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Have drivers got more aggressive since the Highway Code changes?

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  • March 2, 2022 at 11:28 am #31974
    Simon_MacMichael

    I was at the football in south London with a friend on Saturday, both of us cycle as our everyday way of getting around, and out of the blue he asked me, “Have you noticed drivers getting way more aggressive in the past few weeks?”

    I said, “Could be, what with the Highway Code changes and all the misreporting around them in the press,” and he looked at me blankly.

    “What Highway Code changes?” he said.

    So after castigating him for not reading road.cc, I explained them to him and also some of the inaccurate and divisive coverage we’ve seen in the mainstream media, and he said,  “Yup, that would do it.”

    That got me thinking – more than four weeks on from the changes, what is other people’s experience? Have you noticed drivers following the revised rules, ignoring them, or becoming more aggressive? Let us know …

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  • March 7, 2022 at 5:42 pm #989529
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    yupiteru

    Where I am in south Wales it

    Where I am in south Wales it has gone from one extreme to the other since the changes, with some drivers give massive, more than usual amounts of passing room and others (usually van drivers) getting much more aggressive with their close passes and abuse.

    A lot of the bad driving is most likely caused by the anti-cycling talk you get from a number of talk radio presenters, on air and on social media, I don’t need to name them, you all know who these overweight inadequates are by know.

    March 7, 2022 at 4:36 pm #989527
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    OldRidgeback

    I wasn’t there on Tuesday. I

    I wasn’t there on Tuesday. I took the two wheeler with the engine as the old banger MTB I’d normally use has a flat tyre (I don’t like using the good MTB if I’m going to leave it anywhere) and I’ve been too focussed on servicing my BMXs to replace the inner tube. I park the Suzuki in the corner of the Sainsbury’s car park on the bit of kerb where motorbike parking is allowed. There’s a rail in the carpark I lock the old MTB to if I use that.

    March 7, 2022 at 2:52 pm #989525
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    the infamous grouse

    the ones who didn’t care

    the ones who didn’t care before still don’t care now.

    March 4, 2022 at 3:36 pm #989523
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    brooksby

    But bicycles, innit?

    But bicycles, innit?

    (It is odd how people don’t think about crossing a busy cycle path (even a two-way one) in the same way that they’d cross a road…).

    March 4, 2022 at 2:52 pm #989521
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    wycombewheeler
    hirsute wrote:
    “Nearly got run over yesterday trying to walk across the cycle lane on Embankment. Bikes from both directions flying along at breakneck speed. Really dangerous”

     

    reply

    “Have you literally ever seen a road?”

    20s plenty

    except too fast for bikes, but not nearly fast enough for cars

    March 4, 2022 at 2:15 pm #989519
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    Hirsute

    “Nearly got run over

    “Nearly got run over yesterday trying to walk across the cycle lane on Embankment. Bikes from both directions flying along at breakneck speed. Really dangerous”

     

    reply

    “Have you literally ever seen a road?”

    March 4, 2022 at 1:58 pm #989517
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    Tom_77

    I’ve seen a lot of aggressive

    I’ve seen a lot of aggressive comments on social media, although mostly it’s giving way to pedestrians that has the drivers riled up.

    Pedestrians – Please look out for yourself because I cannot look left and right at the same time – I don’t have eyes in the back of my head !

     

    Thiis should never have been changed it is always better for pedestrians to wait until it safe to cross and then do so. Drivers need to concentrate on their driving not have to be looking for pedestrians who might step out in front of them at a junction

     

    There’s no way I’m stopping dead like that just before turning. It’s a ridiculous, dangerous rule and it’s only a matter of time before someone dies or gets seriously injured.

    Out on the streets, things seem slightly better. I think 1.5m for overtaking a cyclist is much clearer than the old rule.

    March 4, 2022 at 10:58 am #989515
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    Steve K

    OldRidgeback wrote:

    OldRidgeback wrote:

    I was going to ask the same re S London football. I was at Selhurst Park as usual on Saturday, on two wheels of course 🙂

    As regards close passing, I’d say drivers are about as bad as usual, more aggressive than say 10-15 years ago in other words.

    So was I (and Tuesday). Do you park at the wonderful advertised facilities (the portakbin steps near the Fanzine?)

    March 4, 2022 at 10:32 am #989513
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    OldRidgeback

    I was going to ask the same

    I was going to ask the same re S London football. I was at Selhurst Park as usual on Saturday, on two wheels of course 🙂

    As regards close passing, I’d say drivers are about as bad as usual, more aggressive than say 10-15 years ago in other words.

    March 3, 2022 at 4:35 pm #989511
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    brooksby

    When wearing my ‘cyclist’ hat

    When wearing my ‘cyclist’ hat or my ‘pedestrian’ hat, I’m not sure that anything has particularly improved.

    But, hey, nothing’s got worse so that’s something… yes

     

    (at lunchtime, a large Mercedes was driven across a zebra crossing at speed about eighteen inches in front of me as I stepped out, but that’s not any worse than normal in my experience…),

    March 3, 2022 at 3:57 pm #989509
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    wtjs

    I had several oncoming

    I had several oncoming drivers waiting for me

    I’m very pleased to hear of this positive change! It certainly doesn’t apply up here, so I suppose it depends on the drivers knowing that they do or don’t live in an area with a police force that detests cyclists for being whingers who can’t even be bothered to get killed or injured before they start moaning

    March 3, 2022 at 2:25 pm #989507
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    David9694

    On my morning spin out in the

    On my morning spin out in the lanes today, I had several oncoming drivers waiting for me, pulling off the road such that I wasn’t even sure they’d stopped ‘for’ me – they didn’t need to. 

    March 3, 2022 at 10:26 am #989505
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    Sedis
    HoarseMann wrote:
    I think it’s had a bit of a polarising effect. The cautious majority have become even more careful, but the reckless idiots seem to be emboldened to drive closer and faster than before.

    Exactly this.

    The percentage of good overtakes leaving the correct amount of room seems to have increased slightly, however the number of close passes has not been reduced at all and although it is impossible to say for sure, I get the impression that more of these are intentional, rather than careless, than before.

    March 3, 2022 at 10:10 am #989503
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    Rendel Harris

    In my experience (50 km+ per

    In my experience (50 km+ per day in London) there has been a definite improvement in driver behaviour in terms of close passing, at a heuristic estimate I would say around 30% more are really thinking about their passing distance and waiting longer for passing opportunities. I haven’t noticed any increase in aggression, either. The only real downside is that not every driver thinks about what is in the oncoming lane, several times I’ve had to move over and hug the gutter because a driver is making a textbook move-into-the-other-lane pass on a cyclist but hasn’t checked carefully enough what’s coming. There are some of life’s little ironies that can be relished, but being taken out by a driver who was actually trying to do their best for cyclists would not be one of them…

    March 3, 2022 at 8:01 am #989501
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    Steve K

    I don’t think I’ve noticed

    I don’t think I’ve noticed any change – same mix of good and bad drivers.  (I feel bound to ask, though, Simon: which South London football?)

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