Road rage close encounter...

[jdtate101]

When it comes it crazies doing various stunts when overtaking cuts across all road users. I have seen them take on HGVs, when the odds are stacked against them. Hate to sterero type but it is always a middle aged male.

Yes i also think this is the most likely demographic too. All the encounters I can remember on club runs (and there have not been many thankfully) have all been middle aged men in somewhat middle to top end luxury cars. Stereotypes do have an ounce of truth in then...that's the reason for them.

 

[Arrowfoot]

So we should pander to the incorrect perception of the driver, and go single file even though that makes it more dangerous for the riders and more difficult for the driver to overtake? No thanks.

Its reflects poorly on the cycling community when riding 2 abreast on a narrow road to prevent overtaking. For argument sake, lets say that the narrow stretch is 3 miles. What does the group do?

 

[Drago]

It's.much the same when I'm doddering along a narrow country road in my old truck. If people can't accept that some road users are slower than them, some are more vulnerable than them, and some are both, then they shouldn't be allowed to pilot a tonne plus kinetic energy weapon.

Some people - my sister is a cringeworthy example - feel it's their God given right, an absolute necessity to get past the vehicle ahead of them as fast as possible, only to then repeat the exercise on the next vehicle they encounter. It's simply unnecessary, wastes fuel, puts wear and tear on your vehicle as well as your nerves, and really doesn't get you to your destination any quicker.

 

[benb]

Its reflects poorly on the cycling community when riding 2 abreast on a narrow road to prevent overtaking. For argument sake, lets say that the narrow stretch is 3 miles. What does the group do?

It's only to prevent a dangerous overtake; where there isn't room to even overtake a single rider safely.
Of course if two abreast stops an overtake, but single file allows one (safely) I would always single up.

 

[nickyboy]

Its reflects poorly on the cycling community when riding 2 abreast on a narrow road to prevent overtaking. For argument sake, lets say that the narrow stretch is 3 miles. What does the group do?

Riding two abreast is either more safe or more dangerous than riding single file. If it is more dangerous then the cycling community should stop doing it. If it's more safe then the cycling community needs to get to grips with the education of other road users which frankly has been pathetic so far

 

[Arrowfoot]

I have seen club rides breaking their group into 2 or 3 sub-groups and going into single formation with gaps when they hit a narrow road to allow other road users to have a safe harbour when overtaking and there might be on-coming traffic. There is a group in Surrey that I admire that does this in a very drilled manner.

Why put cyclists in danger by trying one's luck with some crazy who thinks he should have right of way. Thats on the bad side. On the good side, it shows consideration for other road users.

 

[ianrauk]

I know this road very well having cycled it many times with and without iLB's.
It's hard enough for a car driver to pass a single cyclist on the road let alone 2 abreast. It's a popular cycling route and have very rarely had any trouble over the years from car drivers as any driver with even the smallest amount of common sense could see that there is little room to pass and patience is the key as it does widen at a few cross roads and junctions.

The car driver was just an impatient dick head.

 

[Moe]

When it boils down to the nitty gritty, he is a bully.... And the best thing to do with a bully is to laugh at them! It knocks the wind out of their sails!! I really don't know why some people think they have the right to act in such an abusive manor! I get it regularly where I work, I work in a supermarket find that people can be really rude even there. When did we as a nation get so angry? We all share this planet and we are all on the same journey of life... Just chill out and enjoy the ride!!

 

[glenn forger]

Report it, sounds like the drivers on drugs.

 

[GrumpyGregry]

So the car driver perceives that, in riding two abreast, cyclists are forcing him to either sit behind or attempt an overtake which would be more dangerous for him than if they were riding single file. Cyclists can argue until they are blue in the face but that particular perception is reality

Degree of danger/risk to the overtaking car which arises from its positioning is identical in both cases surely? There either case there would not be room for an oncoming car/tractor/lorry to pass in the opposite direction in both cases so some sort of a head-on collision would result. Except it wouldn't because the overtaking driver would just pull left and force the cyclists off the road. Seen it happen with riders in single- and double-file in the Surrey Hills. Most recently in January '15.

Doubling up leave chummy swinging in the breeze for a lot less time and reduces the risk to them and the cyclist. But if it is where I think it is and I was TEC then single- or double-file driver behind would be seeing the palm of my right hand a lot and my 'arris right in the middle of the road. They just have to slow down or ride right through me (yes it has been tried).

 

[GrumpyGregry]

Yes i also think this is the most likely demographic too. All the encounters I can remember on club runs (and there have not been many thankfully) have all been middle aged men in somewhat middle to top end luxury cars. Stereotypes do have an ounce of truth in then...that's the reason for them.

Kids in corsas. Young blokes in white vans. Women in Micras, old Farmers in Landies, as well as those named above. In this part of the world it's a driver thing not a well off middle aged man thing; drivers in a hurry on a Sunday morning just hate following cyclists.

 

[nickyboy]

Degree of danger/risk to the overtaking car which arises from its positioning is identical in both cases surely? There either case there would not be room for an oncoming car/tractor/lorry to pass in the opposite direction in both cases so some sort of a head-on collision would result. Except it wouldn't because the overtaking driver would just pull left and force the cyclists off the road. Seen it happen with riders in single- and double-file in the Surrey Hills. Most recently in January '15.

Doubling up leave chummy swinging in the breeze for a lot less time and reduces the risk to them and the cyclist. But if it is where I think it is and I was TEC then single- or double-file driver behind would be seeing the palm of my right hand a lot and my 'arris right in the middle of the road. They just have to slow down or ride right through me (yes it has been tried).

I don't know the road that is being referred to and there are undoubtedly a lot of instances where overtaking the cyclist is dangerous, single filed or two abreast. I think the area where we're all getting a difference of opinion is when the road is wide enough to do a safe overtake allowing for a single cyclist but not wide enough when there are two abreast cyclists. That's where the diagram isn't particularly helpful. It shows the car passing a single cyclist just a wide as they would two cyclists abreast. That just doesn't happen in real life. There are loads of roads where you can pass a single cyclist quite safely, even if there is traffic coming the other way. But you can't pass two abreast cyclists safely on the same road.

Anyway, I think the real issue is the piss poor job the cycling bodies have done in educating other road users that two abreast isn't necessarily inappropriate or inconsiderate cycling.

 

[benb]

when the road is wide enough to do a safe overtake allowing for a single cyclist but not wide enough when there are two abreast cyclists

I don't know a single cyclist who wouldn't single up in that situation.

The issue I find is that a lot of drivers want cyclists to go single file to either show some kind of deference, or so that they can squeeze through where there really isn't room.

 

[RedRider]

The usual line is that as the numbers of people cycling increases cycling becomes safer as drivers become more used to us and are more likely to cycle themselves or be close to someone who cycles and so are more likely to show empathy and understanding of cycling behaviour.
I think this is likely to be true but I also have a theory that the closer we get to that 'critical mass' and until it's reached, the more annoyed and angry the last bastion of motoring entitlement is likely to get.

I don't tend to notice or let poor and bullying driving get to me, I just get on with my ride but very rarely it's hard to do. Like this example last year when I found myself stood behind a lamp post shouting 'come on then' at a driver. (Not proud of this btw.) And he did, he actually drove his car towards me onto the pavement! I honestly don't think I'd done anything to justify a 'tut', let alone violence but that's by-the-by. In this instance another driver stopped and was prepared to witness the mayhem/come to my defence which was good. I didn't post about this at the time as it was such a rare event and I didn't want to accentuate the negatives of cycling. I guess there's no accounting for the very occasional violent driver on the edge and i suppose they'll alwways exist.

 

[GrumpyGregry]

Got quite hacked off riding y'day morning with the number of close passes, when in single file, on roads wide enough to have white lines down the middle. Some drivers just can't be arsed to pull over to the right, of a Sunday morning. Did the 'more room please' thing with my right arm and got flipped the bird by one nobber.