What's your opinion with Bad overtakes?

[Randombiker9]

I'm less sensitive to it now. If I'm out with somebody who's much newer to cycling, they'll often get really riled up by a pass which I scarcely notice. It can be annoying, but I think it's really important to not let it spoil your ride.

A driver made a really stupid overtake when I was going along the seafront in Brighton last year. He passed me, and then immediately turned left, nearly missed his turning, and only just missed the central island, tyres screeching. If not for the pedestrians waiting to cross who he would have killed, I would have wished he hadn't quite made the turn!

Time to change the law, stupid cycle hating courts, slapped wrists for motorists and though justice for cyclists.

My view now is that those stupid signs on the backs of lorries are a pre-admission of liability, the 'Danger - do not pass on inside'. I saw one today on a Thames Water transit van, and intend to take it up with them. Why should they tell us that we cannot lawfully filter in towns? How can one vehicle prevent others from going about their lawful business, by claiming to be incompetent or dangerous?

Is Oxford part of Thames valley? because I see a lot of Thames Water vans around my area sometimes and I live in Reading which is also Thames Valley.

Yeah bikes aren't the only veichles that filter motorbikes do as well

 

[Clanghead]

My son, who's a keen cyclist, picked up a "minor" during his driving test in July for waiting too long to overtake a cyclist, as he wanted to ensure there was enough room to do safely. Now I wasn't there so I don't know the full details, but it would be concerning if examiners are told to mark people down for being careful around vulnerable road users.

 

[KnackeredBike]

My son, who's a keen cyclist, picked up a "minor" during his driving test in July for waiting too long to overtake a cyclist, as he wanted to ensure there was enough room to do safely. Now I wasn't there so I don't know the full details, but it would be concerning if examiners are told to mark people down for being careful around vulnerable road users.

Without being rude it sounds slightly like an urban myth. What was the minor for? How does your son know it was for when he was overtaking the cyclist?

AFAIK you can get a minor for failing to make reasonable progress but that would imply the examiner saw a clear opportunity to overtake which your son didn't - which is subjunctive but perhaps the experience of the examiner is likely to be more reliable than a learner driver.

 

[Randy Butternubs]

I find the emphasis on making progress in the driving test quite worrying. Ok, I realise they need to test people's ability to drive at 'normal' speed and need to stop people from deliberately driving as slow as possible in order to get an easy pass; but my driving instructor told me I needed to be at or nudging the speed limit at all times. Others I've spoken to say the same thing. Thankfully we (almost always) have no minimum speed limit in the UK but we are training drivers to behave as though we do; to believe that slow road-user's are irresponsible and even dangerous.

 

[slowmotion]

It's all in your mind. I was once passed so closely that, while gripping the brake hoods, I could have extended my small finger and it would have brushed the side window of the driver's car. Annoying, but it didn't bother me that much. Another time, a mixer truck squeezed me increasingly into the side of the road. As you watch the gap narrow, you think "am I going under the back wheels, or will it eventually get past me before that moment"?

When that death vision adrenaline kicks in, I tend to be less than entirely civil. It's not ideal, but it gets it out of the system.

 

[Shut Up Legs]

Without being rude it sounds slightly like an urban myth. What was the minor for? How does your son know it was for when he was overtaking the cyclist?

AFAIK you can get a minor for failing to make reasonable progress but that would imply the examiner saw a clear opportunity to overtake which your son didn't - which is subjunctive but perhaps the experience of the examiner is likely to be more reliable than a learner driver.

Or perhaps the learner, being a cyclist, saw the safety issue that the examiner failed to spot.

 

[MikeG]

In Australia, laws were added in a few states specifying exact distances motorists must give when overtaking cyclists. Guess what? The laws are NOT being enforced!

I can't even begin to think of how on earth such laws could ever be enforced. Perhaps you could suggest how the distance of each pass might be measured and recorded in such a manner as will stand up to scrutiny in court?

 

[Clanghead]

Without being rude it sounds slightly like an urban myth. What was the minor for? How does your son know it was for when he was overtaking the cyclist?

My son told me when he got home after his test - as far as I know, he didn't spread it around, so I'm not sure it classifies as an urban myth.

He knows it was for when he was overtaking the cyclist because the examiner told him it was for when he was overtaking the cyclist (too cautiously).

As I said - I wasn't there, so I only have my son's word for it.

 

[Randombiker9]

Laser measures on bikes ridden by police officers. That's how they do it in the USA (e.g. Portland, Oregon)

A similar system has been trialled/used in several police areas in the UK, albeit that those who overtake badly were warned rather than prosecuted.

Aren't Police on bikes ussually more PCSO's? as in my area I've never seen a policeman on a bike but I've seen PCSO's on bikes.
(But then I've never seen a police motorbike in my area either as well)

 

[Randombiker9]

Just wondering do drivers sometimes honk at you to test your patience to try to get a reaction from you? as earlier when I was cycling around I was going straight I looked back (just checking behind me) and the car driver honked and then when I continued looking forward he decided to overtake me closely and then afterwards he just drived normally.
(I didn't say anything so was he trying to test patience/try to get reaction) and didn't get one so just decided to drive normally afterwards?

 

[CUBE CRD]

It seems to be a universal law that drivers give cyclists the same room that cyclists give themselves from the curb. Yesterday I was riding very close to the edge and a car passed me very close, barely moving out. I just know that if I had been using my normal position, the driver would have overtaken me like normal, with more clearance.

This is something i noticed over the years too,even on quieter roads.The closer i stayed to the kerb / verge,the more likely a car would try and squeeze past leaving very little room.
Staying out a metre from the side made them slow down and think before they attempted the overtake.

 

[Fonze]

Where I live 95% of people are really good when it comes to overtaking , I struggle to understand those that come so close when the opposite lane is empty and nothing oncoming.

 

[petek]

Yesterday a front passenger from an overtaking car screamed at me to "Get over to the f*****g side."
The 'side' being an unkerbed edge crumbling away into a dyke.
Plank!

 

[Drago]

Did you not shout back, "get on the f*****g motorway!"

 

[Ming the Merciless]

Or "Why don't you get off your fat arse, or no you can't!"