Cars giving you room after overtaking

[Panter]

I get it quite frequently, especially on one particular road which is NSL, single lane carrigeway.

It's when a car passes fairly close (but not uncomfortably) and then moves out to give plenty of room after passing
Why? is it just a show of disrespect i.e I know how much room I can give but I choose not to?
Anyone else get this?

 

[BentMikey]

It's the same "can't plan ahead because I can't think past the end of my bleedin nose." syndrome we see from drivers so often. Bad timing and lack of attention is all, I think.

 

[Moodyman]

Don't know, cause it's not something that I've noticed.

I presume that it's because they've realised how close they were and then move out, but there's a delay in their brain picking this up and their hands turning the steering wheel.

 

[HLaB]

I usually get that on rural roads; my guess is its folk that genuinely aren't wanting to pass close to a cyclist they cant just plan ahead or judge relative speeds and pull out too late.

 

[Origamist]

I sometimes do this on my bike - I pass other cyclists too close and then move out wider when I'm pretty much past. Whilst this is usually because there is a vehicle on my right, I do it as a sort of: "I could have given you more room if I was patient, but I'm not. Anyway, sorry for passing you too close, but here, have some more room now that you don't need it". I don't think many people intepret it that way as it's little more than a poor and convoluted excuse for maintaining momentum at the expense of others.

 

[cyberknight]

I usually get that on rural roads; my guess is its folk that genuinely aren't wanting to pass close to a cyclist they cant just plan ahead or judge relative speeds and pull out too late.

Sounds like most of my commute the rural road bit anyway .

I put it down to the fact that they simply do not realize that a cyclist can be doing more than 5 mph and their brains go into shock when trying to calculate the trajectory

 

[Panter]

They all sounds reasonable explanations!

It is a rural stretch of road too.

Slightly worries me now though if they really can't judge it that well, is someone going to get it even wronger before long?

 

[ColinJ]

I noticed that behaviour a couple of years ago. I'm sure that the drivers are half asleep and just react at the last moment so the car doesn't start to pull out until they have already cut us up.

The worst drivers are the ones who overtake leaving plenty of room but then cut back in too soon, or even worse, overtake and then turn left across us.

 

[TwickenhamCyclist]

I notice that manoeuvre quite a lot – think cyberknight nailed it pretty well in his/her response above

 

[psmiffy]

I find that this manouvere is normally accompanied by the use of the right indicator post passing - I find most people indulging in this have actually passed at a safe if not what I would call a "proper" distance and are aware of that - the ones I have most issue with are the fast close passes where the car is heading across and into the kerb - the driver simply does not care - although often on reflection I sometimes put it down to being my fault to some extent - either misjudged the traffic or wandered for one reason or another too close to the kerb encouraging people to pass close - a quick adjustment of road position normally prevents the reocurrance

 

[nilling]

I too have noticed this behaviour recently on rural roads - I call them squeezers

It's as if they are demonstrating to you just how much room they would have liked to give you, if it was not for say, the oncoming car or pinchpoint.

 

[HLaB]

Passes that irk me are the ones that are unbelievable close and when they are past you spy the driver looking in their mirrors as if to say 'Oh there's a cyclist, did I hit him'.

Alternatively the spanner that feels they can overtake you within mm's, as they have carefully kept an eye on you via their side mirror.

 

[BSRU]

I had one of these this morning, lorry goes for a close overtake, as the front of the lorry passes parallel to my front wheel he moves over to the right, giving the room I should have had in the first place.

 

[LOGAN 5]

They have no spatial awareness. They can't compute an overtake and a moving cyclist with other road distractions and they're rubbish drivers. Think of it this way had they encountered you in their driving test and done this they would probably have failed.

 

[PBancroft]

I think its an angles thing (which ties in with LOGAN 5's lack of spatial awareness point).

The motorist starts the overtake at the rear wheel of the cyclist, causing a close pass but one which the motorist feels is "safe". As they pass, they lose clear sight of the cyclist, so continue to overtake until well ahead before pulling back in.