Novertakes - how to avoid them

If you are easily keeping up with the traffic, then adopt a position and ride as though you were on a (small and horribly underpowered in my case) motorcycle, which is to roughly cover the same patch of tarmac that the drivers seat of a car would pass over.

Leaving that sorts of gap to the car in front is just plain idiotic. Stuff anyone else. If a car slots in in front of you then just back off again.  So what, its not a race. To stop the passing block them. No fixed rules, just be dominant.

I ride roughly in line with the offside rear light cluster in these situations.

If you're obscuring one of the brake lights on the car in front it makes the following driver start paying attention to the nearside light cluster, which stops them from planning an overtake (usually).

Occassionally get abuse for doing this but not often - being a large hairy bloke probably helps.

Being a large hairy bloke I then tend to do my utmost to get back in front at the next inevitable queue of traffic, probably not particularly sensible but it makes a point. 

Another happy wobbler here, especially at parts where bicycle-motor vehicle speed difference is great, such as uphills. The more you look like you bought your bike yesterday, the bigger the clearance you gain. At 30+ mph I have never tried it to be ownest but I wouldn't let just a car length in front of me. Having been rear-ended by a road bike with caliper brakes fortunately without any serious consequences apart from some minor bike damage, and twice other times while driving a motor vehicle, I wish other people kept distances as long as I do.

10 or 12mph, they generally assume we cannot manage more than walking pace as that was the speed they managed when they last rode a bicycle, when they were a child.

Drivers cannot assimilate cyclists as "fast moving". Everyone knows that cyclists are slow and get in the way and can only do 12mph and therefore, despite all the evidence literally right in front of them that you're actually no different from a motorbike, they will make every attempt to still be in front.

For related reasons, it's why drivers pull out in front of you - they've quite often seen you but assumed you're doing 10mph (cos that's what cyclists do...) and completely failed to actually work out the speed.

In those circumstances (slight downhill / tailwind / heavy-ish traffic that you can easily keep pace with etc), I ride to the right rear quarter of the car in front (ie, slightly wider than primary). It gives me the option of going to the right to pass the car in front if/when they slow and it means that to actually try and pass me, any other driver behind would have to be literally right over the other side of the road; they're far less likely to try and squeeze you out.

If traffic speeds up, I can simply drift left and resume primary or secondary depending on the situation.

Thirded on the judicious wobbling. Definitely seems to make some drivers think twice, especially coupled with getting out of the saddle shortly after or when the weather is dodgy - the wind around here can easily move you about a fair bit.

used the wobbly thing and works, some swear by it  - more often than not i use my dreaded "finger of doom" - I just point (very big time) to where I expect the vehicle to stay....approaching roundabouts, approaching junctions with right turners, ped crossings that narrow down ... many drivers  just follow the vehicle in front with no plan other than to clear the immediate concern - think the interaction shocks a bit ... still need to be vigilant - lost count number of times reckon been in primary position and a driver still attempts a pass and ends up in a place that is dangerous for me - ok brake and back off ... enjoy the day  and the days to come

Sometimes I deploy 'wobbly cyclist' mode in this situation. Weave about a bit in the lane from primary to the offside edge of the lane looking like I’m thinking about overtaking the car in front. Puts off driver behind as I look so unpredictable.

Indicating to turn right can also work (then sort of edge out a bit rather than make a right turn and eye contact & a wave back to thank the vehicle behind for waiting).

But like any of these sort of hacks, there’s a time and a place. If it’s a busy city centre with lots of filtering traffic you don’t want your weaving about to cause a collision. Plus you need to know what's approaching in advance, so works better if you ride with a mirror.

Ride wider, primary when you're going into wider sections of roads is often not enough.

We had a discussion some while back about a bus coming too close to a cyclist through a junction with lights. The rider had propped himself up on the kerb and was nowhere near enough to the right throughout as the bus driver coming from a merge into the left straight on lane saw the space and thought fuck it, I'm in here.and screw the cyclist.  

Read the road ahead, if it's on a route you know then you'll have a good idea when the road widens, before these points if you are keeping up with the flow of traffic then you'll be dead centre of the lane anyway but take a subtly right of centre position, one that is not enough for a driver to undertake but would really push the driver far wider to try and come along side. A good old fashioned 'wobble' in front of a driver can also induce doubt into their minds as well. 

It's not the easiest thing to do becaue it's even more un-natural than primary but actually giving yourself an out to the right should a motor in front slam on can often work out better than trying to squeeze to the left because you've not enough braking distance to avoid rear ending if you're a bit on the close side, (note Hirsute's comment above)

If you get honked, screw 'em, you're entitled to position yourself wherever you like, I won't cede position personally because they just think they can do it all the time, then again some overtakes are less subtle so you're already too late to do anything, like the time I had a skip wagon flash past me at over 50mph cutting into an open turn off a dual carriageway and his rear wheels missing me by inches. That tested the sphincter muscles a bit!

Happens to me almost daily on a long shallow downhill section on my way home from work, on which I take primary. The road widens as it approaches a roundabout and it's very common for a driver to misjudge my speed, attempt an overtake, floor it to try and get past, then try to pull in at the island. I always take primary and when they get close enough I give a sharp rap on the window, or smash my hand down on the roof. Frankly, I'm sick of selfish muppets with zero driving skills and I'll take the risk in order to educate them one by one.

Not sure a car's length at 30nph is your best position for any escape route.

Gender has nothing to do with it IMO. It’s because your a cyclist. The problem is people just think “cyclist. Must pass” and no more. The answer, there is not much you can do to stop it. The only option would be to get some cameras and pass the footage to the police.

Sounds like you're doing it right. I try to judge how determined the driver is and take primary position (or let them pass if I don't feel comfortable doing so). Being male, I then usually get annoyed and try to over-take the vehicle to make a point of how unnecessary their overtake was (never mind my unnecessary overtake) but that's probably not a good thing to do.

Personally, I'm not at all bothered if I'm overtaken by a woman - if they're faster than me then I'll happily hang off their wheel to get some free speed.