To the lady driving the black Audi...

[Arch]

Thank you, that was very thoughtful.

Me approching a junction with traffic lights which were red, in a painted bike lane, said lady in Audi pulled out of her driveway, and edged the bonnet into the road across the bike lane to join the queued traffic once it moved off. I was already slowing for the lights and she was only about 2 cars back from the front of the queue anyway, so not stopping me from making too much progress.

But she looked up and saw me approaching, waved an apology, and then (having noticed and waited for the pedestrians now walking behind her car) reversed back into her drive to clear the bike lane for me to filter past.

Some might say she shouldn't have edged out anyway, but I suspect it's a tricky drive to get out of, being close to the corner, on a road that always has queueing traffic at peak times. Anyway, smiles and waves all round, and I went on my way happy. There are decent folk out there.

 

[BSRU]

Thank you, that was very thoughtful.

Me approching a junction with traffic lights which were red, in a painted bike lane, said lady in Audi pulled out of her driveway, and edged the bonnet into the road across the bike lane to join the queued traffic once it moved off. I was already slowing for the lights and she was only about 2 cars back from the front of the queue anyway, so not stopping me from making too much progress.

But she looked up and saw me approaching, waved an apology, and then (having noticed and waited for the pedestrians now walking behind her car) reversed back into her drive to clear the bike lane for me to filter past.

Some might say she shouldn't have edged out anyway, but I suspect it's a tricky drive to get out of, being close to the corner, on a road that always has queueing traffic at peak times. Anyway, smiles and waves all round, and I went on my way happy. There are decent folk out there.

I think the vast majority of road users are decent folk, unfortunately the bad ones are more memorable.

 

[Arch]

I think the vast majority of road users are decent folk, unfortunately the bad ones are more memorable .

Indeed. There's a saying in retail - serve a customer well, they might tell one friend. Serve them badly, they'll tell 10.

We do tend to remember and comment on the worst - makes it all the more important to remember to comment on the best sometimes.

 

[2Loose]

It is nice to see this happen, I have a cycle lane on the way to work which passes several lay-by's outside shops and several junctions. The cars edge out of the junctions to see past the cars in the lay-by's and their bonnets stick into the cycle lane so they can see. about half of them (seriously, about 50%!) will reverse a foot or so to let bikes in the lane get past without forcing them to move around them into the busy traffic lane.

I always put my hand up and smile at them...but it is shortly forgotten as I get into the rat run lanes and the scowl sets in.

Thanks for reminding me that I do regularly, as opposed to rarely, see lovely considerate drivers.

 

[Maz]

It's great when that happens. Courtesy goes a long way for sure.

 

[Chutzpah]

I generally forgive quickly if a driver spots they're making an error and apologise. Even SMIDSYs who nearly pull out at junctions but spot you at the last minute and (sincerely) apologises.

We all make mistakes - I know I do (both cycling and driving).

I'll usually put my hand up as they eventually safely pass too. The way I look at it is that if you show them that you're happy to forgive and forget then hopefully they'll harbour no grudges to the next cyclist they come across down the road.

 

[hackbike 666]

I love happy endings Johnboy.

 

[ComedyPilot]

Karma.

Pass it on.

 

[jimboalee]

Wow! That is worth writing home about. An Audi driver being nice,,,,

Chances are she was still drunk from the previous evening's piss up, and thought she saw a threatening looking middle-aged bloke on a rusty old ladies bike.

 

[annedonnelly]

And I had some guys in a white van at a t-junction reverse a little so I could cross the road in front of them - on the cycle path - as they could see it was going to take them a while to get out onto the busy main road.

 

[clarion]

Karma.

Pass it on.

So many people receive kindness from Arch anyway, that I am sure it will be passed on.


This thread reminds me that a B*W, of all cars, pulled in to the side of the road (travelling uphill) to give me space to descend this morning.

I was so wrapped up in going over an incident a couple of seconds prior, where I had nearly been knocked off by an impatient self-gratification artist) that I ungraciously forgot to thank the driver for this unforced generosity.

 

[magnatom]

I quite often see cars edging out of streets and driveways onto a lane on a road I take. I don't blame them, as lines of sight can sometimes be difficult on this road. Who, I do blame is the person who put the lane there in the first place. It is destined to lead to conflict.

Of course, I don't use said lane.

 

[skudupnorth]

Nice start to the day ! Wish all motorists were as thoughtful.

 

[cd365]

I was out Tuesday night, cycling down a 40MPH road I need to move into a lane that was turning right, so I looked over my shoulders a couple of times a couple of cars went past, then a youngish lad, early 20's probably, in his boy racer car slowed traffic down and flashed me so I could safely move across, I was impressed. Especially since it had been a bad night with a few close shaves up to that point.

last night, same place I thought it was going to happen again, but nope, they just decided what they would do was move into the right turn lane, shoot past me and pull back into the lane I was in further up the road, she had even seen me look direct at her twice.

From taking my driving lessons many years ago i was taught that if I cyclist kept looking behind them it was probably because they wanted to change lanes, do they not teach that common sense anymore?

 

[clarion]

Most motorists seem to think that if you look back at them, it's OK to overtake. I have no idea where they get that notion from, but it is frighteningly prevalent.