That’s the theory, but in practice there are loads of places where you’d be better overtaking a bike on double whites than not.
Why? And when?
If you are driving where it's 'better' to cross the doubles whites than not, then you haven't given yourself enough room to the car/cyclist/whatever in front. Holding up traffic is not a valid reason. If it feels unsafe to be behind the car/cyclist/whatever in a period of double solids then the correct response is to give even more room to the car/cyclist/whatever in front and wait until there is a safe and legal place to pass.
Anyone posted Ronnie Pickering yet?
Anyone posted Ronnie Pickering yet?
Who?
😉
thegeneralist
MemberThat’s the theory, but in practice there are loads of places where you’d be better overtaking a bike on double whites than not.
The generalist is Ronnie Pickering, lol.
No no no.
I'm always exceedingly careful overtaking cyclists. Very very.
I still stand by my statement that there are some places where there are double whites because it's unsafe to overtake a car, where I would and do overtake bikes.
That’s the theory, but in practice there are loads of places where you’d be better overtaking a bike on double whites than not.
Just no, there never are. That's probably a straight 6 points if observed by a traffic officer.
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Double white lines where the line nearest you is solid. This means you MUST NOT cross or straddle it unless it is safe and you need to enter adjoining premises or a side road. You may cross the line if necessary, provided the road is clear, to pass a stationary vehicle, or overtake a pedal cycle, horse or road maintenance vehicle, if they are travelling at 10 mph (16 km/h) or less.
I thought it was 20mph.
I still stand by my statement that there are some places where there are double whites because it’s unsafe to overtake a car, where I would and do overtake bikes.
Given you should leave a bike as much room as you give a car this is utter nonsense and if you are doing this then you are making an unsafe overtake
I thought it was 20mph.
You thought wrong.
It's perfectly legal to cross solid whites to overtake a cyclist doing 10mph or lower. The same is true of passing slow / stopped vehicles and horse riders. Though how you're expected to gauge this speed as a driver I've no idea.
Given you should leave a bike as much room as you give a car this is utter nonsense and if you are doing this then you are making an unsafe overtake
Maybe the difference here isn't vehicle width so much as differential speed? Overtaking something travelling at walking pace and something doing 40mph are very different propositions.
I must admit I thought it was higher than 10mph too but then
Though how you’re expected to gauge this speed as a driver I’ve no idea.
Unless you are driving behind the cyclist and matching their speed perhaps? Still gonna be a difficult one to be prosecuted for I'd say 🤔
A car driver will have no idea if a bike is doing 10mph and most cyclists won't even know if they are doing 10mph due to no speedometer. Clearly just an arbitrary number meaning something slow. Not like you wouldn't overtake if the bike was doing 11mph rather than 10mph is it.
As long as the car slows to 10mph and then carefully overtakes I would be fine with that as a cyclist and dream of a day where that sort of driving would be the norm.
I had almost exactly the same thing happen as the OP except the driver didn't slam on his brakes. Double whites, blind brow etc. I have a dashcam and the police are prosecuting.
As long as the car slows to 10mph and then carefully overtakes I would be fine with that as a cyclist and dream of a day where that sort of driving would be the norm.
I absolutely hate slow overtakes. The closer in speed the car is to me, the longer it spends alongside me, getting past etc, the longer it's spending in the danger zone of the opposite lane and then the closer in front of me it is when it pulls in.
Pull out, get past, get the job done.
The worst ones are in 30mph zones when you're doing say 25 (ish) mph (slight downhill or tailwind say) and you get one of those MGIF drivers but they're in the middle of the Venn diagram of MGIF / will never exceed the speed limit. The ones who do 39mph in a 40, then stand the car on it's nose as they come into the 30 zone, accelerate back up to 29mph and so on.
Trying to get past at 29mph ("must not exceed speed limit!") while the rider is doing 25. 🤦♂️
Just ****ing get past, I don't care if it's 40 for a few seconds so long as you're wide. Get past me, and **** off into the distance.
Given you should leave a bike as much room as you give a car this is utter nonsense and if you are doing this then you are making an unsafe overtake
Erm, width, room, irrelevant ... erm
Maybe the difference here isn’t vehicle width so much as differential speed? Overtaking something travelling at walking pace and something doing 40mph are very different propositions.
Ah, thank god. Someone with some sense. The key factor is how much faster you're going than the thing your overtaking (and of course the absolute speed of the thing you're overtaking). If you're in a car that can do 40mph or thereabouts average past the bike doing 15mph or thereabouts then it'll clearly take you about a fifth of the time to overtake than it would do overtake a car doing 50mph when you're doing 55mph. And the distance you cover, and hence the chance of still being on the wrong side of the road by the time you hit the horizon are about 1/7th.
You thought wrong.
Thanks Tips, that was my point!!!
Here's a cautious overtake from Saturday!!
The worst ones are in 30mph zones when you’re doing say 25 (ish) mph (slight downhill or tailwind say) and you get one of those MGIF drivers but they’re in the middle of the Venn diagram of MGIF / will never exceed the speed limit.
That's one of the weirdest phenomena on the road: those who want to drive in front of you, slower than you.
I had one a few months back, on a relatively clear M6 (in so far as the M6 is ever clear, anyway). I had to cruise control set to (an actual) 70mph, a car overtakes me, then pulls in front of me and seemingly lifts off. I change lanes, overtake him and move back over. A minute later he overtakes me again, rinse and repeat. This went one for miles, not once did I touch either accelerator or brake. Very strange.
It's worse on A-roads. There are those who will fling their car into main road traffic from a side street forcing me to drop anchor, despite there being nothing behind me for miles, then proceed to dribble along at 15mph. Like, were you actually in a hurry or what?
Always overtake cyclists, horses and pedestrians if no pavements as I would want to be overtaken. I am however fed-up with those drivers behind who agressively close up to you and weave as if you need to see them more and perform a dangerous overtake so they can follow. Had it Saturday morning between Chatsworth and Bakewell, double solids, blind bends, cyclist doing around 20 mph, so not slow and I gave him distance and held back until it was safe and the double solids ended. The car behind 1m off me and weaving, where do they think you will/ can go. When I did overtake the one behind does so and then drops speed right off. Makes me anxious when you're trying to make sure the higher risk road user is safe and you need eyes in your arse so you're not rear-ended.
