Anywho, there I was cycling in front of my partner who is 2-3 metres behind me. We are coming to a hill where there is parked cars on the left hand side. We both started too pull out away from the door zone after we have checked that it is clear to do so. A black sedan was behind us and as we cleared of the brow of the hill and we all can see clearly down the road, the black sedan overtook us with plenty of space.

Behind my partner there is now a 4×4 driven by a lady, how do you know that I hear you ask, well I look back regularly :) I had even spotted it when I saw the black sedan. If the driver of said 4×4 had bothered to look a little bit further than the bonnet of the vehicle she is in, she would have seen …

- That the black sedan, had come to a halt at a T-junction and is getting ready to turn right into the side road.
- That the reason for it to coming to a halt is that a grey sedan is coming out of the side road and that the black sedan is waiting so that there is room for it to continue into the side road.
- That the grey sedan is turning left up the hill where we all are coming down from.

In that situation I would have hoped that she would stayed behind as there is clearly no room to overtake and that there is no benefit to do such manoeuvre. But I was wrong …

She then overtook my partner with plenty of space on the other side of the road. But as she was overtaking me she then figured out that there was no room for said manoeuvre. The silver sedan had to hold back as the 4×4 was in the wrong lane, she the driver of the 4×4 stared to pull into the left. Have a wild guess who would have been to her left at that point ?

Me, and I would have been pushed of my bicycle if I haven’t I had foreseen all this. So as she was over taking me, I hit the brakes to give her room to do her numpty manoeuvre. I said out loud “who is the numpty now” which she heard. She then pulled over to her left and stopped. We passed her again while she was trying to say something.

She then overtook us again and pulled up next to me while she was on the wrong side of the road and said “I did nothing wrong there” and continued to pull further into the left into my space as there was on coming traffic. To which I said you are doing it again …

Sorry me duck, you are still a SillyDriver.

Related posts:

1. SillyDriver II
2. SillyCyclist part II
3. The highway code

1/ they are doing more than 10/15 or even 20mph, quite often in a 20mph zone.
2/ to just gain 5 yards (in a hurry) and then get stuck behind another slower or stopped vehicle.
3/ at all costs, e.g. cut right in front of the cyclist so that they have to do an emergency stop.

Munster Road, SW6, in London is a great road for this, every and I mean every morning I have SillyDriver who just has to get past me, who is doing around 15mph. On a road with many speed bumps, plenty of road narrowings and parked cars on both sides of the road, which makes it narrow and very hard to overtake on. Every day I have a SillyDriver trying their best to over take me at all costs, easily two or three times before they succeed.

Attempt number one: Pull out, figure out that there is no room to do the manoeuvre, hold back wait until they are past the bollards.

Attempt number two : Pull out, figure out that there is an oncoming car and there still is no room to do the manoeuvre.

Attempt number three: Pull out, for the heck of it, revving the engine in the wrong gear to the max, which clearly can’t be any good for the motor, speed past me at break neck speed, way too close to comfort, hit the speed bump hard which clearly did break something judging by the scraping sound, which I of course laugh out to, which they of course don’t like. And then the SillyDriver comes to a quick stop less than 100 yards up the road in the queue ahead, which the SillyDriver would have seen if only they had looked a little further ahead than their bonnet of the vehicle they are in.

At which point I just cycle right past them, with a little wave, on the right all the way up to the junction of Lille Road and Fulham Palace Road where the tail back stated.

I have only one question, why ?

Related posts:

1. SillyDriver III
2. SillyDriver I
3. SillyCyclist IX

Cyclist :

- Red light jumping, is against the law and not even safe for you or others.
A good example: you as a cyclist come up to the red light, see it is clear, only one car around 100 or so yards down the way and you have plenty of time to cross before they arrive. But see it from their angle, they see you rushing across their GREEN light where they have right of way. They will tap their brakes since they don’t know if others are following you. The road user behind them will just see the car in front of them hitting the brakes for no apparent reason. They will hit the brakes rather hard and therefore get the following car parked right up their back.

- Not looking where you are going or looking behind you.
I see that every day and for some reason which escapes me you still manage to miss all the obstacles which are around you.

- Not telling others where you are going.
See the first example in this post “Look and see“. She was very close to getting knocked off her bike and causing a crash between two cars, simply because she didn’t tell others what she was doing.

Car/bus/van/taxi/etc users :

- Not telling others where you are going.
You have indicators, so please use them, it does help others to know where you want to go.

- Pulling out from from a side road over the Give Way line without looking.
Yes sometimes you do look and give way, though quite often you just zoom right out without any due care. And when you are giving way at the give way line please don’t edge out when you see a cyclist coming, because it scares the heebie jeebies out of us.

- Not looking where you are going.
You’ve got mirrors. It would be a big upgrade if you actually used them. Though don’t rely on these as they will not give you a full view of what is going on around you. Plenty of blind spots so please turn your head and check around you, you will spot that cyclist that are just about to turn into.

- Overtaking just for the heck of it.
Quite often when you are stuck in traffic and you have a little gap between you and the road user in front of you. And then a cyclist over take you on the outside and you just have to floor it and race along for that three metres gap, why ? It didn’t get you anywhere did it ?

Other times a little looking ahead of you you can see either a red light or a traffic queue. Why do you have to overtake us, zoom past pull right in and squeeze us against the kerb. What did you gain? Nothing since you are still stuck in traffic and we will filter past you seconds after.

Here is a good example of when are car user have just been dangerous, Sillydriver I, how the heck do you think it is a good idea to drive fast and over take when you got children on the road?

- Advanced Stop Lines (ASL) and bicycle lanes.
Is not a place for you to park, it is for us cyclists so that we can get in front of you so that you can see us before you pull away from the light.

Pedestrians :

- Crossing the road without looking.
Remember the Green Cross Code? So please do look before you cross the road, even getting hit by a bicycle will hurt. I heard the other day that a fellow cyclist hit a runner who had stepped out in front of the cyclist. Cyclist ended up in A&E with a cut on the elbow but the runner had a broken finger and a very sore set of ribs.

When you see the traffic at a standstill, don’t just walk right out onto the roads. Even if the traffic isn’t moving their light is still green, not red, and there may be motorbikes or cyclist filtering along. So do look before you cross, see the third example in this post, Look and see

- Not using the pedestrian crossing.
Other road users WILL give way for you when you use the pedestrian crossing, so why not use it ? Quite often you just have to walk 20 yards down the road to find one, instead of standing and waiting at some random point and then start sneaking out with the risk of getting hit.

For the life of me I can’t understand why a parent would have the bright idea of crossing a busy dual carriage way and then lifting their two loved ones over the fence in the middle reservation and continue on the other side.

- Red man
Yes the red man or red light does mean stop.

So as you can see we all are doing it. Even though I have split these very few examples up this is the case for everyone. Everyone forgets to look around them or communicate to others what they’re doing: just blindly heading for an early grave. But still we survive, it’s mind boggling.

Pretty much no regard to the highway code more like “I want to be over there” and I don’t care how I get over there and if I get in the way of others, they can move out of the way, not me.

I’m only saying that it is in your own best interest to be a more aware of what is going on around you and take care of yourself and others. Because it will save your life one day.

Related posts:

1. SillyCyclist part I
2. SillyCyclist XIII
3. Self-Powered Laser For Safer Night Cycling

And I will start this section off with a small pop quiz.

Q: Picture this, you are driving in your car down a residential road with speed bumps. And you come upon two adults wearing orange tabards, with 6 young kids standing next to them by the side of the road. Pretty easy to spot since there are no other obstructions between you and them like a parked vehicle, a tree or a bus stop. And right in front of you in the middle of the road is a young person on her bicycle, who clearly saw you since she is signalling that she is about to turn right.

Do you …

A: Slow down, even if you were already travelling below the speed limit, stay behind with plenty of space, let the young person do her right turn and then continue on your merry way?

or

B: Continue above the speed limit, accelerate and overtake at full pelt while bouncing over the speed bumps and scaring the young person out of her wits and nearly causing her to fall off her bicycle in front of you.

If you picked option A, you can go to the start and collect a “thank you” pat on the shoulder.

If, on the other hand, you picked option B, then you my fine Sir are A PILLOCK !!!!

Because that was what happened the other day when I was out training Bikeability to seven young and keen new cyclists.

Related posts:

1. SillyDriver II
2. SillyDriver III
3. The highway code