The keep back hand signal

[Jaguar]

if you wave and something happens you will get blamed by the driver.

Sure. Although it still wouldn't make any accident my fault (they still have to take responsibility for their decision to accept my offer to pass).

I only wave them on if there was nothing in front of me, unlike drivers who flash someone to turn in front of them, without checking for cyclists at kerbside

 

[byegad]

My take on this is ..........

If you tell drivers to wait behind with a hand signal, then you should also tell them when its safe to pass as well.

On my recumbent trike and I've got traffic behind, I tend to wave cars past if I think its safe, then give them a wave as a thank you for waiting.
But I also tend not to use a wait signal unless its critical as then I think it puts the onus on me to wave them past.

The other thing I do, is give lorries/artics a thumbs up as to when its safe to pull back it.

Me too. I tend to acknowledge a safe driver whether he passes me or waits if either is appropriate.

I'm constantly amazed by people who overtake completely blind. I had one go past me the other day on a humped back bridge. It certainly made me think as I drive that road frequently and if there was two of me, the one cycling and another driving the other way, he could have hit me head on and he passed me, if you see what I mean. Very worrying that these people are out alone.

 

[clarion]

I signalled for a car to keep back at the weekend. Regularly do it. In that case, I could see a car hidden from the driver by a bend. I got a wave as the car finally dod go past.

I don't tend to wave drivers through, but, when it might be reasonable to overtake, I'll often move from primary to a secondary position, which they often take as a signal to go through. It's up to them to judge the hazard from that point.

 

[Matthames]

Me too. I tend to acknowledge a safe driver whether he passes me or waits if either is appropriate.

I'm constantly amazed by people who overtake completely blind. I had one go past me the other day on a humped back bridge. It certainly made me think as I drive that road frequently and if there was two of me, the one cycling and another driving the other way, he could have hit me head on and he passed me, if you see what I mean. Very worrying that these people are out alone.

I have a bridge on my route that has both a blind entrance and blind exit going both ways. You have no idea what is going to be coming the other way on that bridge until you are actually on it. To make matters worse it is also rather narrow. On the approach going both ways I will always take a primary position, which discourages nearly all but the terminally stupid from overtaking.

I have used the keep back sign to good effect on some impatient drivers. I also use it if I am merging into traffic because I am doing traffic speeds. Sometimes if the driver doesn't let me merge I wait till they have gone past and try the driver behind, by which time I would be at the same speed as the traffic and can easily slip into the gap.

 

[wesa]

clarion - you weren't anywhere near Cheltenham were you?

 

[clarion]

No, That there london village.

 

[Bigsharn]

The only times I use the "hold back" signal is if there's an emergency vehicle ahead, though York's roads are a lot narrower than most

 

[Matthames]

There is always one who is going to ignore your keep back signal, I had that one today. Coming up to a roundabout I had impatient wvm behind me. On the rab was this car, the car wasn't indicating, it would have been easy to assume the car was going straight on, however the positioning didn't tally, so I had to be cautious. It turned out the car was taking 3rd exit, so I had to stop. Impatient wvm took advantage of the situation and tried to squeeze me of the rab, partly because I had taken my eye off the ball by shouting at the car driver about using indicators.

 

[661-Pete]

I used a 'keep back' yesterday, quite emphatically, on a lorry driver that looked to be thinking of overtaking me on a blind bend, fairly narrow road. I got a brief 'toot' in reply, but I'll be charitable here, I think it was in acknowledgement of my signal rather than a sign of aggression. Anyway, he kept back for a few yards until we got to a straight where I waved him on. His overtake of me was exemplary, plenty of room, no sign of impatience. Job done I think! Maybe my 'keep back' was superfluous, but if he was going to hold back anyway, it wouldn't have done any harm.

Indeed, if I'm the one at the wheel, I don't feel in the slightest offended if a cyclist gives me the 'keep back'! I'll assume he has a good reason for it.