A cyclist has posted helmet camera footage to YouTube of his encounter last Friday with a motorist who unleashed a four letter rant on him in South London.
Despite being in a slow-moving queue of motorised traffic, it seems the driver was upset with the rider being in the middle of the lane.
His anger, and use of some extremely colourful language, increased when the cyclist declined to use a cycle lane – although there is no legal requirement to do so, and often road layout means it is safer to use the main carriageway.
In the description of the video on YouTube, user 4ChordsNoNet said: “This is a fine example of how some, and I stress some, motorists think that cyclists should cycle on the left and keep out of their way.
“When he first tooted me there was literally nowhere for him to go. I wasn’t holding him up, in fact throughout the entire video I didn’t delay his journey for one second.
“I chose to ignore him, rather than engage with him, and this seemed to wind him up a tad,” he added, with supreme understatement.
In the video, shot at Mitcham Common, the motorist shouted at the cyclist: “You really don’t want to get run over you know.
“You’re in the middle of the road like a motorbike.
“You’re not a motorbike. Go back to cycling school.”
With the bike rider continuing to take the lane, as he is fully entitled to do, the motorist became increasingly angry.
He said: “If you get run over, what are going to tell me then? “You c*nt. Can you see the cycle lane on your f*cking left?
“Can you see it? You fucking tosspot. You fucking c*nt,” he added.
55 thoughts on “Video: “You’re not a motorbike” – driver in four-letter rant at cyclist”
haha…what a bell end.
haha…what a bell end.
I think he needs to go to anger management classes…where was he expecting to get to, being one place up the queue…?
The _Kaner wrote:
For many motorists, that’s enough: one place forward, in the very same queue, but *not* behind the cyclist.
brooksby wrote:
Every second behind a cyclist is a millimetre off your penis. A milli off your willy, you might say.
Defo got an attitude problem,
Defo got an attitude problem, and as for riding in the cycle lane, you must be joking, it doesn’t look much wider than handlebars and much more dangerous than taking the lane. Full marks to the cyclist for staying calm.
Has this been reported to the authorities?
burtthebike wrote:
Which authorities? The police? They don’t care about motorists being abusive towards anyone else, especially towards people on bicycles.
Driving instructors are all motorists who do not ride cycles? The instructor test has nothing in it regarding cycles? The driving test that the schools are preparing a learner driver for has nothing in it (apart from, sometimes, one question in the theory test) about cycles?
Or in short, the driving schools don’t care, and there is nothing making them care.
Indeed. Rather ill educated
Indeed. Rather ill educated moron making a dickhead of himself for all the world to see. Bellend.
Put that cyclist on the
Put that cyclist on the Queens honours list. Handled impeccably.
Is it my imagination but do
Is it my imagination but do Peugeot drivers seem to be extra agressive?
Hats off to the cyclists,
Hats off to the cyclists, exactly how every cyclist shoud react to drivers like that. I wish I could say I always remain that cool! :S
My ride home from work has
My ride home from work has one fairly long section of road with a cycle path. The surface isn’t great and there’s one bit that is absolutely dire so I stay out of it at that point. The other day some idiot in a beemer took exception to it and beeped at me and as he went past he was stabbing his finger over to the left indicating where I should be… I gave him a lengthy look at my middle finger in return.
Further round that stretch of road are loads of turnings to the left that are ripe for left hooks. I’ve been close to being hit a couple of times there, but I’m usually cautious enough to hold back when anyone passes me just in case they go straight into turning. Taking the lane there keeps you out of harm’s way, but drivers don’t much like that either.
I’d say he wouldn’t talk to
I’d say he wouldn’t talk to his own mother like that, but quite possibly he does.
It seems like he got annoyed
It seems like he got annoyed when he couldn’t squeeze his car into the gap of queuing traffic (that he had speedily overtaken and nipped in at the last) and his frustration built from there. I’m so glad I live in Cornwall and it’s only a few selected weeks of the year that the anger increases, and subsequent standards of courtesy and driving plummet.
Wouldn’t normally comment on
Wouldn’t normally comment on video stories (already commented on the original video), but I know this spot well.
This is the roundabout he’s approaching. If it’s not obvious from the video, the cycle lane continues around the outside edge of the roundabout to the far exit. I’ve added bad squiggly lines to make it really obvious why it’s awful.
And of course the driver was turning left, so he was actually asking the bike to get in his way. Genius.
bikebot wrote:
Sorry, but where else would the cycle lane go?!? inside would be more dangerous, so that leaves just a flyover! Really think cyclists – and I am one (5k p/a) – need to be sensible, assertive and get on with it.
powergoose wrote:
I don’t really want to start quoting highway design manuals at this time of night, but for a roundabout you either set the lanes back to surround the motor traffic with seperation, or you stop them before the entrance so that cyclists take the appropriate lane with the motor traffic. Running a bike lane around the outside edge like that is pretty much the worst thing they could have done.
It’s all about sightlines and where people will be looking. A driver pulling out there will be looking to his right, and will drive straight into a cyclist immediately to his left going striaght on. If the lane is set back to surround, he’ll be looking forward again before he encounters the cyclist.
And here is the Internet’s most famous example of such a design, it’s really rather hypnotising.
https://www.youtube.com/c/ArchieNlEUWS-CRM/live
powergoose wrote:
Dunno about the UK, but our road code says cyclists should go through roundabouts in the middle of the lane so it is not a ridiculous idea.
powergoose wrote:
exactly there is no position for a safe cycle lane at a roundabout, therefore cyclists should be sensible and assertive and take the appropriate lane for their destination, just as cars and motorbikes do.
I believe this is the behavious the cyclist in the video was attempting to use, but some moron moton objected to it, because some total spanner in the highways department thinks a cycle lane round the outside of the roundabout is a good idea, with cyclists turning right positioned on the left of cars turning left.
We all know there are plenty
We all know there are plenty of irate arseholes driving cars but what’s shocking here is the very profundity of the man’s ignorance.
How are the driving schools failing us so badly?
This needs a national campaign.
Username wrote:
.
I don’t get it, why didn’t he
I don’t get it, why didn’t he just use the cycle lane?
P3t3 wrote:
Because he was going straight on at the roundabout and didn’t want to have to use the land crossing the first exit where some berk in, say, a Peugeot, might want to sweep off the roundabout at speed.
Now, how about you tell us why he should “just use the cycle lane”?
vonhelmet wrote:
I don’t see much of the action taking place on a roundabout, just a street with virtually stationary traffic. We can all join the rightous brigade about taking the lane but if he’d done what all the other cyclists in the film had done and filtered through the traffic no one would be posting vidoes or swearing and he would have got there quicker.
If you want to sit in a line of traffic: get a car.
P3t3 wrote:
None of which answers my question of why he should use the cycle lane. He knew where he was going, he didn’t hold anyone up. What did he do wrong? Besides which, it’s not his responsibility that the mentalist in the Peugeot was swearing.
P3t3 wrote:
He’s approaching a roundabout, and at cost to his own journey time joins the traffic queue. He could filter up the left safely here, but then what? Still be stuck on the left, or filter up the left and then cut in front of a car in the queue?
Incredible if cyclists get caught on the left of turning vehicles they are at blame for putting themselves on a dangerous position, yet if they join the queue and wait patiently and safely they are also at fault.
P3t3 wrote:
Because he knew he was going to get a monster number of clicks on youtube for his clip and he wanted the advertising revenue.
kevinmorice wrote:
At 0.001p per click I’ve made precisely 14.8p so far, so I really don’t think so.
P3t3 wrote:
Because drivers have a highly idiosyncratic interpretation of the give-way lines at the entrance to roundabouts. Making using such a cycle lane a risky thing to do .
Early on in cycling, before I worked out to ignore them, I did use such lanes, and kept getting nearly hit by cars being driven out right in front of me onto the roundabout (they stopped, but at the other side of the cycle lane, not at the stop line).
(There’s also the risk from drivers turning off from the roundabout and cutting across/into you, though I only remember the first scenario happening to me)
Edit – it does seem that one of the main ‘skills’ you have to learn when riding a bike on the road, is to ignore most of the official instructions given in the form of paint.
The official written advice often explicitly tells you to do just that, which just makes it all the more weird that they keep painting this stuff in the first place.
That’s actually rather good
That’s actually rather good advice. In traffic, ride like you are on a motorcycle.
Despite the driver being a
Despite the driver being a bit of a tw*t, the rider really should have just used the cycle lane…
powergoose wrote:
Cycle lane is dangerous not nearly wide enough and put cyclists who aren’t turning left into a fatal position at the roundabout.
Don’t blindly use dangerous infrastructure. Think of that line was not there and this lane was a little wider would I be comfortable riding along beside a car in the same lane?
powergoose wrote:
Any particular reason?
powergoose wrote:
Why?
powergoose wrote:
If you watch the video again and look at the description under EDIT at the end you’ll see two videos of the same roundabout that show the two main risks there, Left Hooks and SMIDSYs. That is why I didn’t take the cycle lane at that point.
Danger. Wind up in progress.
Danger. High probability of wind up in progress.
All users, please install fresh batteries in your sarcasm detectors.
Ride wherever you feel safest
Ride wherever you feel safest. If that means using cycle lanes on occasion and regular traffic lanes at other times, so be it – your life is more precious than their time and car, no matter what nonsense they spout.
Cyclists should be allowed to
Cyclists should be allowed to carry sidearms.
mcmahonsport wrote:
ah, the good old days!
What a very unpleasant bloke.
What a very unpleasant bloke. Hope he gets done for something, even if it’s just mobile phone use while driving.
“P3t3
I don’t get it, why didn’t he just use the cycle lane?”
filled by bollards, disappeared, reappeared and there is an artic’ truck 3 cars in front – anyone for up the inside in the apparent safety of a well thought out cycle lane?
Had a similar thing last week
Had a similar thing last week in SF.. well except I was in the bike lane and the car went into that lane without warning.. then started insults and gestures about how he hates bikes.. then swerved in my path attempting to hit me. Probably my worst encounter so far.
Maybe I should buy a camera.
“Dunno about the UK, but our
“Dunno about the UK, but our road code says cyclists should go through roundabouts in the middle of the lane so it is not a ridiculous idea.”
its a very good idea, useful piece of research here: https://www.onlinepublications.austroads.com.au/items/AP-R461-14
(you have to register, at no cost, to read it)
“Assessment of the Effectiveness of On-road Bicycle Lanes at Roundabouts in Australia and New Zealand”
“Strong evidence was found that lane markings that encourage cyclists to “claim the lane” (for example sharrows) can be effective and are recommended where speeds are equitable. Cycle lanes on the approach should terminate some distance behind the holding line where speeds are low. Where equitable speeds are achieved, approach lanes should not exceed 3.0 m in width so that drivers do not attempt to enter the roundabout alongside cyclists.”
sadly Vicroads and some local councils continue to install lanes on roundabouts – good news is that there aren’t many roundabouts in Melbourne and the good councils are very busy marking those with sharrows and reducing speed limits
I’m glad that guy was so
I’m glad that guy was so stressed. Hopefully his heart will pop soon and he’ll die.
You can’t reason with self entitled cunts like that so I wish them all an early and rapid death.
The scary thing is that
The scary thing is that people that thick are allowed to drive. What he really needs is to be sat down calmly and have somebody explain to him that cyclists have the same rights on the roads as him. Connecting electrodes to his gonads and generous use of the ON switch should help his understanding.
Report to police, for
Report to police, for aggressive behaviour. Cyclst could of mitigated his exposure to such behaviour by cycling on ahead a few vehicle, given the level of traffic ghe would of never caught up.
I could add to the comments
I could add to the comments about how much of an amoeba the driver is, but a picture says a thousand words…
Did the best thing. Ignore
Did the best thing. Ignore him.
Also, because other people
Also, because other people decide to take a risk doesn’t mean you should.
If there was no cycle lane, would he be right to move up the inside of traffic? No.
Is it sensible to ride up the inside of traffic with the potential to turn left? No.
Is it within the highway code that he is allowed to sit in the lane in a position he feels it is safe to do so? Yes.
It really shouldn’t be beyond your comprehension.
“if he’d done what all the other cyclists in the film had done and filtered through the traffic no one would be posting vidoes or swearing and he would have got there quicker”
How do you know he wanted to get anywhere quickly?
Are victims of sexual assault asking for it by wearing the wrong clothes?
Quote:
What risk!? Safely move two cars up the queue from the shouty man he isn’t part of the problem any more. Face it – Mr helmet cam was being stuck up and stubborn, there is no victim blaming or any other nonsense here. Its just 2 people winding each other up.
Yeah, if he wanted to, why not? Cyclists do this all the time, its not unusual. Its legal and if there isn’t an exit then where is the left hook risk.
Most of the video there is no left hook risk on account of there being no side roads for people to drive their cars onto…
I don’t really understand why you think I want to disagree with the highway code, of cousre he can stand in the middle of the road if he wants! But Mr Helmet-Cam was making a point, you can get on your high horse about highway codes and rights but at the end of the day its playground stuff. It isn’t about cycling, just two people winding each other up.
My comprehension skills are not being taxed here. I live in the real world, this problem wouldn’t have happened to me. When did we become such a bunch of sissies? Its like monty python: “don’t you oppress me!”
“if he’d done what all the other cyclists in the film had done and filtered through the traffic no one would be posting vidoes or swearing and he would have got there quicker”
“How do you know he wanted to get anywhere quickly? “
I’m making a gross assumption. I find standing with my bike in the middle of a road full of cars and exhaust fumes unplesant, adding a shouty man would really stress me out. I’d leave Mr Puegot to stew in his Puegot and move a few cars up the line, nobody would be put in danger, least of all myself.
I always hate this analogy being applied to petty arguments, it really is out of proportion here. The analogy nearly fits when a cyclist is killed and is then held as culpable because they wren’t wearing hi-vis, but lets get some sense of proportion in this instance. Nobody in the video is the” VICTIM OF CRIME”! Its just a couple of bell-ends winding each other up. Most of us grow out of this before we leave school.
I think Yoda said “Mistakes
I think Yoda said “Mistakes lead to embarrassment, embarrassment leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate leads to youtube.”
Not anywhere near as bad as
Not anywhere near as bad as this, but I’ve had cars do this to me before, I’ve moved over and let them catch up the car in front and then just cycled straight past them.
I think it’s good that I
I think it’s good that I haven’t had this sort of thing happen to me, as he would have a broken nose by now!
Either that, or I would have attempted the old car key grab.
Perhaps I should take meditation lessons if I ever start cycling in a city 🙂
Moron with a loud mouth.
Moron with a loud mouth.
To most of your arguments
To most of your arguments above, moving up the inside is always a potential risk; drivers don’t always drive in straight lines, the queue of traffic can begin to move at any point and then a left hook on the roundabout becomes a possibility.
I massively disagree with the “couple of bell-ends winding each other up” – there is one law abiding citizen taking a perfectly reasonable and safe road position and a thick, foul mouthed lout upset due to not being 6 feet further forwards…
Indeed, the analogy may be deemed extreme, but any victim blaming is victim blaming. The actions of the idiot are massively disproportionate to the perceived inconvenience, the fact that anyone blames the cyclist 0.00000001% is truly mind boggling!
alansmurphy wrote:
Yeah yeah, but in the real world most cyclists filter because lets face it, its not dangerous most of the time. I’m sure you don’t treat this as a black and white issue yourself, where its safe, I bet you filter. In most of the video it was safe to filter. Of course Mr Helmet cam has the “right” to do what he wants. Of course it would be nice if nobody shouted at him.
Law abiding obstinate cyclist meets law abiding thick foul mothed driver, they wind each other up. Its that simple.
There is no victim to be victim blamed here, just an argument. Pick a better case to get on your high horse.
This is why I don’t really
This is why I don’t really like road.cc republishing video stories, it’s all gone a bit youtube.
That means an opportunity for a few people to mamilsplain whatever they think the cyclist should have done, and how they always avoid such issues due to their superior [knowledge|training|god given ability] at riding bikes.
Personnally, I’d pay attention to Mr 4chords, who has probably ridden that route hundreds of times, and must know every possible way he could end up having a really bad day. Alternatively, give it a try yourself and film the results for everyone to review. Personally, I do my best to avoid the Mitcham one way system, it’s full of nutters and lorries.