4 CommentsRoad rage

Why is it that so many people become such raving loonies when they get behind the wheel of a vehicle?

Maybe (probably) they are already crazy but the act of driving brings it out to the surface. I should say that it is really only a very small percentage of drivers that behave this way. I must pass and be passed by thousands of vehicles every day and there are only one or two a week that I would class as properly bad drivers. By that I mean driving with such disregard for others that they are dangerous.

However, there is an attitude amongst some that car is king and everyone else should just get out of the way. This was demonstrated perfectly by Mr Gardener on my way to work (his van had the employers business name plastered all over).

To set the scene, I was on the outskirts of Edinburgh heading along a 2 lane road. Traffic was quite busy and as I got closer to Edinburgh it started backing up. I began to work my way through this by filtering between the 2 lanes, which is perfectly safe but you need to be very aware of drivers jumping lanes without indicating or checking over their shoulder properly. It came to a point where the flow started moving a little faster so I slotted in the left lane. A few vehicles ahead I could see a van in the outside lane slowing down. I wondered if he was one of these lane jumpers waiting for a chance to skip into the inside (or maybe he had an important message to attend to on his phone).

As I approached and started going past him I saw his passenger window rolled down and glimpsed a middle aged, red faced man leaning across:

“KEN THE HIGHWAY CODE!”, he splurted, “BLAH, BLAH, *&$*&* CYCLE PATH!”

Now there is a shared use path that runs alongside this road, but it is only on the opposite side of the road at this point and it is not fit for cycling on. Especially at this time of year and on a road bike. There are lots of wet leaves, sticks, stones, glass, roots, litter, not to mention all the side roads, bus stops and pedestrians that you need to slow down for. It is therefore more dangerous and considerably slower than using the road in my opinion. Also, the presence of a cycle path (even if it was fit for purpose) does not require you to use it and there is nothing in the highway code (that Mr Gardener seemed so clued up on) stating that you should.

Has anyone come across Mr Toad?

I don’t think a week goes by without at least one vehicle letting me know I shouldn’t be in their way. This is usually by a honk of the horn as they go past, but can also be done by excessively revving, shouting or in the worst case giving a punishment “close pass”. It is only this latter form that really bothers me too much. What kind of low life would threaten serious injury (or worse) just to make a point that they don’t believe you deserve to share the road with them?

So far this year I have been in work for 10 working days. In that time I have had 4 horns blown at me and 3 people shouting. As well as our angry gardener there was a car that screamed something inaudible after leaving some traffic lights and another car shouting something as he headed in the opposite direction!!! In almost all cases I give a big friendly wave and occasionally manage to blow them a kiss. I’m sure that is appreciated.

Anyway, I hope Mr Gardener got to work happy at his outburst. I was able to cruise in through the traffic feeling lovely and chilled out!

CycleCommute.CC
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Comments (4)

  1. Adam D

    Reply

    Within any segment of the population you are going to find one or more knobs unfortunately.

    • CycleCommute.CC

      Reply

      Sadly true Adam, but thankfully the minority. Just to prove it my ride home was full of nice chilled out drivers 🙂

  2. Mark Cockshoot

    Reply

    In the 5 years that I’ve been commuting from Livingston to Riccarton I’ve noticed a distinct worsening in attitudes of drivers towards cyclists.

    Each year I cycle for as long as I dare before I consider it to be too dangerous – the tell tale sign is that I start to get anxious when thinking about my cycle to work.

    Each year I have stopped commuting a little earlier than the previous (13/10/2014, 9/10/2015, 7/10/2016, 29/8/2017, 9/8/2018).

    Each year I start my commuting around Feb/March (I know – I’m a lightweight – but the A71 is SCARY in the daylight, never mind in darkness) and the drivers start off considerate and well behaved. But, come Summer, they are creeping closer to me and becoming less and less patient.

    It’s getting to the stage that I’m actually thinking should I cycle on the roads any more? There are other routes (canal towpath and Cycleways) but I’m a roadie and I’ve always been a roadie. It would be like giving up part of my identity and thus, I’ll probably keep going, just for a shorter period each year.

    The question I have is “why?”. Why are drivers becoming noticeably less considerate, less patient and more dangerous?

    Anyhow – that was a bit of a ramble/rant. I’m always in awe of your daily commute Iain – keep it up!

    • CycleCommute.CC

      Reply

      Thanks for the comments Mark. You are sensible to stop when it gets uncomfortable There’s no point in doing it if it gets to the point of being unenjoyable. Although it’s so sad that it should be this way

      I would have hoped that with more people cycling drivers would become more patient. Sadly that doesn’t seem to be happening. It’s not helped in the slightest by our media who do all they can to stir up emotions.

      There are road routes avoiding the 71, but would need to be a bit longer and less direct

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