I sometimes acknowledge folk for giving way, then often wonder if I should really be thanking them for doing what they’re obliged to.

Depends on the situation of course, as a driver in this scenario I wouldn’t be expecting anything.

I sometimes acknowledge folk for giving way, then often wonder if I should really be thanking them for doing what they’re obliged to.

Yeah, isn’t it great that here we are on a cycling forum basically being told we should be thankful that someone didn’t try to murder us on the road. It’s laughable, someone getting their car-driving knickers in a twist because they weren’t thanked for doing what they should have done. Mental.

I sometimes acknowledge folk for giving way, then often wonder if I should really be thanking them for doing what they’re obliged to.

Depends on the situation of course, as a driver in this scenario I wouldn’t be expecting anything.

Can you imagine if, on a day to day basis, we all said ‘thank you’ to everyone we interacted with who obeyed the law/used their commonsense so they didn’t hurt us… we’d not get anything else done 😯

I’m picturing a Monty Python sketch of people endlessly thanking each other profusely 😀

the closest I ever came to dying on a bike was when I came round a bend going down a 10% hill to find a truck completely on my side of the road overtaking two cyclists riding two abreast. Yes the truck shouldn’t have overtaken in a potentially dangerous place but if the riders had been in single file I would have had plenty of room, as it was I had 3ft to aim for at 45mph. Maybe in some circumstances its safer to ride two abreast but it doesn’t fit with my real life experiences. Some drivers are going to try and overtake come what may, the two abreast cyclist just annoys and frustrates them. when it comes the pass is often more dangerous. That’s real life not how we’d like it to be arguing on the internet, but what actually happens in the real world.

Can you imagine if, on a day to day basis, we all said ‘thank you’ to everyone we interacted with who obeyed the law/used their commonsense so they didn’t hurt us… we’d not get anything else done

Good riders interact with other road users to humanise ourselves. The guy in a white van is less likely to try and kill you if he see’s a smiling, hand waving human being. Rather than some lifeless surly lycra clad alien 🙁

I thank folk all the time on the road for doing what the highway code says as it is pretty rare. I even thank them when they stop at a crossing as so many just shoot through – even the one directly outside the cop shop!

The truck did something dangerous/illegal and you blame the cyclists even when you are one 🙄 and 😯
What if you had been a truck or a bus

I had this car overtook me on the wrong side of the road on a blind bend and hit another vehicle. Both blamed me for it.

There’s a difference between buzzing them at 60mph and crawling past them though

yes when you get run over slowly it does not hurt as much ?

The distance is the danger not the speed IMHO
It is either safe to pass or it is not safe to pass.
TBH i think i would rather be buzzed quick [ if i have to pick] as it is over and done with sooner and therefoe i assume safer

Crawled behind a single rider from the Hope Valley road through Thornhill and down to the flat section because of poor visibility and I would have had to hit him or the oncoming vehicle if one appeared, then again round the nasty bends before Sickleholme services on the way back.

Neither waved but I hadn’t expected them to do so, but I was a bit disappointed that the first one seemed to get annoyed that I was crawling along behind him though.

The truck did something dangerous/illegal and you blame the cyclists even when you are one 🙄 and 😯

+1

I agree with this though: “Good riders interact with other road users to humanise ourselves.”

A wave or a nod doesn’t hurt. Even if what they are doing is nothing more than what they are legally obliged to. I do the same when someone correctly gives way to me in the car.

The truck did something dangerous/illegal and you blame the cyclists even when you are one

Not blaming them, just illustrating the unintended consequences of their actions. That’s how things happen, usually its not one thing but a series of things coming together.
Yes if I’d been in a car it would have been a terrible head on collision.

I agree with this though: “Good riders interact with other road users to humanise ourselves.”

A wave or a nod doesn’t hurt. Even if what they are doing is nothing more than what they are legally obliged to. I do the same when someone correctly gives way to me in the car.

Don’t get me wrong, I do this all the time – I figure it encourages the driver to do the same to the next cyclist. But I don’t buy the idea that we should be judged if we choose not to/are too busy riding or staying in control..

A wave or a nod doesn’t hurt. Even if what they are doing is nothing more than what they are legally obliged to. I do the same when someone correctly gives way to me in the car.

Good manners innit? Generally I will do this, it’s my default and I’d hope (perhaps naively) it goes a little way to creating a better impression.

Funny how sometimes I’ll give someone the nod for not pulling out on me, like ‘thanks for not running me down’. I swear one day someone will think I’m letting them out.

just illustrating the unintended consequences of their actions. … I’d been in a car it would have been a terrible head on collision.

And if they’d been riding single file with the lorry alongside them when a car approached then what would be the consequence there?
They’d have got sideswiped and possibly ended up under the wheels.

At least by riding two abreast the lorry driver had to make a conscious decision to overtake them and they have a little room available if he did try to sideswipe them.

Basically it is a no-win situation caused entirely by the lorry driver being too impatient *

* (and possibly by his bosses setting unrealistic schedules, but that’s a different issue)

Yes. Let’s blame lorry driver drivers bosses.

The thing about common courtesy is it’s not all that common.

People getting all uppity about feeling obliged to thank people for their patience when they are just doing what they should makes me a little bit sad. I do and will always give some signal if appreciation for courtesy or patience in others be that riding a bike, driving a car, pushing a trolley or holding a door open. Riders who feel they don’t have to do this because it somehow demeans their right to be on the road are part of the problem (and are probably wound up asshats who are crap in bed).