Take a look at this overtake

[Bman]

Not much more I could have done about this driver.....



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xHoJnIzfUuY

[media]
]View: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xHoJnIzfUuY[/media]

 

[400bhp]

Can't see anything?

 

[DrSquirrel]

Ooooooooooooooooooo had me cringing...

 

[guitarpete247]

It is difficult to see. But as there was another car coming towards you they overtake should have held back a few seconds. Some pillocks are in to much of a rush .

 

[photography27]

wow, that was close, any closer and it would of been BANG!!

 

[downfader]

Nearly a head-on, not good driving at all.

 

[som3blok3]

Crazy fool! No idea some people......

 

[BentMikey]

Yeah, that's pretty bad. Some idiots, eh?

I had a similar one almost two years ago:

View: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_nsvXWCnds


Actually I had a worse one, just like this, but with some guy towing a caravan doing the overtake. I was tired and busy with work that week, so didn't bother to edit it.

 

[gaz]

Sometimes people don't think, perhaps seeing the danger coming and using a hand behind you to indicate slow down will stop this from happening?
Worth a try if it saves a crash, be it car on bike or car on car.

 

[MacB]

I think motorists get into a blind panic at the thought of being stuck behind a bike, even if the bike is doing 30 in a built up area. Must overtake no matter what!

That's a good point, I don't think there's a lot of malice out there just a lot of very poor driving. Whether I'm driving or cycling I often see cars performing manouevers that seem to be a direct result of not watching the road ahead and compounding the error with a poor, and rushed, decision. Some drivers seem to be particularly bad at judgements that involve any form of spatial reasoning. I've had people try to go past me through pinch points only to realise there's no room and slam on the brakes. It may be scary but it's the same sort of awareness level that sees people executing a 27 point turn in a car park when they've got tons of room, they just have no real concept of the size of their car and the size of the space they're operating it within. Unfortunately adding speed and an open road to that equation can make for some pretty dangerous incidents. It's weird because these people won't take any risks in a car park despite having loads of room. Yet their default option on the road seems to be to go for the gap, you'd almost think they're more scared of upsetting drivers behind them.

 

[Mad at urage]

I waited behind a push bike last Sunday (Brecon area, climbing at about 13 mph), the road was twisting for a while and anything could have appeared, approaching at 60mph plus my overtaking speed... Once I had overtaken as the road straightened and returned to the NSL, for the next three miles the car that followed me past hung deliberately on my tail (about half a car-length back) until I braked (gently) for the forty limit (I don't think he expected that) when he just managed to avoid tail-ending me then overtook at speed.

Some car drivers definitely try to 'punish' those who wait behind bikes.

 

[the reluctant cyclist]

Sometimes people don't think, perhaps seeing the danger coming and using a hand behind you to indicate slow down will stop this from happening?
Worth a try if it saves a crash, be it car on bike or car on car.

I use hand signals all the time.

Hubby (who is the font of all knowledge) reckons that a lot of people dither about a decision - i.e pulling out of a side road in the front of you etc and if you take the decision out of their hands it stops them doing something dangerous.

I do a "back off" signal when I am stopping at red lights to make sure the car behind doesn't go over me and a "wait" signal to anybody about to pull out in front of me!

Only this morning I was doing a tricky maneouver where I was overtaking a parked car when a big transit van overtook me (despite there being oncoming traffic) - to add to the difficulty the parked car decided she was going to chose that moment to pull out - I stuck my left hand out in a "not now/stop" gesture and it did stop her - I feel sure that she would have just ploughed into me if I hadn't!

 

[Gandalf]

You know I'm beginning to wonder if the mere sight of a cyclist induces some sort of hallucinogenic state.

The driver is no longer in a 30 mph urban environment with traffic lights, junctions and traffic inhibiting progress but is sweeping majestically through an alpine mountain pass with an open road ahead.

Either that or modern vehicles are fitted with a virtual reality headset, which descends unbidden from the roof lining whenever a cyclist is encountered.

 

[400bhp]

Hubby (who is the font of all knowledge) reckons that a lot of people dither about a decision - i.e pulling out of a side road in the front of you etc and if you take the decision out of their hands it stops them doing something dangerous.

A very very good point.

You just have to remember that a hand signal does not guarantee a certain reaction (apart from the one finger salute).

 

[MacB]

Some car drivers definitely try to 'punish' those who wait behind bikes.

and the bikes as well, if I have someone wait patiently to go by I now make the assumption that one of the cars behind them will execute a close pass. It's almost like they want to show how easily they could have passed me before going on, as you describe, to hover behind the driver they deemed to slow/hesitant.