(no subject)

[naath]

Today I am annoyed about http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/cycling/20246940 and http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/cycling/20255862 (Wiggins and British cycling's head coach both injured in crashes with vehicles). And about twitter reaction to same, not all of it of course but some of it.

Anyway. GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR I hate motorists who drive without taking enough care to spot cyclists; which obviously isn't ALL motorists, but it's ENOUGH motorists that I (as a cyclist) need to be very wary of all the motorists on the road because I can't know which of them are good, observant people and which of them are not. But even more GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR I hate people who think that when a motorist drives their vehicle in such a way as to hit a cyclist that the cyclist should be blamed for being there.

So now I'm cross about that. And not very articulate.

Comments

[feanelwa.livejournal.com]

I do not go on twitter because (among other reasons like "I've forgotten my password") I would just be a constant incoherent ball of rage, and I need my brain to do other things. And you have just reminded me of this so I don't need to figure out my password after all :)

[sphyg.livejournal.com]

Without wanting to start drama, I wanted to say vice versa: as a motorist I'm annoyed by cyclists who don't take enough care; which obviously isn't ALL cyclists, etc...Actually, I could say the same thing as a pedestrian about cyclists.

But I appreciate that we all have a right to be on the road and in the case of any accident cyclists are at greater risk of harm.

[naath.livejournal.com]

In my experience *all* types of road user sometimes engage in annoying or stupid behaviors (not all individuals do of course) but operators of motor vehicles have a much greater ability to cause greater physical harm to other road users and/or property.

So the annoying things that some pedestrians do (and boy do they do annoying things sometimes!) are mostly things that make me take more care to avoid hurting pedestrians; whilst the annoying things that some motorists do are things that make me take more care to avoid being hurt by motorists. I guess I'm MORE ANNOYED by being forced to take what I view as onerous precautions to protect my own skin than by being required to take precautions to avoid hurting other people.

As a pedestrian I can get very annoyed by the pedestrian endangering habits of some cyclists (GET OFF THE PAVEMENT YOU JERK).

[gerald_duck]

We're clearly both on the wrong forms of transport.

You're a cyclist who resents having to look after your own safety.

I'm a motorist who resents having to look after the safety of other road users who are breaking the law.

[naath.livejournal.com]

I don't resent *all* looking-after-my-own-safety tasks - only ones that I only need to do because of other people's law-breaking ways.

[http://users.livejournal.com/la_marquise_de_/]

I share your grrr. And ditto on car and lorry and van drivers who treat motorbikes that way, too. The majority of motorbike accidents are the fault of the driver with 4 wheels not paying proper attention to the road.