• This topic has 106 replies, 69 voices, and was last updated 3 years ago by Spud.
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  • Are you over cautious when overtaking cyclists? Road rage content
  • singletrackmind
    Full Member

    I try to give everyone 1.5 mtr at least and it grinds my gears when there is no oncoming cars and other drivers give 30cm.
    Maybe because i do a few road miles i am more cautious than i ought be but i could not live with myself if i hit a bike through my own actions.
    This meams i often get beeped at or flashed for not overtaking but at the end of the day if i am in front its my choice. Although i will often not overtake where i could if i know the bellend driving up my chuff will follow through and there is oncoming traffic or s blind corner
    So i was following a bike in a 30 dowmhill, he was going around 20mph, so not dawdling standard bell end trying to make me speed by drving too close behind. Left sweeping corner, solid white lines, right turn and blind brow. So full list of risks, but using road craft i cross the doubles for a look up the road to increase my sight lines, and see a cab of a truck coming over the crest so i pull back in and slow behind bike. I had an inkling he might want to make a right turn but always best to wait imo
    Guy behind goes mental as he nearly hit me as he presumed i was going for the overtake move and accelerated and went to follow through.
    I could have passed safely but it would have been tighter than i would normally give.
    Guy behind goes apoplectic blasts horn majn beams etc. Lorry passes and he gives it full gas, in 30 blind brow, solid whites, ovetakes and once his back wheel is level with my front wheels turns in and does an emergency stop.
    My Volvo has emergency brake assist where it will apply maximum braking so with some steering i avoid a crash, was a close call though.
    Out he gets, leaves drivers door wide open typical thicko gorilla.
    ‘ you could have overtaken that bike, there wss loads of room, you dont know the width of your vehicle, you volvo drivrrs are all the same’ full on spitting rage, coupled with a load of obscenities. Then he gets in his car and wheelspins off at 70mph
    I thpugh about accelerating and taking ofc his drivets door, but as there were loads of witnesses just locked the doors and let him scream away.
    Having driven the same road both wsys since i still think i did the correct thing by not committing to a dodgy ovetake, but i guess non cyclist hard men do not share the same opinion.
    Will fit the dashcam i got for my birthday over the weekend as it would be useful in this type of scenario

    I suppose the question is does being an active cyclist make you alot more aware and possibly make the wrong decision when overtaking other cyclists?

    IHN
    Full Member

    Don’t overthink it, he was a dick, move on.

    Harry_the_Spider
    Full Member

    I overtake every cyclist as if they were my 12 year old son.

    He sounds like a cock and you don’t.

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    perchypanther
    Free Member

    I suppose the question is does being an active cyclist make you alot more aware and possibly make the wrong decision when overtaking other cyclists?

    You didn’t make the wrong decision though.

    You made the safe decision and everyone got to go home.

    I’d much rather have to phone the cops for some road raging arsehole than phone an ambulance for an injured cyclist.

    stevied
    Free Member

    The stupidity of this is that, if he was in such a rush, why did he feel the need to stop, get out, shout etc. That must’ve delayed him more than waiting for a safe overtake..
    He’s a ****!

    pondo
    Full Member

    +1 for not the wrong decision, and I think being a cyclist makes me more considerate to cyclists – I always cross the road fully and only when it’s safe to do so, if it annoys Nigel bloody Mansell behind me, then tough shit. That sounded pretty horrid, though – I think (he says, with the benefit of a calm environment, zero adrenalin and masses of hindsight), if that happened to me, I’d just get a phone, start recording his rant, then submit to the old bill. No-one should have to put up with that.

    stumpy01
    Full Member

    I am far from the perfect driver, but try to think further down the road than the next 2 seconds.
    I think this is (part of) the problem with these boneheads. They don’t or can’t foresee what MIGHT happen & choose to take the safe option, so everything to them becomes ‘must do now’…

    You see the same thing where a car overtakes a cyclist & then immediately catches a parked car and has to stop so blocks the cyclist, or wants to do a left turn.

    Just this morning there was a bloke waving his fist at me apoplectic with rage because my being on the roundabout (and indicating my intentions) meant that he couldn’t enter the roundabout at his preferred 50mph. Morons as far as the eye can see…..

    Sounds like you did the right thing though.

    TheBrick
    Free Member

    Just another dick. I think the only overtaking cyclists thing that irritates me as a driver and a cyclist are people that overtake really slowly. Get on and get past with a wide gap. Don’t creep by extending the danger time accelerating very slowly.

    garage-dweller
    Full Member

    overtake every cyclist as if they were my 12 year old son.

    He sounds like a cock and you don’t.

    This x1000 (my sons not yet that old but same applies).

    OP if it makes you feel any better I have many times endured the same.

    I had to come to a stop in an NSL recently as some neanderthal oxygen thief did what the driver behind you had intended round a semi blind bend but I was the car coming the other way. He’d have been able to see me as he pulled “out” but just came anyway. Luckily for all of us I was having one of those “he wouldn’t would he, actually he might” moments and the foot was already headed for the brakes. The car behind me wasn’t a tailgating retard as otherwise we’d have had an accident of our own.

    So to your Mr Road Rage **** you and to you op happy and continued safe motoring.

    timbog160
    Full Member

    IHN is right he was just being a dick, it happens unfortunately. I don’t own a road bike and only rarely ride anything other than local quiet roads, but I still try to do what you do and give bikes plenty of room, and also time. It’s only a few seconds to wait, what difference will it really make.

    Rona
    Full Member

    I feel your pain. I am extremely cautious when overtaking cyclists, and wait until I can overtake safely, giving them maximum room – often to the discontent of the impatient folk behind me who probably consider me to be a dithering fool. My partner was killed while cycling on the road – enough said I’m sure.

    Yak
    Full Member

    You did the right thing. Bellend was a bellend. Forget it and move on.

    muddy@rseguy
    Full Member

    Definitely very much aware when I overtake cyclists as I know what its like on a bikes so go for load of space and usually move right across to the other side of the road (“treat the bike as a small car”…)

    I always follow the simple advice that only overtake where safe to do so and the idea of you have to do several stages of checking before you finally commit to the manoeuvre and even then, you are moving the car to the wrong side of the road so you still need to be able to move back behind the over road user if anything goes wrong.

    Also the car, sorry, driver you encountered is 100% end of a bell as he was obviously in such a rush he had to then stop and explain his limited driving ability, mental situation, flawed outlook on society, terrible music taste, poor life choices and general lack of sexual prowess to you, so…BMW? Audi?

    BTW, kudos for staying calm. always the best thing to do when in that kind of situation.

    Malvern Rider
    Free Member

    I suppose the question is does being an active cyclist make you alot more aware and possibly make the wrong decision when overtaking other cyclists?

    I think one would have to be particularly mentally-challenged not to carry the awareness learned whilst cycling over into one’s driving (+ vice versa). As for making ‘wrong decisions’ – I’m not quite sure what you mean?

    My not overtaking a cyclist (or horse, or tractor, or runner, etc, etc) because it’s clearly at that moment unsafe to do so is not being ‘overly cautious’ regardless of the prick behind me who decides to endanger everyone because entitlement/impatience/anger-issues.

    Although I’ve met a few people in my life and ‘one rule for me, another for thee…’ is a common (mostly unspoken) rule for a surprising percentage of folk.

    Arguably much has to do with concepts of courtesy and entitlement (this is also cultural), and whilst knowledge and adherence to the Highway Code/regulations/laws should be close to being ‘sufficient’ in itself, this all breaks down (beyond unfamiliarity with said codes) where entitlement, impatience and anger-issues (sic, sic, sic!) overtake a road-user‘s mental-processes.

    retro83
    Free Member

    So he’s in such a rush he’s got to make a dangerous overtake, yet he’s got time to **** around brake checking and getting out of the car? He’s a ****, ignore.

    jekkyl
    Full Member

    Soon as the car had stopped phone should have been out videoing tool. Then uploaded to YouTube and shared on here to brighten our amusement on a Friday morning.

    martinhutch
    Full Member

    He’s used to his intimidating driving forcing people to go faster/make riskier overtakes. You should take a perverse satisfaction that you had the discipline to drive properly, despite this. The fact that he blows a gasket and makes a tit out of himself is the cherry on the cake.

    Lot of angry idiots out there at the moment. Current situation isn’t helping calm them down.

    Teaching my lass to drive at the moment, and keep having to tell her to stay calm and not to change her driving to make the moron two feet off her bumper happy.

    kerley
    Free Member

    I suppose the question is does being an active cyclist make you alot more aware

    I think it has to help. Went out this morning at 08:00 at commuter time on B roads which I haven’t done this year. The driving was horrendous, blind bend overtaking, overtaking and immediately stopping to indicate right and so on. I think the dream of it being a better cycling environment after Covid with more cyclists is well and truly over.

    Malvern Rider
    Free Member

    OP, re-reading your post it seems that your road/driving-awareness is on-point but you’ve let an utter weapon make you doubt yourself? Would that be a fair assessment?

    I think the dream of it being a better cycling environment after Covid with more cyclists is well and truly over.

    Did they put the traffic cones away already? And yet…

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    TiRed
    Full Member

    One advantage of being a cyclist is knowledge of the folly of overtaking cyclists to save time in traffic. I’m always happy to sit behind cyclists until it is completely safe to overtake properly. I don’t worry about cars behind me. My driving instructor used to say there is nothing you can do about them. He was right.

    PJM1974
    Free Member

    I overtake every cyclist as if they were my 12 year old son.

    He sounds like a cock and you don’t.

    Basically this.

    jaminb
    Free Member

    Is it wrong to admit I take great pleasure in holding up the traffic behind to ensure I give the cyclists I am about to over take sufficient space and exaggerate my overtake to demonstrate a safe pass? In these covid times and because I drive a diesel I like to allow 2m + 1.5m. I can spend many happy miles following behind a group wishing i was with them.

    jairaj
    Full Member

    Echo all the comments above, doesn’t sound like you did anything wrong and doesn’t appear to me that you were over cautious either.

    It’s not the same as pulling over to the other lane to go around a stationary object. Its a person, you have to be on the safe side of the line when making decisions because if you get it wrong, it could be far worse than just a dented bumper, it could be an injured person. So if you have doubt over if the manoeuvre is safe then you have to abort and wait for a better opportunity.

    I think drivers today are very impatient and short sighted, I see silly moves being made for almost zero gain. They don’t really think ahead of what might might happen and only focus on the 2 metres in front of their bumper. The number of times I’m approaching a red traffic light and some idiot driver will overtake me and slam on the brakes because of the stop line.. great! what was the point of that?! Or overtake me and then immediately stop because they want to turn right and the path is not clear, FFS!

    brads
    Free Member

    He probably went home and knocked one out thinking about how he “showed you ”

    Forget it, he’s a dick.

    tjagain
    Full Member

    I agree with harry

    You did the right thing a d yes being a cyclist makes you a more aware driver

    MoreCashThanDash
    Full Member

    He sounds like a cock and you don’t.

    Very much this. You handled all aspects perfectly. Hard not to take it personally but try not to make his problems your problems.

    I’m possibly over cautious when I overtake cyclists compared to most other drivers ie I try and do it properly and safely. I’m also human, there are still occasions when I misjudge it, but at least I’ve given myself a much wider margin of error than most

    mrmonkfinger
    Free Member

    Dashcams were made for situations like this.

    Bellend was a bellend.

    crazy-legs
    Full Member

    They don’t really think ahead of what might might happen and only focus on the 2 metres in front of their bumper. The number of times I’m approaching a red traffic light and some idiot driver will overtake me and slam on the brakes because of the stop line.. great! what was the point of that?! Or overtake me and then immediately stop because they want to turn right and the path is not clear, FFS!

    Must Get In Front.
    Most common type of “dangerous” or inconsiderate overtake, there’s absolutely nothing gained from it. I’ve had overtakes up to junctions, red lights, traffic jams and quite often I’ll overtake again seconds later. Very few people are capable of looking more than 2m in front of their bonnet and planning for road conditions.

    I do sometimes wonder how much of it is driven by impatient bellends behind the first driver. Cyclist – Driver 1 – Driver 2. D2 is 6 inches up the arse of D1 (as per the case in the OP) pushing for an overtake, D1 feels “pressured” into overtaking…?

    perchypanther
    Free Member

    If I had been in the OP’s position, the only thing i’d I reckon i’d have done differently would be the bit at the end where I email the dashcam footage to the po-po.

    Dashcams are so cheap and convenient these days that I genuinely can’t understand why every car doesn’t have one.

    It’s been my experience that fitting one in my car has moderated my driving to be better and safer as I always have that niggling awareness that anything stupid I might do will be captured.
    It’s like being followed by a police car, all the time. This is a good thing.

    Mister-P
    Free Member

    This is one of the reasons I love driving a van with a tow bar fitted. No rear window and mirror means it’s easier to ignore the idiots when they get close. If they touch the back end of the van it will be their vehicle that comes off worst. I’ve become much more relaxed in these situations since getting rid of the car.

    Malvern Rider
    Free Member

    The problem is even the type of driver who would get angry (angry!) at a tractor will still not (normally) overtake said tractor if there is a risk of collision.

    But given that a cyclist does not generally block the angry/impatient driver’s view of the road ahead then close/illegal passes are almost guaranteed because culturally (at least AFAIK in the UK/US/Aus) the cyclist is seen a ‘lesser’ life-form in the highway ecosystem.

    Anecdotally, I have seen many impatient drivers pass me (me on my bike) on bends and hills only to narrowly miss causing a head-on with traffic approaching from the other direction.

    You can guarantee that deadly driver sees the cyclist ‘at fault‘ for ‘holding them up’, whereas were the cyclist a tractor or horse then they they most likely wouldn’t have taken that same risk (or even be ‘angry’)

    If that makes sense?

    Pieface
    Full Member

    What annoys me is the over-cautious drivers who don’t realise how wide the road / their car is, and then eventually overtake in a really bad place anyway.

    Sure I prefer to be safe rather than sorry, but can’t help think that their hesitation to overtake will fuel other impatient drivers to lose their temper, and they may well take it out on the cyclist, rather than the poor driving of the car driver.

    Drac
    Full Member

    Yeah he was a dick.

    Unless you’re over 60 then clearly you’re not a typical Volvo driver or you’d be driving 40mph no matter what the speed limit.

    db
    Full Member

    I call myself a cyclist, a motorcyclist and a driver. I think the more forms of transport you have tried on our roads, the better your appreciation of other road users.

    Never ridden a horse on the road, or driven a HGV. Honestly think if everyone was forced to try all forms of transport people would have more respect and time for each other on the roads we share.

    Malvern Rider
    Free Member

    do sometimes wonder how much of it is driven by impatient bellends behind the first driver. Cyclist – Driver 1 – Driver 2. D2 is 6 inches up the arse of D1 (as per the case in the OP) pushing for an overtake, D1 feels “pressured” into overtaking…?

    Exactly this. Have witnessed this a number of times (as D3)

    butcher
    Full Member

    Your driving is definitely not the issue here, so I wouldn’t put any more thought into it. The guy should probably be reported to the police imo, that’s a massive over-reaction and the level of anger clearly makes him a danger to other road users.

    FuzzyWuzzy
    Full Member

    I’d have had my phone out recording him, making funny faces to wind him up more then posted it the Internet hoping it went viral.

    Coyote
    Free Member

    I overtake every cyclist as if they were my 12 year old son.

    Definitely this. Also, I do believe that being a cyclist makes you a more aware driver*. For years now I have been advocating a requirement to log a set number of road miles as a cyclist as part of the process of gaining a full drivers’ licence. Too many people think it is a right to drive a car. It’s not, it’s a privilege.

    *Some cockwombles (making progress threads) on here are the exception.

    kerley
    Free Member

    Unless you’re over 60 then clearly you’re not a typical Volvo driver or you’d be driving 40mph no matter what the speed limit.

    Volvo drivers have changed a lot since the days of the 240. Used to be a car for careful and conscientious drivers but I think the image has changed and many are driven in same way as a typical Audi or BMW.

    ta11pau1
    Full Member

    as above, he was a dick.

    See it all too often, recently I was following a cyclist away from some lights with a few cars behind me, couldn’t overtake due to oncoming traffic (busy main road in a town), and when the road was clear, I had a 500ft distance before I would be turning right into my street. Indicated right earlier than I would normally, and sat behind the cyclist, rather than have to speed up, overtake, then brake sharply in front of the cyclist to turn right, gaining zero time.

    Bloke in a white merc, despite me already indicating right, overtakes us both, because he cannot wait for 10 seconds.

    Idiots.

    The general standard of driving is shocking tbh, even basic stuff like staying on your side of the road when on a right hand bend seems to be impossible for most.

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