Should I pull over?

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levad

Veteran
Part of my commute is single track roads. On the way home this evening I was going along one of these at just over 20mph, a 4x4 (Land Rover I think) came up behind me. As we got to a short (length of a car) passing place, on the drivers side of the road so intended for traffic coming the other way, the 4x4 revs his (or her) engine and accelerates up to me. I carry on as there is a farm yard about 100yds away with plenty of space for them to pass. When the driver realises that they cannot pass me they beep their horn. I get to the farm yard, expecting them to pass me there and they pull into the drive of a house next to the farm!

Should I have slowed down and let them past?
 

Plax

Guru
Location
Wales
No. I wouldn't have if they beeped their horn at me. By pulling over when they beep you are just "rewarding" their behaviour and they'll carry on doing it to some other poor sod.

I pull over when I feel the driver behind is respecting my right to the road. On my wanderings I sometimes go down single track roads where a car could not pass a cyclist safely (only wide enough for one car). There are various passing places along the way. If the car is being patient behind me I always pull over for them to pass me when it is safe to do so. When I meet oncoming cars I always stop and tuck myself into the side of the road so they can pass me safely. At all times I've always had a thank you from the drivers.
If they are being impatient I won't humour them.
 

ianrauk

Tattooed Beat Messiah
Location
Rides Ti2
no, why should you have let the ignorant tosser pass?
If he was being patient whilst behind you then sure why not? revving of engine and beeping, they can Far Cry Toff.
 

Joe24

More serious cyclist than Bonj
Location
Nottingham
Make them wait. If its safe move over slightly so they dont have to get all their wheels on the grass. But thats only on really narrow roads.
On the club rides on roads where the roads are about the same width as cars we just move over slightly and keep going. They can come past when they like, but if they wait too long then it gets annoying.
 

Bromptonaut

Rohan Man
Location
Bugbrooke UK
Bad manners for the LR to try and pass if he knows he's turning off shortly.

Passing places occur on either side but those on the right are not "intended for traffic coming the other way". In normal circs you should consider stopping opposite the PP and letting faster traffic overtake.
 

4F

Active member of Helmets Are Sh*t Lobby
Location
Suffolk.
If I ever hear an engine being revved in an attempt to make me move over then I cycle slower :tongue:
 

Cab

New Member
Location
Cambridge
I can't help but agree that as soon as they rev their engines or sound their horns, thats it, they ain't coming past till I'm ready. If nothing else, you require their cooperation in holding back till you have moved aside, and if they show impatience then you can't rely on that.
 

Mr Celine

Discordian
You should have stopped opposite the passing place to let him overtake, as per the highway code. At that point he hadn't beeped or revved or anything else, and you had no way of knowing that he was only going another 100 yards.
 

CopperBrompton

Bicycle: a means of transport between cake-stops
Location
London
Hard to accelerate without revving the engine, so I wouldn't personally have considered that to be aggressive. And yes, if there was a convenient passing place, I would have pulled in to allow them to pass.

Ben
 

Jaded

New Member
Mr Celine said:
You should have stopped opposite the passing place to let him overtake, as per the highway code. At that point he hadn't beeped or revved or anything else, and you had no way of knowing that he was only going another 100 yards.

+1
 

Night Train

Maker of Things
Mr Celine said:
You should have stopped opposite the passing place to let him overtake, as per the highway code. At that point he hadn't beeped or revved or anything else, and you had no way of knowing that he was only going another 100 yards.
+2

Many 4x4's are now automatics and they need reving up in advance of accelerating due to quite a lengthy lag in the throttle response. Land Rovers, auto or not, still need a fair bit of welly before they can get up and go to get the turbo spinning for a fast overtake.

I can understand your annoyance but I wouldn't have taken it to be aggressive until after the passing place. But I am also one who would rather let a sod pass then end up getting minced because they over cooked the intimidation.
 

Jaded

New Member
Single track roads with passing places require goodwill on both sides. I ride a couple down here and many up in Scotland. The unwritten rule seems to be that the vehicle nearest a passing place (when two vehicles see each other) pulls in/stops at that one.

The Scottish roads generally have signs up asking you to uses passing places to allow overtaking if you are a slower vehicle.

With regards to him pulling into a turning soon after - well, that's standard practice for motorists! How many times have you been overtaken just before traffic lights etc? :smile:
 
You should have let him pass at the passing place. If he revved his engine in anger (it is not entirely clear that he did this from your post) then that is a bit naughty. However, it is also possible, as others have said that he needed to rev the engine to 'get it going'.
 
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