Battle hardening ?

[normskirus]

Hi

I agree that you get used to close passes.

Due to the snow and ice up here, I probably did about a third of the cycling I normally do in 6 weeks before Xmas. After Xmas I was on the road route due to the risk of ice and it seemed that every pass was too close. But after i couple of weeks of this it didnt phase me anymore, I had regained my immunity to close passes.

Normskirus

 

[steve52]

i have noticed that if you show concern for a driver health ,like say calm down i can see the vains in your next bulgin,that cant be good for you? and smokeing dosent help either, this often brings out their tourettes, point this out and askif they would like some help finding a good therapist.......... well the is no pleaseing some people

 

[psmiffy]

As an experienced cyclist it is inevitable that you become hardened to close passes - Personally I cycle every day on reasonably busy roads and cannot remember the last time that someone passed me closer than a metre - maybe its because I am lucky or more likely it is because of my road positioning.

 

[subaqua]

Just because we are used to sub 3ft passes, doesn't mean we should put up with them.

agreed.

I had a knobber in a merc revving and beeping horn at me for riding primary up warren road in leyton/leytonstone on Friday. If i rode in the "cycle lane" it puts me in the door zone.

so glad i had the bike cam . got his num,ber and his aggresive driving. roadsafe website used again

 

[ianrauk]

And there we go... it had to happen after posting in this thread. Monday morning, cold & wet. A 4x4 decides to whizz by me far too close, sh!t the bejeezus out of me. Caught up with the driver at the lights as one always does. He chose to ignore me (as they usually do) but he could quite clearly see me giving him the finger... tosser!

 

[Davidc]

I certainly get a few close passes while riding around, but I think I was immunised in the 1960s and it's like immunity to measles, it's lasted ever since. I tend to just accept it as a fact of life, when I should probably get angry about it.

It's difficult to judge from one person's experiences, but I think the worst time for all forms of road abuse to cyclists was when we had a government policy of encouraging car and general motor vehicle use, of redesigning roads to favour private motor vehicles at the expense of everything else and also of reducing public transport. That was in the early to mid 1980s. (The stated view from the top was that anyone who used a bus was a failure in life - and presumably that would also have applied to bikes).

There are still far too many drivers though who don't make proper allowance for bikes, and no sign of any change to the law to introduce a mandatory safe passing distance. What hope until there is?

 

[Bollo]

My skin's thickened up over the years so it does take a special kind of idiot to get under it.

There are still far too many drivers though who don't make proper allowance for bikes, and no sign of any change to the law to introduce a mandatory safe passing distance. What hope until there is?

A law would make bugger all difference because it would be almost impossible to prove without an actual collision. Look how often there's dispute on here about the closeness or otherwise of a video'd pass. Even with something that's objectively simple to prove like mobile phone use, the law is ineffective.

 

[downfader]

I found in my Father's toolbox a laser measuring device for DIY. I might have experimented with that but the bleedin thing didnt work. It would be good to have a separate cam on the measuring device to show true distance.

 

[John the Monkey]

A law would make bugger all difference because it would be almost impossible to prove without an actual collision.

Agreed. I think some form of presumed liability is the way to go in terms of legal changes. (I.e. if you hit something smaller/slower than you, you're at fault, unless you can prove that the other party threw themselves under your wheels).

 

[Davidc]

Agreed. I think some form of presumed liability is the way to go in terms of legal changes. (I.e. if you hit something smaller/slower than you, you're at fault, unless you can prove that the other party threw themselves under your wheels).

Yes, but fat chance in the UK. The DM wouldn't like it.

 

[XmisterIS]

I think it all depends what you feel is a "close pass" ... for me, that depends on the size of vehicle and the circumstances. For example, there are some very wide cycle lanes round me and I don't mind being passed at a distance of 1 foot by a small car when I'm in one of those on a straight stretch of road. On the other hand, there are some very narrow, winding roads too, and sometimes it's not appropriate to try to pass at all, but people still do ...

 

[XmisterIS]

i have noticed that if you show concern for a driver health ,like say calm down i can see the vains in your next bulgin,that cant be good for you? and smokeing dosent help either, this often brings out their tourettes, point this out and askif they would like some help finding a good therapist.......... well the is no pleaseing some people

I find I get the best reactions when they start to get wound up and angry and I just start laughing. That sends them mental ... I told one guy, "you know, you look like a screaming chimpanzee right now", he was almost crying with rage!

 

[downfader]

I find I get the best reactions when they start to get wound up and angry and I just start laughing. That sends them mental ... I told one guy, "you know, you look like a screaming chimpanzee right now", he was almost crying with rage!

I've given drivers a little clap when they act like a c*ck, even though I've been polite (or not even said or done a thing) and they've kicked off. I prolly have one of those a year. I presume they're an endangered species now.

 

[Dan B]

Yes, but fat chance in the UK. The DM wouldn't like it.

Much as I detest the DM, the only way to get a good outcome here is either to make it irrelevant or to find a way to get it onside. Perhaps if the "strict liability" campaigns were to concentrate on pedestrians and how this would help them defend against pavement cyclists and suchlike, the Wail would support them as an anti-cyclist measure?

 

[Davidc]

Much as I detest the DM, the only way to get a good outcome here is either to make it irrelevant or to find a way to get it onside. Perhaps if the "strict liability" campaigns were to concentrate on pedestrians and how this would help them defend against pavement cyclists and suchlike, the Wail would support them as an anti-cyclist measure?

No, pedestrians are only half a step above cyclists and paedos in the DM heirarchy.

It'd have to be East European Juggernauts hitting 4WDs to get the Wail's support.