Car overtakes and pulls in in front

[Bodhbh]

As above. The first 1/2 a mile or so of my commute is a steady downhill along a main suburban road. I'm doing 25mph or so, in secondary as cars still overtaking. One car overtakes, immediately swirves halfway onto the grass verge and stops, blocking the secondary. At the same time another car overtakes and instead of giving the first car plenty of clearance and passing at speed, is slowed and funnelled into a close pass by the traffice calming bumps.

Upshot of all this, is within a couple of seconds, the situation for me changes from having a clear road ahead, to a wall of car in front and I have to brake hard. It was not quiet a near miss, as I was alert adn braked in good time, but I could see the case could have been otherwise - it's the calmest section of road on the commute b4 the busy traffic and not always at most sharp just after leaving the house.

So, it got me thinkign, supposing I ran into the back fo one of these cars, who would have been liable if I smashed my face in and and damaged car adn bike?

 

[BSRU]

As far as I am aware the overtaking vehicle should not pull back in so early as to leave an insufficient gap between them and you. Also overtaking and them immediately pulling over is a big no no, similar to being left hooked.
The overtaking vehicles have a responsibility to execute their manoeuvre safely, without causing other roads users to change course or speed.

 

[Bodhbh]

As far as I am aware the overtaking vehicle should not pull back in so early as to leave an insufficient gap between them and you. Also overtaking and them immediately pulling over is a big no no, similar to being left hooked.
The overtaking vehicles have a responsibility to execute their manoeuvre safely, without causing other roads users to change course or speed.

I guess I was thinking that if you run into the back of someone it's generally aways you that's liable. But i a situation like this, exactly the last thing you expect an overtaking vehicle to do is stop in front adn you're thrust into a situation where there is not the time to pull back and leave a safe stopping distance.

 

[davefb]

wouldnt it be similar to a dual carriageway with traffic, then one car overtakes then stops in the left hand lane.. its totally the overtaking cars fault, what a total idiot..

 

[Bodhbh]

wouldnt it be similar to a dual carriageway with traffic, then one car overtakes then stops in the left hand lane.. its totally the overtaking cars fault, what a total idiot..

Yeah. I'm not a driver (at least passed the test years ago and don't have a car) if this whole question seems a bit nieve, but now you put it like that. I think I could have passed the first car easy enough in isolation, but it would involve swirving into primary without looking first (and maybe into the 2nd car had the timing been different).

 

[tyred]

wouldnt it be similar to a dual carriageway with traffic, then one car overtakes then stops in the left hand lane.. its totally the overtaking cars fault, what a total idiot..

Absolutely but my concern would be that the overtaking driver would say I was stopped and some idiot run into me. You would need a witness I should think.

 

[Beebo]

Absolutely but my concern would be that the overtaking driver would say I was stopped and some idiot run into me. You would need a witness I should think.

Without a witness you could be in a diffucult situation, as it is one word against the other, and usually the rear driver / rider would be considered to have been at fault.

The other thing to be very careful of when any vehicle pulls in front of you is the door zone, as if the driver has just pulled a dangerous manouvre they are unlikely to check before opening their door.

 

[BSRU]

Absolutely but my concern would be that the overtaking driver would say I was stopped and some idiot run into me. You would need a witness I should think.

The main reason I have a helmet camera.

 

[GrumpyGregry]

Ride in primary, stop em from overtaking and when someone gets antsy explain why you are doing it.

 

[Tynan]

never perform a maneuver that causes another vehicle to have to brake or change direction

 

[Bodhbh]

Ride in primary, stop em from overtaking and when someone gets antsy explain why you are doing it.

heh, unfortunately primary is filled with 1 metre square speed humps. I think they would soon get antsy following me freestyling down the middle of the road.

 

[Mad at urage]

Ride in primary, stop em from overtaking and when someone gets antsy explain why you are doing it.

Happened to me this morning, I was in primary.

First vehicle overtook, plenty of room using t'other side of road, pulled in quite close but still moving ahead faster than me. Second followed through. passed closer, pulled in and braked at the same time; got called a bloody idiot as I braked to avoid collision.

It's on the helmet cam but not worth reporting IMO. Had there been a collision (had I not managed to brake quickly on the wet road) I would have had sufficient evidence to place the blame where it belonged.

 

[al-fresco]

Where not even safe out in the sticks - I'm heading down a lane with a tractor coming the other way, plenty of room for both of us but then a car overtakes me and hits the brakes because there's not enough room for a car and a tractor to pass each other...

At times like these you can either remain calm or cast aspersions on the drivers parentage. I chose the latter option.

 

[mog35]

Something similar happened to me too here a couple of years ago:

http://maps.google.c...2,97.52,,0,6.26

Just coming down the hill heading towards Faversham - must've been going around 25mph by this point - a woman decides she simply has to get past, overtakes and... stops to turn right at the junction. There was a lot of traffic coming the other way, so I'm stuck there for a couple of minutes. To make it worse, all the momentum I had, which I was planning to use to help me up the next hill, had gone.

Another silly incident a couple of months ago:

I had just left for work at about 7:30ish and was cycling along here:

http://maps.google.c...2,114.1,,0,5.06

I was overtaken approximately where the black car is in the foreground, only for the numpty to pull in to the parking space where the white van is outside the yellow shop. They could've waited about 3 seconds for me to pass, but no, they had an urgent appointment with a parking space. No forethought whatsoever. It's not like anyone was going to steal the space - there was no-one about!

 

[MrHappyCyclist]

The main reason I have a helmet camera.

+1