my altercation

[661-Pete]

Sorry to hear of your woes.....I'm not surprised that it was a BMW......they are more aggressive, for sure. A kind of "look at me, I've made it...ha ha and look at you on a bike" mentality...

Hey..... Less of the generalising. I have a BMW. It is highly reliable, cheap to run, comfortable, and takes the bike in the back or on the roof. Best of all it will sit quite happily on the drive for days and weeks, whilst I ride my bikes, until I need it. I don't believe I drive it aggressively. I look out for cyclists whilst I sing along to the rather excellent stereo.

I appreciate you may be the 'exception that proves the rule', but I'm afraid I'm with chocjohn here - I have more trouble with beemers and audis on average, than other makes. Incidentally, I have a Peugeot: it is highly reliable, cheap to run, comfortable, and takes the bike in the back (I don't have a roof carrier). Best of all it will sit quite happily on the drive for days and weeks, whilst I ride my bikes, until I need it . There's nothing about BMWs that singles them out as 'superior' vehicles. I had a colleague who bought a clapped-out old beemer (probably the best he could afford) and that car was no end of trouble: half the time he was late to work because his wheels wouldn't start, or had packed it in on the way to work or something. I believe it ended up on the dump.

Call it generalising if you must. I'm on extra alert whenever a car approaches which I recognise as a BMW or Audi.

[honesty]

Commiserations. I'd not had trouble like that on East Reach before but it was rubbish like that in Somerset that motivated me to buy a camera. A cheap £25 one - not great but good enough to read a number plate. Its battery is not holding much charge now and it's not replaceable, so I guess I'll get one of those muvi clones before long.

the silly thing is is that with a small amount of investment Eastreach could be fantastic. it doesn't need to be 4 lanes most of the day. you could remove the middle divide change it to 3 lanes and have it so the centre lane changes direction via overhead signs depending on the time of day, then putting proper cycle lanes in either side. It'll help the shops there as well. Or just drop it to 2 lanes permanently and put in decent lanes and parking.

the problem with Taunton is that there seems to be far to much traffic for such a small town. I'm hoping the NIDR when it's finished will alleviate some of the traffic through the centre of town, but they need to do something to the motorway junction onto the A 358 to allow the traffic to flow out of town better.

[mjr]

the problem with Taunton is that there seems to be far to much traffic for such a small town. I'm hoping the NIDR when it's finished will alleviate some of the traffic through the centre of town, but they need to do something to the motorway junction onto the A 358 to allow the traffic to flow out of town better.

There's no hope that it'll alleviate some of the traffic through the centre if they don't redesign the roads and put some restrictions in. We've reproven time and time again that more roads encourages more motor traffic, at least back to the Taunton bypass (M5) opening. Now Somerset County Council are determined to repeat the mistake with the NIDR and (last I knew) enlarging Tangier Way.

The motorway junction outbound is probably blocked for the same reason that North Somerset Council aren't allowed to increase the outflow onto the M5 at J21: the Highways Agency told them no. The reason seems obvious: it would worsen the peak overloading of the Avonmouth Bridge and the Exeter terminus. SCC and NSC both have transport strategies which IMO they aren't following in practice.

[Bonefishblues]

Sorry to hear of your woes.....I'm not surprised that it was a BMW......they are more aggressive, for sure. A kind of "look at me, I've made it...ha ha and look at you on a bike" mentality...

Hey..... Less of the generalising. I have a BMW. It is highly reliable, cheap to run, comfortable, and takes the bike in the back or on the roof. Best of all it will sit quite happily on the drive for days and weeks, whilst I ride my bikes, until I need it. I don't believe I drive it aggressively. I look out for cyclists whilst I sing along to the rather excellent stereo.

I thought that this rather tired stereotype had passed to Audis now, in any event...

[honesty]

There's no hope that it'll alleviate some of the traffic through the centre if they don't redesign the roads and put some restrictions in. We've reproven time and time again that more roads encourages more motor traffic, at least back to the Taunton bypass (M5) opening. Now Somerset County Council are determined to repeat the mistake with the NIDR and (last I knew) enlarging Tangier Way.

The motorway junction outbound is probably blocked for the same reason that North Somerset Council aren't allowed to increase the outflow onto the M5 at J21: the Highways Agency told them no. The reason seems obvious: it would worsen the peak overloading of the Avonmouth Bridge and the Exeter terminus. SCC and NSC both have transport strategies which IMO they aren't following in practice.

There is talk of pedestrianising East Street and North Street once the NIDR is open. I don't believe it. Seems like slideware to me. Even if they do do this it would probably mean that Eastreach would get worse.

As far as I can see the traffic on the Toneway is caused by A358 traffic at the motorway junction as it goes from 2 lanes on the roundabout, immediately to 1 lane on the A358 over a stream bridge, then back up to 2 lanes for the new park and ride. If they had just had 2 lanes over the stream (I'm guessing they didn't because the bridge wasn't wide enough?) this would at least allow queuing properly on the 2 lanes by the new park and ride moving the A358 queue the other side of the motorway junction...

[Lance Dopestrong]

I go up to the window and ask what he was playing at.

Why risk getting stabbed for a jerk like him? Where has it gotten you?

[honesty]

thats what my wife said, and I have to say, I agree with her. Given what had just happened I wasn't really thinking rationally though... I couldn't believe his actions, I wanted to know what he thought he was doing.

[Phil Fouracre]

Ah! That was your mistake. You ascribed thought to the process. No, no, no, there was none involved have you learnt nothing?
Just out of interest, as we both cycle this area, have you ever cycled around langport? Travelling to and from Fivehead on the main road I have decided that there must be an invisible barrier about half a mile from the edge of town. Within this the knuckle draggers rule; I have been overtaken on complete blind bends, hooted and sworn at, so many times that I think there must be something in the water!

[hondated]

Just want to add to your experiences as today I met another nutter as I was cycling through Pevensey Bay high street.
If you don't know it its a road that always has parked traffic on it and so the two lanes from the lights turn into one.
Cycling away from the lights I suddenly become aware of a car driving close to my rear wheel and as I did so the drivers hand went onto his horn ( now now no sniggering at the back there ) and from that it was easy to deduce that I was in his way.
Stopping immediately in the middle of the road to confront him he swerved pass me and I think he thought I was a sailor or something because before he went on his way he mentioned an " a anchor ". I think he said that but perhaps it rhymes with something else.

I am glad he went on his way and chose not to strike up a friendship with me as I am sure given he was young and muscular looking I think I might have gotten the rough end of the stick so to speak.

So given the earlier contributions to this thread does anyone else think that its time we as cyclists stood up for ourselves and called on the CTC and other cycling organisations to organise a day of protest against the way we are being treated as road users.

Can I also ask whether the recent new road traffic laws that were brought in could be used to prosecute idiot drivers such as this. I am thinking he could be charged with driving with undue care and attention perhaps.

At least I know tomorrow morning I wont meet such an idiot as they don't seem to be about at 5am.

[rjb]

Did you use the new reporting system? viewtopic.php?f=7&t=98442
A check on google shows his mot has just expired - http://www.ukvehicle.com/RG51AAN/

maybe this will prompt him to get it legal again.

[hondated]

No I didn't rjb. Thank you if it does happen again to me I will use it.

[reohn2]

No I didn't rjb. Thank you if it does happen again to me I will use it.

FWIW.
I have a valued friend who has reported to the police two vehicles owned by the same person that aren't taxed or MOT'd (therefore nullifying any insurance policy,should there be any)that are being used on the road regularly and has been told by Greater Manchester police that they do not have resources to do anything about it
What's the point of laws if no one's policing them?
It appears we have policing in name only,with forces stretched to such an extent as to only be able to investigate headline and the most serious of crimes.
The criminals are having beano.

[Psamathe]

...
It appears we have policing in name only,with forces stretched to such an extent as to only be able to investigate headline and the most serious of crimes.
The criminals are having beano.

Probably too busy preparing for their defence of allegedly "inappropriate" tasking and behaviour of undercover officers. And then there will be the child support for the babies parented by those officers whilst undercover, ... And all that takes time, resources and money.

And then with all the mass surveillance being collected by the likes of GCHQ and NSA, well it all needs to be trawled through ... and that takes time and resources and money.

Ian

[reohn2]

Probably too busy preparing for their defence of allegedly "inappropriate" tasking and behaviour of undercover officers. And then there will be the child support for the babies parented by those officers whilst undercover, ... And all that takes time, resources and money.

I shouldn't think the inappropriate undercover fathering can't be too widespread,can it?

And then with all the mass surveillance being collected by the likes of GCHQ and NSA, well it all needs to be trawled through ... and that takes time and resources and money.

Ian

Quite!
And all the while catching of 'small' time criminals goes undetected,crime that makes everyday life of everyday people more stressful and quite infuriating to see such people getting away with it!
Not to mention the monkey see,monkey do element
Or the vigilante element.I recently heard a case on the radio where a female paediatric doctor's house was attacked in the mistaken belief that she was a paedophile,a tenuous link but one that shows the mentality of such moronic nutters
I've mentioned this before but the maniac who killed my granddaughter should have been taken off the road at least a year before he managed to kill her and himself at the same time,if the police had been doing their job right.
At the inquest the GMP were shown to be inadequate and totally unprofessional in the way they investigated the incident and their response to previous reports to them of Leah's killers maniacal riding and disregard for the laws of the road,reports to numerous to mention which also included CCTV footage non of which wasn't acted upon.
Two people dead because the police can't or won't do their job properly,and by no means the only one's,it doesn't need much research to find many other similar incidents which could have been prevented by a decent police force with an interest in the job in hand.

[boliston]

There's no hope that it'll alleviate some of the traffic through the centre if they don't redesign the roads and put some restrictions in. We've reproven time and time again that more roads encourages more motor traffic, at least back to the Taunton bypass (M5) opening. Now Somerset County Council are determined to repeat the mistake with the NIDR and (last I knew) enlarging Tangier Way.

My daily commute uses part of east reach but luckily only about 100 yards near dominos pizzas - it would help if they put in cycle only contra flows on the one way side roads off east reach as there are some short stretches such as tancred street where the only legal way to proceed is to push your bike on the pavement.