Official Closest pass video

[hackbike 666]

No I wouldn't want to tar all drivers with the same brush.There are some good eggs out there.

 

[swee'pea99]

I reckon the decent drivers out there far outnumber the peanuts - just as in everyday life, the vast majority of people are decent. And I do think we - or some of us - do have a tendency to adopt a kind of siege 'the best form of defense is attack' mentality, which does nobody any favours.

We have to coexist. Like it or not, we have to share the road with other people who have other agendas and other perspectives. I think a little empathy and a little less 'I know my rights' chippiness can go quite a long way. Personally I have very little problem with drivers - even WVM - though I am trying to be fiercer. Grrr.

Going back to the original video, one thing that still throws me is, Mags's declared reason for taking up primary so early was fear of black ice. I would have thought the best place to avoid black ice would be not in primary - untouched for the most part - but where car tyres are rubbing the road surface every few seconds. Which would be, oh, perhaps 2-3ft out from the kerb? By strange coincidence, an ideal distance to allow others to pass safely...

That's where I would have been.

 

[Crackle]

Yeah but swee'pea, that's the trouble with vids, you can't tell the conditions easily, so you have to assume that Maggers chose the right line but in general I would agree with that position, it's most likely to be swept by cars but depending on camber, car line, sun position, it might not, hence my first comment.

 

[swee'pea99]

you have to assume that Maggers chose the right line

Sorry, but why? Out of tribal loyalty? Ok, I wasn't there, but I stand by my first assessment - that from everything I see and my experience of how roads & black ice work, 2-3ft out from the kerb was the safest, as well as the most considerate, place to be.

 

[Origamist]

A two month hiatus and look what I come back to… plus ça change!

If Magnatom had ridden that stretch in a secondary position and had suffered a similarly close pass the same people who are “constructively criticising” him would be squealing at him to ride in primary, or in the gutter, or even more to right, etc etc etc. Different lateral positions on the road present different problems/advantages as traffic flow is dynamic: constantly balancing the benefits and disbenefits as you cycle is difficult as it is based on competing and incomplete sensory information. What works one day, will not work on another - particularly as a small proportion of drivers will not accord you respect regardless of where you situate yourself on the road.

 

[Crackle]

[quote name='swee'pea99']Sorry, but why? Out of tribal loyalty? [/quote]

Tribal Loyalty!

No, because he was there, we weren't and taking into account what others who've ridden the jct said.

 

[Bollo]

A two month hiatus and look what I come back to… plus ça change!

......

Yeah! O's back. I was worried you'd gone for good. That's a fine-looking cedilla you've got there.

And just to prove its not tribal, I'm going to agree with your last post!

 

[swee'pea99]

If Magnatom had ridden that stretch in a secondary position and had suffered a similarly close pass the same people who are “constructively criticising” him would be squealing at him to ride in primary, or in the gutter, or even more to right, etc etc etc.

I wouldn't. If he'd 'ridden that stretch in a secondary position and had suffered a similarly close pass' I'd have been 100% on his side. The reason I'm less gung-ho on his behalf is because it seems to me his riding was a contributory factor in what happened, and that the kind of attitude it at least appears to exemplify makes life more difficult for us, as well as for other road users.

By the way, welcome back, easy on 'squealing' and the like, eh? There's no call for it...it just sours what can and should be a perfectly reasonable discussion.

 

[Origamist]

Yeah! O's back. I was worried you'd gone for good. That's a fine-looking cedilla you've got there.

And just to prove its not tribal, I'm going to agree with your last post!

It was the pitiful lack of diacritics on this fourm that lured me back...something had to be done.

 

[Origamist]

If he'd 'ridden that stretch in a secondary position and had suffered a similarly close pass' I'd have been 100% on his side. The reason I'm less gung-ho on his behalf is because it seems to me his riding was a contributory factor in what happened, and that the kind of attitude it at least appears to exemplify makes life more difficult for us, as well as for other road users.

By the way, welcome back, easy on 'squealing' and the like, eh? There's no call for it...it just sours what can and should be a perfectly reasonable discussion.
[/FONT]

I think you've missed the thrust of my post. Riding in a secondary position could also have contributed to a close pass. The fact that this happens to be your favoured coping strategy in this instance is neither here nor there.

"Squealing" sums up some of some of the responses on here. What's more, the thread is littered with examples that are not of the "perfectly reasonable" type.

Good to be back, thanks.

 

[BentMikey]

Why not be honest and blunt, and tell us who's "squealing"?

 

[beanzontoast]

If he'd 'ridden that stretch in a secondary position and had suffered a similarly close pass' I'd have been 100% on his side. The reason I'm less gung-ho on his behalf is because it seems to me his riding was a contributory factor in what happened, and that the kind of attitude it at least appears to exemplify makes life more difficult for us, as well as for other road users.

By the way, welcome back, easy on 'squealing' and the like, eh? There's no call for it...it just sours what can and should be a perfectly reasonable discussion.
[/FONT]

I'm not sure I'd have handled that layout any differently / 'better' than Mag did. Haven't we all had at least one near miss when we were sure we'd done the right thing? You can line up 100 cyclists, get 99 of them to agree on the 'correct' approach to a given road layout and still get knocked off following their advice, because road users of all kinds are unpredicatable and make mistakes.

If you can keep totally calm, feel, say and do nothing when you've just been near-missed, I admire you for that.

 

[swee'pea99]

I think you've missed the thrust of my post. Riding in a secondary position could also have contributed to a close pass.

How so?

The fact that this happens to be your favoured coping strategy in this instance is neither here nor there.

'coping strategy' strikes me as uncomfortably close to 'squealing'. Pejorative and uncalled for.

"Squealing" sums up some of some of the responses on here. What's more, the thread is littered with examples that are not of the "perfectly reasonable" type.

True. Don't make it right tho', do it?

Good to be back, thanks.

You're welcome.

 

[Origamist]

Why not be honest and blunt, and tell us who's "squealing"?

How about Mr Hippo here:

http://www.cyclechat.co.uk/forums/showpost.php?p=534893&postcount=152

I could go one, but would there be any point?

 

[swee'pea99]

I'm not sure I'd have handled that layout any differently / 'better' than Mag did.

Well, which of us could 'be sure'? But that's not the question. The question is, 'could it have been handled better?' And to that question, the answer seems to me to be yes.

Haven't we all had at least one near miss when we were sure we'd done the right thing? You can line up 100 cyclists, get 99 of them to agree on the 'correct' approach to a given road layout and still get knocked off following their advice, because road users of all kinds are unpredicatable and make mistakes.

All true, all irrelevant.

If you can keep totally calm, feel, say and do nothing when you've just been near-missed, I admire you for that.

I never said I could. I can't. But, again, not the point.