An Amusement & Diversion for The Genteel Cyclist. Daily.

Monday, October 22, 2007

The truth in the bilge


Our buddies over at Quick Release TV have intercepted a hilarious anti-bicycle screed posted around the UK by an unnamed PR firm. It ostensibly communicates the results of a "broad" survey of 2000 car drivers that finds, among other things, that


  • 91% of road users have caught cyclists riding on the footpath/pavement
  • 76% regularly see cyclists riding without lights on in the dark
  • 74% have witnessed cyclists passing through a red traffic light
  • 68% have seen cyclists failing to signal when turning left or right
  • 50% have seen cyclists heading the wrong way down a one-way road
  • Cyclists driving through pedestrian crossing (44%)
  • Cyclists shouting at car and motorbike drivers (38%)
  • Shouting at pedestrians (27%)
  • Causing an accident (18%)
  • Cyclists not having insurance which means they can’t compensate other people involved in the accident (9%)

    And it’s not just pedestrians and motorists who are being subjected to saddle rage - other cyclists say they have increasingly suffered, with one in ten (11%) admitting they’ve been verbally insulted, intimidated and yelled at by fellow cyclists.


  • Let's see if we can find a new way to say this. Good cyclist, please keep your shorts pulled up, your hands on the bars, and your lip buttoned. Nobody likes a lippy bike rider.

    5 comments:

    Matt said...

    Funny thing is, in just the last couple of weeks I have personally witnessed motorists driving at night with lights off, failing to signal both left and right turns, signalling a left turn then turning right, driving down closed roads, parking in a bicycle lane, causing an accident, having non-working headlights, having non-working taillights, exceeding the speed limit, running red lights (multiple times) and running stop signs. Plenty of motorists drive with cancelled licenses or no insurance and I've personally had an automobile totalled by an uninsured motorist (though admittedly not in the last two weeks). To their credit, I haven't seen any motorists yelling at anyone in the last fortnight. Just thought we ought to keep things in perspective here.

    Anonymous said...

    i say that's precisely the point of riding a bike: a somewhat flexible view of the law... on a bike, stop lights look more like an opinion than a fact.

    that is all too frequently the view of cagers as well, so.. you know, methinks they protest too loudly...

    Jeff Moser said...

    There's a guy who yells at us on our lunch time route for rolling a stop sign when there are absolutely no cars in sight. His wife even gave us the stink eye the other day...just for riding by her house! But man...they'd go hoarse from yelling at the cars speeding in front of their house! But for some reason, that sort of thing doesn't bother them. They concentrate on the things that don't affect them.

    Anonymous said...

    Here's a good example of motorist rage. At least the cops can protect us, er, maybe not: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/23/nyregion/23rage.html?th&emc=th

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