Had someone overtake a cyclist coming in the opposite direction, at exactly the point we were level with them yesterday (on a country B road). So it was 2 cyclists (single file), car, cyclist on the width of the road. Really dumb, and pretty effing dangerous. It didn’t help my perception of Audi TT drivers…

This is where the debate about single file/2-abreast/primary position becomes more nuanced. If the riders on the other side had been 2-abreast, the driver would have more likely waited as the visual and physical barrier in front of him would have been bigger…

Unfortunately, current thinking appears to be that the people cycling have to take responsibility for the poor quality skills of the driver ie: 2-abreast would have deemed to be ‘blocking the road’ rather than ‘the driver made a dangerous overtake’.

It was me and my girlfriend riding behind each other. It was going downhill (freewheeling not particularly fast) and my girlfriend prefers not to ride side by side in that situation – and neither do I really. It may have helped stop the manoeuvre, but I wouldn’t have felt safe adopting that position at the time. As it turned out, we had space to apply brakes and move furhter left to avoid the idiot.

It’s just another example of the kind of thing cyclists end having to put up with on an all-to-regular basis.

I still get incredibly angry when I read about that Helen Measures case – it’s not just the fact she got away with driving dangerously, it’s the way she blamed the victim for the death she caused that makes me sick to my stomach (along with her lawyer blaming the victim’s boyfriend – blaming anyone but the woman overtaking dangerously and going headfirst into oncoming traffic).

So incredibly sad.

It seems that there are a vast number of road users who have no idea how to pass bikes,when is and when is not appropriate to overtake and also have any idea on the width of there vehicle or seem to be able to judge distance full stop.

How these people ever manage to get home safe in one piece is beyond me.
It seems as a cyclist you appear to be fair game for the psycho’s to abuse and when it does end fatally the sentences(and often lack of them) are a joke.

had a rather impatient fellow behind me today, he did have an air of caution about him, but i sensed he was about to try and I halted him with a swift arm out, palm out, as i could see another car coming the other way. Saving myself was of course the priority. 30 yards later it was perfectly safe for him to pass on a straight bit, and he thanked me with a flash of the hazards.

Hopefully he has learnt his lesson!