Idiot in a Mercedes

budsy · Jul 18, 2020

Good post ^

I know some car users think we shouldn't be on the road the jealous saddos some are
and they often can go over the top with their erratic driving as ive also been there in similar circumstances myself .. also witnessed such before also when a car has cut in deliberate on a cyclist .

I think one of them cams fitted to a bicycle would be a good thing for us all to have fitted as police have a dash cam .

vfr400 · Jul 19, 2020

I've had that happen loads of times.

scott gaza · Jul 19, 2020

Just about got wiped out by a merc today, with a woman driver oblivious about giving way at a roundabout. Glad she was going straight on or i wouldn't have been able to take evasive action successfully!

Andy-Mat · Jul 19, 2020

Michael Price said:
Sorry - bit of a rant

Anyway - went for a ride late afternoon - road from this estate goes nicely downhill for a while which gets my legs spinning
Then it goes flat for a while until it reaches a roundabout
As this is an ebike forum - obviously I was riding an ebike - and as usual - I was at or over the cutoff speed when I started getting towards the roundabout - where, as usual, I was turning right
I signalled right knowing that a car was approaching some distance behind me - and moved to the middle of the road.
Anyway - this mercedes comes alongside me (Yup - he was well over the centre line) and moves left towards me - so obviously I had to move left back towards the kerb.
We are now getting close to the roundabout and I was assuming he was going right
Anyway - I was thinking of staying level with him (I'm male - testosterone sometimes kicks in) - and overtaking him on his left on the way round the roundabout as it if quite small and I know it well enough to go round it quickly - then brain cut in and I slowed down so I was just level with his boot as we reached the roundabout
At which point - despite me being still on his inside - he turned left
luckily I was already braking and therefore managed to slow down enough to get behind him and swerve around him

before you ask - it was a Mercedes coupe driven by an idiot - so OF COURSE he didn;t signal
and I know I am saying HE - but, lets face it - it was almost certainly an man

and - yes he did see me - I wear a hi-vis colour cycling jacket and had 2 lights on the back of my bike - plus a reflective helmet - I like to be seen

Glad that you are OK.
I live in the land of the M.A. (Mercedes Ars*holes), I would not trust them to do anything but wipe out bike riders....Never owned one because of their general Cavalier attitude, which I do not want to be associated with.
BMW is a car that I have owned (1982), but because of the general attitude of many of them, thats another make I avoid!
As an e-biker, having video recording front and back, is possibly a help, it won't stop them, but it might make them pay in a court of law...
Regards and best wishes
Andy

Trek · Jul 19, 2020

A bit harsh Andy. I own a Mercedes, great car very pleased with it. I am also down the many years a cyclist and now own a pedalec. So I know about the rules of the road and courtesy towards fellow cyclists. It is such a shame the ignorant pig headed few in cars show no consideration to other road users in all makes, models of cars not just a singled out car brand.

Andy-Mat · Jul 19, 2020

Trek said:
A bit harsh Andy. I own a Mercedes, great car very pleased with it. I am also down the many years a cyclist and now own a pedalec. So I know about the rules of the road and courtesy towards fellow cyclists. It is such a shame the ignorant pig headed few in cars show no consideration to other road users in all makes, models of cars not just a singled out car brand.

The single themselves out as in this case.
We (sadly) see a lot of it here in Germany, no good manners in the outside lane at 240KM/Hour! Germany is famous for poor road manners.
Maybe you see less of it in the UK, I don't live there, so I could not write about "there" accurately, could I?....
Of course not all Merc owners are like that, there are exceptions to any rule as many know and understand.
As you most probably know, Hitler was seen mostly in Mercedes of the era....for a reason.....that alone is reason enough for many here to not pick one out as a private vehicle.
I am sure that you know that too, but still made your own decision.
The one reason I like Mercedes for, is Lewis Hamilton in his F1 car, he came first again today!!
BMW drivers are seen as being very similar here as well......
I am heavily biased against such dangerous rudeness, which might have cost the OP here, his life, if he had been less aware of the possible situation, as it developed.
He was worried enough to bring it to our notice. Correctly so.
Andy

Trek · Jul 19, 2020

Andy, could not agree more that the OP should report and all condemn this car drivers behaviour. Cannot comment on the Merc and BMW drivers in Germany, as I do not reside there. I am not aware that here in the U.K. there are such strong personal views of a particular car brand only bad drivers and to bring bloody Hitler into this bad driving discussion beggars belief. Who is the dictator now

MikeFB · Jul 19, 2020

Oddly enough I had a close encounter this afternoon with a Mercedes driver and have just ordered a small cam to go on the bike. There were just too many drivers getting too close today.

Although a handful did give me plenty of room.

georgehenry · Jul 19, 2020

A bright flashing red light on the back gets you noticed by approaching cars from the rear. I noticed a difference straight away after adding one to the back of my bike.

I think bad drivers can turn up in any make of car. In my area the arrogant entitlement approach to driving seems to mostly but by no means exclusively reside in the Audi drivers, though other generalizations that can also sadly manifest themselves, white van man, taxi driving man, new student driving person, and large 4x4 school run mum careering along at 45 in a 30.

I have noticed now twice in as many days a Police man with a hand held radar gun at two local 30mph roads, one of which I shouted to as I approached him on the gentle up hill gradient, "What speed", "20" he replied. Not bad on my 2011 Oxygen Emate!

Oh, and yes I have an old 1999 Mercedes myself, inherited from my Dad and sitting sorned on my driveway. Not a boy racer machine, lovely car, more for wafting gracefully around admiring the three pointed star on the front. Being a four speed auto, not what you might call frugal.

Gliggsy · Jul 19, 2020

To be honest I think that what most of you are missing is the reality of the situation, it's not the car, it's the driver.... As an ex motorbiker I can tell you that to most car drivers the old advert is quite Accurate 'THINK BIKE' but unfortunately an awful lot of car drivers just don't get it unless they have riden a motorbike or bicycle then they just don't 'register' us, merc drivers tend to be of an older generation where there's an added problem but this is generalisation so don't anyone get on their high horses but it's something that I've observed and believe, the more types of vehicles a person has driven gives them more insight to other road users, horses, pedestrians, cyclists, the whole lot of road users.

georgehenry · Jul 20, 2020

Empathy, the older I get the more important I think it is, and the more I see it absent in our self obsessed modern society, to the point I think it should be taught in schools.

"Walk a mile in someone else's shoes. The admonition to walk a mile in someone else's shoes means before judging someone, you must understand his experiences, challenges, thought processes, etc. The full idiom is: Before you judge a man, walk a mile in his shoes. In effect, it is a reminder to practice empathy. "

MikeFB · Jul 20, 2020

haha, just to be clear I wasn't suggesting Merc drivers were in a box on their own of bad drivers, merely pointing out that I had a similar situation with a Merc driver yesterday.

As has been pointed out it is the driver and not the car make.

As a side note I have two flashing led rear lights and two front torch lights.

I think it just comes down to driver attitude and there will always be those who think they own the road or those that have never ridden a bike on the road and just have no clue of appropriate distance or just don't like cyclists.

georgehenry · Jul 20, 2020

Come the revolution, make all car drivers ride a bike for a week once a year!

Maybe make Andy-Mat ride a crank drive for a year!!

Samcycles · Jul 20, 2020

Glad you are ok but it can really shake you up.
The issue is and always will be the individual. I am regularly a motorist, a cyclist, a pedestrian and a van driver.
What defines us is our attitude and behaviours. There is a tendency for those with the wrong attitude to drive certain makes of car as a status symbol but these people would just as likley be the pedestrian talking loudly on a mobile phone who bumps into the pensioner walking down the street or the cyclist racing down the pavement or pulling out at a junction without looking. I've never owned a Merc but driven a few but they were all vans.

sjpt · Jul 20, 2020

georgehenry said:
Come the revolution, make all car drivers ride a bike for a week once a year!

Maybe make Andy-Mat ride a crank drive for a year!!

I always thought bike riding should be part of the driving test. An annual refresher is even better.

(Bike test part must include turning right at a roundabout. When I took my test we didn't have a test centre in town because the town didn't have a roundabout)

MikeFB · Jul 20, 2020

Just to even things up here a bit. This weekend I was driving behind two cyclists both of whom were on their mobile phones.

One young lad was trying to input a number and then proceed to put the phone to his ear. At the same time wonder onto a 50 mph two lane carriage way and he ended up wondering across both lanes. Lucky for him there were no cars coming down the road.

The other was a cyclist with all the cycling gear on riding a road bike, texting or something and oblivious to the world and traffic around him also.

I guess we live in that world where our standards and levels of intelligence, common sense, care and attitude are what makes this world what it is today. That bit I'll leave up to you.

Amoto65 · Jul 20, 2020

Trek said:
and to bring bloody Hitler into this bad driving discussion beggars belief. Who is the dictator now

He is always the same if it isn't Bosch motors it's something else German, beggars belief why he lives there.

Andy-Mat · Jul 20, 2020

Trek said:
Andy, could not agree more that the OP should report and all condemn this car drivers behaviour. Cannot comment on the Merc and BMW drivers in Germany, as I do not reside there. I am not aware that here in the U.K. there are such strong personal views of a particular car brand only bad drivers and to bring bloody Hitler into this bad driving discussion beggars belief. Who is the dictator now

Maybe I was a bit too hard on UK owners, my apologies. Here, its quite different, though the owners would not agree.
I remember a newspaper cartoon, in a German motoring magazine, set in a crowded town square!
A BMW driver was holding up his BMW key fob, with the BMW badge showing, and telling the people that he is a BMW owner, and they must let him pass!
Thats what even the motoring press here think of the M & B drivers.....
Here are a few more I found mostly oin the German motoring press. If you need one translated, just ask:-

Idiot in a Mercedes

Esteemed Pedelecer

Banned

Esteemed Pedelecer

Esteemed Pedelecer

Pedelecer

Esteemed Pedelecer

Pedelecer

Esteemed Pedelecer

Pedelecer

Pedelecer

Esteemed Pedelecer

Pedelecer

Esteemed Pedelecer

Pedelecer

Esteemed Pedelecer

Pedelecer

Esteemed Pedelecer

Pedelecer

Esteemed Pedelecer

Esteemed Pedelecer

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