Outrageous overtakes by impatient Drivers

[Linford]

I've gone down with a bug and have decided to commute in on the motorbike today instead of my roadie....fine, but the battery was flat due to me not using it with all the cycle commuting I'm doing, so I'm 15 minutes later setting off after pulling it apart to charge it for 10 minutes, and the rush hour traffic is in full swing. Line of cars and vans in front of me being held up by a woman roadie who is just doing her thing. The traffic filters past her until the Berlingo type car directly in front of me, and then they decide to swing right across the other side of the road to get past her....the car comign the other way has to mount the kerb to avoid a head on....me WTF !

I also had a conversation this time last week with a guy from Hereford who attends the local motorbike meetings on a GSXR1000, He said that similar happened to him 3 months ago with a car overtaking a cyclist comign the other way, and put him on the grass verge at about 60mph (fortunately managed to keep it upright). He said it stopped him motorbiking as it frightened him so much, and last week was the first time back out on it.

Its OK being all considerate when overtaking...which is the way it should be, but not if you aren't looking to see what is coming the other way...I was gobsmacked this morning with such a dangerous move.

Rant over....

 

[Matthew_T]

I get this quite a lot on country roads. They overtake me fine, but just dont consider the closing speed of oncoming traffic. I have seen plenty of beeping and lights flashing whilst out and about.

 

[gavroche]

which reinforces my view that all drivers should go for a driving assessment every 10 years, regardless of age. Too many drivers have developed bad habits that they are not even aware of. Unfortunately, it will never happen as it is not a vote catcher.

 

[fossyant]

Don't overtake unless it's safe to do so. People seem to ignore the last bit !

 

[Linford]

This is actually the road which put me off cycle commuting. I take another route now which involves an extra mile on my journey, and a level crossing which I always seem to get caught on for 5+ minutes in each direction.....it is however infinitely more desirable than risking my life on this road as a vehicle which is getting overtaken by numpties every day.

 

[MontyVeda]

which reinforces my view that all drivers should go for a driving assessment every 10 years, regardless of age. Too many drivers have developed bad habits that they are not even aware of. Unfortunately, it will never happen as it is not a vote catcher.

5 years i reckon... just like the DCPC.... and it should be paid for out of the funds generated by their VED

 

[adds21]

I think this behaviour is more often seen in the country on fast flowing A and B roads. Certainly there are a couple of places on my commute where it's a 50/50 chance whether the car behind will wait until they can see the road ahead, or will just overtake (usually giving me lots of space) on a blind corner (happens all the time here: http://goo.gl/maps/kcMnk). Usually they're lucky and the road in clear, but I've seen a few very, very near misses. I can't help thinking that it's just a matter of time on that road...

 

[_Jim]

I have had this happen to me a few times......I think a lot of the time drivers underestimate how fast youre going and just see a bike to be overtaken in front of them......once they commit and start to go past its too late......ive had to take evasive action a few times after being overtaken and then the car turning left in front of me as soon as its finished going past......not much you can do really except try and give the car in front plenty of room if you can once its gone past.

 

[Linford]

I have had this happen to me a few times......I think a lot of the time drivers underestimate how fast youre going and just see a bike to be overtaken in front of them......once they commit and start to go past its too late......ive had to take evasive action a few times after being overtaken and then the car turning left in front of me as soon as its finished going past......not much you can do really except try and give the car in front plenty of room if you can once its gone past.

It is that mentality of impatient 'must get past' though which is so mindless. It appears that they are incapable of dealing with more than one moving vehicle at a time around them.

 

[donnydave]

There are two blind corners on my commute where people regularly overtake, mega-primary and mad arm waving doesn't deter them. A regular theme is that they give me loads of room, which is good and shows that they have some small bit of awareness, but seem blissfully ignorant of the seemingly more obvious hazard of someone coming the other way. I think misjudgement of speed is a big thing, perhaps they think they can just nip round you before they reach the blind corner/pinch point/dustbin lorry etc

 

[_Jim]

It is that mentality of impatient 'must get past' though which is so mindless. It appears that they are incapable of dealing with more than one moving vehicle at a time around them.

This is exactly it.....even if theres traffic ahead or a set of traffic lights a lot of the time they will still be desparate to get past.....when this happens the only thing thats in your control is how much space you give them I guess and you just have to let them get on with it. I really think that a lot of drivers just have no comprehension of how fine the line is between nipping past a cyclist and everything works out fine for them, and clipping you when you mgiht be doing 20mph+ and the damage that will do if you come off.....I was on my way to the station and had a narrow escape after a reckless overtaking manouver only to find that he was turning into the station to drop someone off 500m up the road. I pulled up alongside in the carpark and just said "look I dont want to get into an argument.....you just need to realise that if you keep doing that, eventually youre going to kill someone, you'll be in court and then probably prison.....all for the sake of saving a few minutes"......it left him with not a lot to say, but Im not sure it really sunk in!?

The underestimating speed thing is definitely part of the problem.....I think often they see all bikes as the same....pottering along and in need of overtaking. On a quicker roadie it takes longer to go past you and a couple of times Ive had a car along side me a few feet away stuck in no mans land unsure whether to put their foot down to get past with a car coming the other way or slow down and get back behind you. The problem for you is then.....do you slow down and hope theyre going to get past or step on it to make sure they drop back in behind??

 

[Richard A Thackeray]

I had one the other day

I was passing a line of parked cars, white Suzuki Swift overtakes me

Semi-blind corner (right hand bend)

Then has to veer in front of me, as there was a Bus coming towards us, Suzuki brakes, then heads into gap in parked cars,before charging back out.

Then, it stops round corner to pick someone up, sadly, it drove off before I could quite reach it

 

[briantrumpet]

A regular theme is that they give me loads of room, which is good and shows that they have some small bit of awareness, but seem blissfully ignorant of the seemingly more obvious hazard of someone coming the other way. I think misjudgement of speed is a big thing, perhaps they think they can just nip round you before they reach the blind corner/pinch point/dustbin lorry etc

This is undoubtedly the French way of overtaking (and is becoming more common here). They rarely hang back or slow down noticeably, but do give cyclists enough room (normally) - however, you'll often see the driver coming the other way having to drive over onto the verge to avoid a head-on collision. You know it's going to be a close one when the driver coming the other way starts flashing their lights.

 

[172traindriver]

I had been out with a few of my mates for one of our mid week rides on the typical country lanes close to our town. Anyway there is a sharp right hand bend followed by a sharp left hand bend not more than 50 yards further on.
We become aware of matey boy in his nice shiny expensive Range Rover Discovery behind us who does no more than have to get past us at all costs between the 2 bends. He succeeds in doing so between the 2 bends on this narrow lane, but as we round the left hander he is stuck due to an even larger vehicle coming towards him.
As we go past him my mate says to him 'That wasn't very clever was it?'
Fair play to him he did say 'Sorry' as we passed him, rather than hurl abuse because he was in a vehicle worth at a guess over £30K.
Bet he felt a bit of an idiot.

 

[Roadrider48]

For me in london apart from the above mentioned incidents! it's people stepping off the kerb that really gets my goat. No one seems to look, they want to cross and just step out. Twice my bars have brushed someone.