[IanMSpencer]

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.

https://youtu.be/blOPYwvqdEI

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? 

Topic

[wtjs]

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 

[andystow]

PRSboy wrote:

PRSboy wrote:

The question should be what the BMW driver might have done differently!

Gone for a bike ride instead.

[Hirsute]

para 1 has already been

para 1 has already been covered in the comments.

[PRSboy]

I cant see if you did, but

I cant see if you did, but the only thing I might have done would be look round and signal that I was moving out.  This might have stopped the driver passing, but it might not.

The driver was thoughtless for trying to pass when it was obvious that they would have to stop behind a parked car.  The question should be what the BMW driver might have done differently!

[jaymack]

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 (www.gov.uk)

[wtjs]

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

[Hirsute]

I don’t think I would have

I don’t think I would have done anything different.

I had a very minor one yesterday with 2 cars stopped at a mini roundabout and driver 3 decided to overtake and get in front even though the amount of space was pitiful.

They abandoned when I did not yield.

 

[IanMSpencer]

If only I had a bell fitted
If only I had a bell fitted how different it would have been 🙂

[JustTryingToGetFromAtoB]

The only hand signal required
The only hand signal required in this situation is not found in the HC and should be deployed after the manoeuvre. Brakes required during.

Anyone suggesting that a motorist is going to pay attention to a hand signal when they have failed to notice a van and a look back categorically does not ride a bike. They do possibly drive a BMW and spend life in a dire spiral of low confidence about their tiny willy and tinier intellect.

[Bungle_52]

The only thing I personally

The only thing I personally would have done differently is not to shout but just report it to the police.  I don’t like bullying drivers getting away with it as it just encourages more bullying with potential consequence for less confident riders. I wouldn’t criticise any one else for braking and pulling in earlier though.

[Awavey]

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

[Awavey]

target fixation I think, but

target fixation I think, but yes its similar phenomenon.

[HoarseMann]

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!).

[vthejk]

Awavey wrote:

the majority of drivers will only focus on you as the primary obstacle and not the secondary bit theyre driving into next.

I went MTBing for the first time recently and this sounds a lot like the feedback my ride leader gave me about my riding on technical trails (i.e. I was focusing on the impending obstacle, not the trail ahead). I can’t remember what they called it now.

[vthejk]

Not much, I reckon. Sometimes

Not much, I reckon. Sometimes, I have taken to waving my right hand aggressively in a ‘slow-down’ movement when I spot a poor overtake about to happen right behind me, after moving into primary and shoulder-checking. However, in this case I can see that being difficult both because you’d need both hands covering your brakes, and it would’ve been hard if not impossible to perform this relatively complex action while moving into the right lane to avoid the van, shoulder-checking AND braking at the same time. It’s one of them – the obvious incompetence from the driver is not seeing how complex the situation was in front of them anyway and still choosing to make the maneouvre, thus only worsening it. 

[Author]

Replies