[road]

I had a disconcerting experience today. I was driving behind a cyclist on a mountain bike on the road. He was cycling slowly but all was ok. I waited to pass then overtook giving him room but then there was crossing furniture ahead and I had to turn in a little before I would have liked but not dangerously as I took account of the speed of the cyclist and the other hazards around. I stopped in a queue and he tapped on my window. He told me I’d cut him up dangerously and had it all on his camera. I said I thought I’d been ok and not cut him up but I apologised if he thought I had. His response was to call me a c**t and I was to apologise ‘to the fine’ when I receive it. I checked my dash cam which was inconclusive so maybe I’ll get to see his version one day. The thing was when I thought about it after I now think he was deliberately encouraging a situation where he had to be overtaken and was looking to be cut up or have someone overtake too closely. I’m all for safety and I cycle a lot and am for ever getting cut up etc (six stitches in hand after car door opened on me late last year) but I think we (cyclists) have to be careful not to fuel the bike v car debate by acting in such a way. Today I was a driver and tomorrow a cyclist – we’re all in this together and both drivers and cyclists must learn that we all make mistakes (I don’t think I did but we shall see) so we mustn’t assume that the other party is a c**t just because we’re in the other transportation category. He certainly didn’t help the cause of the rest of us cyclists by being so abusive. Comments or views?

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Topic

[chrisonabike]

Would “fam” be better?  (I’m

Would “fam” be better?  (I’m “so unhip it’s a wonder my bottom doesn’t fall off”).

[hawkinspeter]

John Stevenson wrote:

You ain’t no cyclist, bruv.

Did you just assume their gender?

[John Stevenson]

You ain’t no cyclist, bruv.

You ain’t no cyclist, bruv.

[GMBasix]

The situation, as described,

The situation, as described, has all the hallmarks of a story contrived to make it sound like the driver is plausibly defending his actions, while everybody else can see the situation for what it is.

Video. Or this never happened.

I mean, of course it happened – it happens every day – but not this instance on this occasion.

[David9694]

Innocent motorist alert: “..

Innocent motorist alert: “…I now think he was deliberately encouraging a situation where he had to be overtaken and was looking to be cut up or have someone overtake too closely.”

Mate, none of us is desperate to want to tangle unnecessarily with police bureaucracy, we just don’t have the time. But we are fed up with drivers doing the sort of thing you describe and then the wall of denial (turning sometimes into bemusement and sometimes abuse) gets erected.

So far for me: An iffy overtake, check reg when home suprise suprise no MOT, pull off some footage (having gone to expense of a camera, bother of charging it, clearing the memory card) figure out crappy police upload system, get a response, send in some more. Receive in the post a statement form to complete.  Haven’t got round to it yet. All for one driver clearly out with an expired MOT.

[BalladOfStruth]

“I waited to pass then

“I waited to pass then overtook giving him room but then there was crossing furniture ahead and I had to turn in a little before I would have liked…“

 

Why did you try to overtake if there was road furniture there? You’ve already said he was cycling slowly, so it’s not like he was putting the hammer down and it took you longer to get past than you initially thought – sounds to me like you pulled off a careless overtake and earned a chewing out from a cyclist. Whether his reaction was proportionate, we can’t say without the dashcam footage.

Take it as a learning experience to look ahead and plan your overtakes better…

[Hirsute]

It will show how far away he
It will show how far away he was from the pinch point you say was in play.

[Hirsute]

” I now think he was
” I now think he was deliberately encouraging a situation where he had to be overtaken and was looking to be cut up or have someone overtake too closely”
He encouraged the situation but did not contrive it. So just semantics then.

Unless you post the video then what you claim happened compared with what actually happened can’t be verified.
What outcome are you expecting from comments or views?

[wtjs]

2 posts and ‘why can’t we all

2 posts and ‘why can’t we all just get along?’. Guilty.

[BalladOfStruth]

So, how did you overtake him?

So, how did you overtake him?

[chrisonabike]

AlsoSomniloquism wrote:

I waited to pass then overtook giving him room but then there was crossing furniture ahead

You make it sound like it suddenly jumped out and surprised you.

If it was crossing maybe it had run out from behind a parked car?

[Anonymous]

Doesn’t show anything as he

Doesn’t show anything as he was behind me.

[Anonymous]

There was no chance of any

There was no chance of any accident or injury. I didn’t say he contrived the situation I just said he was looking for confrontation by interpreting a harmless situation as something dramatic. Is that an excuse to call someone a c**t ?  

[Rendel Harris]

Quote:

 I waited to pass then overtook giving him room but then there was crossing furniture ahead and I had to turn in a little before I would have liked but not dangerously

It was either safe, in which case why was it “a little before I would have liked”, or it wasn’t, in which case you shouldn’t have done it. As the cyclist – on an MTB so presumably not going at TT speeds – caught up with you “in a queue” that begs the question of why did you overtake at all? You ended up in the same place that you would have done without overtaking, didn’t you?

[Eton Rifle]

It sounds as though Boo has
It sounds as though Boo has got himself yet another new account. Poor fucker clearly didn’t get enough attention as a child.

[Author]

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