Judging the speed of a bike

[Twilkes]

At the risk of starting another 13 page thread (which was very entertaining by the way), one of the problems I find cycling is that people (drivers and pedestrians) don't seem to take the speed of a bike into account. Most motorised vehicles on town main roads will be travelling at 25-30mph (outside of London anyway) so you don't need to judge the speed - if you can see how far away it is, you'll know roughly how long it will take to reach you.

But cyclists' speeds tend to vary, anything from 30mph to barely above walking pace. So quite often I'll be x yards away from a side street and a car will start nudging out, only to stop once it realises I'm almost on top of it. I plan for this and have never had anything dangerous happen, but it seems that, as well as SMIDSY, a lot of cycling incidents could be due to the cyclist travelling faster than the driver/pedestrian expected them to be travelling. I've had three in the last week where a vehicle had to stop because they found a cyclist where they were expecting a piece of empty road.

Are there any commuters who think they're particularly fast or slow compared to the average cyclist, and do you think this causes you more or less problems?

 

[HLaB]

I've not commuted for a while but when I do so I'm usually a bit faster than most folk on similar bikes but I rarely took my road bike to work, I'd prefer the work out on a heavier bike and its robustness, etc but that aside I felt when I had to go slower due to strong winds etc more drivers would try to squeeze out,/through etc.

 

[I like Skol]

I find if I am travelling at or near the general traffic speed it helps to place yourself where a vehicle would be. This is a clear indication to all around you that you are indeed moving with the flow. This is also doubly helpful when midway in a line of cars as it prevents the kn*b behind you pulling alongside even though you are only 10ft from the car in front and travelling at the same speed (there's always one!).

 

[HovR]

Not many cycle commuters around here, and the ones that I see tend to be on hybrids or MTB's, so I find myself overtaking most of the ones I see. I don't get pulled out on much, however. Maybe 2 or 3 notable "pulling out" incidents in the past month or two.

 

[BrumJim]

I've certainly heard it used as an excuse for a left-hooking.

I have made the assumption that drivers know the difference between a roadie gunning it down a main road, and a leisure commuter enjoying the scenery and air. Therefore if there is a car waiting to get out of a side road, I put on my best race face (puffing cheeks too, if necessary), ensure that my cadence is nice and high, and hunch over those hoods.

I also cover the brakes and move out into primary (or further) to give me a better chance if they misjudge my speed.

 

[BSRU]

I tend to have more problems when using my main commuting bike, my heavy hybrid, than when using my road bike.
My average is about 3mph faster on the road bike.

 

[HLaB]

I've certainly heard it used as an excuse for a left-hooking.

I have made the assumption that drivers know the difference between a roadie gunning it down a main road, and a leisure commuter enjoying the scenery and air. Therefore if there is a car waiting to get out of a side road, I put on my best race face (puffing cheeks too, if necessary), ensure that my cadence is nice and high, and hunch over those hoods.

I also cover the brakes and move out into primary (or further) to give me a better chance if they misjudge my speed.

Assumption is the mother of all duckups your latter advice is good though

 

[briantrumpet]

I have made the assumption that drivers know the difference between a roadie gunning it down a main road, and a leisure commuter enjoying the scenery and air.

I make the assumptions:

1. The driver is blind
2. If the driver isn't blind that they will assume I'm pootling along at 5mph
3. If the driver isn't blind and thinks I'm moving at faster than 5mph that they'll put out anyway

And then I'm pleasantly surprised if all these assumptions prove to be wrong.

 

[Bman]

I have an interesting observation relating to this:

At night, since I have been using my new (bright) front light, I've had loads of drivers wait longer than usual at side roads or traffic calming chicanes. I think this is because they cannot identify me as a cyclist and I could possibly be a motorcyclist.

As a result they wait, sometimes a painful amount of time as I slowly crawl up the hill towards them

 

[sheddy]

I do think that many motons don't actually look at the whole of the road properly and riding in a straight line can be a receipe for disaster
A little weaving does get you noticed

 

[upsidedown]

A while back somebody on here explained a phenomenon that explains lots of motorbike crashes. It's where for the vast majority of the distance between you and the car the size that the driver sees hardly changes. It's only in the last few metres that your size suddenly starts to multiply. It was said to explain why some drivers pull out when you are almost on top of them, as you have not reached the critical point where you suddenly get bigger. Forget the name for it but it does explain a lot.

 

[SquareDaff]

I don't see many cyclists on my route but I assume I'm an average one. I usually cruise around 22mph on the flat and my average speed is around 16-16.5mph through town and about 18-20mph out of town. I can get up to low 30's mph for short bursts in town if needed.

At those speeds I always assume that the car driver will assume I'm slower than I actually am and I'm ready to stop/take evasive action - but on the whole most drivers are quite considerate, leave me room and are happy to stay behind until a suitable passing place appears.

Of course there are idiots that aren't but these are usually <0.5% of the driving community.

 

[Night Train]

WhenI am driving I have to make a judgement call on whether a gap is safe to pull out in to or a vehicle slow enough to pass safely when conditions allow.

Sometimes it isn't easy to judge the speed of an approaching cyclist when I am emerging from a side road, especially when there is no other traffic to compare with.
So my solution is to not pull out until I can judge the speed. That does sometimes mean that I wait longer to pull out but generally only a few seconds fo rthe cyclist to pass me first.

I can't really see it as a 'problem' for good drivers but many are not good drivers.

 

[HLaB]

WhenI am driving I have to make a judgement call on whether a gap is safe to pull out in to or a vehicle slow enough to pass safely when conditions allow.

Sometimes it isn't easy to judge the speed of an approaching cyclist when I am emerging from a side road, especially when there is no other traffic to compare with.
So my solution is to not pull out until I can judge the speed. That does sometimes mean that I wait longer to pull out but generally only a few seconds fo rthe cyclist to pass me first.

I can't really see it as a 'problem' for good drivers but many are not good drivers.

Driver's often do that when I'm approaching; in general when I'm cycling uphill, they do that but when I'm going down they pull out

 

[fossyant]

I quite regularly get folk not realising speed - see a bike and pull out ! I expect it, so can react. On a few occasions the 'reaction/avoidance' has been to overtake the car and shout 'use your eyes' then pass and pull back into line.