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news
Angry driver (CC licensed by John Greenfield via Flickr)Drivers more patient with cyclists since lockdown according to survey
Despite a greater number of cyclists on the roads, a third of UK drivers believe that they’re being more patient with them since lockdown. It's almost as if – and bear with us here, because this is a pretty crazy notion – it's not cyclists who make motorists’ journeys so frustrating.
The survey by breakdown firm Green Flag, reported by TalkTalk, asked 2,000 Britons (1,000 drivers and 1,000 cyclists) about their frustrations on the road and the supposed bad habits of those in the other group. (Sounds a little like you couldn’t be both a driver and a cyclist. You had to pick a side.)
As well as a third of the drivers expressing a belief that they’re currently being more patient with cyclists on the road, 36 per cent of cyclists said they’d noticed increased patience and respect.
The findings were most stark in London, where more than half of drivers believe they have a new understanding of those riding bikes since the relaxation of lockdown restrictions.
Cycling was up markedly during lockdown and the way the results have been presented seems to imply some kind of revelatory experience for drivers who perhaps went cycling for the first time in years.
However, the rise in cycling did of course go hand in hand with a colossal slump in motor traffic. Roads have been less congested – and less frustrating – for several months now. This seems pretty important.
Speaking a few weeks ago, the AA’s head of roads policy, Jack Cousens, said that motor traffic could return to pre-lockdown levels by the end of this month. Will newfound patience for cyclists persist in the face of car-induced gridlock?
Commenting on the findings, Mark Newberry, commercial director at Green Flag, said there was a need to ‘share’ the road, immediately after talking up a supposed ‘rivalry’ between cyclists and motorists.
We’re sure he meant well.
“There has always been somewhat of a rivalry between drivers and cyclists competing for space on UK roads,” he said. “While this research does show that there is still some existing tension amongst both, it is promising that with cycling gaining such popularity during the lockdown period, there is an increased understanding between them.
“Despite friction amongst the motorists, it is important to remember that the safety of each group relies on the actions of the other. At Green Flag, we conducted this research to raise awareness of this, to ensure that drivers recognise that there will likely be more cyclists on the streets and to be conscious of that, and for the increasing numbers of cyclists to be conscious of their role in sharing the roads safely with motorists.
“Ultimately, the roads are there for everyone to share, so it is important for all road users to always be vigilant and remain aware of each other as we all start to travel more, perhaps using a new method to normal, as lockdown continues to ease.”
The survey’s other findings were that two-thirds of drivers still find themselves frustrated at having to share the road, while 49 per cent of cyclists says motorists driving too close is their number one ‘source of irritation’.
Two-fifths of drivers said that cyclists jumping red lights was their top frustration and almost as many said they were most irritated by cyclists travelling in groups.
The cyclists may or may not have expressed frustration with large groups of motorists travelling in single file. (They didn’t. I made that up.)
Alex has written for more cricket publications than the rest of the road.cc team combined. Despite the apparent evidence of this picture, he doesn't especially like cake.
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RONNIE PICKERING!
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33 comments
I'm in mid Essex, and generally have very few issues with drivers. From a passing perspective, the vast majority actually cross the centre line as they pass me, with some going up to, but not over the line. There are some berks who don't move over properly even when there's plenty of space and visible road to do so, and for some reason it's almost always elderly drivers, who clearly need an eye test and / or banning from the road if that's the kind of spatial awareness they have.
The only serious incident I've had this year - no, really - was on one of the many barely-more-than-a-single-track-roads I use, and a guy in a flatbed transit coming towards me thought that the best time to overtake the cyclist on HIS side of the road, was as I was drawing level to where they both were. So now he's in the centre of a narrow road, giving no space to two cyclists. Genius. And to add a cherry onto that particular cake of shite, when I reviewed the video i found that he'd been driving without an MOT since the end of March. The incident was in mid-May. Needless to say, that guy got reported, and Essex Police responded confirming that they were onto it 'but not to expect a response 'cos COVID'. Hmm.
I can predict with a degree of certainty where I will get problems on my regular routes, both of which when I'm nearly home. One is when I'm dropping down a hill into the town where I live and oncoming traffic is supposed to giveway to me at a humpback bridge - either drivers don't stop, or if they're stationery, they'll go for it if I'm preceded by a car.
The second is as I turn right at a roundabout which is part of the main drag into town from another direction. I always, always signal high and clear, but you can bet that some twat will accelerate across the roundabout rather than give way to a cyclist. I had one guy offer a 'SMIDSY' hand-apology the other week, and I hope he wasn't surprised to have it returned with my middle finger.
I hope he wasn't surprised to have it returned with my middle finger.
This is disgraceful! We do not, in this country, do any of this American middle finger bollocks. We give the proper V-sign- have you no respect for the Englist archers at Agincourt?! (although, maybe that's a myth)
I seriously doubt this is that drivers are more patient...
Most drivers will pass safely if possible; Good drivers will wait as long as it takes; bad drivers won't wait at all; average drivers will wait for a bit. The very rare dangerous driver will close pass you even if they could move out safely...
Even a relatively small reduction in traffic increases opportunities to overtake massively, so even now as traffic is returning to pre covid levels, on most of my rides I suspect drivers get at least 3-4x the number of safe overtake opportunities. I also think this is higher on the roads which were worst for me getting bad overtakes (moderate traffic that blocks overtakes at all times due to oncoming traffic, but doesn't result in obvious queues to make it clear to average drivers overtaking is pointless...)
The very rare dangerous driver will close pass you even if they could move out safely...
It's not that rare! Not on the lawless Lancashire roads anyway
Same day on the A6, near Garstang, Preston. This BMW ******d came past at 60+ mph.
Yeah, but, 'hatched area'
Hmmm.....
Overall, I'd have to agree with these findings, certainly locally, here in Derbyshire, apart from the twat who thought overtaking me on a single track country lane a couple of weeks ago was a sensible thing to do until another cyclist came around the fast approaching sharp right hander in the opposite direction.
I guess the other cyclist was lucky, the driver didn't plow headlong into him, unfortunately he decided swerving left and side swiping me into the adjacent copse was the correct course of action to take.
Result? One fucked bike, a broken collarbone and a couple of cracked ribs. Could have been worse, I suppose.
Neither the driver or other cyclist stopped.
Wankers!!
Sounds horrible.
No camera or no angle ?
In Lancashire, it's pretty much back to pre-Covid traffic and pre-Covid driving. The only solution is prosecution, and I haven't yet achieved prosecution even for crashing lights 1.5 seconds or more after they turned red- never mind offences involving cyclists which they think aren't offences anyway. It's an uphill task up here, trying to influence the police.
It's an impossible task, with Lancs Plod
Drivers definitely more patient and giving more room when passing in my recent experience.
At the start of full lockdown, drivers definately gave more room. But now it's back to normal. On a run out with a number of cyclists last weekend, on a narrow country lane wide enough for one car, a pick up screamed past us all whilst sounding his horn. He was a couple of inches from the riders in front. I actually thought he would hit one, by some miracle he didn't.
Are they fuck.
I don't know, but I imagine that would certainly impair their driving ability.
I'm not sure I agree with this. There have been fewer drivers on the roads in lockdown, that's it.
even with fewer drivers in lockdown, I cant say I noticed taken as a whole drivers being more patient, it was just the probability on a ride of encountering one of the less impatient ones was much lower than normal, whilst the ones who already understood cyclists were giving that bit extra space because they could. But its like if say only 10% of drivers are impatient, on lockdown roads you were lucky to see 10 cars, let alone that 1 that happened to be the impatient one, now you could see 100 cars easily, and suddenly there are 10 impatient drivers around you very easily, so I dont know that survey is particularly useful.
in anycase I guarantee you could survey someone directly after theyd left hooked you to turn into their drive and theyd reply that they believed theyd driven perfectly safely around you and not been impatient at all
no driver who Ive ever challenged face to face for cutting me up or nearly knocking me off,or sounding their horn (which is clearly impatience driving) behind me,has every gone, yep hold my hand up got that wrong should have driven more safely around you,sorry, theyve all been utterly perplexed and shocked even that I had a problem with what they did, and often doubled down on how safe they thought they were being towards me.
I remember an incident a year or two back. I was cycling home from work, an old duffer overtook me on a zebra crossing then turned immediately left when I was level with his rear wheel. Thankfully it was dry, otherwise I would have slid under the Volvo 4x4. A woman at the junction clapped her hand to her mouth, and told me she couldn't beleive what she had just seen. I chased the twat and caught up with him as he parked outside his house. I, calmly as I could, asked why he had done that. "Nay lad", he replied. "You overtook me as I turned left". I asked him to apologise and I would take it no further. He refused, so I reported him to the police. It helped that the officer was one of the old school coppers. She has sadly retired now. She went to see the man, asked him what happened. He said I overtook him on the inside. She informed him that she had seen the footage, and actually had the video on her phone, and would he like to change his version of events, or change his story as she had a different opinion on what happened? He refused to watch the video, changed his story and apologised. She issued him with a section 'I cannot remember the number', but it was effectively an ASBO for the vehicle. If during the following 12 months he was reported for another driving offence the car would be impounded.
She issued him with a section 'I cannot remember the number', but it was effectively an ASBO for the vehicle. If during the following 12 months he was reported for another driving offence the car would be impounded.
This rather goes against your (and mine!) anti-LC theme. It sounds like 'a warning letter', which they usually describe as an advice letter, and I may be over-cynical in suspecting that if they come across such a previous offence while looking into an incident report they just think: Sod it, I can't be bothered, pretend not to notice the previous and just use the NFA rubber stamp as usual.
It helped that I knew the police officer well, she used to work alongside a good friend of mine, in the good old days when Lancs Plod were good. She was horrified when she saw the footage.
I still miss the less cluttered roads of lock down. I went out on my bike and explored the city a little more due to significantly less traffic being on the roads and it was a very enjoyable experience.
We should have more days in a year where the use of privately owned vehicles is restricted from the city so people can come out on their bicycles and scooters to enjoy what it has to offer without all the mad hustle, bustle, constant noise and polution from the mass exodus of motor vehicles.
It might even open up more of the city to tourists.
I miss the smell, and taste of the fresh country air. It was so noticeable.
They could do the same with areas like Cannock Chase. While there are many miles of off road routes to explore, riding the roads therein isn't a nice thing to do with all the traffic, the vast majority of which ignores the 40mph limit.
Time to close the roads across the chase on one sunday a month during the summer months and let us road cyclists have a nice ride out.
It is not the privately owned vehicles that cause city congestion, at least not in Leeds. It is more the hordes of almost empty buses and taxis that clog the streets now.
During the height of the lockdown driving around the city was a serene experience but since the relaxation of public transport restrictions all the bus companies seem to have their entire fleets back on the roads despite fewer passenger numbers. I wonder how long the various bus companies can keep this up, they must be running at a considerable loss.
I'm inclined to agree. Most drivers have no wish to put anyone else in harms way. Decent, considerate overtaking is the norm where I am from and I actually do feel that the general standard of driving is more gentle than previously.
However the tiny minority of drivers who lack the basic skills to operate their vehicle safely near other road users and cyclists in particular, are still the same and the hardcore cyclist hating nutters are still out there. 100 good / better than normal passes on a ride can still be trumped by a single dangerous close pass or unprovoked aggression.
I have a couple of instances on video of totally gratuitous close passes at pedestrian crossings that I will post up in a few weeks time. Both reported so give the Police time to deal with them though I don't expect either will actually result in any action (Herts Police) as whilst the HC is unequivocal about "must not" overtake another vehicle at a pedestrian crossing, the underlying law relates only to overtaking another motorised vehicle.
I don't fully agree that it's mainly good drivers vs a minority of bad ones.
I'll get far more close passes on a Friday afternoon, when it's busy and people are in a hurry, than on a Sunday morning. That suggests to me that the same drivers give you plenty of space when it's easy, and much less when it's harder to do it.
Or maybe their minds are full of shit when they're driving home from work on a Friday afternoon
It's terrible to think of all the poor motorists injured and harmed due to the actions of cyclists.
Squirrels on the other hand:
https://abc13.com/animal-car-crash-driver-squirrel/4192400/
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.mirror.co.uk/news/us-news/woman-82-wrec...
Don't swerve for them - they wouldn't swerve for you (unless you dodged them the first time)
It's this shared responsibilty thing, we can be killed by their illegality and incompetence. Which will only result in slight damage to their precious motor vehicle. Infentesimal chance of injury to them, let alone serious, life changing injury or death.
Our foolishness, maybe a few scratches, or a bit of a dent to their often behemoth motor vehicles, and maybe broken bones or worse for us.
Cyclists have very little impact on the safety of vehicle occupants.
I cannot recall the last time a cyclist has managed to kill a vehicle occupant or driver. I'm sure we would never hear the end of it.
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