Nice Cycling #16 | Not Antagonistic

Thank you to you and all your contributors for a very welcome space of calm, on a platform where so much is shouting that the world is going mad. Shout out to Matt for his judgement at 1:39 too: the quickest way to resolve the interruption to flow was to resume his progress, and off he went without fuss.

Don't anticipate slowing down at a junction or otherwise and you'll have problems. Painful ones too.

Good video. I do/have done most of the actions shown but know I can improve. I am very aware as a septuagenarian and ex-motorbiker (I sold it last week) of vulnerability on the road. I cycle quite regularly and still drive a car. Having done some advanced motorbike training with police instructors many years ago I have developed an interest in continuous improvement as a road user. Whereas the advice was to overtake when safe to do so on a motorbike to place the potential hazard behind you, on a bicycle I often cycle onto the pavement or into a layby to allow a vehicle following me to pass, thus removing the potential hazard from behind me, especially as I am not a fast cyclist. It's all about using the roads safely, and that is now at the forefront of my mind whatever personal transport mode I choose to employ. I was recently surprised to encounter 'pedestrian rage' on a shared foot/cycle path from a young male pedestrian who wandered in front of me when I was cycling behind him (he was scrolling his phone). I avoided him, but it made him jump, whereupon he shouted that I should have rung my bell. He was probably right (if somewhat bad mannered and entitled) and I took it as just another lesson. I am now much more inclined to warn potentially deaf/blind pedestrians of my presence when I approach them – even on shared paths!

03:29 The clip with the horse is interesting. The instruction for drivers is to slow down to a maximum of 10 mph, be patient, and not to sound your horn or rev your engine. I would have thought that cyclists should also take extra care around horses too, so ringing the bell seems out of place for me. And was that a safe place to pass? They were lucky nobody was coming the other way, obscured by the bend.

Sadly, the riding style shown in these clips is the exception, not the norm.

3.17 Unbelievable that the lycra lane does not have give way markings where it crosses the bus stop and huge great warning signs, both on the lane and at bikeys head height.

3.54 dinging an entitlement is not enough. ALL riders should be required to SLOW to just above walking pace when passing pedestrians on these nonsense shared paths. Bikeys are SECONARY users.

5.20 Unfortunately the mindset of almost all bikeys. If they were not already selfish and arrogant enough. Even the shared path sign places bikey at the top with pedestrians below.

5.45. The times I have been in that position, or just parallel parking. Traffic stops to allow one to concentrate on manoeuvring safely. Except of course all bikeys. Not one will ever stop, instead the blast past the waiting traffic and carve round the manoeuvring vehicle. Then bikey boy screams abuse at the driver.

If bikes were bought into line with other vehicles, suitably trained and licenced riders, with insurance and visible registration plates, it would make the majority of the lawless start to ride within the law on our roads.

Diversity boys in London are a law unto themselves. Most seem to be on the rob, all balaclavad up, with their black puffa jackets to hide their loot. Those not on the rob are riding like total dicks, delivering food to fat people.

Limey bike riders are just as bad. Why do they not all have registration plates, then the hirer can be traced and prosecuted.

The sacrifices that cyclists have to make to feature in a “nice cycling” video are WAY more than in an equivalent “nice driving” video.

I think I'd probably be in primary here 1:04. Obviously cardooring isn't a problem but I would get anxious one of those cars would reverse or just drive out as I'm passing.

i dont need a car driver, who teaches lots of new drivers how to drive cars, thus condoning and perpetuating the insanity of cars, telling me how to cycle properly, thanks. i you taught people not to drive cars, i might take you seriously.

2:16 The two on the bikes will have driving licenses. They also have more senses than the driver because they can see over the rise in the road. As they are more elevated, they can also see if anything is approaching on the farm track to the right, but most importantly, they can hear much better than the driver (no engine noise). Although the driver is ultimately the one responsible for the overtake, there's nothing particularly wrong with the beckoning. I was once climbing a steep hill on a narrow road while being followed by a large car. When my sight-line improved, I could beckon the driver through, thus reassuring her that she could complete the overtake safely AND that I was expecting her (because I had also assessed that I wouldn't pull out because of a drain cover). No adult on a bike is going to beckon somebody through if it would endanger them.

You're just seeing it from a driver's point of view, where you don't have better sight lines and better hearing.

3:40 I wouldn't have used a bell. Horses are easily spooked, so I always slow down and use voice communication, "bicycle approaching", so that the horse is aware there is something behind them (horses hate fast-moving silent things coming from behind – it really freaks them out – make lots of noise when approaching a horse).

indicating to following motorists that you know they are there, want to overtake, and that you are aware of their intention and that you feel that it's not unsafe to attempt to overtake is not the same thing as encouraging them to attempt possibly unsafe, for them, manoeuvres. In a car, flashing someone to proceed is common and the other driver must always make up their own mind about the safety of their action.

A lot of comments about not signalling to drivers to overtake, which I agree with. I will often make a move to the left when I feel it's clear to show that I am happy to be overtaken but leave the decision to the driver.

A more appropriate warning for a horse and rider is your voice. A horse is much less likely to be spooked by the sound of a human voice than by a bell (or noisy freehub – keep pedalling)

Great videos. Really good to see normal and respectful behaviour.

Ashley is entirely correct in saying that more publicity for behaviour like that shown by the cyclists in this video may change people's perception of cyclists. I find this highly problematic. He doesn't – and we don't expect him to – introduce nice driving episodes as being a way of improving the image of drivers among the rest of humanity. In the nice driving points, it's the nice driving and the learning points that are emphasised.

Why does society see fit to tar all cyclists with the same brush with no-one apparently calling this behaviour out? Plenty of people point out, when absurd generalisations are made, that not all Muslims are terrorists, not all Jews support Israel and not all Russians want to invade their neighbours. There are good cyclists and bad cyclists. The same person can be both on different days. Exactly the same as with drivers and pedestrians.

2:10 – but in riding in single file they make overtaking more difficult? Now the driver has to driver longer during the overtake than before.

As at 0:55, I like to think of the horn as that person being annoyed at themself for being so bad at driving.

I had something similar recently where traffic the other side of a crossroad was backed up to the junction, so I waited, and the person being was beeping to try and make me go. They were beeping because they were annoyed at themself for not seeing the problem ahead, I'm sure, haha!

There's zero excuse for the driver in the first clip to have not seen that cyclist. It's a good idea to slow down a little in that situation, but only because it's possible/likely that the driver isn't looking not because the cyclist hasn't done enough to make themselves visible.

I did ring my bell – should have slowed down passing a pedestrian

Some great video, some good comments, and a few crap ones as well.
I now expect every car to slow down at every junction to 10mph, even if they are on the main road….(You really blame the bike rider for not slowing at every junction? wow, what a level of entitlement…)
Of course cyclists pay more attention around junctions, but to slow for each on is just stupid, your giving out of this message would mean drivers then dont have to consider cyclists at each junction, get real.
Remember, slowing down for no reason can lead to a car ramming you up the backside, so what you are saying is dangerous.

Bells and horses dont mix, you ned to speak clearly from at least 100m back, and more as you approach, although the horse hears you first, its the response from the horse rider that then spooks the horse.

I can be lit up like a Christmas tree, and drivers still dont see me, usually because they have their face in a phone.

I agree with the getting stuff infront, not always possible on small country roads, but as soon as a passing point is there, then I use it, shame some drivers dont think the same, or dont know what a passing point is.