cyclistmoans
Cyclist moans
What annoys me as a cyclist:
General:
Most maps do not show cycle routes.
Animals that run across the road and could get caught up in your spokes. Cats and squirrels are the worst offenders.
Airborne particles – dust & stone chippings from road works, garbage from refuse lorries, dust form lawn mowing, seeds and pollen from bushes and trees... At speed on a long downhill, I once encountered a swarm of bees.
Puddles: Not only can you get your feet wet (and splash yourself) but cyclists cannot jump out of the way so easily if a motorist drives through a nearby puddle!
About roads, cycle paths, road signs:
Very poor signage for cycle routes – particularly National Cycle Network little stickers on street lamps.
“Cyclists Dismount” signs when a cycle path crosses a road. You don't find signs telling drivers to “Get out and push”! Cyclists are quite capable of stopping to give way and proceeding when safe to do so as much as other road users.
Street furniture. Lampposts, bus stops, bus shelters, phone relay boxes, etc.
Drain covers that have a slippery surface, raised, dropped or set at a different inclination to the path's surface.
Cycle tracks running out (and decanting cyclists) at the most dangerous parts of the roadway.
The red strip down the side of the road is the most likely place for roadworks. Cars park on it.
From roads being resurfaced, gutters end up a few inches lower to trap cyclists.
Over-painted yellow lines provide raised ridges.
Linked traffic lights designed for cars going at 30mph but act against cyclists going at 10mph.
Those ridged paving slabs that mark the ends of cycle and footpaths. Their ridges prevent the natural wobble of the bike wheel.
Cycle path surfaces. Smooth tarmac is great but cycle lanes are often courser or even brick paviors!
Shrubs and low trees that encroach on, or overhang, cycleways.
Loose chippings: not only when newly laid and they slide around under your wheels and get thrown up by motorists, but after they've become embedded or scattered by traffic, there's always loose scatterings lining the edges of the road that cyclists negotiate.
Speed bumps without gaps for cyclists.
About pedestrians:
Dog walkers who let their mutts stray unrestrained over cycle and shared paths. Dog walkers who walk down one side of a shared path with their mutt walking down the other side connected to its owner by an extending lead.
Pedestrians who use (and block) the cycle lane rather than the footpath.
Mothers with buggies (often walking two abreast) taking up all the width of the path.
Pedestrians crossing the road who see you cycling and step out in front of you not realising you are doing 20mph at the time.
About car (and other vehicle) drivers:
Drivers sounding their horn as they are about to overtake you. They may think they're giving you warning of their presence but that horn blast can make you jump and could cause an accident.
Drivers who pass you just before a road junction or traffic lights and then pull in sharply in front of you.
Drivers who think of you as just a slow moving bike and feel they've plenty of time to overtake before turning sharply into a side road or drive immediately in front of you.
Drivers who, if they actually see you coming presumably think you're only a slow bicycle, pull out of a side turning in front of you.
Drivers pulling alongside at lights, windows down and music blaring.
Smokers throwing cigarette ends out of windows.
When sitting in long stationary queues, leaving their engines running giving noxious fumes.
When the road width is restricted (eg. by parked vehicles), on-coming cars expect to have right of way.
Drivers or passengers who don't see the cyclist overtaking when they open their car doors.
What annoys me about cyclists:
General:
Cyclists carrying unmanageable goods on their bikes causing exaggerated and dangerous wobble.
Cyclists riding bikes that are plainly too small for them causing exaggerated and dangerous wobble.
About roads, paths, signs:
Cycle lanes that seem to cut across traffic lanes on roundabouts.
Insufficient (or not prominent enough) warning signs when cycle paths merge with or cross roads.
As a pedestrian:
Cyclists who cycle in public thoroughfares which are clearly marked “No Cycling”, often weaving in and out of pedestrians.
As a car driver:
When there is a perfectly good cycle path, cyclists still use the road doing 15mph in a 40mph zone and, because the road's not wide enough, cause a queue of traffic.
Cyclists in dark clothing and without lights on badly lit roads at night.
Cyclists who suddenly decide to cross in front of you without looking or signalling.
Cyclists weaving between the cars queueing at traffic lights.