What to do with head-on approaches?

[summerdays]

It's a tough one, isn't it? You can either keep left and accept that you'll get very close very fast passes, and have to dive into the ditch regularly, or you can take the middle of the lane and force them to a near stop before going left to make a safe pass.

The second option is my choice, and although it seems like chicken, it doesn't quite have to be. Provided you have a little bit of pace, enough that you can manoeuvre very quickly (and you've practised this), you can then hold the lane and if they really don't look like they are going to stop, you can flick the bike over to the left to avoid any collision.

I agree. I haven't that much rural lane riding under my belt on those sort of narrow roads, but in the city that is my normal approach on narrow parked up roads - primary (whilst being aware where my bail out is), at least it normally forces them to reduce their passing speed to something more sensible for the size of the gap.

You don't have to hold primary up until the last second ... just by being in primary means they hopefully see you earlier and realise that there isn't enough space to pass you safely, until both of you adjust your speed/position.

 

[Mugshot]

I usually hold primary and its very very rare that other vehicles dont stop, particularly at the moment as I have a number of very bright lights. If they keep coming on the single track I'll stop in the middle of the road, on the lane and a half I'll keep moving towards them then swing round them when, hopefully, theyve slowed or stopped. I have had somebody refuse to yield where there was barely room for the two of us to pass, for some reason their wing mirror fell off as I went past.
It can be a little unnerving and I'm not looking to be a dead hero but their inconvenience for the sake of waiting a couple of seconds is less concerning to me than the inconvenience it would cause me to try to climb a hedge, as I think someone else just said, I remind myself that theres almost certainly no other vehicle/mode of transport they'd try to bully past.

 

[BentMikey]

I usually hold primary and its very very rare that other vehicles dont stop, particularly at the moment as I have a number of very bright lights. If they keep coming on the single track I'll stop in the middle of the road, on the lane and a half I'll keep moving towards them then swing round them when, hopefully, theyve slowed or stopped. I have had somebody refuse to yield where there was barely room for the two of us to pass, for some reason their wing mirror fell off as I went past.
It can be a little unnerving and I'm not looking to be a dead hero but their inconvenience for the sake of waiting a couple of seconds is less concerning to me than the inconvenience it would cause me to try to climb a hedge, as I think someone else just said, I remind myself that theres almost certainly no other vehicle they'd try to bully past.

LOL, really?

 

[Mugshot]

Honestly, it was very strange

 

[fossyant]

Depends upon your nerve also to being able to carry this off. I had a guy in a new Landy coming towards me on the wrong side of the road due to parked cars, he had seen me but chose to pull out. I didn't move off line, carried on towards him, he then slowed as I snook down the inside at the last minute.

 

[jarlrmai]

I have one on my route, just after a slight downhill (doing 20-23)

Parked cars (school drop offs) on the other side of the road, my right of way, badly cut up road surface on the left with a road junction on the left just after, gotta take primary there and just be prepared to stop if they keep coming.

 

[slowmotion]

I hold my position until the "Oh sh1t!" moment and then head for the gutter/verge/pavement sharpish, being quite prepared to abandon the bike in the process. I guess the OSM varies from person to person. I quite like being alive.

 

[400bhp]

This guy did not want to stop, and if I hadn't taken the lane I'm certain he'd have bullied past me. What you can't see in the video is the very dirty look he gave me as I went past his window.

This is exactly the right thing to do.

Drivers will not wantonly ride through you when they have had time to think.

 

[mickle]

They have no intention of running onto cyclists - think of the inconvenience! - they're playing chicken because it gives them a thrill and they 'know' we'll jump out of the way. I used to commute down a narrow urban road lined with parked cars. When i drove it oncoming drivers would treat me as an equal, pulling in, flashing etc. when i rode my bike along the same stretch theyd farking speed up! Expecting me to duck in between parked cars. daffodils.

Let me tell you, they do stop. And if you stand there long enough they back up too!

 

[slowmotion]

This is exactly the right thing to do.

Drivers will not wantonly ride through you when they have had time to think.

Yeah, maybe. The problem is that some of them have no intention of thinking.

 

[400bhp]

They do (everyone does) given enough time.

In this situation, try and ride nonchalantly if that makes sense. No finger pointing, hand gestures-nothing to show agression. Just ride like you should be there.

This probably doesn't make much sense but that's the picture I paint in my mind.

 

[slowmotion]

They do (everyone does) given enough time..

They sometimes don't have enough time. They are too busy not thinking.

 

[Guyincognito76]

If people are in a hurry then smashing in to a cyclist is certainly going to hold them up, drivers probably realise this despite their gestations.

 

[ufkacbln]

 

[Boris Bajic]

This brutal and aggressive imagery is typical of the sort of cyclo-vigilantes one finds on these pages. Utterly typical!

I fear that this contraption sends out all the wrong messages.

A machine gun rarely brings harmony and the vehicle it's mounted on is not a proper bicycle.

Despite almost certainly paying no Road Tax, at least the chap has the good sense to wear a helmet. Is he Welsh?

Further to which, I fear that mounting the front legs of the tripod ahead of the steerer will have a significant and negative effect on handling.