Strange behavioural traits by motorised vehicle drivers

Following on from the punishment pass thread, there seems to be a lot of strange behaviour certain inbred types of driver do.

Passing very close to a cyclist who they believe has slowed them down,so called Punishment pass,

Pulling to the left hand side of the lane after they have pased a cyclist at traffic lights or junctions to stop cyclists getting in front, Kerb crawling,

Stopping in the ASL BOX, 3 points on your licence, and a 60 quid fine,

Accelerating hard and producing thick black smoke when passing a cyclist,after being held up a few nano seconds,

not indicating a left turn while stoped or slowing for a junction until the lights change or they just think to do it, so in their mind they have indicated in plenty of time and turned left into a cyclist.

flashing their lights to let other vehicles out of a junction when theyve just overtook you,lights are to be used as a warning.

not obeying the speed limits,using mobile phones while driving and drink driving,

when your going across a traffic light controled T junction and have right of way, on coming vehicles narow the lane by turning into your lane, and passing very close to your back wheel,as you go past,sometimes screaming abuse at you as you get level,same with vehicles turning right,yes you mr golfprat on wednesday night.

and many more.

Accelerating hard and producing thick black smoke when passing a cyclist,after being held up a few nano seconds,

I’ve been guilty of this. 😳 No harm meant by it, just trying to overtake as quickly as possible to minimise risk, but I realise it can be misinterpreted.

The hoofing it past thing I do understand to a certain extent. I would much rather someone pulled out wwide and ‘punched it’ than dribbled by a foot from my handlebars and then cut me up because they pull in too soon or because they are so slow something is now coming at them head on that wouldnt have been if they had legally given it some beans. Result they instinctively pull left and i end up in the hedge.

Leaving aside the badly smoking diesels a pull out – punch it – pull in overtake is how I like to be passed as long as the reason is not that the overtake is inherently unsafe and they are going regardless. Nor am i suggesting that passing at 50 in a 30 is appropriate to make a point.

When I drive I try and put myself in the shoes of the cyclist and vice versa but one of the hard things is the differences that even us experienced riders have in how we want other traffic to interact with us.

Agree with all the deliberate anti bike/ anti social behaviours and you can see all on my commute pretty regularly. Usually a full set on each trip. Plenty of shoddy bike riding round here too mind.

When I drive I try and put myself in the shoes of the cyclist and vice versa

I like your thinking. When I pass a cyclist I think “what if that was me or someone I know?” and equally when I’m riding I don’t want to be in the way and hold people up unduly.

I’ve been guilty of this. No harm meant by it, just trying to overtake as quickly as possible to minimise risk, but I realise it can be misinterpreted.

I was just about to say the same thing. I always knock the car down a few gears to maximise acceleration to get the pass over ASAP, but that probably does sound a bit aggressive. It isn’t supposed to be – it is done with the best of intentions.

There’s a punishment pass thread?

If it helps, I do try to balance any misinterpreted sense of aggression by passing as wide as I possibly can and not pulling back in till I’m well clear.

Glupton: http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/just-had-a-punishment-pass-what-next

Likewise, I always pull out pretty wide. I think that also influences the drivers behind you. In a queue of traffic today, the cars in front didn’t give the cyclist a huge amount of room, but I noticed that the car behind me pulled out almost as widely as I had.

overtaking a few metres away from the stationary traffic ahead. what’s the point? I’m just going to overtake back again 1 second later.

the cars in front didn’t give the cyclist a huge amount of room, but I noticed that the car behind me pulled out almost as widely as I had.

I’ve noticed this as well, I think the majority of people on the road are sheep and will just follow the car in front, failing to look further down the road to see what actually may be being passed.

I’ve noticed this as well, I think the majority of people on the road are sheep and will just follow the car in front, failing to look further down the road to see what actually may be being passed.

Thanks, that is better.

This weeks pet hate is cars pulling right to stop you filtering down the middle of the road
Yet to suffer so called punishment pass buts its fairly rural round here with the odd congested town

Got overtaken quite aggressively about 10m before a junction where the traffic light was red.Was turning right so was already moving to the middle of the road and the car had to swerve back in front quite hard.
Only it was a police car.Who then stalled so I had to ride around them….whilst chuckling.Cue police car taking off like a scaled cat ,overtaking me again and pulling up 100m later.
Before he even got out I asked for his name and number and informed him I’d be reporting him for inconsiderate driving.
Stuttering apology 🙂

Flooring it past so they can turn left. Utterly bizarre, pointless and dangerous.

Waiting at a roundabout, seeing you’re on a bike and taking that as license to just be able to pull out like you’re not there.

^^^^ similar thing not so long back,I’d stopped to allow traffic from my right, then it was clear for me, I was going straight over the roundabout, there was a guy stopped to my left, I looked straight into his eyes,and you know when you look at someone and you can tell, I mean you can really tell, that they’ve just looked straight through you, he pulled straight out in front of me, thank god id already seen it coming.
And the best bit, I’m now stopped two foot from his door and he still looked straight through me as he carried on, he doesnt know to this day how close he came to taking me out.

And the best bit, I’m now stopped two foot from his door and he still looked straight through me as he carried on, he doesnt know to this day how close he came to taking me out.

`You just needed to give it a good scream and wave of the arm, the shock (and possible associated brown trousers) they get is hilarious when they finally see you 2ft from there door.

Driving standards are simply piss poor, as cyclists we are vulnerable and I would like to think more aware as motorists as we realise the vulnerabilities and how having slightly better standards makes life easier for everyone. No doubt punishment passes happen but many drivers don’t have a clue, whether it indicating, leaving enough space, overtaking, etc

Good list Project but it is just crap driving standards.

There was thread a little while ago and I see some astonishing stuff on motorways, almost like they are just trying to take themselves out of the gene pool.

I tend to overtake with a fair bit of accelerator, it is nothing personal, it’s just that going from slow speed to the speed limit reasonably quickly is safe and fun.

punishment pass is my fav.
some fat twunt yesterday did it to me 3 times in traffic.
3rd time he got a 2 fingered salute and took exception to this so decided to drive right next to the kerb at 15 mph to ‘show me’, I think he lost concentration when he heard me shout if it was a pie shop he was looking for as he kerbed both he wheels…..oh how I laughed.

When I drive I try and put myself in the shoes of the cyclist

That’s nothing. Many drivers try to put themselves in the same bit of road as the cyclist.

On the other hand
Turned right in the car behind a bike. Narrow road, uphill with poor visibility so I just sit back and wait. Cyclist waves me past but I wait as poor visibility. Car behind decides to overtake me and the bike and has to swerve in to miss a car coming down the hill nearly taking out the cyclist. Cyclist starts ranting at me for NOT overtaking.
Oh the irony.

A good thing ive done a few times if after a punishmnet pass or a kerb crawl, get out the camera an dtake a picture, got asked by a taxi driver why i was taking his picture, told him i would be putting it on http://www.fatbastardsdrivingtaxisbadly.com, he looked well impresed until he reread it in his head, he then went a funny purple colour and started ranting.

Another good trick is to ask the driver if they are the registered ownwer of the vehicle, as you will be informing the registered owner of their poor driving skills,works really well for company owned vehicle drivers, easy to spot look for a company name on the number plate, like a leasing company, or non garage name.