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Just a video of the problems of trying to ride assertively when faced with a driver who is more interested in passing a cyclist than assessing the road ahead. Near in mind the situation ahead was both a lot more obvious than shown in the video, and it is a normal scenario at this point in the road. More background in the video description.
The discussion point for me is: I had worked out a long time before the car tried to pass that there was a car behind and a typical driver might want to try and overtake, but was bound to stop immediately in front of me, so before the car had tried to overtake the cyclists behind me I had already recognised that there was a potential conflict and had a decision point, to keep left and encourage a pass and be immediately blocked (together with likely close pass as they reacted to oncoming traffic and the path needed for a planned stop) or to take a position that made it clear I was intending to ride past the parked van.
Being in an assertive frame of mind, I therefore moved out into primary at about 20 seconds (in part with the protection of the oncoming traffic) at about 25 seconds the car overtakes the bikes behind. At 28 seconds I have positioned even further to the right as I pass a junction as a clear block and display of intent to pass the parked van, I am expecting the car to draw up behind me, can’t really hear anything and at this point watching the road ahead not my mirror. At 30 seconds, the BMW has accelerated hard to race me to the parked car and has nearly passed me (I think at more than 30mph) but is braking as they’ve worked out there is nowhere to go and has not got far enough ahead to pull in but is clearly committing to coming to a full halt in the face of the oncoming car and the slowing queue ahead. I am surprised at his appearance. 32 seconds I am braking as he is moving across, loud shout as I spot the open window, assessing whether I am going to have to emergency stop and swerve out the way and by 34 seconds I have cleared him and am protected from any shenanigans by the presence of the oncoming car which caused the car to brake. The critical point in the encounter is as I shout, because if you look at his line to a point of safety it seems likely he is going to dive to the rear of the parked van requiring a hard stop – which is the same bit of road I need to brake in and even though I’ve started braking I doubt I can stop if he forces his way across.
In summary, I had seen a potential for conflict, tried to mitigate it by taking a dominant position while taking into account the unfolding situation and instead the driver put himself and me at risk by doubling down on trying to force a pass.
What might you have done differently?
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Report the lack of MOT and
Report the lack of MOT and VED to DVLA by using this link: Report an untaxed vehicle – GOV.UK
You’re about 100 years behind the times- as if I haven’t gone through all that years ago! – it is not necessary to teach grandad to peel turnips (just invented that!)The official route to report missing MOT is to the police- Lancashire Constabulary ignore all such reports even with perfect evidence. They don’t even try the standard lie: ‘we have to witness the vehicle on the road ourselves’ (a guarantee that the offender would never be detected) – there is just no response at all. I have already pointed out that DVLA staff can’t even use their own database- if they could they would easily be able to nail people who have been untaxed for years but who have recently, or not so recently, taken the vehicle in to pass MOT. The DVLA doesn’t even have a facility to upload timed photos of the vehicle on the road- they do nothing at all about reports of untaxed vehicles, and I should know: there are loads of them without tax and MOT in this tiny part of Lancashire. This is the most recent view of MV57 GXO- reported long ago
I was cycling home normally
I was cycling home normally yesterday when I was close-passed out of the blue by white Zafira YK62 LHA and the male driver shouted at me out of the passenger window which had been lowered for the purpose by the female passenger. White now seems to be the go-to colour for offending drivers. In keeping with the theory that there’s generally something else wrong with people who shout maniacally at cyclists (didn’t hear what-presumably some sort of insult), the MOT expired on 31.8.22. The police will do nothing whatsoever about either offence, as they don’t care what happens to cyclists who deserve all they get, and absence of MOT and VED is normalised in Lancashire now
which is fair enough, its
which is fair enough, its just what I would have done differently as I kind of resign myself to those simply because the gap in front of you was always too big to defend unless the van you were following maybe stopped (which arguably they should have done as the car coming the other hasnt just materialised), and its always going to encourage a theres enough room pass, often with speed, among the majority of drivers.
and once theyd confirmed my low opinion of their skills, I want them in front of me, not worrying about what theyre going to do next behind me. though you do have to consider things like are the riders behind me on the same wavelength, is the road slippy etc etc, its always a judgement call in the particular scenario than a hard and fast rule
obviously car v pedestrian,(heavy sarcasm alert) its totally the pedestrians fault, fancy walking into the middle of a road from behind a parked car, without looking if anything was coming first
Yep, it’s difficult to make
Yep, it’s difficult to make the right call in the moment, as you can never be too sure what they’re going to do.
I had a similar situation 3 weeks ago, mostly held my line and shouted like you did. I think it’s just instinctive. But on review, I think I would have been better off swerving left, even with the wall. I did move left, but not enough and not quickly enough.
Here’s a still image below: 2 cars ahead stopping for a long line of parked cars, you can just see the oncoming vehicle approaching (going quite quickly) and the bumper of the van trying to squeeze me into the kerb in the bottom right. They did brake and fall back in behind me, but missed my rear wheel by inches. Words were exchanged (something else I usually avoid doing!).
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