lights and take a short cut, the wrong way up a one way street.

I live in Washington, DC. Right now there’s a political fight going on between the Mayor and cyclists about installing a bike lane down the most important boulevard in the city, Connecticut Avenue. While there are lots of great bike lanes in DC, one on Conn Ave would make if possible for cyclists to safely use the main artery in town. But motorists hate the idea, small businesses have the misconception that reduced parking slots will hurt their businesses, and the Mayor has been hearing from little old ladies who are afraid to step across a bike lane that runs between the curb and the roadway, where they step into their Ubers. I believe we Americans should be looking to European cities to figure out how to design bike lanes, parking, and sidewalks that allow all three traffic flows to coexist happily.

I will add another motorized variable to the equation. There is a walk-run-bike path where I live in the U.S. that runs past an elementary school. In the afternoon as the kids leave school, not only is the traffic a problem at the path's street crossings, there are the parents picking up their kids in golf carts (electric and gas powered) driving on the path as a short-cut to/from the school. The carts take up the width of the path and worse yet, some kids

Interesting to hear the anger towards cyclists in the U.K. It's the same phenomenon in the U.S, in many states. On this side of the pond people are increasingly fat. This might have something to do with it. People are upset at people that exercise and get fit. Cyclists are an easy target because they share the road with road raged individuals, and these roads are increasingly crowded.

Hate sells...especially with cycling as it one of those sports it's either loved or hated. Unfortunately most the UK hates it

Poorly designed roads with insufficient space for cyclists and other road traffic is a major contributor. The umbrage taken about someone getting in front and not having to wait their turn is probably part of it, too.

I think some of this is due to the rise of electric bikes or hybrid. This bikes are fast and the people riding them don’t know the rules of the road. There are other reasons to include cyclists that act entitled to the road. Unfortunately there are multiple reason. We as cyclists need to set the example of being a better road user then vehicle drivers.

The real problem with cyclists on the road is that we make people driving cars have to look up from their phones. You know how drivers hate distractions.

Biggest issue at least here in Australia is ebikes and escooters riding on footpaths at very fast speed knocking over the elderly and handicapped not on actual roads.

I'm going to upset some people here... Cycling has been my main means of transport for 50 years from starting university. I've advocated for cycling. I've cycled all over, under, around, through London sometimes at high speeds - faster than underground from Earls Court to East Ham and faster than car from Horsham in Sussex to Swiss Cottage. I've had suit and laptop in panniers for 25 miles, washed and changed in gents at council offices for important meetings and been smartest dressed in the room. I've ridden fixed, luggage carriers, steel. aluminium, and carbon fibre racers in all weathers. But I've lost my nerve as a cyclist and become ashamed of being known as a cyclist. How many times have I stopped at red lights at pedestrian crossings only to have a bike smash past me and swerve through folk on foot, elderly, pushchairs, wheelchairs - goes back 20+ years. Greenwich & Woolwich Foot Tunnels - ultra bad behaviour done by all demographics (and, occasionally, not done by all demographics): my son (also a cyclist) bought a car to visit us in Beckton from Woolwich because the tunnel wasn't safe for his pregnant wife or our grandson in pushchair. Still fit and with good reactions, I feel unsafe on pavements and, when with my wife (less mobile due to several injuries) and other age 70+ friends and relatives, pavements can be terrifying due to bikes, ebikes, scooters. Mountain bike handlebars make bikes wide. No lights, inadequate lights, huge blokes with heavy loads... that's massive momentum and kinetic energy moving silently. The rage and aggression shown by cyclists towards other cyclists and pedestrians. I still ride up steep hills faster than most pedal cyclists but ebikes cruise up with no effort and wide handlebars to catch you and flip you over. My daughter just had her first child: from what some might call very woke and a dedicated London cyclist, she now hates bikes while surrounding her comments with conceding we need a total re-work of transport infrastructure and the delivery riders are paid so little they can't afford to bother with Highway Code (which they probably don't know exists). Now... I walk up to ten miles from A to B. My Travel Pass gets me off the pavement. I now drive a large diesel Ford Galaxy to ferry wife and friends to their classes, meetings, etc and to carry DIY gear to work on friend and family houses. I gave away two bikes in lockdown and replaced them with an Orbea 7-speed urban bike which I use after cutting 30mm off each handlebar end and might remove more but the time taken to put on lights, lock up, etc makes walking better for anything up to 35 minutes. I am getting my 2018 Roubaix Elite serviced to have one last go at doing 100 km a day on it or my 2007 Cannondale SystemSix. Depending on what I think at end of June, I'll get rid of one or the other or, possibly, both and finally give up on cycling. If Roubaix does well, I'll get wider tyres and the kit needed to service hydraulic brakes myself. But I'm scared of riding out of town on my own due to the motorised haters and muggers. As for cycle lanes... there must be some that demonstrate some sort of logic and value but all those around here seem to exist to tick a spending target. They are far worse than when we had no such lanes for a variety of reasons: too narrow to be useful; the push cars & buses close to each other in the centre of the road so, if something startles them, they swerve into the bike lane; they often make life difficult for pedestrians; they take you out of the line of sight of motor vehicles; they make motor vehicles (and ebikes etc) turn across you when they turn left; they make faster bikes and ebikes run closer to slower bikes than is safe. Nobody uses them (except me and I hate them so I'm giving up on them). Motorists who hate cyclists may be a minority but it's not insignificant. Must be at least 10% and that's a lot of motorists (and some of those are genuinely nice, reasonable, Highway Code respecting people who are now fed up with cyclist attitudes). On top of that, maybe 1% are furiously reckless drivers (I've seen them and been scared by them as pedestrian, cyclist, and driver and as member of a community police speed checking team). But a heavy bloke on a bike or scooter doing 25+ mph downhill furiously on and off pavements is even scarier. There are higher levels of hate and unwarranted aggression than in my younger days but it's a vicious circle with cyclist behaviour as part of that feedback loop.

Drivers have been sold a lie and they are trying to compensate. It's not their fault, they were told having a car would give them the freedom to travel. That freedom comes with the cost, of having to pay road tax, Insurance costs which keep increasing, petrol costs to keep the vehicle running, a yearly MOT to keep the vehicle is roadworthy, and if you were stupid enough to take out a new car on finance a monthly fee just for the sake of owning it. Cycling gives you the freedom car advertisers like to pretend their owners have with a fraction of the cost.

A lot of political posturing here that is aimed to appeal those on the fringe of sanity. The change in the law to allow courts same sentencing guidelines as causing death by dangerous use of a car/motorbike is sensible. The rarity of the incidents doesn’t diminish the severity when it happens. We need to make sure we don’t give others the ammunition to shoot us down and ride within the rules. Also we need to speak up with those that actually make the rules, not get into situations with other road users.

Maybe its the warmer weather and people driving with their windows open, but it feels like every van and suv driver has shouted at me this past month. Or maybe they all have tourettes. I'm torn between cycling and living longer in this miserable country.

I'm a cyclist in the Netherlands. We have really good cycling infrastructure. There are still roads without a cyclepath, or cyclepaths that crosses with the motorist roads. I never experienced any form of road rage from motorists. They can see that I pay attention to the road, and it's users. On the other hand, it's just the other cycle path users that are not so nice.

i'm from germany and living there too. I am an on off cylclist myself, but i apply all* road rules when i am riding on the road (except speed limits, if exceedable). But what ashames me the most is, when people ride their bike really unsafe and ignore all traffic rules in existence! I can understand motorists who are angry because of those few black sheeps! This applies to people just riding a simple bike to get from A to B, to cyclist tryharding everything. Even I am angry at those people being reckless and ride like they own the entire world. I totally agree with Si, that leading by example is the best thing i can do.

I’m sure every cyclist set off on a weekend ride in good spirits and rising above the close passes and negativity but after 3 close passes in on one ride patients wears thin

There are just a lot of angry people about. Welcome to the world. I agree with Si, follow rules, be courteous and friendly, and don’t get overly worried and anxious.

This is why i think it's best to go through red lights and try and get to work as fast as possible, as there is nothing worse to a car driver than having a cyclist waiting at the lights in front of you or having to overtake his/her sluggish pedalling. I try and not hang about either way to avoid irritating them further.

Human beings act the same way no matter their circumstances. People will walk around a city and complain about cars, as they walk back to their cars only to complain about the pedestrians. And, we have to admit that just like every group there are a lot of cyclist that are part of the problem. But, to categorize everyone on two wheels as the same is ridiculous. Commuters, Mountain Bikers, Roadies, and BMXers all have different needs and circumstances. You'll never convince a person who doesn't think about others to start no matter what rules you put in place.

While cyclists don't kill or injure many people we should take a minute to think about our actions while on a bike. There have been safety campaigns for most other forms of transport so why have one for cyclists. Don't think about it as the percentage of deaths or injury from a collision as this is a small number. A death is still a death and if we can educate 1 bad cyclist then that should be a positive. This law will not affect responsible cyclists, but I do not agree with mandatory insurance/registration. Most cyclists are good, respect other road users and laws etc, but like any other sector of road user there is a small proportion that give the rest a bad name. Like car drivers should not feel privileged to be the sole users of the roads, we as cyclists should not feel privileged to ride in whatever manner we like even if it is dangerous just because we are cyclists.

Speed is seen as anti-social. Now that cars have been restricted to 20 mph cyclists exceeding this amount are now the "enemy".

Sausage check. I was a swimmer when I was a boy and later started playing waterpolo. I remember back in the seventies bringing my first girlfriend to a waterpolo match, and she was surprised how openly we all positioned over "sausage" over and over again - before jumping into the water, returning from the water, returning to the water, waiting at the poolside, and so on I had never been aware of this, but she was right. We did it all the time. I guess some cyclists could learn a thing or two 😂 Bicycle shorts. I remember once when I was riding close behind a sweaty older man whose bicycle shorts got almost see-through when the sun shone in the "right" angle. From then on, I never wore one special pair of shorts when it was sunny because they made me just as exposed 😮

I am based in London, Riding bicycle to work during summers in London. I started Cycling in London since 2016, then in 2019 started driving and recently started my Motorbike as well (2024). I'm better driver because I'm a cyclist and Motorcycle rider, because I have all 3 perspectives. What I have noticed: Cyclist do tend to jump the lights and break most of the road rules. This is why most of the motorist dislike cyclist. I always tend to keep the Road laws as a cyclist as I am on the road. The amount of wild and weird cycling i have seen in London streets is amazing (people with noise reduction headphones/ No shoulder checks/those many rental/lime cycles). Being a cyclist and being driver will help both parties, there are groups who have never experienced or had any opposite perspective. if you have that you will be a better motorist and a better cyclist IMO.