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So I'm on a quiet road which sort of ends in a 90 degree left turn (you can go straight on onto a footpath, but I wasn't, luckily) and as I'm about, I dunno, 20 feet, from the bend this car comes up on my right, overtakes, closes the gap to the kerb on the bend and forces me to brake and take the corner about 1/3rd the speed I normally would. I shout something sarcy like "Oh thanks, that's very kind" and gesture a kind of, "go quicker, get out the way" type thing.
I see heads turn in the car, obviously they've heard me. So we continue up the road, this dozy woman not going much faster than me and as we get to the t-junction at the top, shes turning left, I'm going right.
As I go to turn, I see shes waited for me with her window open and wants to discuss things!
I go over, she says "What was up with you?" I say "you cut me up on the corner and forced me to brake". She proudly tells me how she slowed down to goround the corner and "What should I have done?"! "Waited behind me! You went round the corner slower than me", say I.
Tried to explain how I'm going along at a pace and should be able to take the corner at my own speed. "You could slow down as well" she says!
She really didn't get it (and her friend in the passenger seat didn't either.) I rode off saying "No point discussing cos you won't ever get it!"
Anyway, its really not worth stopping is it, cos they are so thick!
On the way I thought I should've compared it to me overtaking her in a more powerful car and forcing her to stop, but I was a bit wound up and didn't think of it at the time.
Now for STW to tell me I'm wrong and she's right...
You're right x2 - she should have waited and no point stopping.
'dozy woman' - you should have made a mental note at this point and cycled on. Bigger brains yes but spacial awareness no.
You should have taken her number and reported her for road rage. Knowing plod in this country they would have been interested in a motoring offence and hauled her in. Nothing would have happened, but she'd have sweated a bit.
It would have been public spirited - giving plod something to do instead of beating up innocents in police cells.
Road rage 😆
Could I report them for road stupidity?
Genius - I wish road stupidity was an endorsable offence.
Women drivers...
Bad driving correct to point it out/ Well done for not blaming her gender.
It used to happen to me on a corner and I could cut it on the pavement (often forced to) get in front of them again and then crawl up the hill in front of them.
So apparently men are the most patient drivers on the road , dont break the speed limit EVER, and drive with respect for other road users at all times then?
Shame on those of you who are mentioning her gender.
I got the exact same treatment yesterday in Edinburgh.
I was making decent progress up a steep hill, and rather than pulling in behind me the idiot behind the wheel of a double decker bus decided to pull along side me and squeezed me to the kerb.
I didn't yield as much as he expected and I continued to ride past the door, I asked him what he thought he was doing and he indicates he was only pulling in to the bus stop, and when i suggested he might want to wait for me to pass first he just pulled a gormless look.
Muppet !!! 👿
Alternatively you could have done what a mate of mine once did....reached through the window, took the keys and threw them into a field.
P.S. This only works if you know that you won't be on that route again.
The favourite round me seems to be the feeling that they *must* overtake the cyclist. Right now. So they overtake without any thought as to what lies ahead and the number of times people have overtaken and then had to come to a stop for some sort of obstacle/narrowing of the road/traffic jam etc is unbelievable.
Let ME go first into the narrow road bit, I can fit through. Same at a traffic jam, is it really going to hurt to arrive at the back of the queue 2 seconds later than you would by screaming past me and pulling in? I'll only filter up the outside and you'll have to do it all over again.
I've never 'talked' to a bad motorist and got a reasonable response so I tend to briefly shout profanity at them, the kind that would offend Roy Chubby Brown, and nothing remotely in context
then just ride off as if nothing had happened
@Crazy-legs - sounds like conversations I have every bloody day! What goes through their heads, that makes them not be able to wait a few seconds???
DezB - I'm not seeing totally your side!
I think you should chill a little.
I she some kind of mind reader, or expert who could tell from the way you were riding that you could go around the corner faster than her?
....and you had to slow down and lose a few seconds?
....and neither of them got it?
Chill, innit?
SB
[i]she some kind of mind reader, or expert who could tell from the way you were riding that you could go around the corner faster than her?
[/i]
No, but if in doubt you wait for the cyclist - I could've been going straight on (a lot of cyclists do - kids do, as it is right opposite a school), in which case I would've had to do an emergency stop.
That's a very weird idea, that it's ok for a car to force a bike to slow down.
Cyclist in front = cyclist has right of way. The car driver should have slowed down/waited either until the cyclists intentions became apparent or such point that the cyclist is going to be unaffected by any manouvre the driver makes.
I have no idea of the thought processes involved with most drivers. They wouldn't overtake a horse or a granny on an electric buggy carelessly/fast/too close but cyclists seem fair game. 🙄
Years ago,on my road bike,was once cut up by a bus,forced into the kerb,& had ho 'hop' along the pavement to avoid falling off.
Said bus pulled up at traffic lights further on.I saw a big black rubber button on the back of the buses engine cover,which read:'Emergency Engine Stop.Push'
So guess what I did,before riding away? 🙂
it's pretty simple, generally you don't overtake when you're approaching a junction.
OK it wasn't exactly a junction, but should have provided a useful starting point for the idiot motorist.
Dez - maybe a position further into the lane would have helped? Does sound like they just dozily thought "must get past the cyclist" though 🙄
If you were a car, they would of sat in behind for the corner; being a bike many do drive as though the rules differ, although they do not.
Riding more defensively - ie being more central in the lane so they have to overtake 'properly' and can't/don't squeeze is one option, although you shouldn't need to.
I certainly think its all about getting out into the middle of the road for junctions/bends etc. Seems to be the only way most drivers understand that they should prob wait before overtaking.
Mini-roundabouts are another great one, so much faster on a bike but the numbers of muppets who shoot past you to get there first, forcing you to brake is a nightmare!
And try riding here in Perth (Oz), the drivers here are easily the worst i have come across!
If she thought she could overtake safely coming up to the corner with you ahead, then you probably didnt have a very good road position at the time.
Move out from the curb, almost to the centreline if marked, or further if single lane and safe to do so, and own the road entering the corner - if you had taken a dominant road position I dont believe she would have attempted the overtaking manoeuvre in the first place.
The gender argument is spurious - speed and aggressive and inconsiderate driving by men causing accidents. Lack of spatial awareness and cycling "empathy" by women causes accidents. Different types of accidents, but both sexes responsible for each type in different proportions IMO.
EDIT: Oops, sorry just read JT, langy & shorts_in_winter posts who have said as much before.
I alway liken the situation to 'would you have done that if I'd been in my car', which seems to make the most impact. But yes, it's very difficult sometimes. As crazy-legs says, some people just see the bike and get this red mist about passing it. It's a bike therefore it *must* be slowing them down. I'll protect my little peice of road where I deem necessary which sometimes works, sometimes just gets their backs up. No matter, I'm still alive after 30 odd years of cycling on the road.
crazy-legs - Member
The favourite round me seems to be the feeling that they *must* overtake the cyclist. Right now. So they overtake without any thought as to what lies ahead and the number of times people have overtaken and then had to come to a stop for some sort of obstacle/narrowing of the road/traffic jam etc is unbelievable.
Let ME go first into the narrow road bit, I can fit through. Same at a traffic jam, is it really going to hurt to arrive at the back of the queue 2 seconds later than you would by screaming past me and pulling in? I'll only filter up the outside and you'll have to do it all over again.
I think this most days. The ones that are even worse are those that do it and realise when they are level with you that they have to stop so just pull back in on you.
My issue would be that an overtaking car is unlikely to be able to see oncoming traffic from round the corner. If there was something coming, they would have to pull back into the kerb and go straight through you.
My standard behaviour when I don't want to get overtaken (approaching junction, traffic calming, blind bend etc) is to look behind and then move to the middle of the lane. Looking behind reminds them that you're a person and tips them off that you're about to do something. Often it makes them pause just long enough to realise that the stupid overtake they wanted to do is now impossible. Then taking the middle of the lane shows that you're traffic and they should wait unless they can overtake properly.
I'm not saying you were in the wrong, BTW. It was a dodgy place to overtake, but I'm just suggesting ways to minimise drivers chances of making dangerous moves.
What goes through their heads, that makes them not be able to wait a few seconds???
Dunno maybe they penis might drop?
Had a similar outing myself a couple of months back.
Riding through a nearbye housing estate, usual parked cars restricting the width of the road. I make a point of keeping out of the gutter to ensure drivers know I am there (should not have to really!) when I hear a car coming up behind me. I am not too worried, they will have seen me I think to myself, the section I am riding through has parked cars on the opposite side clear on mine. Next thing I know is this tatty old mondeo starts to pass me on my right then as it comes abreast of me it then drives into me broadside forcing me on the kirb onto the pavement. I bang the windows and roof but it carries on as if I am invisible. Accellerates away then disapears around the corner.
I am fuming by this point so I chase it down to a couple of roads around the corner. It is stopped so I pull up at the window and ask what she was doing trying to kill me? surprisingly I am still quite calm at this point outwardly but spitting feathers inside. She has the audacity to tell me that I was in her way and she getting me out of her way so that she could drive through as it was her right of way! Then rolls the window up and carries on talking to her passenger as if I don't exist!
Its fair to say that though I did not swear at her I made it clear in good english that if I see her again and she attempts to get me out of the way, if I am still able to walk I would insert whats left of my bike through her windscreen and climb in after it to make sure I could insert it up her backside! I then left her to her confused and warped version of the motoring world that she lived in.
So far I have not needed to make good on my promise to her, hopefully I won't have to but I will if she does....
MUTDs
[i]Dez - maybe a position further into the lane would have helped?[/i]
All those who suggest this are dead right. Spot on.
In fact, I was going to say in my original post (but it got a bit long already!) that normally, on that same bit of road, I look round as I approach the corner and if I see anything coming up behind, move right out (so they are not sure if I'm going round the corner or straight on) and establish my road position. For some reason, I didn't yesterday. Still no excuse for overtaking before a bend. And yes, there's no way she could've seen if something was coming the other way.
But none of these things would have occured to this woman and I suspect, never will.
The favourite round me seems to be the feeling that they *must* overtake the cyclist. Right now. So they overtake without any thought as to what lies ahead and the number of times people have overtaken and then had to come to a stop for some sort of obstacle/narrowing of the road/traffic jam etc is unbelievable.
Let ME go first into the narrow road bit, I can fit through. Same at a traffic jam, is it really going to hurt to arrive at the back of the queue 2 seconds later than you would by screaming past me and pulling in? I'll only filter up the outside and you'll have to do it all over again.
Spot ON - my words exactly - think its a mindset - your a "slow cyclist got to get infront, can't be late and held up, rush, rush" or "oh god I hate ovetaking so best do it as soon as possible" ?