[mathelo]

That is what the angry driver said to me as he passed me from the oncoming traffic after an 18 wheeler flatbed passed me and just about pushed him off the road.

This is the first time I’ve experienced this sort of thing. I knew it was only a matter of time before I experienced an angry driver but more importantly, I’m wondering if I should have done something different from a safety perspective.

I wasn’t doing anything unusual. This was a gentle incline, lets say 5%. I was moving along in the range of 10-15 mph. I was hugging the side of the road but there was really no shoulder. The truck driver was giving me plenty of clearance but he was definitely taking up both lanes on this narrow 2 lane road. Being big and heavy, he isn’t particularly maneuverable. I’m not sure he had much choice other than to wait and just follow me.

So I don’t think I did anything wrong here but if he had hit the oncoming car I would have certainly contributed to that event. Maybe not from a legal perspective but in the cascade of events that could have led to an accident.

So what do you guys think of this scenario? Should I have done something different? Should I have pulled over and waited for him to pass? What would you have done?

I should point out this flatbed stopped further up the road to onload the backhoe he was transporting. Simply stopped in the road like he owned it. Of course, he probably didn’t have much choice and this is a lightly traveled road.

Thanks!

Louis

Topic

[Initialised]

On an urban road no need to
On an urban road no need to pull over, on a narrow rural road I’d do the decent thing and pull over once there was a queue of 3 – 5 vehicles and a safe place to do so.

[Colin Peyresourde]

Sounds like the OP is in the
Sounds like the OP is in the US. Unfortunately they even less used to cycling traffic and so this sort of incident is more likely. Though usually the roads are wider and straighter.

Road presence is a useful skill. Knowing when to assert your position on the road, and when to cede it. Motorists are very appreciative if you give them a signal to overtake when safe. Although impatient, they do not want to kill you.

[PJ McNally]

Do you have any other route
Do you have any other route available? I’m guessing not – this is the UK – so you can’t help being there.

[Hensteeth]

brooksby wrote:This is a

brooksby wrote:

This is a slightly different point as a queue had formed. Highway Code 169 states:

169
Do not hold up a long queue of traffic, especially if you are driving a large or slow-moving vehicle. Check your mirrors frequently, and if necessary, pull in where it is safe and let traffic pass.

Which I’ve always thought of as “the tractor rule”. I’ve pointed this out before and had someone tell me this doesn’t apply to bikes, I think their argument was that in the legalise of the Highway Code a “vehicle” has a motor or something. However, if that rule applies to all other road users I would have thought it should apply to us too really (and it would apply to your MIL if she was holding up traffic!). Obviously the key word in that rule is “safe”, their’s absolutely no obligation to dive into the hedge at the first sign of a few cars!

How do you know if there is a queue? You can probably hear one car behind you but even if you can manage a quick glance behind you will probably only see one car. No mirrors on my bike either. If they can’t pass safely they will just have to follow. Make a differenece of a few seconds to their journey.

[mattsccm]

The thing I didn’t like.
The thing I didn’t like. Apart from a twatish driver, was the fact that you were in the gutter. Be brave. The worse the traffic the more you need to ride properly . Get in the middle of the lane and stay there. If you really feel that you can’t stay there it at least allows you to pull over at the very last second creating a gap that the driver didn’t allow for.

[PonteD]

Got to agree with what others
Got to agree with what others have said, you did nothing wrong.

From what you said the truck driver was an inconsiderate ass, and even had you been riding defensively he would have likely just gone further into the other carriageway or sat on his horn all the way to his destination.

Basically many drivers just need to learn a little patience and consideration to other road users.

It seems to be silly season on the roads at the moment as well, maybe its something to do with the change in the weather or the maybe full moon. I’ve had a quiet couple of weeks with no incident, then this week has been a nightmare with the roads full of idiots who don’t know how to drive.

[mathelo]

Thanks for the feedback and
Thanks for the feedback and confirming I’ve done nothing wrong. I do appreciate I was just the target for the driver’s anger given that the 18 wheeler was gone.

On some of the specific comments, this was a pretty straight stretch of road, to the extent you can find such a thing in Connecticut, so the view was clear. When the view isn’t clear, as in a bend, I routinely take the road. I just never would have considered here.

Presented with a similar situation in the future, I may just as well pull over or even take the road but the latter will have the truck driver yelling at me instead.

Thanks again!

Louis

[OldRidgeback]

Lots of sensible comments
Lots of sensible comments here. I think it may be the first time ever I agree with everyone!

[tom_w]

brooksby wrote:
The specific

brooksby wrote:

The specific road my MIL was referring to is a pretty busy winding road, two lanes but quite narrow. If you ride a bike on there, at all, ever (except maybe the middle of the night), then a queue (defined as two or more cars) will usually form up behind you within moments.

I can see the principle and application of the tractor rule, and I do pull over myself from time to time to let buses past (for example), but the strict application of the tractor rule on this particular road would make it impossible to ever ride along it!

I think that (like a lot of the highway code I suspect) that rule was written in a time when there was a lot less traffic on the roads. I totally agree that we’d never get anywhere on a bike nowadays if we had to pull over everytime cars got caught behind us.

[brooksby]

tom_w wrote:Which I’ve always

tom_w wrote:

Which I’ve always thought of as “the tractor rule”. I’ve pointed this out before and had someone tell me this doesn’t apply to bikes, I think their argument was that in the legalise of the Highway Code a “vehicle” has a motor or something. However, if that rule applies to all other road users I would have thought it should apply to us too really (and it would apply to your MIL if she was holding up traffic!). Obviously the key word in that rule is “safe”, there’s absolutely no obligation to dive into the hedge at the first sign of a few cars!

The specific road my MIL was referring to is a pretty busy winding road, two lanes but quite narrow. If you ride a bike on there, at all, ever (except maybe the middle of the night), then a queue (defined as two or more cars) will usually form up behind you within moments.

I can see the principle and application of the tractor rule, and I do pull over myself from time to time to let buses past (for example), but the strict application of the tractor rule on this particular road would make it impossible to ever ride along it!

[bfslxo]

100% you don’t nothing wrong,
100% you don’t nothing wrong, if you had been a car going slow would the situation been any different, no.. the rules clearly state all cyclists should be treated like a car & given the same amount of clearance, the oncoming car could have just had a bit of patience & let everyone get on their way on what’s obviously a smaller road

[Al__S]

this morning I was riding out
this morning I was riding out from the side of the road, as the “tyre track” position is crumbling into rock. I was passed by a van that caused the car coming the other way to stop, the van nearly swiped me (I pulled the brakes before he did).

In this situation only one person did something wrong, and that’s the van driver.

[notfastenough]

I suppose there’s 3 things
I suppose there’s 3 things that could be ‘improved’:

You could have taken primary position in the middle of the lane. It doesn’t sound like this would have made any difference though, since the point of doing this is to make the driver behind realise that they need to move across the white line to pass you safely rather than just squeezing through a gap with you on the left, but since he left plenty of room and was over the white line, it’s arguably irrelevant.

The truck driver could have either waited for a big gap to pass, or given that he pulled over just up the road, just waited behind you.

Once the truck driver had pulled out, the car driver should have slowed down. You know that thing where they keep their speed up while getting worried about the gap? That’s what he did, then adrenaline and deflection of responsibility made him blame you.

Put it another way, the reverse happened to me recently. I’m doing about 30-ish on a long gentle descent, there’s a queue of oncoming traffic led by a car towing a caravan. Then a BMW coupe being driven by a tool pulls out, floors it, gets past a few cars (but not to the front), before just bullying his way into a gap that wasn’t there (otherwise I get wiped out), to the annoyance/alarm of the driver behind him. Now as it happens, I had braked and pulled to the side (while shouting ‘cock’! 😀 ) to avoid an accident, but he thankfully he pulled in anyway. Was that the caravan-towing drivers fault for ‘holding up the traffic’? Nope. They are entitled to tow, just as you are entitled to ride, and different vehicles have different speeds. The beemer driver was impatient, and had I continued unabated and with no regard for defensive riding, it would also have been my fault if/when the beemer and I collided. (im)Patience is the key here.

[parksey]

kubla wrote:you can’t be

kubla wrote:

you can’t be pulling in everytime someone wants to pass, the lorry is the vehicle at fault for not passing at a safe juncture. The irate car driver is blaming you for the lorry’s inability to pass you safely.

I don’t think anything more than this needs to be said, it’s ultimately for the following road user (whatever that may be) to determine whether a safe overtake is possible. Of course, what you or I would consider as a safe overtake will likely vary massively from what the average driver would!

However, I will *occasionally* pull in at passing places whilst riding my local single-track roads, particularly if they’re very hilly, or I’m aware that a vehicle has been following me for some time without an opportunity to pass. This just seems courteous to me, and reduces the likelihood that a driver will attempt a more dangerous overtake out of frustration, thereby putting us all at risk.

[tom_w]

The OP, you were quite within
The OP, you were quite within your rights and did nothing wrong as far as I’m aware.

brooksby wrote:

there wasn’t room for people to overtake, and there was a big queue, and he should have pulled over. Apparently this was because he was “just a cyclist”. I asked if she pulls over and lets larger vehicles or more powerful vehicles pass her? She said no, and asked why. I pointed out that they paid more VED than her and therefore by her own argument doesn’t that mean they have more right to the road than her? She went quiet after that 😉 )

This is a slightly different point as a queue had formed. Highway Code 169 states:

169
Do not hold up a long queue of traffic, especially if you are driving a large or slow-moving vehicle. Check your mirrors frequently, and if necessary, pull in where it is safe and let traffic pass.

Which I’ve always thought of as “the tractor rule”. I’ve pointed this out before and had someone tell me this doesn’t apply to bikes, I think their argument was that in the legalise of the Highway Code a “vehicle” has a motor or something. However, if that rule applies to all other road users I would have thought it should apply to us too really (and it would apply to your MIL if she was holding up traffic!). Obviously the key word in that rule is “safe”, their’s absolutely no obligation to dive into the hedge at the first sign of a few cars!

[Author]

Replies