Soldato
Cycles should only be allowed on the road strapped to a cycle rack while they take then to a track or whatever - Same as horses should only be on the road in horse boxes. 
Etiquette for Lycra Clad Nutters?
- Thread starter Demon
- Start date
Might want to revise your affirmation request...
You might want to read https://www.cyclinguk.org/article/what-should-highway-code-say-about-overtaking-distances
(Rule 163 still states the same guidance as of today)
I most certainly gave him more room than when I overtake a car , more room than the two cars in front and as I said 1M+ meant over 1M, I was 95% on the opposite side of the road, it may just about be on the Cycling UK's 1.5M as the road is wide enough to allow that, however not much further up you'd be struggling to achieve 1.5M .
(I also cycle and believe me, the room I normally give is absolutely way more than most drivers, if you've ever been 'buzzed' on a cycle you'd soon know how close is too close and wouldn't do that to others)
The other aspect is when stationary, why is it OK for the same rider to pass up the inside of my car with about 10-20cm of gap maximum doing 15+ MPH?? Is that also not crazily unsafe? I don't think it is, cyclists do this all the time it seems fairly practical and I didn't mind him doing this in the slightest, I didn't feel 'unsafe'..
Soldato
The difference is about control. If a cyclist filters past stationary cars, they are doing so whilst being in control of the situation, so if there are dodgy looking drains or large potholes they can slow down and either go over them slowly or stop to wait to go around them them. If a car close passes a cyclist when moving, you take away the ability for them to avoid dodgy drains, potholes or even road kill which can either cause you to crash or damage the bike/cause punctures.
Filtering doesn’t pose a risk to your life in your stationary car, close passing a cyclist can.
Soldato
Pedestrians should pay more attention when crossing between cars, motorcycles are also allowed to filter and they would come off much worse being run over by a motorcycle compared with a bicycle. For sure if someone did lose control and hit a car they risk causing damage, but it would certainly would be the case when hitting a cyclist during a close pass
Soldato
No, 2 inches maximum!
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The noise from the zorst and type of car does tend to have a different effect on these creatures, same with most folk actually.
When i had a beemer no bugger wanted to let me out, folk would scowl at me ect. When i had the 200sx with its noisy exhaust you could almost see folk "tut tut" under there breath even when pootling about without causing any problems.
Same with other types of car, the noisier and bigger it was the worse it felt driving around.
Now with the noisy 5, its like i am driving a kitteh or puppy. Ok i wouldnt say folk let me out all the time ect but road goers are far more polite, bystanders are more or less indifferent even with a wall of noise coming from the 4 pipes.
But drop the hood and its even more pronounced, its really really odd. Its like everyone is chilled, almost everyone looks round but no one is annoyed. No one seems to be bothered.
Can only imaging what driving a Caterham or Atom would be like.
When i had a beemer no bugger wanted to let me out, folk would scowl at me ect. When i had the 200sx with its noisy exhaust you could almost see folk "tut tut" under there breath even when pootling about without causing any problems.
Same with other types of car, the noisier and bigger it was the worse it felt driving around.
Now with the noisy 5, its like i am driving a kitteh or puppy. Ok i wouldnt say folk let me out all the time ect but road goers are far more polite, bystanders are more or less indifferent even with a wall of noise coming from the 4 pipes.
But drop the hood and its even more pronounced, its really really odd. Its like everyone is chilled, almost everyone looks round but no one is annoyed. No one seems to be bothered.
Can only imaging what driving a Caterham or Atom would be like.
Soldato
I think you have confused cyclists with Audi drivers. It’s Audi drivers that are mentally retarded and very dangerous, cyclists if they are morons are a danger to themselves, where as Audi drivers are a very special bunch of ***** that are bordering on sociopaths and a danger to everyone
Rather than start another thread - driving a busy main road today - came around a corner with limited visibility due to the hedges, etc. and right after the apex whole family on bikes with little ones in chairs mounted on the back of the adults bikes moving very slowly - fortunately I always approach that corner reasonably slowly as someone has a habit of parking their car with the back jutting out into the road just before the corner and driving a bigger vehicle it doesn't leave me much room if traffic is coming the other way. If I'd been going at the pace most people go around there it would not have had a happy ending. I do not know what posses people to put themselves in these positions.
Soldato
I'm struggling to see what the issue is? You're supposed to go slowly around blind corners. And cyclists are allowed on the road so am I missing something? Were they in the dark, no lights ?
Nah was midday a little misty but visibility around 150m so not a factor. The problem is the reality - so many roads are just too busy for this kind of mixed traffic and a lot of people are going to be going around corners like this faster than is ideal regardless of what they should do - I regularly see lorries flying through that stretch at 10 MPH over the speed limit even.
Soldato
Have similar issues round here. Often cyclists - even the proper ones - are in danger on some roads as you see them last second, especially when the hedgerows are high and they're doing half the speed limit at best. Mix that with those who have the reactions of a sloth or are doing 60 rather than 40..
I don't wish to cast aspersions, but I feel like your response here is symptomatic of the wrong sort of attitude that motorists hold towards cyclists. You've encountered a scenario which you acknowledge could be dangerous for the cyclists, because of the risk or poor driving on the part of other motorists - yet your response is almost that the cyclists shouldn't be putting themselves in that position in the first place. I understand that some people will be breaking the rules regarding stopping distances and blind corners, which potentially puts other road users (cyclists) at risk - but to act like this is just an inevitability to which the only answer to is that cyclists should just not use these roads is wrong, I think.
I'm not saying you're anti-cyclist or anything, because I get the sense your response is born out of genuine concern for their safety - but I don't agree with claiming that the problem is one of the roads being too busy for mixed traffic. The roads are busy, yes - but there are clear rules set out for how they should be used, and there should be an expectation that the presence of slower moving or more vulnerable traffic is highly probable, and people should act accordingly - not to start questioning the presence of said traffic entirely.
I get that motorists might not like that, as it means they may have to slow down to make allowances for cyclists, horse riders or pedestrians sometimes, but, to be blunt, tough. The alternative is we lose the freedom that people have to use the roads as they currently do, which I think is something we risk as soon as we start to say things like "well, perhaps our roads are too busy for cyclists..." or "why do people put themselves in that position?". We start to view cyclists/horse riders/pedestrians on the roads as a "nuisance", when we should all have the maturity to recognise that they are just other traffic.
Soldato
Well put conscript
I always drive round corners with the assumption there is a broken down dust cart in the blind spot (if there is one)
I always drive round corners with the assumption there is a broken down dust cart in the blind spot (if there is one)
I had a very similar situation to the OP a few months ago, not long after I had collected my new car.
Slowly pottering along in a short queue of traffic trying to get past a couple of cyclists on a country road.
The queue in front of me get past but I can see a couple of cars approaching so hang back, awaiting the approaching cars to pass, giving me a long clear stretch of road in which to pass said cyclists.
The approaching cars pass, I move right over into right hand lane giving a good almost 2 meters clearance to the cyclists and squeeze the throttle gently to accelerate past, not wanting to cause shock and alarm as I pass them.
The car however chose this moment to pop down a few gears (its an auto) clearly thinking I wanted to get on a bit.
The car being a 5.0 Litre V8 Mustang, thus then emitted what could only be described as a bellowing howl as it dropped three gears, while auto rev matching the new gear jumping from almost idle at 1200 revs to nearly 3000 revs, (still only doing about 25-35 mph) as I went past the cyclists.
I glanced in the rear view mirror and saw all cyclists wobbling about, with two colliding and falling over, (luckily no other cars following me) as though a low flying fighter jet had just gone past and they were being thrown about in it's shock wave.
Using this as a lesson learnt, as I approached a group of cyclists the next time after the above incident, I gave them a very small blip of throttle just to let them know I am there and about to pass.
This ALSO caused them to weave about like startled chickens, and for one to fall into the nearby ditch, causing me to slam on my brakes to not hit them.
Now I do not know what the right thing to do is, it is not my fault that the car is actually comparatively quiet when cruising along at almost idle, but when you squeeze the throttle it does have a nice roar to the exhaust, so what should I do, annoy them by letting them know I am about to pass, or annoy them as I pass, just seems I cannot win at all.
Slowly pottering along in a short queue of traffic trying to get past a couple of cyclists on a country road.
The queue in front of me get past but I can see a couple of cars approaching so hang back, awaiting the approaching cars to pass, giving me a long clear stretch of road in which to pass said cyclists.
The approaching cars pass, I move right over into right hand lane giving a good almost 2 meters clearance to the cyclists and squeeze the throttle gently to accelerate past, not wanting to cause shock and alarm as I pass them.
The car however chose this moment to pop down a few gears (its an auto) clearly thinking I wanted to get on a bit.
The car being a 5.0 Litre V8 Mustang, thus then emitted what could only be described as a bellowing howl as it dropped three gears, while auto rev matching the new gear jumping from almost idle at 1200 revs to nearly 3000 revs, (still only doing about 25-35 mph) as I went past the cyclists.
I glanced in the rear view mirror and saw all cyclists wobbling about, with two colliding and falling over, (luckily no other cars following me) as though a low flying fighter jet had just gone past and they were being thrown about in it's shock wave.
Using this as a lesson learnt, as I approached a group of cyclists the next time after the above incident, I gave them a very small blip of throttle just to let them know I am there and about to pass.
This ALSO caused them to weave about like startled chickens, and for one to fall into the nearby ditch, causing me to slam on my brakes to not hit them.
Now I do not know what the right thing to do is, it is not my fault that the car is actually comparatively quiet when cruising along at almost idle, but when you squeeze the throttle it does have a nice roar to the exhaust, so what should I do, annoy them by letting them know I am about to pass, or annoy them as I pass, just seems I cannot win at all.
I thought you had webcams on your cars, so how did the cyclist appear to you ? do you open up bends -
the cyclist didn't have a fluoro top ? - most, with children, are a bit more responsible;
it's mundane, but, changing from a sash to a top (treasured possession) noticeably changed driver behaviour.
the cyclist didn't have a fluoro top ? - most, with children, are a bit more responsible;
it's mundane, but, changing from a sash to a top (treasured possession) noticeably changed driver behaviour.
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Soldato
I cycled 40 miles a day a few years back for a commute (and cycled for leisure too) and never had any real issues with other road users. I put that down to the fact that I treated myself as a vulnerable road user and rode as such. I had a proper road bike, all the gear and wasn't slow, but appreciated other road users saw me as an obstacle and so I was always conscious of what was going on around me so I didn't impede anyone else unless absolutely necessary. It's not difficult to anticipate situations and still make progress. Something all road users could do with learning IMO.
I notice most cyclists I come across don't even look behind them whilst I'm waiting for a safe opportunity to pass. Nobody seems to be looking anywhere but where they're going these days which is poor form, then add a huge chip on their shoulder becasue they've seen road rage on the internet and some form of entitlement and you get most other road users these days. Self-important morons no matter what form of transport they use.
The roads are just a chore these days. If we just drove to the conditions, only as fast as we can see and anticipated our surroundings it would be greatly improved. Basics of learning to drive essentially, but it's too much to ask for most.
I notice most cyclists I come across don't even look behind them whilst I'm waiting for a safe opportunity to pass. Nobody seems to be looking anywhere but where they're going these days which is poor form, then add a huge chip on their shoulder becasue they've seen road rage on the internet and some form of entitlement and you get most other road users these days. Self-important morons no matter what form of transport they use.
The roads are just a chore these days. If we just drove to the conditions, only as fast as we can see and anticipated our surroundings it would be greatly improved. Basics of learning to drive essentially, but it's too much to ask for most.