Passing Cyclists

SilverTongue

SilverTongue

SilverTongue

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Joined
4 Jun 2007
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2,292
Location
South Wales
A bit of background here first, was driving to Wokingham from Henley the other day following behind a woman in a Fiesta, just after Twyford we came up on a cyclist, she then started to pass the cyclist and when she got to roughly halfway passed him a car came around the bend ahead. Now there would have been anough room to get a tank through the gap whilst still giving the cyclist ~18 inches of room, but she decided she would jam on the brakes and come practically to a full stop, causing me and several cars behind to do the same. The because there was a steady stream of traffic for the next 2 miles we had to sit behind this cyclist until she decided to pass.

I was taught that provided you give a cyclist around a foot of space you should pass them even if there is traffic on the other side of the road, but give more space for them if you can. What is it with people that won't pass cyclists when there is traffic?
 
what is with people that pass cyclist and then stop immediately.. causing them to hit the back of the car.. funny as this happened so many times for me.. but managed to hit only once.. and no i always keep my distance away from car.. :/ annoys the hell out of me..

plus i see many drivers not giving a poo about the surroundings.. they just drive like they are the only ones on the road.. some don't even think a cyclist should have any space on the road.. or open a door right in front of them.. causing many dangerous maneuvers..

yes i live in London a lot more cars in narrow streets but still..
 
There are some people who try and overcompensate and give the cyclist tooooo much room, just incase they swerve
 
grudas said:
what is with people that pass cyclist and then stop immediately..
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I'll admit this one baffles me as well, obviously I won't pass a cyclists if I'm about the turn off or stop as to me that is stupid and dangerous.

grudas said:
plus i see many drivers not giving a poo about the surroundings.. they just drive like they are the only ones on the road.. some don't even think a cyclist should have any space on the road.. or open a door right in front of them.. /quote]

As I said I was taught to give a minimukm of around a foot of room which to me seems like plently even when I'm cycling, a friends father used to bug me, used to pass barely missing my handlebars with his wing mirror.

moawan said:
There are some people who try and overcompensate and give the cyclist tooooo much room, just incase they swerve
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If a cyclist is weaving all over the place I do give them a really wide berth just in case, but if they are in a relativly straight line I don't see the problem with only giving them a foot
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Now that I've been commuting on my bicycle for six weeks, I've seen an hilarious range of methods used to overtake me. Bear in mind that I try to cycle as close to the kerb as is safe without cycling in the drain lane.

I've had the people that won't overtake unless they can leave a car's width gap between me and them.

I've had people that think they can do the above, even if there's another car coming towards them in the other lane (cue flashing, beeping of horns etc. by oncoming car).

I've had the articulated lorry passing within 30cm of me at 50 mph and felt the breeze wobble me about quite strongly.

I've had someone in a Subaru Imprezas drop a gear and beep me on the way past (no idea why).

I've also had people get annoyed when I overtake them whilst they're queuing to get out at a junction.

I've heard that some people are taught to leave an enormous gap in case the cyclist spazzes out and falls into the path of a vehicle. I've got no problem with cars coming close to me as I cycle in a straight line, but lorries cause problems if they leave less than a metre.
 
I was always taught to give the same amount of room to a cyclist as you would passing a parked car

Personally I take that as a minimum, and if it safe to do so will move completely to the opposite side of the road when passing.
 
Ok then for everyone here would you perform the stupid braking that the woman from my OP performed if a car came around a bend or would you finish the pass?
 
I don't care how close you get to me as long as you don't hit me!

But yes it does seem that a large portion of drivers cannot seem to overtake cyclists in a normal and safe way.
 
Having to drive and cycle in Cambridge on a regular basis, I also cannot understand how people struggle to overtake cyclists, You really don't need to give a cyclist a huge amount of room, unless your driving a big van/lorry, there should be more than enough room to overtake in the same lane.
 
I'd rather be safe than sorry with when overtaking cyclists.

You don't know if there's a pot hole, grating, etc in the road that may cause the cyclist to move out a little further (either deliberately or accidentally), so giving them a wide berth is just common sense.
 
I seem to remember being told to have a gap of 2m. It's been a long time since I took my test, but can someone who recently passed confirm that?

I believe it was meant to be 1m of wobble distance for the cyclist, followed by another 1m gap (i.e. the gap you'd leave to a parked car).

Here's a quote from the Highway Code:
"Motorcyclists and cyclists may suddenly need to avoid uneven road surfaces and obstacles such as drain covers or oily, wet or icy patches on the road. Give them plenty of room and pay particular attention to any sudden change of direction they may have to make."

If you overtook me with a one foot gap, I'd be seriously ******.
 
Taken from the Highway Code:

Overtaking (162-169)

Overtake only when it is safe and legal to do so. You should
give motorcyclists, cyclists and horse riders at least as much room as you would when overtaking a car (see Rules 211-215)

izw6lx.jpg
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You can't really blame some drivers for following the highway code, can you?

I've seen some very close calls because of impatient drivers trying to overtake when it's not safe to do so. I've was even knocked off my bike a couple of years ago when some fool decided to overtake me in rush hour traffic on a blind bend. His Jeep just clipped my elbow, but it was enough to throw me out into the road and the van behind had to take evasive action to avoid running me over.

I always try to give at least 1m distance when overtaking if it is safe to do so. 1ft is not enough and would be considered a dangerous overtake.
 
You are supposed to leave enough room for the cyclist to fall off that you dont run them over.
As per the video above, you judge how much distance is required for the bike to fall over give them that distance as you pass, and hey presto, no problems.
Problems arise with the fact that the overwhelmingly vast majority of cyclists a driver will encounter are completely unpredictable in their actions.
 
I commute daily on a bicycle, and I really appreciate it when cars give me lots of room when they overtake. I cycle sticking out just over 1m into the road to encourage cars to find a gap in oncoming traffic and overtake with a wide birth. Works for 99% of cars.
 
I used to cycle 13 miles daily to work, but I stopped due other road users driving dangerously around me.

If i overtake cyclists I give them as much room as I would expect in there position.

A vehicle doing 60mph skimming a cyclist causing them to wobble is not funny. :S
 
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