ColinOldnCranky wrote:Mervyn Hull has pretty much outed himself and made it fairly easy to filling the gaps - his credibility, how a "toot" is holding the horn down continuously, what his understanding is of the law and his expectations of what cyclists should do to accomodate him, his generic criticism of cyclists etc. Have a listen to him in an interview at
http://blogs.abc.net.au/files/mervyn-hu ... lists-.mp3
Worth having a listen. After this I feel justified in inferring the fault as belonging to him and to question anything he says alleging bad cyclists. He fits a stereotype of the angry cyclist hater who dresses up his bigotry in self serving arguments, largely irrelevant to the specific circumstances.
Well, having listened to Hull's almost incoherent ramblings, I now understand that the incident actually occurred on the ascent of Highgate Hill at
Gladstone Road, where there are in fact two lanes. Yes, this is a slow section for many cyclists, and yes other cyclists may ride two abreast (bunches maybe even three abreast) to overtake them, but there is clearly plenty of room for overtaking. Besides, Hull is going to turn left in a few hundred metres, so what is the rush to overtake.
Then he goes on about the intersection...some cyclists turning left, some going straight ahead.
This is the intersection he's complaining about (at the traffic lights). There are two through lanes for motor vehicles and one for bikes, and there is a left turn lane. Most cyclists turn left. There is even a service road which many cyclists use to catch a breath or two instead of using the turning lane. Around the corner, after about 50 metres (packed with parked cars) the road quickly plunges down Dornoch Terace (see the streetview on my previous post).
If Hull can't cope with any intersection like this one which seems to provide for all traffic situations, then its time he handed his driving license in.
It seems to me that many motorists are much more aggressive towards cyclists than they are to other motorists because they don't expect cyclists to be able to catch them and hold them to account for their actions. No doubt it is a terrible fright when they are delayed by traffic and the cyclist actually does catch up with them and returns fire.