"Why are cyclists so angry" Article in The Age

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Euan
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Re: "Why are cyclists so angry" Article in The Age

Postby Euan » Mon Mar 12, 2012 7:46 am

The thing is, when stuff happens the instinct is to assume malice. Niney nine times out of 100, that's not the case at all. Someone made a mistake, maybe more than one person made a mistake.

We all make mistakes, none of us are perfect. What I do is look to what I could have done to prevent the situation from happening in the first place, most of the time there's something I could have done differently. Hindsight is wonderful, only if we use it to our advantage.

Posturing up and getting in to a fight about who's right and who's wrong is not going to help anything.

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Ross
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Re: "Why are cyclists so angry" Article in The Age

Postby Ross » Mon Mar 12, 2012 10:57 am

KonaCommuter wrote::(

I am a motorist who gets frustrated by cyclists who please themselves as to which road rules they follow and which they don't.
Early the other morning I was parked on a quiet road and opened the door of my car only to almost hit a cyclist centimetres away from the door - when there were no cars on the road at that time. He then proceeded to loudly swear at me. I don't see why he was so close to my car???
My understanding was that if you use the road, use a lane on the road???
Maybe more education is required on all of this.
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Daisy
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Feb 23, 2012, 12:05PM


Get’s told that she is 100% in the wrong. Has the legislation quoted to her and she responds

To whoever quoted the rta site, it also says this:
"Under NSW law, a bicycle is considered a vehicle and subject to the same road rules as other vehicles" - a car would have been travelling along a lane marking to get that close to me.
And whoever told me to look in my mirror - the cyclist would probably have not been visible as they were SPEEDING along.
Take some responsibility for yourselves cyclists!!!
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Daisy
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Feb 23, 2012, 05:26PM

:(
Cyclists can't win! Normally we are abused for taking the lane and told to keep left so this cyclist was doing that and then this woman says after dooring the cyclist that he should of been riding further out in the lane and that he was probably speeding. Not often you get accused of speeding on a bike, normally getting abused for riding too slowly and holding traffic up.

Percrime
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Re: "Why are cyclists so angry" Article in The Age

Postby Percrime » Mon Mar 12, 2012 12:38 pm

Actually to not be visible cos of speed means that the cyclist must have been traveling faster than light. Unlikely.

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WestcoastPete
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Re: "Why are cyclists so angry" Article in The Age

Postby WestcoastPete » Mon Mar 12, 2012 2:06 pm

Percrime wrote:Actually to not be visible cos of speed means that the cyclist must have been traveling faster than light. Unlikely.
Speak for yourself :D

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Xplora
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Re: "Why are cyclists so angry" Article in The Age

Postby Xplora » Mon Mar 12, 2012 4:21 pm

I get pretty psycho out on the road if anyone deliberately endangers me - I will do the exact same in a car as well. The road is an EXTREMELY dangerous place for a soft body with bones. I have 2 kids and a wife. I will not accept bad behaviour by bottomfeeders who are too stupid to realise what impact their behaviour will have on my life. They will get a serve, and a LOT more, if they choose to try and enforce the fact that I am a vulnerable roaduser and they are not.

Does this make me an angry cyclist, or just a person who demands the respect that the law requires, because he gives it to others? :idea:

MikeyD360
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Re: "Why are cyclists so angry" Article in The Age

Postby MikeyD360 » Mon Mar 12, 2012 4:28 pm

I think there is no win-win for cyclists - we ride on the road and risk death. If we assume the government magically decide to create seperate PSPs everywhere to seperate cycle and motor traffic then we will just have more incidents between cyclists going fast and cyclists ambling along leisurely (or pedestrians) and then we will end up with police enforced 15km/h speed limits on all PSPs and before you know it the fun of cycling has been killed off in the name of safety for all. I'd rather take my chances with the cars and trucks than mix it up with hippies and dog walker ipod zombies on the undulating cross country terror paths that pass as PSPs around here.
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WestcoastPete
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Re: "Why are cyclists so angry" Article in The Age

Postby WestcoastPete » Mon Mar 12, 2012 4:32 pm

Xplora wrote: Does this make me an angry cyclist?
Yep.

I think the point of the article and this discussion is that anger usually doesn't help the situation and often makes it worse. Sure, it's really hard to not to become angry in these situations, but the more I try to not be angry the better the outcome for me and the person I'm speaking to (if get a chance to speak to them).

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ColinOldnCranky
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Re: "Why are cyclists so angry" Article in The Age

Postby ColinOldnCranky » Mon Mar 12, 2012 5:37 pm

Xplora wrote:I get pretty psycho out on the road if anyone deliberately endangers me - I will do the exact same in a car as well. The road is an EXTREMELY dangerous place for a soft body with bones. I have 2 kids and a wife. I will not accept bad behaviour by bottomfeeders who are too stupid to realise what impact their behaviour will have on my life. They will get a serve, and a LOT more, if they choose to try and enforce the fact that I am a vulnerable roaduser and they are not.

Does this make me an angry cyclist, or just a person who demands the respect that the law requires, because he gives it to others? :idea:
On that description, yes, angry cyclist.

You describe a rider who will never convince others of their need to change (assuming that your own judgement is right in the first place) but will only add to the angst that is already out there in truck loads. A more conciliatory and less righteous approach may not convince EVERY abberant driver to change for the better but it may change at least one or two. And will certainly not make the bad drivers any worse.
Unchain yourself-Ride a unicycle

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Xplora
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Re: "Why are cyclists so angry" Article in The Age

Postby Xplora » Mon Mar 12, 2012 10:17 pm

^^^
I'm not preaching Jesus when I ride, I'm going from A to B. Until cycling is illegal on public roads, I will NEVER accept vehicular aggression or carelessness (in general either) from anyone because our road system is clearly based on one sole principle - you drive the car, you are responsible for it. You can't blame your rapist father, no one is forcing you to drive.

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ColinOldnCranky
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Re: "Why are cyclists so angry" Article in The Age

Postby ColinOldnCranky » Mon Mar 12, 2012 10:28 pm

Xplora wrote:^^^
I'm not preaching Jesus when I ride, I'm going from A to B. Until cycling is illegal on public roads, I will NEVER accept vehicular aggression or carelessness (in general either) from anyone because our road system is clearly based on one sole principle - you drive the car, you are responsible for it. You can't blame your rapist father, no one is forcing you to drive.
Careful bringing in itinerant jews into the discussion. :mrgreen: "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone". I venture that you have screwed up in the past and will in the future. And, not unreasonably I think you would not expect a full on self-righteous rant in your face. I know that in my case when I do screw up most people let it ride, give me some benefit of doubt or quietly chide or discuss. And I mostly let them have their say, sometimes even learn from them.

Perhaps I am misreading you but your comments make me think full-on self-righteous rant. I hope I am misjudging. :oops: :|
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Xplora
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Re: "Why are cyclists so angry" Article in The Age

Postby Xplora » Mon Mar 12, 2012 11:35 pm

ColinOldnCranky wrote: I venture that you have screwed up in the past and will in the future. And, not unreasonably I think you would not expect a full on self-righteous rant in your face.
Actually, if I treat another person on the road with utter contempt, even by accident, then I would expect a fully blown rant in my face. I often nerf it up and have to apologise. When someone is sincerely apologetic because they can see I want the path and they are hogging it, I thank them, or I tell them that no apology was necessary, because I have to share with them just like they must share with me. I think people have a right to be extremely upset when their lives are endangered. I think people have a right to use the same resources as me as well, I just want some consideration to make it easier to share.

I think reasonable people can see that mistakes can be very serious. Someone will die this week at work from an accident. If you endangered my life at work, would you expect to walk away without getting a piece of my mind? Of course not.

I reckon you understand my point - it's just the limpwristed postmodern tolerance that castrates people to stop them expressing a fully legitimate concern.

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Re: "Why are cyclists so angry" Article in The Age

Postby greyhoundtom » Tue Mar 13, 2012 6:47 pm

Xplora wrote:I get pretty psycho out on the road if anyone deliberately endangers me - I will do the exact same in a car as well. The road is an EXTREMELY dangerous place for a soft body with bones. I have 2 kids and a wife. I will not accept bad behaviour by bottomfeeders who are too stupid to realise what impact their behaviour will have on my life. They will get a serve, and a LOT more, if they choose to try and enforce the fact that I am a vulnerable roaduser and they are not.

Does this make me an angry cyclist, or just a person who demands the respect that the law requires, because he gives it to others? :idea:
I agree wholeheartedly with this point of view.............someone stuffs up either deliberately or by simply being careless and crying “it was an accident” they are going to cop it big time from me. :x

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il padrone
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Re: "Why are cyclists so angry" Article in The Age

Postby il padrone » Tue Mar 13, 2012 6:58 pm

ColinOldnCranky wrote: your comments make me think full-on self-righteous rant.
What exactly do you see as self-righteous about a desire not to be run down by a 2 tonne motor car ?? Anger is an entirely normal reaction to a direct threat to one's life.
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Re: "Why are cyclists so angry" Article in The Age

Postby trailgumby » Tue Mar 13, 2012 8:53 pm

MikeyD360 wrote:I'd rather take my chances with the cars and trucks than mix it up with hippies and dog walker ipod zombies on the undulating cross country terror paths that pass as PSPs around here.
There's a balance to be struck. I scooted on the footpath for a bit through neutral Bay tonight because of large numbers of buses occupying the stretch of road I needed to be on to turn left. Prior to that, though, I negotiated the mobile chicane iPod zombies on the shared-use path through St Leonards Park and was wishing I was on the road.

Generally, though, yes I prefer the roads as drivers are, for the most part, much more predictable.

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Re: "Why are cyclists so angry" Article in The Age

Postby Bananas » Sun Mar 25, 2012 11:46 pm

I had a really horrendous experience with a cyclist today as a pedestrian which left me feeling quite shaken up and wanted to share.

Walking to work at about 7am today and came to an intersection the little green man started to blink indicating my turn to cross the road so I stepped off the curb only to see a rider zip around from behind a taxi in one of the lanes - unsure as to whether he was going to shoot through or jump up onto the curb I stepped back to allow him room to move when he stopped. So I stepped back onto the road to cross only to have him start yelling at me that "do you see the white line there?? - well i stopped at it didn't i??"

An extremely aggressive and large man which was quite physically intimidating to me as a young woman - this is something I don't think a lot of men realise they come accross as. I am a cautious pedestrian and I simply said to him quite courteously "just making room for you mate" and the litany of abuse he began to scream at me was absolutely mind boggling - I hadn't said a word to him before that, I hadn't given him "a look" nothing to warrant such aggression, which was why it left me reeling as I continued to walk to work. I think had I been a man of similar size I wouldn't have heard a peep out out of him - but as a woman perhaps I was an easy bullying target.

I'm not sure if this was a cyclist vs pedestrian situation that just seemed to escalate for no reason or whether I just unfortunately happened across an absolute psycho who happened to be riding a bike, but I thought I'd vent here anyway as I am sitting here at home 15 hours after the incident still feeling quite shaken up about it.

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Re: "Why are cyclists so angry" Article in The Age

Postby Wayfarer » Mon Mar 26, 2012 12:18 am

Bananas wrote:I had a really horrendous experience with a cyclist today as a pedestrian which left me feeling quite shaken up and wanted to share.

Walking to work at about 7am today and came to an intersection the little green man started to blink indicating my turn to cross the road so I stepped off the curb only to see a rider zip around from behind a taxi in one of the lanes - unsure as to whether he was going to shoot through or jump up onto the curb I stepped back to allow him room to move when he stopped. So I stepped back onto the road to cross only to have him start yelling at me that "do you see the white line there?? - well i stopped at it didn't i??"

An extremely aggressive and large man which was quite physically intimidating to me as a young woman - this is something I don't think a lot of men realise they come accross as. I am a cautious pedestrian and I simply said to him quite courteously "just making room for you mate" and the litany of abuse he began to scream at me was absolutely mind boggling - I hadn't said a word to him before that, I hadn't given him "a look" nothing to warrant such aggression, which was why it left me reeling as I continued to walk to work. I think had I been a man of similar size I wouldn't have heard a peep out out of him - but as a woman perhaps I was an easy bullying target.

I'm not sure if this was a cyclist vs pedestrian situation that just seemed to escalate for no reason or whether I just unfortunately happened across an absolute psycho who happened to be riding a bike, but I thought I'd vent here anyway as I am sitting here at home 15 hours after the incident still feeling quite shaken up about it.
What an absolute loser. His mother obviously didn't teach him etiquette. Maybe when he speaks to his friends, he likes to yell at them an inch away from their ears too? But don't worry about losers like him; the majority of riders on this site hate riders like that (i remember a few months ago, a guy posted a video of himself cutting through red lights, and the amount of abuse he got made the thread get deleted). I just hope you understand the double standard though.
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Re: "Why are cyclists so angry" Article in The Age

Postby greyhoundtom » Mon Mar 26, 2012 11:37 am

You are absolutely right!

To be abused by someone large and threatening for no reason at all when you are only trying to do the right thing is horrendous and would leave you quite shaken.

As was said earlier the guy is an absolute loser and probably kicks his dog and abuses his wife as well.

Most definitely a psycho that just happened to be riding a bike ................ unfortunately this type of mongrel also drive cars, and as cyclists we have to put up with the type of behaviour you unfortunately experienced as a pedestrian from some motor vehicle drivers more often than we would like.

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Re: "Why are cyclists so angry" Article in The Age

Postby Mulger bill » Mon Mar 26, 2012 8:58 pm

He's a tool, end of story.

This time he was on a bike (probably for 0.05) When he gets his ticket back he'll be doing the same from inside his F250 pizzle enhancer with the huge wheels and Foff, we're full sticker on the back window.

It sucks that this hung like a gorilla moron was your introduction to riders, trust me, most of us are nothing like this.
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