Quite scary innit?
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... going downhill, tailwind, car coming the other way (with lights on, so clearly visible).
😯
Had an artic go past me close (but not quite that close) in the winds yesterday. Bit scary yeah.
Chased him for about 2 miles, he never actually broke away from me! But I had to turn off as had my son's school parents' evening and wanted to be there!
The determination of people to get by as quick as possible even though they are not going much faster than you boils my piss, just an attitude that they must get in front of a bike asap. How much quicker is a tractor really going to be going hauling that trailer downhill... Scary.
The determination of people to get by as quick as possible
I am interpreting this as "as soon as possible".
If they got past (and I mean fully past, trailer and all) nice and quick, that would be great. The problem is, long vehicles tend to be slow and don't complete the pass before needing to pull across because of oncoming. Which is what I think happened to @DezB here. It happens to me a lot.
Also, with cars in 30mph (or even more, 20mph) zones - they want to get past, they don't want to speed, result they creep past and end up squeezing you.
jesus that's awful. get in that grass verge where you belong. He probably thought that white line was a bike lane
Dunno about that greyspoke, I've had HGV's overtake where the cab has come incredibly close on narrow roads, by the time the trailer is past I've done an instinctive emergency stop into the verge!
Usually I'm quite considerate on busy but narrow roads and will pull over if I hear a bus/HGV behind me rather than make them sit there (or invite a shitty pass) but in that particular case it must have been doing the speed limit (it was a narrow road off a big roundabout so it had a run up) and was on me before I heard it!
For some reason I am thinking about the "flat pass" in rugby. A vaguely similar misconception around relative motion.
Aye, Greyspoke. As soon as possible would have worked better that what I wrote.
Have you reported the bugger?
[i]Have you reported the bugger?[/i]
Not had time, was only last night, just grabbed a screenshot. I think the reg is HX65 AWB (different reg on the trailer).
What happened was, he started to overtake, just as I was picking up speed on the downslope - there was clearly an oncoming car, so his overtake was far too late for the speed. He started moving over well before the trailer was past me so I had to brake and move to the grass verge (or get pushed there).
Oncoming car in this pic (visible at rear of trailer), also pushed over to the verge
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Incidents like this are one of the reasons why I sold my road bike a few years ago. 😆
Its the same in the car though. I have to drive on the stretch of the A59 between Harrogate and Skipton for work (a stretch of road with one of the highest fatality rates per journey in the country) and experience ridiculously dangerous overtaking, close passes and tailgating every single day. There's some absolute lunatics on our roads, whether you are travelling by bike or by car. Stay safe out there people.
f me that looks close and it looks like the car wasn't far off having to go onto the verge in your last screenshot too
howsyourdad1 - Member
He probably thought that white line was a bike lane
😆
Definitely report it. Unfortunately the response will depend on the constabulary and the attitude of the person you report it to.
A work colleague has had good success via the non emergency number / email - two convictions so far! One close pass on a blind bend, one oncoming car overtaking towards him.
I might just ask the farmer I worked for if he knows who it is. And let all his sheep out. Or something 😉
good golly!
I'm always left fuming when I see idiots trying to overtake cyclists with &!ck
maneuvers which leave them with no room for error.
I'm not in any way defending the farmer here, but once you saw what was happening, did you slow immediately?
No, I headbutted the ****ing trailer and called it a poof. Did you read my "what happened was..." post?
😀
Had a driver with a caravan do the same to me last year, fortunately I had a bus stop to swerve into.
I caught up with the old duffer and tore a strip off him for a couple of minutes (to the approval of the driver behind). No camera so I left it at that.
Let us know what response you get from the feds.
Glad you're OK.
I had an artic 'overtake' me heading downhill towards Bromyard on the A44 leaving me about a 12" survival zone. The most fun part was that as he passed the artic driver hadn't accounted for the pedestrian central refuge up ahead. Deafened and blinded by emergency air-brakes and plumes of tyre-smoke, I was shaken enough. This was the last straw riding A roads. I'm done with it.
Just saw a sainsburys tanker take someone's door off and not stop.
Got his number and trying to report it.
101 don't want to answer and it takes 20 minutes to fill in the form online.
The car driver must have had a heart attack. He wasn't there when I went back. Just a very mangled Golf.
[quote=chakaping ]I caught up with the old duffer and tore a strip off him for a couple of minutes (to the approval of the driver behind).
Hmm, the twice I've done that to somebody towing a caravan, the first time the old duffer said I was swerving all over the road so he had to pass me close (I pulled out a bit to avoid drains, if I was doing as he claimed he should give me even more room). The second claimed there was nothing wrong (he didn't pull out at all, if I hadn't swerved left as the car passed I'd have been hit by the caravan) then punishment passed me, then when I caught up again got out of the car to confront me, clearly wanting to settle it "like a man" - wife in the car then complained that I was upsetting her kids (no dear, that's your husband firstly driving like an idiot, and then being a total dick, that's why your kids are upset). Reported both, no action in either case (though I didn't have camera footage, but in the latter case I reported him for threatening me).
[quote=zippykona ]101 don't want to answer and it takes 20 minutes to fill in the form online.
at least with my local force it appears 101 is a waste of time - reported somebody last week on that, and when I called back this week was told that he was on the list to be watched out for by patrols but that was it. Not impressed that they didn't tell me I needed to fill in the online form as well for them to take more action - though more impressed that now I've done that I've just heard back and they have issued the registered keeper with a NIP (not cycling - was walking kids to school when I saw somebody crossing double whites to overtake past the school gates, have a second parent as a witness as well).
Finally got through and hopefully justice will prevail.
aracer - In my incident the couple went from being defiant to genuinely sorry when I made them realise they could have killed me, at the time I felt that was sufficient but in hindsight I probably should have reported it anyway.
Do we know if such reports can trigger an assessment of a person's fitness to drive? Eyesight etc.
DezB, foolishly I once rode the A27 from the roundabout just West of Bedhampton to Havant.
**** that! Never again. Artics passing at 60 mph. EEEkk.
The Havant bypass? Nuts! There is actually some decent cycle pathage to avoid the A27 now. Not sure if it goes past Havant that way though.
Definitely report. I know someone who very nearly lost a leg (and was left disabled) after being hit by an overtaking tractor.
DezB - MemberThe Havant bypass? Nuts! There is actually some decent cycle pathage to avoid the A27 now. Not sure if it goes past Havant that way though.
You said it, and that was about 9 years ago. Never EVER again. Had the afternoon off work (working in Gosport at the time, living on the IOW) and fancied a little jolly exploring Hayling Island, I thought it would be the quickest way there! It was, but I'm not sure it was worth the terror!
😯Havant Bypass
I was going to say the safest way to navigate that would be around or underneath it. But apparently not
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Had a few incidents with large farm tractor trailer units on bike and in my van. As large as a articulated lorry but less checks on the driving.
It absolutely boils my piss and the arsehole in question would almost certainly get away with not much more than a slapped wrist, even if he had killed you.
For the most part, this country hates cyclists.
Found the Hants Police page. They just don't wanna know, do they.. either don't give a shit, or poorly resourced, or probably both -
http://archive.hampshire.police.uk/internet/advice-and-information/road-safety/collisions-and-poor-driving/poor-driving.html
Be good if the police had some kind of training course for these incidents. Like the speed awareness course.
I know that's fantasy land though.
Glad you are OK, and hope the police do take some kind of action.
DezB - Member
No, I headbutted the **** trailer and called it a poof. Did you read my "what happened was..." post?
Yes, but it doesn't answer my question.
What it says is that at the point he started his overtake (or was alongside), YOU were accelerating. He started to overtake based on your relative speed a few seconds before coming along side you (remember, he's higher up and can see further) and as you hit the downslope, you accelerated and thus decreased the relative speeds between you, thus making it harder for him to clear you in the space available. Having been in this situation before with trucks and tractors (they don't anticipate that you'll speed up so dramatically when moving from either a flat or especially a slight rise to a downhill), they can't easily back out of the move once started (again, they think they'll not be able to slow enough to pull in behind you and so will crush you) so the best thing is to back off and brake slightly so that he clears you quicker.
I'll fully admit that it's terrifying, but would also say that whilst it ended up dangerous, I'd doubt it was done maliciously or carelessly and that it could have been mitigated somewhat by backing off.
[quote=Daffy ]I'd doubt it was done ... carelessly
By definition it was. I'm sure the HC says something about anticipating when overtaking and as normalised as it might be for a driver not to think ahead that's not exactly an excuse. When going for an overtake you should be [b]sure[/b] that won't put you into conflict with other road users.
I agree, that tractor should not have continued the overtake maneuver once the oncoming traffic was identified ahead, it's not that hard dab of brake and pull back in. It's a tractor probably can only do 20mph.
No offence Daffy, but you're talking shit. He shouldn't have started the overtaking move. Full stop. No excuses.
[i]I [/i]could see the car coming the other way. I was surprised that the actual TRACTOR had started to try to overtake me at that point (you can hear me grumble in the video, (well I can!)), THEN the bloody trailer comes into view and I'm shocked and hit the brakes and move over. At which point the swearing starts.
I've tweeted to Hants police road unit, so will see if I get a reply on there.
I had a jersey with a missing sleeve thanks to a pass like that.
The driver all but shit himself when he realised and spent about half an hour apologising and asking what he could do to make it right. This was in france, so a whole different set of social rules.
i.e. cyclists aren't scum.
I suspect he'd have called the police himself if he'd had access to a phone.
Daffy - Rule 168?
Basically, don't accelerate if being overtaken, slow down to facilitate the overtake.
The balance here is in determining if the overtake started despite the oncoming traffic. I guess Debz was there, the rest of us can only speculate.
No offence Daffy, but you're talking shit. He shouldn't have started the overtaking move. Full stop. No excuses.
please don't misunderstand, I agree completely, but you're completely missing the point of what I'm saying.
Yes - the overtake shouldn't have happened, but once you're in the middle of it (i.e. as soon as you're aware of the overtake and the oncoming car, backing off or breaking would've made it MUCH safer for YOU. After all, it's your life in danger and you do have a say in how this plays out. Simply being in the right won't keep you alive when Muppets do stupid things, but getting out of their way can certainly help.
I'm stating this from personal experience of numerous similar events - I.E.
Truck overtaking on a downhill lefthander meaning the trailer is going to take a narrower line to the cab. Backing out is the only option to getting squeezed, so if you see it starting to happen, you've gotta react from a self-preservation point of view rather than keeping the hammer down to prove that an overtake wasn't really necessary.
I'm genuinely glad you're okay and am not looking for a fight, but based on what you've posted and upon how I used to react on the bike when commuting, I think we might (at one time) have been of similar mindsets when being pointlessly overtaken by something/someone.
Far better to abort an overtake than try and push it through. Thats how people end up dead.
I've tweeted to Hants police road unit, so will see if I get a reply on there.
Are you taking bets? 🙂
