Are drivers becoming more intolerant?

This morning I was waiting at

This morning I was waiting at the lights st a crossroads. The driver opposite wanted to turn right, so across my path. The lights turned green so I moved off. She drove forward and made to turn them had to wait for me, and sat there shaking her head at me. Like, what?

150 miles a week in and

150 miles a week in and around Manchester… commute every day…

In my opinion there’s just more c*nts about in general- whether they are driving, riding bikes, jogging, walking dogs, whatever. Some people are just arseholes who think the world revolves around them.

Jimnm wrote:

You get dickheads in vehicles, on bikes and on foot. We just have to live with it. It’s a tough one to expect everyone to share the roads in perfect harmony. It’s not going to happen. The only way to achieve this is segregation, I can’t see that happening either, not everywhere anyway. 

I couldn’t disagree with you more.

Firstly segregation is not and even in Netherlands is not the panacea you think it is, over 60 people die at the intersection between segregated lanes and roads in NL. Also when there is no segregation Dutch motorists are just as bad if not worse than their UK counterparts (you should check the death rates on non urban roads) they firstly aren’t used to dealing with people on bikes on ‘their’ bit of road so are clueless as to how much space and what to do, they will also as like in France and other places get aggrieved that you aren’t using the cycle lane, even if there isn’t one or is actually going where you want to go.

Many cycle lanes in NL are narrow (they aren’t all like the pretty ones you see in videos), are too close to parked cars and circuitous, it’s not all peaches and cream.

Segregated lanes in towns and cities take longer than going by road, it’s the road INFRASTRUCTURE that we need to take back as they are doing in Denmark. Segregation has proven in the UK to be a load of crap, even the network in London is pony, not wide enough, winds its way everywhere and is dangerous too often.

We do NOT have to live with it, we should be making sure we batter MPs and police to force motorists either off the roads completely, timed restrictions or be educated and policed to drive to a far higher standard., segregating people on bikes off the road is a sign of a failed system.

As a former car commuter into London and most of the South East region (over a 10 year period) I never had a single issue ever getting around people on bikes. Attitude is everything and in lieu of that using a carrot and then a crowbar to ensure people are safe and we increase safe and clean modes of travel.

I have the highway code

I have the highway code section applicable to bicycles saved as a bookmark on my phone web browser. It’s handy to have as a reference if someone challenges you and you somehow manage to engage in conflict/ debate/ conversation [at traffic lights or junction maybe].

IME in Hertfordshire  car

IME in Hertfordshire  car drivers have been giving a better amount of space more often but still there are the frequent knobjockey’s who simply have no idea. 

Monday, old fart in a big BMW, overtakes me with about 12″ to my elbow whilst the whole of the other lane is clear, slows and he shouts something whilst I’m next to him and then he has to stop at the red light less than 75m away from the first incident so I’m sat right behind him.

Just why?

As above it’s the wrong uns that stick in your mind but I have noticed that there are more better overtakes than in previous years, it’s just that the bad ones are bad and large vehicles such as HGV/PSV are actually getting worse, those are the ones that are going to and actually do the most damage.

it’d be useful to see the stats comparing years to see if those larger vehicles are increasing, decreasing or remained static in deaths/serious injuries of vulnerable road users as well as other motorists.

My opinion is that its to do

My opinion is that its to do with a societal switch towards ‘selective ignorance’ and being easily offended.

The two work hand in hand on the roads to polarise behaviour. 

The selective ignorance is a big one for me. The internet provides us all with information at our fingertips. We can find out anything we want with the click of a few buttons. However, all this information, all this opportunity to learn is both daunting and demoralising – suddenly you know just how little you know. So, as a natural counter to this, you deliberately avoid educating yourself and choose ignorance, claiming its OK to be ignorant and / or you can’t trust any information source and its better to go on gut. 

A classic line during the brexit campaign (think it came from Gove) was that ‘the british people are fed up with listening to experts’. What a sad state of affairs.

Anyway, this spills into how people drive. They claim ignorance of the rules (although they all had to pass a test to prove they were aware of them) and prefer to drive in a way their gut believes to be right, even if that is well below legal requirements… but its OK, because, experts…

Then the age of being offended… this relates to the above in my opinion. We are all more aware than ever that other people may know more about something than we might. Allowing yourself to conduct in debate and discussion potentially exposes your unselected ignorance. Therefore, to save embarrassment and/or feeling stupid, you avoid considering a situation by instead becoming instantly angered and offended by it… so you fuck up driving, or someone’s actions cause you to question your driving competence, you naturally attack first, ask questions… well never. 

Society tells us its OK to be angry, its OK to be stupid… how do you think that makes people behave? 

I don’t remember London

I don’t remember London drivers being quite so aggressive to cyclists back in the late 80s and early 90s as they are now.

Maybe I’m wrong.

Mind you the casualty statistics were far worse then. And the traffic gridlock London suffered was bad as well.