Catch them and report them!
At lunchtime today I was out for a quick spin on my bike. As I was coming back towards Clonmel on the Wood road a large truck overtook me. It did the entire process to perfection. The driver indicated and with no oncoming traffic smoothly went right over to the other side of the road giving me plenty of room and was well past when he came back over to his own side of the road again. I noticed that the name on the truck was Pat Foley Transport.
A few kilometres further on near the Applegreen garage I saw the truck again and noticed a guy walking towards it carrying his lunch.
I stopped and asked ‘Are you driving the Pat Foley lorry?’
He looked at me slightly confused and then confirmed that he was the driver.
Then I said ‘ You passed me on the road out there’
He nodded his agreement and was probably thinking ‘What is this clown going to be giving out about now’ to which I replied :
‘I just wanted to say thanks a million for giving me plenty of space when you were passing me out. You couldn’t have done it any better’
He smiled, I smiled and we both went on our way.
As I headed for home I thought about the whole interaction and how different it was to the majority of what you see on Twitter and You Tube.
There are a few guys on twitter in particular who have front and back cameras on their bikes and pretty much every day have near death experiences with motorists. The shouting and swearing which follows each interaction cannot be good for their blood pressure. There are times when dangerous driving needs to be reported but how one person can have daily near death experiences suggests the problem might be more to do with the choices that person is making themselves.
Raising kids teaches you a few things about life. One is to try to catch them doing something good rather than something bad. The more you catch them doing something good and acknowledging it the more likely they are to keep doing it.
The same might be true for people in general.
I wondered what would happen if cyclists tried to find occasions when motorists drove well and gave them plenty of room when overtaking or waited patiently until after they went around a corner before overtaking. If these acts were acknowledged would those drivers have a higher opinion of cyclists and give them plenty of room again next time? They probably would.
When I got home I sent an email to Pat Foley Transport commending them on how well they train their drivers.
One of the rules of life is that you get more of whatever you focus on.
Maybe if we all focused on the good drivers we might find that there are plenty of them out there and our cycles might also be a little bit less stressful and a lot more enjoyable.
Barry
8 COMMENTS
Alan Moore
Absolutely spot on Barry👌
Michael Kelly
Great story Barry ,a little bit of courtesy from drivers and cyclists , goes a long way , I do find that if you give lorry drivers , when driving your own a car , to allow them the right of way on approaching junctions etc , they always show there appreciation , with a flash of their lights or a wave ,
Bruce Bussell
Great point about acknowledging courteous drivers. I wear a rearview mirror on my glasses for this very reason. I figure it has saved my life about a half dozen times. I find myself checking behind me almost as much as the space in front of me.
Pat Kenealy
Nice story Barry. I think I know who you are talking about on Twitter. He really has a death wish in my opinion but feels he has a right to cycle those roads. Yes indeed he has but if I had as many near misses as him I’d be choosing another road! I pointed this out to him once but he blocked me! Didn’t like the truth. Unfortunately I fear he will be a statistic eventually.
Liam Egan
Well said Barry. Whether on club spins or solo I always try to acknowledge courteous driving with a thumbs-up. This could be a driver holding back on a windy road when it’s not safe to pass or someone approaching on a narrow road who slows right down or pulls in. There are always a few who do neither but it doesn’t pay to obsess about this and ruin a good spin.
Neil
Spot on Barry. I try to salute/👍 trucks when they are sound. Which most are in my experience. I seem to get passed by Sean Carroll’s drivers on every spin lately and find them excellent.
Unfortunately that lad on Twitter is not long for this world I fear. He has more close ones in a week than I’ve had in my life.
Michael Molamphy
Just found this post by accident, absolutely spot on, really well said. We need more of this on social media.
James Biggs
Good post, it’s one bit of public road that belongs to all the people using it at any particular time: just be courteous to each other people, it’s not difficult.