Blind corner overtaking

[Wobblers]

The photo is a representation of my view.
At this point I was conscious of the overtaking car being level with my back wheel.
It was half way past at the point where the nose of the silver car in the drive is.

Paul G

View attachment 147779

That might be a good place for the strategic wobble manoeuvre. If you make a few wobbles before you get to the corner, you'll find that motorists are more likely to hang back. They're afraid that you'll wobble into them.

The sad fact being, they're more afraid of you scraping the paintwork on their precious car than clobbering the soft squishy human in their hurry to get to the next set of traffic lights...

 

[dim]

this is where the radar will come in handy:

if you use you neck to check .... you will need physio for several days

 

[NorthernDave]

If NorthernDave finds the Varia of use, more power to him. And I for one will be very interested to hear how you get on with it, @NorthernDave. (Especially with those new fangled electric cars!)

Sorry, it's @dim who is looking at buying a Varia, not me.
As a proud Yorkshireman, there is no chance of me spending £180+ on a rear light, no matter how fancy it is

 

[smutchin]

You are assuming far too much.

No, I've not assumed anything, but we're talking at cross purposes so there's no point continuing this. It's off-topic anyway.

 

[Wobblers]

Sorry, it's @dim who is looking at buying a Varia, not me.
As a proud Yorkshireman, there is no chance of me spending £180+ on a rear light, no matter how fancy it is

Doh! Sorry for the foul accusations on your worthy money-wise Yorkshire self.

No, I've not assumed anything, but we're talking at cross purposes so there's no point continuing this. It's off-topic anyway.

I think we're actually in agreement - that you shouldn't and can't rely on just the one thing. But, yes, there's little point tkaing things more off-topic. I'll shut up now...

 

[Milkfloat]

this is where the radar will come in handy:

if you use you neck to check .... you will need physio for several days

It won't work on these as it can only see in a straight line.

 

[aferris2]

The photo is a representation of my view.
]

Obviously I don't know the area, but from the photo, I would be almost on the opposite side of the road coming up to that bend (somewhere around the shiny part 2/3 across), but cut into the LHS round the bend itself. There is no way anyone in 4 wheels could get past in that position. As you come up to the bend (assuming it is straight beforehand) you look behind and signal to any approaching driver to stay behind. Don't wait until they are already on top of you. If they were already following then your position is forcing them to stay there.
Use eyes and ears to detect if there is anything coming towards you. You would be aiming for the inside of the bend anyway, so if something does appear, you're already heading for safety.

This is a blind bend near my home, so one that I ride through regularly

That's a horrible road. Did it once this summer and managed to just about keep control by riding on the off-side track round those bends. The hills are pretty nasty though. I much preferred Hackington Rd (but that was back in the 80's)

... just my thoughts.

 

[smutchin]

I much preferred Hackington Rd (but that was back in the 80's)

I would have to ride along the A290 to get to Hackington Road. Besides which, it's a narrow, twisty NSL road, and usually quite busy. Utterly horrible to ride along - I can imagine it was quite different in the 80s.

The A290 is in some ways better than it used to be - they reduced the speed limit to 40 and they even put mobile speed cameras out to enforce it occasionally. The council recently installed some rumble strips ahead of the bend near my home but they then removed them about a month later - I have no idea why, probably complaints from drivers who resented not being able to treat the road like a race track.

As I said before, I do ride well out towards the centre of the road when going through those bends, but still get idiots overtaking me. The road is wide enough that it's impossible to stop anyone overtaking who is determined to do so. I've thought about putting my arm out to signal them to stay behind but I would just get grief for it.

 

[Donger]

Loads of drivers these days seem to have little or no idea how to drive on winding country lanes with hedges ... probably because they learned to drive in towns and cities. When I was learning to drive, my dad taught me on the lanes of the Severnside villages of Gloucestershire. The best piece of advice he ever gave me was to "drive at a speed where you can stop in less than half the distance you can see", (as you have to allow for someone coming the other way driving faster than you). Over the years I must have narrowly avoided head-on smashes around here on half a dozen occasions when meeting clueless muppets speeding around blind bends towards me. Long after he passed away, my dad has saved me from a few nasty crashes with his words of wisdom.

 

[mjr]

The sad fact being, they're more afraid of you scraping the paintwork on their precious car than clobbering the soft squishy human in their hurry to get to the next set of traffic lights...

I'm not convinced some brain-switched-off motorists even register that a cyclist is a human. More like that we're bollards or something. Looking back and showing a face seems to help... and a glare is sadly often appropriate on the approach to blind bends!

 

[Drago]

Loads of drivers these days seem to have little or no idea how to drive on winding country lanes with hedges ... probably because they learned to drive in towns and cities. When I was learning to drive, my dad taught me on the lanes of the Severnside villages of Gloucestershire. The best piece of advice he ever gave me was to "drive at a speed where you can stop in less than half the distance you can see", (as you have to allow for someone coming the other way driving faster than you). Over the years I must have narrowly avoided head-on smashes around here on half a dozen occasions when meeting clueless muppets speeding around blind bends towards me. Long after he passed away, my dad has saved me from a few nasty crashes with his words of wisdom.

Hello Son. Didn't know you were on here m'boy.

 

[MontyVeda]

Only once. A red rag to a bull that was.

My ears are still ringing from his hooter.

On certain winding lanes i can see further around the RH corners than the driver of the car behind me. I frequently give them the 'flat hand'* to advise them not to overtake. Not that easy anyhow since i'm in the middle of the fecking road... then I'll pull to the left and wave them on when it's clear. More often then not, they give me a little wave after passing.

*no eye contact, no flapping, just a simple signal

 

[hatler]

I do that. And I try to make it as obvious as possible that I am peering round the corner (craning my neck, leaning to the right, that sort of stuff) which gives the impression that I am trying to help the driver. I too generally get a wave of acknowledgement when I do this.

 

[Mugshot]

I never wave vehicles past and I never automatically overtake when signaled to do so by a cyclist when I'm driving. There have been numerous occasions where a cyclist has flapped his arm to encourage me to pass only for another vehicle to appear coming towards us. In my experience it seems far more likely that the cyclist wants me gone as opposed to them being helpful. Far better in my opinion for you to concentrate on what you're supposed to be doing and let the other party concentrate on what they're supposed to be doing.

 

[Inertia]

I never wave vehicles past and I never automatically overtake when signaled to do so by a cyclist when I'm driving. There have been numerous occasions where a cyclist has flapped his arm to encourage me to pass only for another vehicle to appear coming towards us. In my experience it seems far more likely that the cyclist wants me gone as opposed to them being helpful. Far better in my opinion for you to concentrate on what you're supposed to be doing and let the other party concentrate on what they're supposed to be doing.

This is pretty much my view on it, I dont tell drivers what to do because I know nothing about them. They may be happy hanging back because they arent a confident driver, they could be turning at the next junction or driveway. I could also wave them into trouble so Id rather let them take care of themselves

For the same reason I ignore drivers who wave me on, I will move when Im comfortable moving. In a flip side of your experience, the driver usually just wants me out of the way and may not consider how fast or slow I can move.