Very close police car overtake...

[hackbike 666]

If that was me when accosted with this sort of situation I generally get well out of the way...If it isn't a cop car normally it's a normal car diving out of the way behind me which is a danger.

Yes I know this isn't applicable in this situation.

I have read and seen too many horror stories of this sort of thing.

Also have come across some dodgy driving at times.

 

[Jezston]

Yes but where is the video?

 

[hackbike 666]

Yes but where is the video?

He's taken it off for now.

 

[Jezston]

 

[Panter]

To be fair, he didn't actually do that.

No, but if BM had fallen to the side.

Ok, it's unlikely that he would havw done but had it been me, first time out on a 'bent, it's a distinct possibility.

 

[CopperBrompton]

It's way too close to be able to compensate for a wobbly cyclist

Mike was stationary.

 

[Crankarm]

No, but if BM had fallen to the side.

Ok, it's unlikely that he would havw done but had it been me, first time out on a 'bent, it's a distinct possibility.

A big if. There are a lot of ifs in this thread.

 

[GrasB]

Mike was stationary.

Which would make any flinch which would produce wobble into an almost certain off.

A big if. There are a lot of ifs in this thread.

Incidents generally can't be contributed directly to one single thing. There is almost certainly a single major contributing factor but there are a also lot of "ifs" that don't usually happen all together but at that particular time did. The result if them coming together is an incident.

 

[GrasB]

It's people that don't take account of the "what ifs" which make the roads more dangerous by simply ignoring what could happen. Yes it's rare & unusual but it happens, I've been chatting to someone at some lights, they've flinched fallen over, that could have happened to BM. Thus it's an if. As I said incidents are a pile of what ifs that happen at an inopportune time.

 

[GrasB]

No, it's people that take into account the ''what if'' scenarios that make the roads more dangerous for people that don't account for them.

You could go on all day about ''what if's'' and still come to the same conclusion and on this basis - it's bollox.

If you believe that please do the general public a favor and surrender your driving licence!

 

[thomas]

No, it's people that take into account the ''what if'' scenarios that make the roads more dangerous for people that don't account for them.

You could go on all day about ''what if's'' and still come to the same conclusion and on this basis - it's bollox.

Surely, "what if" is just anticipation? "What if" that car pulls out...Well, I'll adjust my speed and keep and eye on them just in case...

 

[GrasB]

Now you're talking about theoretical what ifs based on no sound scenario which can't be assessed. What I'm talking about is what if...
... what if that person does lose their balance?
... that car decides to push through against priority?
... someone comes round that corner on the wrong side of the road?
... that child runs across the road?
... there's someone I can't see behind that parked car?
These are immediate & assessable risks which can be negated with to some degree or another.

 

[BentMikey]

When I manage to get around the Adobe rendering problem, I'll include a new version of the video clip that shows other cars managing overtakes with acceptable distance.

There's no excuse for the police car coming that close, to try to say that was OK is contemptible. I was leaning over towards the kerb at quite an angle, because I was afraid of perhaps having a clipless moment and falling towards the road and the police car.

 

[Tynan]

something stopped doesn't wobble, and the police driver is a trained expert surely, usual rules don;t apply, as much

 

[CopperBrompton]

I think we're all in broad agreement that we all need to drive and cycle with regard to anticipating what might happen, and I suspect we could also agree that we are often called upon to determine what is a likely scenario and what is an extremely unlikely one.

Where we may disagree is on the likelihood of Mike falling over in this scenario.

What I saw from the video was an alert cyclist with excellent road-sense spotting the police car in his mirrors a long way ahead, choosing a very sensible place to stop (a long way before the island) and leaning a considerable distance in the direction of the pavement. My assessment of that would be that the likelihood of him falling away from his direction of lean into the road was vanishingly close to zero, while the chances of the oncoming traffic doing something unpredictable was considerably more likely.