Originally Posted by
MarcusT
I have complete respect for cyclists on the road as I am one, but when I see a behaviour that just puts everyone at risk, it's too much for me.
Road cyclist riding in the middle of the lane on a narrow road. There was wide side lane for bikes. It was impossible to pass him without getting dangerously close. When the opportunity to safely pass presented itself after about a km, I rolled down the window and let him know what I thought of his unsafe manner. He gave me the one finger salute, I yelled "stop putting lives at risk" and moved on.
My biggest concern is the safety of other cyclists, because when drivers get fed up with riders like that, it puts the safe riders in danger.
I've ridden this road hundreds of times and yes, the side lane is perfectly suited for cyclists
Your concern wasn't safety, that's a rationalization. If he's on the road legally (was he required to ride in the side lane?) "you might hurt someone by angering a driver so bad that the driver goes out of their way to hit a cyclist who's riding legally" is such absurd speculation that it's amazing anyone spouts this. You were mad because he slowed you down and you made up an excuse to tell him off.
You do understand that drivers yelling out of car windows is one of the major reasons cyclists hate drivers, right? I'm conditioned from all of the random yelling and "get on the sidewalk" type "advice" to flip off almost everyone who does this. Where I ride, it's either just random insults, "boo", stupid crap like telling me to ride on the far right of a right turn lane when I'm going straight, or just incomprehensible gibberish.