It’s always been an unfortunate side effect of riding your bike on the road, but is random, unprovoked anti-cycling abuse from car drivers and passengers getting worse in the UK and Ireland?
That was the question posed this week by road.cc reader the little onion, who sparked a debate in the comments section of our live blog by revealing that they are shouted at by people in vehicles “once per hour or so of riding” in the north of England.
The threat of verbal abuse and harassment from passing motorists has frequently been cited as one of the key factors deterring more people from taking up cycling.
A recent government report in Ireland found that a high percentage of women are put off riding a bike on the road thanks to an increasing “car culture”, “aggressive” driver behaviour, and potential abuse.
And earlier this year, a women’s cycling safety audit carried out by the Norwich Cycling Campaign noted that female cyclists are disproportionately affected by verbal abuse, intimidation, and street harassment while on their bikes.
According to the little onion, the seemingly constant barrage of random abuse they receive while cycling is almost always courtesy of male motorists.
“Sharing a thought here, as many non-cyclist friends don’t believe me,” the road.cc reader posted on the site this week. “I cycle around a variety of urban, semi-urban, and rural roads in the north of England.
“I reckon that about once per hour or so of riding, I get someone in a vehicle – almost exclusively male – winding down their window to randomly shout abuse at me, telling me to get a car, get off the f***ing road, or something like that.
“Mostly it is people overtaking, sometimes people travelling the other direction. And completely unprovoked, not reacting to anything I may have done, other than existing as a cyclist. Am I unique here? Does this chime with other people’s experiences?”
Following the little onion’s post, a number of road.cc readers shared their own experiences of abuse on the roads.
“Unfortunately, it isn’t just you,” said NickSprink. “South of England here, I’d say just as common, especially if beeping of horns and finger gestures are included.”
Clem Fandango wrote: “Twice in the last six months I’ve been making my way along a quiet two-lane road. No vehicles behind me and no drama. Until on each occasion the driver of a vehicle coming the other way, and in no way affected by me minding my own business on the other side of the road, decided to roll down the window as they passed, to drop a C-bomb on me.
“No need for any conflict or interaction of any kind in that situation, it’s just pure narrow-minded abuse.”
“A friend and I had one of each between us – I was waiting at the top of a long-ish climb and had a w***ker sign directed at me,” wrote Kinderje. “When my mate got to the top he said that the same passenger had shouted at him as they passed him! I’m sure they thought they were hilarious.”
Sedis noted the abuse they receive from drivers is “less often than every hour, but at least once per week”, a viewpoint corroborated by ymm.
“Perhaps not quite as frequent as yourself though I do experience hostility and aggression, both verbal and non-verbal (e.g. rapid acceleration and harsh braking close behind me or close proximity pushing past or through, for example) from many motorists,” the road.cc reader said.
“The level of anger and impatience is truly appalling from some motorists, along with the endemic incompetence on display within the motorist community generally. It is a sad state of affairs and it seems that many road users have forgotten how to share space that we are all entitled to on our roads.”
Chrisonabike added: “Another benefit of separate cycle infra: I can’t remember a time when motorists have abused me for cycling on cycle paths. On the road, maybe not every hour but on a long enough ride some combination of abuse (horn, revving engine, shouting) is not unlikely.”
“It’s not quite as often as that for me as a regular London cyclist, but it does happen. Close passes in London are very common,” said OldRidgeback.
“I’m on vacation at the moment in France. Cycling here is very different. Ok, so I’m in a fairly rural area where holidaymakers are common and there are loads of cycle lanes, but even on the road, it’s of note how drivers give cyclists space. We rented bikes for a few days and gave them back yesterday but had no issues at all with any drivers, despite racking up some distances. If anything, we had more issues with other cyclists, many of whom are clearly very inexperienced or very rusty at being on two wheels.”
And Australia-based Ajft wrote: “No, it’s not just you, it’s not just the north and it’s not just the UK. Seems to be common in all the English-speaking countries of the world. Fairly common here in Australia.
“Memorably, I once spent six weeks cycle touring in Spain and Portugal without a hassle, caught the ferry back to the UK and was just about forced off the road while being sworn at within the first half hour in the UK.”
However, not everyone believes that their area is a hive for abusive, cyclist-hating motorists.
“I live in the southeast and most drivers are OK,” said Mctrials23. “The usual shit driving is obviously prevalent so people overtaking on blind corners and some people overtaking too close. But I think I have only ever had two or three people shout anything any me.
“Unfortunately with the wind noise and someone shouting out of a moving car, it’s hard to tell if they were being nice or nasty but I can probably guess. I cycle outside probably 150 times a year and have been doing so for three to four years now if that gives you an idea how rare it is.”
Andystow noted that on his Land’s End to John O’Groats ride, “I got a horrible close pass in northern Scotland, but I only recall one instance of being shouted at from a vehicle. It was a couple of teenagers on a busy road near Glastonbury. No idea what they were shouting, though.”
Finally, A1white noted that they have “barely at all” experienced anti-cyclist abuse while cycling in London.
“Even out in the Surrey/Kent countryside there’s the odd overly aggressive pass, but haven’t experienced much random abuse like that,” they said.
What do you think? Has random, anti-cycling abuse got worse in your area in recent years? Or are your local drivers more inclined to keep their windows rolled up? Let us know in the comments…
44 thoughts on ““Every hour or so, someone will wind down their window to tell me to get off the f***ing road”: Is anti-cycling abuse on the roads getting worse?”
Is anti-cycling abuse in the *media* being worse? Yes. But lots of abuse / “spicy” discourse is.
On the roads? Over my lifetime – perhaps?
OTOH there perhaps more “accidents” back in the day so there was no need to add insult where injury (or death) without sanction would do…
In the last decade? Not sure: though I can’t recall people actually throwing stuff out of cars at me in earlier eras…
I actually think it’s got better in recent years. I’ve had a few close passes, most recently on Hatchet Lane in the New Forest from a couple of super-cars, but not really any abuse. Maybe I’ve just been lucky, but it used to be fairly common that somebody would shout at me from a close passing car and it just doesn’t happen anymore.
today i had a driver say “I’ll punch your f’ing face in” after I’d paused at an elective right-hand-turn traffic light junction, waiting for the oncoming traffic to clear. all recorded on camera of course, waiting on the local policing appointment ….
it seemed to be in great haste to be on-time for a vet appointment, but still had enough time to stand around and posture egotistically.
@the infamous grouse I got a very quick response from TVP when this happened to me. I was very shaken by the incident and the driver kept beside me for a while shouting abuse. Secret seemed to be to report this as a verbal assault and threatening behaviour rather than a traffic incident.
I suspect if reported as a traffic incident it would have gone into the TVP system (bin) never to be hard of again.
ah yep, still get the random abuse – reported one recently.
I still think this is my favourite though – a simple one-word insult shouted as they passed in the opposing direction for no other reason than just being a cyclist. I did report it to the police, but I’m almost certain they did absolutely naff all about it.
X900 CMB if you see them out and about…
@HoarseMann Yes that’s what I get, maybe once a week or so – a sudden shouting which you can’t make out, frequently from people coming the other way with whom you’ve had no interaction
I think the attitude towards cyclists has actually improved, however the iphone and 52″ touch screens in car dashboards means there is way more distracted driving than ‘back in my day’. To get an idea of the mainstream anti cycling attitude of just 20 years ago watch “The Forty Year Old Virgin” with Steve Carrel. His riding to work is one of the main repeating jokes of the film. He keeps having serious bike crashes (for comic effect) and he literally has to start driving before he ‘gets lucky.’ Nobody even noticed this when the film came out it was just taken for granted that cycling was stupid.
Not limited to male drivers…had a women slow down, wind down window and shout “get out of the car lane” before accelerating away above the speed limit. I wasn’t in the cycle lane because I’d have been in the dooring zone. What really surprised me was she had a sleeping baby in a front seat pod thing…imagine if I’d shouted at her with her baby in the car
Over the years I have experienced only one female ‘shouting’, accompanied by a close pass which was presumably of the punishment variety. Those, as far as I can tell, are very rare around here
@wtjs Whereas my very first terrible experience after starting cycling again a couple of years back was a woman blasting past me going at 19ish in a 20 to a queue at the lights and then getting into a blazing row when I caught up and tried to have a word(actually politely, at first), followed by playing the Woman Card as if she was the victim and I was the one threatening her.
Honestly getting pretty tired of people trying to gender the issue: all drivers are getting worse, young and old, rich and poor, men and women, and I’ve had just as many bad experiences with any combination you care to name as any other. I’d say men are more likely to *escalate* a confrontation to the point of full-blown out of the car square-gos road rage, but I’ve had just as many women yelling homophobic slurs and other abuse out their window as they pass as from men, and it was a female passenger in a car that tried to shove a bottle into my front wheel as they went by.
Still, all of that is far far less common than basic life-threatning close passes, and IME at least in an urban context you get those significantly more often from women. From men they tend to be *punishment* passes whereas from women they just seem to be inattention/distraction, committing to an overtake without checking for oncoming and then cutting back in, or generally having a poor appreciation for the width of their vehicle, but I doubt my corpse would care very much whether the reason I’d been mulched was malice or mere incompetence.
@yodhrin (bring back the edit button) for clarity since I constructed that sentence poorly: I was riding at 19-ish in a 20, and she blasted past me at significantly above 20.
Sadly, as the rising road serious Injury and death figures are showing, this is true.
Close passing is still the biggest issue by far. And the most scary. And every day.
Shouting from passing vehicle windows not so much. It used to be – but nowadays I hardly experience it. People used to throw stuff at me too, either from passing vehicles or pedestrians from the pavement for some strange reason – that doesn’t seem to be a thing either since someone last threw something at me which resulted in three fractured ribs. (Mine)
@Rome73 Maybe it’s the cost of living crisis, having half-filled cups of coffee thrown at one used to be relatively common, say maybe once every couple of months, now it’s £5 a latte they want to savour every last drop (and empty paper cups make rubbish missiles)?
True that, I’ve never been doused with matcha or pelted with avocados.
The likes of Jeremy Clarkson have fuelled the anti-cycling rhetoric.
@OldRidgeback If only Andy Hamilton’s Satan was real! (Old Harry’s Game BBC radio)
Yes. Far worse.
It’s the impact of the climate emergency and oil wars small minded people fear change and take it out on those who they see doing the thing they don’t want to have to do.
Cycling is the obvious solution and counterpoint, so haters are going to hate anyone making positive health and transport decisions, because they feel bad about themselves.
It’s only going to get worse too until it’s properly policed.
Taking their country back from woke cyclists.
@kenobe You’re on the wrong site. This is Road CC, you want the Daily Mail.
@60somethingcyclist OK mate, thanks.
@kenobe why are you even here?
@bikeman01 I thought to mock gammon, wasn’t expecting sarchasm detectors set to off.
I’ve had very little abuse in the 36 years since I returned to cycling. I try to use designated and traffic free routes when possible so that helps a lot. This problem is symptomatic of the intolerant, selfish and impatient attitude that’s taken hold in this country over the last 10 years.
Abuse of cyclists is a problem almost unique to english speaking countries. Its simply a result of negative media.
@bikeman01 I don’t think that’s true; just recently Pogacar was complaining about the amount of aggression and abuse riders receive training in Italy and the Italian Cycling Federation has flagged a “crisis of intolerance” from drivers. Big cities in France have seen an increase in road rage incidents against cyclists in recent years, including a murder in Paris. With the exception perhaps of the Netherlands (where, however, apparently pedestrian abuse of cyclists for perceived or real infractions is common) pretty much any culture where private motor vehicle use is prevalent has this problem (and it’s getting worse as cycle infra is improved as we’re seen as freeloaders taking away “their” space), not just anglophone ones.
@Rendel Harris I ride in Italy, Spain, Majorca and Portugal regularly and have never been abused like I get in the UK and see on YT from US and Aus.
@bikeman01 Well maybe you’ve been lucky or maybe the Italian Cycling Federation and Tadej Pogacar are making it up? A quick search of “abuse of cyclists in [any country]” throws up countless examples of cyclist abuse (Eastern Europe sounds spectacularly bad) and that it very much is not “a problem almost unique to english speaking countries.”
@Rendel Harris there are different factors (including the media) but I think it’s mostly “you’re in the way plus you’re an ‘other’ / ‘cheating’ by eg. ‘undertaking’ and not paying ‘road tax’ “. What differs between places is then expectations and familiarity.
Examples: some say that in France you get more decent treatment – if you’re riding in the country at the weekend as that is expected. In NL drivers appreciate cyclists are to be found on streets and expected crossing junctions etc. OTOH they might also pass pretty close, plus if you’re cycling where you shouldn’t be I bet you might get “educated”.
I wonder if the folks who experience more than very short-term fluctuation in attitudes are just seeing the effect of more motorists (and/or possibly more cyclists)?
In Italy’s case thats because they are too hoarse after wearing out their vocal chords hurling abuse at pedestrians walking along the road!
You’re more likely to receive abuse in Mallorca for being there as a tourist, rather than being on a bike or not
@bikeman01 I’ve just come back from Mallorca (Majorca is a UK construct) and go 4 or 5 times a year. I’d say driving that endangers cyclists is as bad as here (and I don’t just mean by the Brits in rental cars), with close passes happening every ride. Abuse is much less of an issue but it’s not unknown. So I’d very much agree with @Rendel Harris
https://www.thebureauinvestigates.com/stories/2026-04-07/the-restaurant-boss-who-flouted-judges-orders-for-years
Ah, Jason Wells – I knew I’d seen something about him recently.
I don’t know where the abuse victims are riding but 1x an hour? I’ve not had it happen in the last few years. One incident in all that time, in the New Forest, that was as much my reaction to their sh1t driving as their reaction and nothing came of it.
As I’ve said before, I think there are 2 big reasons for this behaviour (which is almost always from male drivers).
1) They feel emasculated by cyclists as they themselves don’t feel “tough” enough to cycle on the roads.
2) Car adverts showing them being driven serenely at a decent speed on empty roads is the complete opposite of what drivers face on a daily basis.
Us cyclists, facing almost zero delays to our journeys due to motor traffic make them feel silly and frustrated for spending thousands of £s on nice cars to go at the same or lower average speed.
@mitsky I think you mean it boils down to a certain inadequacy.
@mitsky there’s probably also some shame/embarrassment that they know they can’t cycle as they haven’t done any exercise for three decades or more.
Personally I just give anyone shouting abuse a cheery wave and a hearty ‘good-morning [insert time of day as applicable] to you too’. To be honest I think car drivers are just jealous. So many of the things motor vehicle advertisers promise the prospective purchaser is a lie. Nothing on the road save for your vehicle? Forget it. Being able to explore the open countryside? No chance. Finding a parking space for your oversized w*nkpanzer? Good luck with that. Yes, as cyclist we face our challenges but the very act of self propulsion puts most of them in their place.
Great Article. We published an article on our site, (which is based in the US) that is very complementary regarding what we call Cyclist Derangement Syndrome. Check it out: https://avidcyclist.com/feature-article/cyclist-derangement-syndrome-americas-sociopathic-war-on-cyclists/
Let them shout and foam at the mouth all they want. At the end of the day it’s them who are freaking out over, petrol prices not us. Quite enjoy cycling past our local service at the moment.
contrary observation. Most drivers are pretty decent. Stopping to make room on narrow country lanes, that sort of thing. I’ve only had one w@nker that I can think of in the last 12 months, and that was inside a service station. He couldn’t understand why I hadn’t joined the petrol queue to buy my coffee from a separate franchise desk with its own cashier. “entitled cyclist etc”. I put it down to the joy of cycling vs the misery of motoring.
@BIFFSTER Most drivers are indeed pretty decent. In 25kms in London today I probably interacted with at least a thousand cars and 998 acted decently around me. Of the other two, one accelerated hard past me and abruptly left-hooked without indicating and the other close-passed me at high speed on a street narrowed by parked cars in such a way that if I hadn’t braked I would have been squashed between his car and a stationary one. Both gave me a mouthful of obscene abuse for shouting complaints at them. This is the trouble, “most” doesn’t really cut it if it means that in the course of a short ride a very small minority will deliberately take risks with my life.
contrary observation. Most drivers are pretty decent. Stopping to make room on narrow country lanes, that sort of thing. I’ve only had one w@nker that I can think of in the last 12 months, and that was inside a service station. He couldn’t understand why I hadn’t joined the petrol queue to buy my coffee from a separate franchise desk with its own cashier. “entitled cyclist etc”. I put it down to the joy of cycling vs the misery of motoring.
Of course toxic UK is dire for cycling in. 50+ years of cycling, 5 peers killed by drivers, I now have a bikecam, but try and spend as much time cycling in civilised Europe. Antisocial media from the Murdoch sewers, newsreaders high on petrol fumes, rabid Reform culture…
We’ve always had lots to complain about in the UK (even on old articles in cycling websites).
On the other hand, would that civilised Europe be the one with highly polarised French politics and the wildly liberal political scenes in eg. Poland and Hungary?
Perhaps we’re not quite as special as we like to think.