It’s a pretty bold point of argument, innit.
This traffic control proposal is bad, because my driving is so bad I can’t comply with it.
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No, it’s “I go fast and I’m a good driver who’s never killed anyone, so why should I suffer by being made to drive more carefully”
Yeah, there are also plenty that think that, for sure.
Now, where’s that study that found that way more than half of drivers thought they were better than average…?
(Also, the one where loads of men said they’d have a chance playing tennis against Serena Williams. Or the one where a bunch of people decided they’d be able to beat a grizzly bear in a fight? Or, for that matter, the one where people vastly overestimated how much public spending goes on jobseekers allowance compared to pensions? We absolutely need protection for these delusional subsections of society innit.)
Won’t deny it took time getting used to what driving at 20 feels like since the speed limit started to become common around here, but once you’ve spent a while with it then it feels just as natural to drive at as 30 or 40 does.
Yeah but I guess the bit about it that makes me laugh is the presentation as if it’s an insurmountable problem, rather than as you say something that you just get used to.
And coming at it with my transport authority employee hat on, that’s why there’s not been a lot of pushback and defence from the people implementing it. Just as with ULEZ they know full well that a few weeks into it being implemented the fury will dissipate except for a few cranks, precisely because people will just adjust.
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Quite. I noticed that the cops said they’d mainly be issuing warnings for the first year as well - which was my experience in Islington and is incredibly reasonable. I was stopped a week or two after they implemented a blanked 20mph speed limit across the borough and spoken to then allowed on my way. (Was my first trip in the borough since the change and had completely missed that they’d changed the limits despite more than ample signage - I’d have been bang to rights if they’d wanted to prosecute.
Since then I’ve been far more conscious of being aware if I’m in a blanket 20mph area and my default speed even in a 30mph one has probably dropped a touch lower.
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I will flag up one qualitative difference between a 20 and a 30 limit though. It’s pretty manageable for any cyclist of reasonable fitness to break 20mph if they’re in the mood. Even I do it sometimes on a flat residential circuit I ride locally fairly often. Much rarer at 30mph. But there are a significant number of drivers who have a mindset that a cyclists are an obstacle that must be “got round”, which has resulted in me witnessing some pretty dangerous speeding manoeuvres whilst out on my bike. That might crank up a bit in Wales for a while.
I feel bad. I was crossing a road and as I reached the middle, a car turned in. The driver shook his head at me so I gently kicked the rear wing. He stopped. I glared as I walked on and he left.
- I owe him an apology
- I shouldn’t have stuck my foot out
- Technically I was just run over
- Fuck that guy
- Fucking drivers, imo
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You were already crossing the road, car dickhead is definitely at fault.
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Only thing you should feel bad about is not kicking harder.
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He was wrong to shake his head at you, but kicking his car does seem a bit OTT 
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Sometimes I think about kicking cars when they block pedestrian crossings.
I went through a phase of shouting “don’t block the crossing” at them. That was kinda fun.
Go for the wing mirror next time. Nice and breakable.
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I once punched a car that didn’t stop as i was already crossing a zebra crossing. The driver screeched to a halt and started yelling that they were going to murder me next time they saw me. I didn’t really take them seriously but was a bit frightening. Plus my hand hurt for ages after so i wouldn’t recommended that option
Slap the bodywork with a flat hand in future. It’s what I do when out running and a vehicle gets close enough to me.
Drivers absolutely hate it, but I honestly don’t give a shit : if you were any closer, having 90 kilos of Zeal all up in your bodywork is going to do a lot more damage to your precious machine than a flat palm could.
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‘gently kicked’ hmmm 
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I mean I pictured a Van Damme-esque spinning roundhouse kick, dunno about anyone else
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Moved house recently. Gone on a vague bike ride to see what the main road from my house into Stockport is like. There was a queue, so I was filtering on the outside, and one guy gave me the whole “StAy In ThE biKe LaNe” bullshit. While driving alongside me, slowly.
I’m really glad I was feeling quite relaxed, and was able to just be really polite in my response. I dont even feel shook up by it now tbh, which is nuce.
Still, I really wish that just once I could ride a bike on a normal road without having at least one dickhead doing dickhead things while having less of an understanding of the highway code than I do.
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Literally was about to try and explain what filtering is, and how cycle lanes don’t oblige you to ride in them, but… life’s just too short. Also he’d revved off like a Big Man by that point.