I can see why that must have been annoying but I would think something like that is a very rare occurrence. More likely to come across a learner driver who stalls or someone not paying attention who holds everything up. At the end of the day it's only a slight delay though isn't it !
Quite why anyone should have resorted to blasting his/her horn for 5 minutes is more worrying for me - an extremely stressed individual it would appear and someone fairly likely to be the cause of a far more serious problem or two further down the road!
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If only cyclists and motorcyclists obeyed the Highway Code . . . but far too many don't, and that contributes to their being treated badly by other road users.
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Errr, motorcycles passing stationary traffic is actually allowed in the highway code! As long as it's safe to do so you're even allowed to do it when taking your motorcycle test.
Gareth
p.s. being a pedestrian in London I have to say that cyclists going through red lights is the worst.
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I do agree that cyclists tend to behave quite badly, often ignoring red lights, riding on pavements, going the wrong way up one way
streets etc. That's not to say motorcyclists and car drivers are much better of course and I can't help thinking that if they thought they could get away with these things many would do so too. Let's face it, it's easier to break these rules on a bike and that's why it happens more.
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OK, I'll give you that one, although a quick look at the Highway Code only reveals "When overtaking traffic queues . . ." in section 71. Now think about all the rest: tailgating, reckless overtaking, passing on the inside, passing between streams of fast-moving motorway traffic, etc.
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You're right, overtaking traffic queues is permitted, that's stationary or slow moving traffic.
Hopefully the very good power to weight ratio of a motorbike should allow safer overtaking but some riders (like some drivers of course) act like idiots. I'm sure someone can remind me who said that to truly judge a person's character you should give them some power, this could have been said with driving in mind!
As a car driver and motorcyclist I can say that it's much more dangerous if a car driver wants to 'teach a motorcyclist a lesson' for some sort of injustice like this, there aren't many injustices that are worth a motorcyclist's life.
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There are idiots around - some of them drive cars, some ride bikes (both varieties).
I have no problem with motorcyclists going to the front of a queue - if I wanted to do it, I could easily get a motorbike. I do object when they decide to go through gaps between cars in parallel lanes at 60mph!
Don't particularly mind cyclists going to the front of the queue - at many junctions the markings allow them a space for this - as long as they don't continue through the red light, or veer onto the pavement and suddenly become a wheeled pedestrian when it suits them.
Was this situation actually any worse than it would have been had a car driver stalled at the front of the queue?
As for tailgating and all the other bad habits - car drivers are just as guilty as motorcyclists.
And do some people think that sounding their horn is miraculously going to make the obstruction disappear?
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Agree with the comments about motorcyclists, they usually can get away much quicker than I can so dont affect me. Similarly there are bad examples of every kind of road user.
What I really object to are the pedal cyclists who come past while you are stationary at traffic lights etc when the road the other side of the obstruction is so narrow that you end up sat behind them for ages before it's safe to pass them again.
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I really think we're beginning to get the result of few dedicated traffic police - people aren't getting a quiet word the way they might have ten years ago.
I'm not anti-gatso, but I am anti the decline in driving standards which seems to have accompanied the 'speed is the major issue' campaigns.
We're about to have tougher action on mobile phone use - people definately pull out without looking much more than they used to, and about 80% of the time they're on a mobile phone - but who's going to be around to enforce it?
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> We,re about to have tougher action on mobile phone use
How are traffic cops going to see who's using a mobile when its hands free. I was behind a lorry on the M4 yesterday, my passenger suggested the driver was swerving because he was on a mobile phone, when we got past he had a road map on his steering wheel!
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Cyclist at front of queue? How terrible! Probably didn't fancy breathing the fumes of the 20 cars just passed.
So on this one occassion it caused delays. How many times on your commute have you overtaken the same cyclist? Over a 6.5 mile commute I used to regularly arrive at the office ahead of one of my near neighbours who chose to drive and I *always* beat the bus. Yet at any given point I could have my neighbour in front or behind me. Difference was, I could maintain a fairly steady 15-20mph throughout the journey as I overtook cars approaching junctions, traffic lights, roundabouts.
If you have to wait through a narrow part, it could be any cyclist that's in front of you. It may not be the one that recently undertook you. If it is, does that make it any better or worse?
For reasons that I fail to comprehend, the worst driving I've witnessed has been on wet winter days when many motorists seem to have an unhealthy desire to get home before anyone else. I suspect it's linked to the increase in traffic on such days. Each time I've been knocked off it's been on just such a day, despite wearing full length day-glo yellow clothing with reflective piping and carrying 2 front and 2 rear lights. In each instance, it has been shortly after a junction where I have overtaken slow-moving traffic. Revenge?
Perhaps we should all give more thought to everyone outside our car, not just a selfish view on the person sat in our driving seat? Life would be a lot nicer.....
Needless to say, I no longer cycle to work. 186 miles is a bit too much!
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If I don't reply it's nowt personal, I'm just working!
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If a cyclist or anybody else is in front of me no problem they have as much right to be there as I have and I frequently am that cyclist / pedestrian / slower driver. I just would like people to be considerate to other road users & if people have a choice of staying where they are in a queue or going to the front and then travelling very slowly where others cannot then overtake making the considerate decision.
When I am driving the old Commer I am sometimes travelling more slowly than other drivers want to go, the considerate thing is to pull in as appropriate so thats what I, and loads of others, do in that situation.
I agree with you we should all give more thought to the other people on the road, as a (fairly) regular cyclist I totally accept that cyclists are far more sinned against than the sinners.
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Just a thought, but if you're undertaken, you're almost certainly in the wrong lane...! Doesn't excuse it maybe, but you could have made it unnecessary.
What may look like reckless overtaking to you may or may not be - have you ever ridden a powerful bike?
Tailgating on a bike - who is going to get hurt? Yup, the biker - except he has better brakes than you, a higher and therefore better riding position/view and the ability to move to your offside in a fraction of a second if he needs to make extended braking space... so what is tailgating? Something which you dislike, or something dangerous?
Neil
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Certainly agree with No Dosh about everyone on the roads trying to be more considerate to everyone else. How much time, stress, pollution and loss of life that would save at a stroke and at NO COST !!!
Given the congestion of our roads and poor driving of many, it's a bit simplistic to say that the result of an incident in which a biker tailgates is simply going to be a hurt biker. An incident on the road however caused is also likely to have far more severe consequences as has been shown time and time again when motorway cameras have recorded the start of an incident caused by a relatively minor error which has subsequently been compounded into a tragedy involving many vehicles and some loss of life due to the actions of others.
ALL road users have to be more responsible and blaming one group or another for all our ills is nothing more than self-delusion. It's really not that difficult to be considerate and banish from the mind that inappropriate feeling of aggressive competitiveness which seems to accompany driving in whatever form.
Saw a piece yesterday in which a young couple were knocked off their motorbike by a couple of idiots racing their cars on public roads. The inconsiderate and reckless actions of one group led to the death and disablement of the other. Reason - no consideration for anyone else, pure and simple.
I wish the accident figures showed how many accidents, injuries and fatalities are a direct result of a consciously inconsiderate act by someone. You know the sort of thing that happens every day when drivers: actually speed up to block others entering the road; accelerate when someone's trying to overtake them; drive far too close to the vehicle in front in order to intimidate; change lanes repeatedly and erratically in a traffic jam etc. etc. I reckon that most accidents are down to either stupidty and/or lack of consideration for others so we all need to look at ourselves and our own behaviour each time we get in our cars.
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Quote Volvoman "...I wish the accident figures showed how many accidents, injuries and fatalities are a direct result of a consciously inconsiderate act by someone. You know the sort of thing that happens every day when drivers: actually speed up to block others entering the road; accelerate when someone's trying to overtake them; drive far too close to the vehicle in front in order to intimidate; change lanes repeatedly and erratically in a traffic jam etc. etc. I reckon that most accidents are down to either stupidty and/or lack of consideration for others so we all need to look at ourselves and our own behaviour each time we get in our cars..."
Exactly - the speed of a vehicle has very little to do with level of safety at any particular moment, it's down to a whole host of other driver errors / mistakes, both intentional and unintentional that a "safety" (revenue) camera will not see.
If anyone saw "Britain's Worst Driver" on TV last night, they will have seem some truly apalling / incompetent / dangerous driving, 99% of which had nothing at all to do with speed.
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Quote James Jameson - "the speed of a vehicle has very little to do with level of safety at any particular moment, it's down to a whole host of other driver errors / mistakes, both intentional and unintentional that a "safety" (revenue) camera will not see"
True, but the speed of the vehicles involved has a lot to do with the possible consequences of driver errors/mistakes, to the point of making the difference between a "near miss" and a fatality. Anything that reduces the possibility of injuries/deaths is surely worth it.
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Got to disagree in large part James - speeding may not be the cause of an given incident but there's no doubt that it's a major contributing factor in the seriousness of the outcome of many. So, our friends racing their cars would have been far less likely to have killed/maimed the bikers had they been driving slower at the point of impact. Surely that's obvious. How many times has a minor shunt on the motorway resulted in a massive pile up simply because what would've have been avoidable at 60-70mph was not so at 80-90mph due to the increased stopping distances involved ? Speeding is not be the direct cause of every accident but if people didn't do it many accidents either wouldn't happen or wouldn't be so serious. IMO speeding is just another form of dangerous driving. Anyway don't want to sidetrack this thread further or further enrage the Mods. so suggest further talk about speeding be posted under the designated thread.
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Volvoman et all,
There is an interesting item on the Ride Drive website - 3rd Party Perception - find it on Google.
It shows the possible dire result of even a few seconds loss of cool in a subsequent 'no blame' accident.
Matt35.
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PS,
Trying to post the link to Ride Drive;
www.ridedrive.co.uk/
Did it - our for a lap of honour!
Matt35
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This is the link you want matt35
www.ridedrive.co.uk/tipoffs/3rdparty.htm
Well worth the read . Just need to take to heart for some.
Phil I
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Thanks Phil,
Glad I am not involved in computer tuition!
Matt35
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Alright, the author is correct with his/her conclusion. Only thing that I don't understand is how many of the other drivers will stop, get out of their cars, check out what has happened, wait for the police, speak to the officers, etc? I suppose 99% of the drivers having seen you will just drive-away...
Vagelis.
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