Yet Another Cycling Forum
General Category => On The Road => Topic started by: Cunobelin on 25 May, 2010, 08:37:15 pm
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... or so I was told by a driving school instructor on the commute this evening.
I thought I might question his wisdom so fired an email off:
This evening one of your vehicles was conducting a lesson on the Southampton Road.
The instructor vehicle in the vehicle ** ** *** informed me that I should not be cycling on the road and should have been on the adjacent cycle path.
This is an interesting attitude to be teaching the pupil of this lesson as it has absolutely no founding in law or any other driving legislation.
In fact exactly the opposite. The DfT Code of Conduct for cyclists (Annex D to Local Transport Notes on Walking and Cycling) clearly states that at the speed I was cycling :
As a general rule, if you want to cycle quickly, say in excess of 18 mph/30 kph, then you should be riding on the road.
It is of extreme concern that a driving instructor is unaware of this and is teaching such erroneous claims to the pupil. Before taking this further I would be interested in what justification your instructor has for the claim that I should not have been on the roads and the legislation or literature that states I should not have been on the road.
20 minutes later I got a reply:
Thank you for your email.
I have spoken to the Driving Instructor concerning this email and i have forwarded your complaint to him and advised him to be aware of the highway code for cyclists.
Please accept our apologies on his behalf.
I know I only have their word for it but I consider it a result!
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Very good :thumbsup:
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:thumbsup:
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I'd ask them to get him to email you himself and make the arrogant git eat a bit of humble pie.
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Not as satisfying as beating the bastard into a coma with a length of 2x4!!
Sorry, but I've just about had enough of this brand of fuckwit!! >:( >:( >:(
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Not as satisfying as beating the bastard into a coma with a length of 2x4!!
Sorry, but I've just about had enough of this brand of fuckwit!! >:( >:( >:(
You don't say! ;D
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Not as satisfying as beating the bastard into a coma with a length of 2x4!!
Sorry, but I've just about had enough of this brand of fuckwit!! >:( >:( >:(
Use an aluminium baseball bat not a 2x4. Lets be sporty
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^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^
Better ergonomics. Less chance of straining your wrists. :demon:
;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
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Aluminium might cause you RSI - Polypropylene FTW (http://www.coldsteel-uk.com/store/Brooklyn-Smasher-Brooklyn-Crusher.html) :)
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advised him to be aware of the highway code for cyclists
yeah, the code for the sandal wearing yoghurt weavers. Not for us testosterone fuelled car drivers.
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There's something in me that just wants to say +1
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Aluminium might cause you RSI - Polypropylene FTW (http://www.coldsteel-uk.com/store/Brooklyn-Smasher-Brooklyn-Crusher.html) :)
Exogrid surely!!
;D
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The place for you is on the cyclepath.
The place for him is in the jobcentre.
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Aluminium might cause you RSI - Polypropylene FTW (http://www.coldsteel-uk.com/store/Brooklyn-Smasher-Brooklyn-Crusher.html) :)
But aluminum bats make such a satisfying 'boing' noise when they hit the skull.
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... or so I was told by a driving school instructor on the commute this evening.
I thought I might question his wisdom so fired an email off:
This evening one of your vehicles was conducting a lesson on the Southampton Road.
The instructor vehicle in the vehicle ** ** *** informed me that I should not be cycling on the road and should have been on the adjacent cycle path.
This is an interesting attitude to be teaching the pupil of this lesson as it has absolutely no founding in law or any other driving legislation.
In fact exactly the opposite. The DfT Code of Conduct for cyclists (Annex D to Local Transport Notes on Walking and Cycling) clearly states that at the speed I was cycling :
As a general rule, if you want to cycle quickly, say in excess of 18 mph/30 kph, then you should be riding on the road.
It is of extreme concern that a driving instructor is unaware of this and is teaching such erroneous claims to the pupil. Before taking this further I would be interested in what justification your instructor has for the claim that I should not have been on the roads and the legislation or literature that states I should not have been on the road.
20 minutes later I got a reply:
Thank you for your email.
I have spoken to the Driving Instructor concerning this email and i have forwarded your complaint to him and advised him to be aware of the highway code for cyclists.
Please accept our apologies on his behalf.
I know I only have their word for it but I consider it a result!
Good e-mail to the driving school. I might have been tempted to insert a reference to the (in)famous case of R v Cadden, in which Judge Robin Onions (fantastic name) said there was no compulsion that a cyclist should use a cycle path.
I'd also have been tempted to refer to Rule 61 of the Highway Code, which they should as driving instructors be familiar with: "Use of these facilities is not compulsory and will depend on your experience and skills"
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Ah, that reminds me.
Dear Sir or Madam
I am writing to ask for your comments on a situation I experienced last Thursday 20 May 2010. I was setting off from home with a group of friends at around 6.45pm, and paused to turn right out of Mattock Lane W13 onto Northfield Avenue W13. I was driving a fairly distinctive blue Fiat Doblo and the instructor in question might remember me.
I certainly remember him, because as I waited to turn right - there being traffic in both directions - he pulled to the left of my vehicle and then aggressively moved forward in order to turn right from the left-turning position. When I failed to let him perform his illegal and dangerous manoevure, he mouthed abuse at me and my friends through the window and gave us the finger.
He had an instructee with him at the time who was in the passenger seat. She looked highly embarrassed at his behaviour.
I can't imagine that this sort of driving is condoned by the AA. Your instructor should not be driving like that at all, never mind when he has someone with him. If he is that impatient with qualified drivers then I feel sorry for the learners he instructs.
The instructor was a white male whose physical age was somewhere below forty although clearly his emotional age was well under the legal driving age.
Can you please confirm whether you encourage this sort of behaviour from your driving instructors? If so I can only imagine that the worst sort of idiocy I see on the roads is always from those who were taught by the AA.
Best regards
*sits back and awaits noncommital response*
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I am frequently disturbed by the standard of driving by instructors.
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I make a point of thanking Instructor cars profusely if they treat me right. Hoping, probably forlornly, that it might make a difference in the future.
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Ah, that reminds me.
Dear Sir or Madam
I am writing to ask for your comments on a situation I experienced last Thursday 20 May 2010. I was setting off from home with a group of friends at around 6.45pm, and paused to turn right out of Mattock Lane W13 onto Northfield Avenue W13. I was driving a fairly distinctive blue Fiat Doblo and the instructor in question might remember me.
I certainly remember him, because as I waited to turn right - there being traffic in both directions - he pulled to the left of my vehicle and then aggressively moved forward in order to turn right from the left-turning position. When I failed to let him perform his illegal and dangerous manoevure, he mouthed abuse at me and my friends through the window and gave us the finger.
He had an instructee with him at the time who was in the passenger seat. She looked highly embarrassed at his behaviour.
I can't imagine that this sort of driving is condoned by the AA. Your instructor should not be driving like that at all, never mind when he has someone with him. If he is that impatient with qualified drivers then I feel sorry for the learners he instructs.
The instructor was a white male whose physical age was somewhere below forty although clearly his emotional age was well under the legal driving age.
Can you please confirm whether you encourage this sort of behaviour from your driving instructors? If so I can only imagine that the worst sort of idiocy I see on the roads is always from those who were taught by the AA.
Best regards
*sits back and awaits noncommital response*
Fantastic !!
Top letter.
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He had an instructee with him at the time
Nice letter, so I'm very sorry that I feel the need to be picky - is there any reason not to use the word "pupil" or "student" here?
Anyway, pedantry aside, fingers crossed you get as satisfactory an outcome as Cudzo. Though it's the AA, you say? Hmmm. Not a company famous for its positive attitude towards non-motorised road users.
d.
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He had an instructee with him at the time
Nice letter, so I'm very sorry that I feel the need to be picky - is there any reason not to use the word "pupil" or "student" here?
It's the word they use when they're being wanky. I thought I'd be wanky back. :)
Anyway, pedantry aside, fingers crossed you get as satisfactory an outcome as Cudzo. Though it's the AA, you say? Hmmm. Not a company famous for its positive attitude towards non-motorised road users.
d.
I woz motorised myself at the time, and I don't mention my filthy cycling habits. I'm sure if I wrote to them regarding a complaint I had as a cyclist they'd ignore me.
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I am frequently disturbed by the standard of driving by instructors.
Look at the standards of drivers it must come from somewhere.
Now wheres my soap box - blah privilege not right blah blah
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I've found that when the instructor is driving, and I'm on the bike, it can be most effective to lean into the car and say sorrowfully "you'll never pass if you drive like that"
:)
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I was overtaken by an AA instructor last night, on his own in the car.
It was a textbook perfect overtake: all four wheels over the centre line, not too fast, no harsh acceleration. :)
Apart from one thing: the centre line was a double white solid line. :-\
Luckily for him (and me) the car coming towards him wasn't doing the full 60 mph allowed on that road. Also luckily, the car following him had the very good sense to see what was about to happen and hold back. So he was able to slam on his brakes and tuck back in behind me. :o
When the oncoming car had passed, he overtook again, and as he did he made strange hand signals at me. ???
The cars following him didn't overtake until there was a safe place, unlike the so-called professional instructor.
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I've found that when the instructor is driving, and I'm on the bike, it can be most effective to lean into the car and say sorrowfully "you'll never pass if you drive like that"
:)
A line I've used, along with (to a driver alone in a driving school car) 'Shouldn't you have your Instructor with you on a first lesson?' ;D
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I was overtaken by an AA instructor last night, on his own in the car.
It was a textbook perfect overtake: all four wheels over the centre line, not too fast, no harsh acceleration. :)
Apart from one thing: the centre line was a double white solid line. :-\
Luckily for him (and me) the car coming towards him wasn't doing the full 60 mph allowed on that road. Also luckily, the car following him had the very good sense to see what was about to happen and hold back. So he was able to slam on his brakes and tuck back in behind me. :o
When the oncoming car had passed, he overtook again, and as he did he made strange hand signals at me. ???
The cars following him didn't overtake until there was a safe place, unlike the so-called professional instructor.
Were you doing less than 10mph*? If so, he can overtake, despite the double solid white lines...
But somehow I think you were probably going a tad faster than 10 mph... ;) ;D
*Rule 129 of the Highway Code:
Double white lines where the line nearest you is solid. This means you MUST NOT cross or straddle it unless it is safe and you need to enter adjoining premises or a side road. You may cross the line if necessary, provided the road is clear, to pass a stationary vehicle, or overtake a pedal cycle, horse or road maintenance vehicle, if they are travelling at 10 mph (16 km/h) or less.
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Were you doing less than 10mph? If so, he can overtake, despite the double solid white lines...
Yesm.... but not when there's a car coming the other way!
But somehow I think you were probably going a tad faster than 10 mph... ;) ;D
You're right, it was downhill and I was doing at least 2 1/2 times that speed.
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I woz motorised myself at the time, and I don't mention my filthy cycling habits.
Oh yeah... I should have spotted the subtle clues in your letter... "I was driving a fairly distinctive blue Fiat Doblo." The mention of passengers. That kind of thing.
Nurse, pass the medication, please...
d.