Glad I moved from primary

[HJ]

Slower overtaking means more time spent on the wrong side of the road and more chance of meeting this hypothetical truck coming the other way. I agree he looks a little out of control and maybe going a bit too fast in the wet conditions (?), but I think that if you have to overtake on a bend, as this driver did, fast is the way to do it. A cyclist coming the other way has hearing on his side to hear an oncoming vehicle and a driver would have the parked vans in sight and should take the appropriate cautionary measures. Had I been cycling there and heard an engine being gunned around the corner I'd have slowed right down 'til I knew where the noise was coming from.

Don't mean to be argumentative, but I'm looking at this from both sides, being a car driver and a cyclist. My own opinion is that the van drivers are the ones at fault and that maybe that stretch of road needs some double yellers on it.

Simonali, if you think that driver was driving in a safe manor, then I as an ex-driving instructor I would strong suggest that to take some driving lessons. You should never accelerate towards a hazard, that car was going far too fast.

 

[Bollo]

Now I'm getting paranoid!

Today's commute involved my favourite manoeuvre, a car emerging from a side road and driving parallel to me on the wrong side of the road. No footage of this because the camera's on the handlebars and you don't get anything. But I also had this

Can anyone think whey I might not be too pleased with sudden right turns in front of me? The two people crossing the road had seen me. I've got my 4W front on full power. I indicated right at the roundabout and then left before the turning (most cars here don't bother with either). I made sure there was some eye-contact with the pedestrians, and its not the sort of road (Stockbridge Road, Winchester) you cross without looking. Despite all this, they chose to cross anyway, bizarrely walking into the side road rather than heading for the opposite pavement. Because of this, I had to slow down and alter my line quite a lot. No real drama, but it's clear they didn't give a toss. Good job I did slow, because otherwise I might have been practicing my bonnet-surfing again.

Now it gets interesting. Just before I unleash a stream of potty-mouthed invective, I realise I know the driver. She's the mum of someone at my daughter's school. Time for a letter to the Time's "Modern Morals" methinks.

 

[Twenty Inch]

Slower overtaking means more time spent on the wrong side of the road and more chance of meeting this hypothetical truck coming the other way. I agree he looks a little out of control and maybe going a bit too fast in the wet conditions (?), but I think that if you have to overtake on a bend, as this driver did, fast is the way to do it.

Don't mean to be argumentative, but I'm looking at this from both sides, being a car driver and a cyclist. My own opinion is that the van drivers are the ones at fault and that maybe that stretch of road needs some double yellers on it.

I'm a car driver and a cyclist too. You're talking bollocks.

 

[cannondale boy]

Bollo i think someones out to kill you! On a serious note though, at least your still here mate.

 

[fossyant]

Oh another MPV with kids (probably) - get it all the time...one is going to get a tyre print in the door one of these days...... Had I been a bus, you wouldn't do that would you......

 

[Tynan]

I'm starting to suspect that you're riding either too slow or too polite bollo, perhaps both, others don't seem to see you as anything to factor into their actions

 

[Jacomus-rides-Gen]

Drivers outside London have absolutely no idea how to deal with a cyclist, compared to the fairly decent road manners in London Tynan.

 

[BentMikey]

Yeah, I get an amazing difference between London and where I live. It seems to change from roughly Peckham onwards.

Mind you, not as marked as the change in drivers between Stowmarket, Essex, and London itself. Essex drivers!!!!!!

 

[gambatte]

Bollo, You got space for an airzound?

Looks like a rare justified opportunity to get a ped and you'd get the MPV at the same time

 

[Bollo]

Polite and slow?! You only half know me!

Gambette - I've got an Airzound but haven't bothered fitting it to the new bike as I found it just tended to antagonise people, or make them run in unpredictable directions. With the camera I've gone down the "evidence" route.

I've done this particular commute for two years now, and had very few problems until last November. Now I seem to be starring in an episode of the Twilight Zone.

I think its true that, in London, most non-cyclists probably hate cyclists, but at least they're on their mental horizon. Outside London, its not that they can't physically see you, its just that they don't register you as a road user. This has been mentioned on this forum before, but this report

http://www.trl.co.uk/store/report_detail.asp?srid=2700&pid=211

nails it.

I live in Winchester but work in Basingstoke, so unless the Doris is working from home and I can ride the entire way, its a bike-train-bike journey. Both places pretty but sum up why cycling isn't a big part of peoples' lives in this country. Winch is all old narrow hilly streets, with lots of on-street parking and an evil one-way system. Its wealthy, so car use is high and the traffic can be bad. Bikes are rare and, if they're going away from the city centre, they're going uphill and doing it slowly. I'd say it was more common to see a cyclist on the pavement around here than on the road, and if they're on the road, its usually about 10cm from the kerb.

Basingstoke is superficially much better for bikes, because its got lots of cycle paths, right? Some are ok, some aren't. But otherwise the town has been built entirely around car use. A high proportion of roads are dual-carriageways and its got more roundabouts then anywhere else but Swindon. All are designed for fast entry and exit. Because of this traffic speeds tend to be high, even in rush-hour. Therefore drivers tend to resent anything (i.e. me) that slows them down, simply because they're not used to it.