Drivers, Think Bike!

As a driver I used to hate cyclists. I still hate bad cyclists that dart across the road in front of you without looking. But drivers are just as bad and they do not think about it from the cyclists point of view.

Leave plenty of room on your left for cyclists to pass, there is nothing worse than coming to lights or a long queue of traffic and there be some idiot so close to the curb that you have to squeeze in between them and the curb or have to wait until they move.

You may ask what makes cyclists so special that they can jump the queue and get to the front quickly. The answer is simple, cyclists are slow and they can use all the help they can get to get to their destination. Also cyclists are very exposed both to the weather and also to motorists. If they can get to the front of the queue and away before the queue finishes, they will be out of the way by the time you start driving, and out of danger.

The other thing that drivers do that confuses and irritates cyclists is driving in front of them and indicating left. As a driver approaching a junction where you are turning left, if there is a cyclist in front of you, wait behind them. Quite a few times drivers have sped up passed me, and stopped in front of me indicating left, you do not know if they are going to stop and let you go or continue turning, where you would stand no chance. So, I slow down until I know that they are waiting for me, by that time I have slowed down from 17 mph to 8 mph and then I have to speed up again, it makes the whole thing take a lot longer for driver and cyclist then it needs to.

Cyclists are not your enemy, they just want to get from one place to another in a healthy, economical and nature friendly way. Be nice, think of the cyclist.