[David9694]

…And reward her poor behaviour. 

we’ve all been there – narrow country lane and for what seems like an eternity (in reality 3 or 4 minutes) you’re conscious of a car behind you and the driver is getting impatient. Then she starts a ridiculous overtake rapidly abandoned and then there’s a reasonably decent house frontage to pull into and let her go past.  

What usually happens is you pull over, only to find they’ve met a tractor or a horse or even another car and you now have to wait while they pick their way past. As it was, a nice ill-tempered accelerate of her nondescript 54 reg car, kicking up a load of dust and off she went. There were two kids in the back, looking like The Shining twins, heads turned, vaguely malovent. 

I think the test is what to do that will make her a better driver for the next cyclist – so, folks – when should I concede to to Karen?

Topic

[Organon]

Not Karen Gillan.

Not Karen Gillan.

[Chris Hayes]

Hey David, sorry to pick you

Hey David, sorry to pick you up on this but what about your ingrained prejudice against this female ‘Karen’ driving a 54 plate car (presumably not new enough for you?).  You see, it works both ways.  

[David9694]

About as likely to be in a

About as likely to be in a genuine hurry as I was on a Sunday afternoon on a narrow country road.  Why does the driver’s poor planning/time management  have to be my problem? 
I agree about mutual respect, avoiding making a cyclist hater where there wasn’t one before, or even deepening an already ingrained prejudice (“that’s the second time this year – this always happens”) – but you seem to have a different interpretation of mutual respect. 

[Steve K]

Captain Badger wrote:

As Mrs Badger is called Karen I feel I speak with some authority, and would suggest as soon as humanly possible. Speaking from experience…

Ex-Mrs K is called Karen.  I’m keeping well out of this.

[don simon fbpe]

Is this all Karens?

Is this all Karens?

[Chris Hayes]

And this person is a ‘Karen’

And this person is a ‘Karen’ because everyone has to have a label in today’s culture wars? 

[Captain Badger]

Smiffi wrote:

Smiffi wrote:

As far as I’m concerned, as soon as possible.  There’s no point in unnecessarily holding someone up when I’m on a leisurely exercise ride, it’s possible that they genuinely need to be somewhere on time.  I also find that letting motorists past often garners a friendly “thank you” toot or hazard flash, and I consider that one less animosity-riddled driver and one less anti-cycling voice.  Mutual respect is key.

Trouble is that some drivers have a different idea of what “as soon as possible” actually means…

[HoarseMann]

I even had a friendly toot

I even had a friendly toot from a HGV yesterday when I sat in primary for 20 seconds to block him passing on double white lines with oncoming traffic! I was turning left and going quite quick downhill, so I pointed at the junction ahead, made a left signal and thumbs up and he didn’t tailgate me. Gave a little toot as I turned off and raised my hand to thank him for waiting.

Despite what some motorists think, nobody goes out cycling to hold up traffic deliberately (well, unless it’s a critical mass event or something).

[Bmblbzzz]

I’m not sure what counts as

I’m not sure what counts as ‘giving in’. I suspect that thinking in terms of ‘giving in’ (and by implication ‘winning’) is not a terribly good attitude on the road. Let someone pass as soon as it’s safe to do so and doesn’t unduly inconvenience you. No point antagonising them or yourself. 

And I’d guess that ‘The Shining twins’ in the back are turning to look at you because you’re the most interesting thing they’ve seen since they were strapped in.

[ktache]

I try and wait until it is

I try and wait until it is safe, and safe enough for me to not stop as they pass.

I may be going somewhere important…

[Awavey]

if they need to be somewhere

if they need to be somewhere on time, wtf are they driving down a narrow country lane, when they could literally meet anything coming the other way which would block their way permanently, and there are always better quicker alternative routes they could take if they just took their eyes off their GPS once in a while.

btw if you made it 3mins Id be impressed, 30 secs is about as much leeway I seem to get before the front bumper feels like its nudging my calf, its that high rev gear mode they sit in, sort of passive aggressive make some noise Im here let me past, and they wont wait until theres a proper safe gap, theyll force their way through regardless, even when you are literally feet away from a decent gap.

I do my best to share mutual respect on the roads, I dont get alot of it in return, if even a quarter of vehicles i let pass acknowledge me Id be surprised, I resort now to an exaggerated comedy big thumbs up after theyve passed without recognition, but they are too focussed on where ever it is they are going in such a hurry to notice.

[HoarseMann]

I tend to let them past ASAP

I tend to let them past ASAP on a narrow lane.

I’ll stay in the centre of the lane until they’re down to my speed before moving to the side and letting them pass. Tends to work ok at stopping the high speed squeeze by.

Keeping central in the lane if a safe pass is not possible, i.e. I’m going downhill at speed, it’s on a bend, I’m about to turn off onto a side road, it’s a HGV/Bus/Coach/Combine/Tractor and the road is not wide enough so need to find a field gate or wide verge etc. But this is usually for less than a minute.

[Captain Badger]

As Mrs Badger is called Karen

As Mrs Badger is called Karen I feel I speak with some authority, and would suggest as soon as humanly possible. Speaking from experience…

[Tom_77]

Quote:

I think the test is what to do that will make her a better driver for the next cyclist – so, folks – when should I concede to to Karen?

I think you should take a pragmatic approach and do whatever is least likely to get you killed or seriously injured.

[Smiffi]

As far as I’m concerned, as

As far as I’m concerned, as soon as possible.  There’s no point in unnecessarily holding someone up when I’m on a leisurely exercise ride, it’s possible that they genuinely need to be somewhere on time.  I also find that letting motorists past often garners a friendly “thank you” toot or hazard flash, and I consider that one less animosity-riddled driver and one less anti-cycling voice.  Mutual respect is key.

[Author]

Replies