Arsehole on a bike

[FPVSteve]

Some people are sad, frustrated little men. No doubt he's since told all of his friends how he confronted a 7 foot tall muscular man covered in blinking LEDs then successfully stopped him from flying a quadcopter in front of "Nancy from up the road"'s window.

From now on I'm simply going to have a GoPro recording inside the back of the car so if anyone approaches I have a record of what was said. Not sure it would have helped in this case though, what with it being a drive-by assault on my ears and all :)

Probably good advice for anyone flying FPV nowadays actually...

[Rob T]

Having spent some time sitting watching a major junction in London I have to say the main villains of the piece, on the pavement, running red lights on junctions and crossings were the cyclists. Also they were first to complain.
There, said it now and I feel much better.
Steve, best let it go. Some people will never be reasonable.

[karlak]

RE: Car v's bike.

I have two excellent pieces of Dashcam footage showing both side.

1 - Travelling home on a single carriageway, when a large group of cyclists head towards me from the other direction.  Some of them had their head down and were on my side of the road, forcing me to break very heavily, so they could veer out of the way.  I am sure they have a death wish.  Didn't stop me getting jeered by them, perhaps next time I should let them bounce off my bonnet ?

2 - Last week, following some Wiggins wannabe's who to be fair were single file, so I just sat back until I could overtake.  But the car in front of me overtook them on a blind right hand bend, I was literally wincing because if a car came the other way there would have been a very serious accident, involving a probable head on crash and cyclists.

Not sure what the answer is really, but I do feel on certain types of roads and conditions that Cars and Cycles just do  not mix.

I remember when doing some advance motorcycle courses being told  and constantly reminded, you must ride defensively, you wont get second chances.  Something that I feel is lost on a lot of cyclists I see flouting road rules on a daily basis.

[Loopdreams]

The answer is for people to get a grip and realise the need for cooperation.  If you read that article up there from the Police the evidence from the accidents they have investigated is that when cars and bikes collide it is usually the fault of the driver. 

You can ride defensively up to a point but there are times when you just have to trust that the driver has seen you and isn't going to pull out.  I get really irritated by some cyclists as I do by some drivers but it's vital when you're in a car to remember how vulnerable cyclists are regardless of how badly you think they are riding.

Anyone who lets it aggravate them into a dangerous pass lest they be delayed for thirty seconds needs to turn in their license as they aren't mentally fit to get behind the wheel of a car.  And this is loads of people, just try keeping an eye out next time you're in a line of cars passing a bike and see how little room some idiots leave.  I'd love to see more forces doing the sort of evidence-based enforcement which the ones writing that blog are.

[electrotor]

I am a cyclist and whilst I have seen many videos where vehicle drivers are totally at fault, including deliberately hitting cyclists, my own personal experience has been that cyclists are the worst offenders.

Stealth cycling at night (town or country but country is worse) with no lights, black clothing and on a dark frame
Same but in the rain so that the reflections from other vehicle lights mask the stealth cyclist
Ignoring traffic lights
The wrong side of the road
Coming off a pavement right in front of a car
Cutting up the inside when the width available is only 10mm wider than the handlebars
No signal before veering off in front of you

Too many cyclists do not realise that right or wrong, they will always come off worse. The stealth cyclists should note that blood red makes them less stealthy. Pity that it took a collision to realise this.

[Billy_boy_2010]

This is way beyond topic- but car drivers often forget that cyclists often drive cars too. This gives cyclists a far more informed opinion than car drivers. 

Car drivers expect cyclists to obey the same laws to the same standards as they do. Whilst this isn't entirely unreasonable- cyclists are slower and have far far less damage potential than cars. Thus their disobeying certain laws on the road is far less serious.


Anyway- sounds like the cyclist was just an idiot. I wouldn't have cared at all.

[Dave]

Reminds me of a time I was driving my not so normal performance car, well within the speed limit. Had a nob on a bike shouting "SLOW DOWN" as he passed in the opposite direction. Just so happens I was stopping about 50 metres down the road anyway and he was just doing a lap of the block. As I got out of the car he popped out the junction and went very pale when he saw me. I politely asked him why he thought my speed was an issue when I was driving well within the posted limit. He started by saying "Don't know what your on about" shortly followed up with "wasn't me" in a slightly wavering slightly high pitched voice. I just laughed and let it go :)

He probably thought he was doing his bit and had a warm fuzzy feeling for doing so and had no expectation of ever seeing me again. Turns out hes local to me and I see him down the local pub quite often....never says a word to me, I think he realised what a nob he had been :)

[Billy_boy_2010]

Reminds me of a time I was driving my not so normal performance car, well within the speed limit. Had a nob on a bike shouting "SLOW DOWN" as he passed in the opposite direction. Just so happens I was stopping about 50 metres down the road anyway and he was just doing a lap of the block. As I got out of the car he popped out the junction and went very pale when he saw me. I politely asked him why he thought my speed was an issue when I was driving well within the posted limit. He started by saying "Don't know what your on about" shortly followed up with "wasn't me" in a slightly wavering slightly high pitched voice. I just laughed and let it go :)

He probably thought he was doing his bit and had a warm fuzzy feeling for doing so and had no expectation of ever seeing me again. Turns out hes local to me and I see him down the local pub quite often....never says a word to me, I think he realised what a nob he had been :)

Ha that's a good story.

What car was it?

Some cars just look and sound fast even at 30. The people who are terrible at judging others speed are often the poor or even non drivers themselves.

[Certacito]

I am struggling to find anywhere outside of my living room in Newport South Wales where I can fly my 250 quad. Tried a number of local flying clubs and to a man was told they don't want quads there. 1 club allows quads but they charge a fortune for membership and I will only be allowed to fly at set times when they say so. Tried using Google maps today to find a field in the middle of nowhere that conforms to the guidelines and is safe to fly at and I found 2 places. Went to one to find it is now fenced off and the other I had a number for the guy who runs a banger club there, but when I got there, there are pylons in the field. I completely run with the CAA guidelines and the law as I have read and understood them, but it seems that the press has painted such a dull picture of this sport that it is killed off before it can even get going. Oh well, back to hovering in the living room.

[Loopdreams]

It's getting that way.  We were flying this morning on a quiet stretch of the coast, we had driven there specifically because it's miles from any towns or busy roads.  We even had a spotter warning us of anyone approaching on the nearby path etc.  But then some other complete arsehole on a bike rolls up and his opening gambit was "do you have BMFA insurance?" obviously thinking we wouldn't even know what he was on about and then started ranting about how we shouldn't be flying there when there was literally no reason whatsoever that we shouldn't be flying there.  Turned out he was a member of a local RC club who obviously just hated FPV.  Absolute knobhead.  These pricks are everywhere now, though.

[BlueFlyer]

Re: Steves cyclist friend... I would have been just as wound up mate lol... But I'm not brave enough to go chasing anyone lol

Re: cyclists v drivers. Trying to convince cyclists that they're not gods of the road and can be the cause of accidents just as much as poor drivers is like trying to have a logical discussion about religion to a religious person. They will never falter from their standpoint no matter what reasonable points you might make... so I don't bother trying anymore.

[Loopdreams]

can be the cause of accidents just as much as poor drivers

Except the evidence is that that's just a load of absolute bollocks.  Pretty much all the cyclists and pedestrians killed or seriously injured are victims of poor drivers.  Poor cyclists amount to little more than a nuisance in the actual real world.

[BlueFlyer]

Lol, oh and don't get me started on caravanners

[Miles]

Certacito,

There's quite a few of us in the area, and plenty of good places to fly! I'm up near Usk, and fly in a range of fields and have been to a couple of different clubs (GwentMAC are alright :) ). If you head west down the M4, there are lots of events going on with team woolly sheep etc.

I'd be interested to see how you've only identified two fields - There's alot of places to fly round here that allow you to conform to the CAA regs.

[FPVSteve]

It's getting that way.  We were flying this morning on a quiet stretch of the coast, we had driven there specifically because it's miles from any towns or busy roads.  We even had a spotter warning us of anyone approaching on the nearby path etc.  But then some other complete arsehole on a bike rolls up and his opening gambit was "do you have BMFA insurance?" obviously thinking we wouldn't even know what he was on about and then started ranting about how we shouldn't be flying there when there was literally no reason whatsoever that we shouldn't be flying there.  Turned out he was a member of a local RC club who obviously just hated FPV.  Absolute knobhead.  These pricks are everywhere now, though.

This is the problem... I'm not flying anywhere "dodgy" or causing problems, but when I go out to have a fly I do it for fun and to relax away from my desk. Not to argue the toss with some self-appointed judge, juror and executioner who's heard something on the Jeremy Vine show. I can easily see how my afternoon would be ruined by someone like that, even though I should just let it go. Problem is, if someone sticks around to argue - what else can you do except get pissed off? You can't smack them in the face to shut them up as that's assault. You can't ask them to leave because it's public land. So yea. if someone is going to cause problems even if they're wrong then there's not really much we can do about it.

People need to just live and let live.

Personally I'm looking for a place where I can "hide" - I couldn't give a monkeys if someone sees the plane, I'd just rather them not be able to come up for a chat while I'm in the goggles - angry or not.