“Don’t upset the cycling community!” Driving instructor insists he was teaching pupil to give cyclists space after “painfully slow” 15mph advice backlash; Pogačar beaten by an amateur (again); Tour de France Femmes: UAE Blasi drama + more on the live blog

Correct, and that completely aligned (except my phone auto-corrected and mangled my reply) with the instructor who said "What I was more or less saying was the psychological thing during a test, that you want to keep getting on with it. Then when something slow moving is in front of you, you’re going to feel that pressure. But there was actually nothing she could do in that moment.” You don't want to feel like you are hesitating and second-guessing yourself on your driving test.

And here is the exhaustive explanation from @jackcycles, in case anybody overlooked the comprehensive dissertation. "jackcycles July 23, 2026 at 12:02 pm “Undue hesitation” a very common cause of failing a driving test, and driving conservatively behind a cyclist where the examiner seems it possible to pass safely could cause it. The instructor is correct to point this out."

@jackcycles Slightly Unhinged? The synth pop/folk ensemble from Ghent? I fail to see how that's relevant.

It's odd to read about 'classic' bikes from year 2000 when I have a Flying Scot 531 from 76, and a Neil Orrell 753 from 81, just through the door into the garage. PS It's Ambrosio not Ambrosia

I can see where he's coming from. He's reinforcing the right thing to do with his pupil, and he's also sympathising in advance with the pupil over additional pressures on a test. So he's covering the what/how. But a big part of that "nightmare" is the pressure faced by the pupil on the test. Here is the picture it reinforces: - you have a road ahead with a slower vehicle user in front, one you have to take extra care over; - there may be vehicles building up behind, drivers of which don't appreciate you're on your test and may polarise their reactions to a slow learner in front from giving extra consideration to becoming aggressively impatient; - you're on a test where every movement of your body and the vehicle you're driving is under intense scrutiny over your control and reactions to unforeseen inputs. It is easy to feel pressured, to panic, to pick up one too many minors or a major (or whatever they are called) and fail. But when teaching the what/how, this is where the attitude needs to be spot on. You have to remove the emotion out of it. Just like a good instructor won't cover their eyes and yell, "we're all going to die!" - they'll anticipate; they'll talk calmly; they'll calmly grab the wheel and the foot controls if necessary and take over to avoid disaster. They will have anticipated problems going into a situation and have planned their moves. That approach of planning, staying calm and applying perspective doesn't just avoid conflict/crashes, it dissipates tension and the path to panic. So it is with the cyclist. So what if we slow down? If that's the right thing to do, then that is what the examiner needs to see. It's not a nightmare ("Don't panic! Don't panic!), it's just a Thing. The cars building up behind? They're fine. If they honk, they're saying "hello", "well done", "you're doing great!" Putting those situations into calm perspective is part of the instructor's job. It's not just driving safely, it's driving with the right attitude and passing that attitude on. If you say it's a nightmare, you're passing on that panic stimulus. You can sympathise with the pupil while still correcting their attitude approaching any form of hazard assessment. The question is, will Daniel Smith see this as a pile-on, or an opportunity (laced as it is with all the subtlety that social media/BTL can muster) to reflect on how he passes on that calm attitude to pupils? He's not a bad instructor, but this wasn't his finest moment. As with road users, is he happy to reflect on this as a personal learning moment for his road use rather than his YouTubery?

I already explained the driving instructor video at the time My explanation dovetailed with the instructor's own thoughts on the matter, so it's great to see it confirmed in today's blog. I think road.cc has to take responsibility for the way it reports these things. It must be able to see that some of the commentators on this site are slightly unhinged (at best), permanently offended, and become aggressive at the drop of a hat. Unfortunately there's a real lack of respect that's been allowed to fester - it would be good for road.cc to balance its coverage with examples of courteous interactions between cyclists and different modes of transport to exemplify and model how to behave properly.

Wonder if the impact of a relatively large change (the Wales reduction of default 30mph speed limits to 20mph just over 2 years back) can be detected here? That would be expected to move some of those deaths into the serious injury category... (Probably hard to do as - without so much controversy - individual speed reductions have crept in local spots all over the UK).

@Sredlums The main convertible component is just the handlebar. By using SRAM's AXS kit and modifying the drop-lever brakes very, very slightly, I can run flat-mount brakes without adapters on the drop bar, and just throw the flat bar in place and nip up the caliper bolts to bring it back to a full MTB.

Delightful

@perce we all like a polite and courteous poster! Much as motorists like a polite and courteous cyclist doffing their helmet (possibly from a hedge they've obliging leapt into along, say, a leafy lane in Essex).