Yet another old git tries to run me off the road

[Rhythm Thief]

Crankarm old chap, I hope you'll take my post in the manner I intend it - as friendly and caring, but also fair and honest advice.

Ho ho ho.

 

[Arch]

It all depends how many miles you ride, where and when you ride, don't you think? If you are like a few posters on here who may well be retired old duffers then cycling a few miles during the day is not going to be as hazardous as cycling in either the morning or evening rush. Having said that the said incident in my OP happened at about 3:15pm on a saturday after noon.

Well, I'm certainly not retired, and I don't know if 40 counts as an 'old duffer'. I commute through town daily, on two different commutes, with a couple of options for each route. Traffic lights, narrow city streets, mini roundabouts and suburban streets, daylight and dark, sun and rain. Sorry, no dual carriageways or big roundabouts, but I'm not moving just for the joy of including those. I don't know what I have to do to be qualified to advise people, clearly the fact that I haven't been killed yet is a pure freak of luck....

 

[shunter]

An intriguing thread on so many levels. Crankarm, at what age does one become old enough to qualify as an "old git" and therefore unsuitable for driving? Do you have an upper age limit for cycling as well?

I'm sure Crankarm was not saying all old people were gits. He was just distinguishing between a young git and an old git. Therefore if all old people are not old gits but rather some old people are old gits then it is this small number who are unsuitable for driving. Simples !!

 

[thomas]

It seems to be par for the course on here that people who post get flamed. I remember poor Thomas or Joe, I can't remember now, who I think posted a similar sort of post some months back about being dangerously close passed and he was unceremoniously flamed by the forum Mafia who concluded it was his own fault. Poor guy.

Do you mean this? The feedback on that from memory was mainly, that I should of kept my strong position, rather than ending up where I dropped back to, and that when it happened it may have been safer to have slowed down and dropped back behind the car.

These weren't flames, just suggestions for stopping the same thing happening in the future, or being safer in the future. I don't think anyone blamed me for it - everyone agreed the driver was a moron.

I disagree with the slowing down thing that was suggested.

I do agree that if I had stayed further out in the road I would have potentially stopped him from doing it. I was also going at the speed of traffic (wanting to go faster) so would not have inconvenienced anyone.

There are times when 'primary' is not necessary and will just cause issues....when you're bombing along like you said you were it is appropriate to use it.

I'll generally use primary on any duel carriageway, so that people have to use the outside lane to overtake me. I'll also use it when people can't overtake me safely and I feel that they will try regardless (eg. rush hour, along busy roads). On the ring road (where the video happened), I will generally be a bit into the road, however the road is wide enough that it won't stop cars passing but gives me that extra confidence that they have seen me.

It's all about how you feel comfortable. Ultimately, primary or not, we all have issues on the road.

 

[shunter]

I'll generally use primary on any duel carriageway, so that people have to use the outside lane to overtake me. I'll also use it when people can't overtake me safely and I feel that they will try regardless (eg. rush hour, along busy roads). On the ring road (where the video happened), I will generally be a bit into the road, however the road is wide enough that it won't stop cars passing but gives me that extra confidence that they have seen me.

It's all about how you feel comfortable. Ultimately, primary or not, we all have issues on the road.

Whilst I agree in essence, there are still roads were, in my opinion, the converse is the best plan at times. I think it is better to arm yourself with all these tactics and judge the road and the overall behaviour of the surrounding drivers at any moment and use your experience when chosing either to adopt the primary position or not. Sometimes the same road on different days requires a different approach. Perhaps this feeling of comfort you mention is your acquired experience agreeing with your decision. As much as I don't like it, I have to accept that car drivers regard two wheeled powered or man-powered vehicles as second class citizens on the road. Until that changes, I ride defensively and sensibly but still in an aggressive manner that asserts my right to be on the road.

Hard and fast rules cover black and white situations but sometimes it can be 'safer' - in a fashion - to deliberately take a secondary position thus allowing for closer passes because you know you are in peak rush hour traffic with less experienced christmas shoppers in the middle of it all !

There is a long dual carriageway on my way home where it is much safer to ride closer to the side as vehicle speeds can get up to 60mph. Further on it makes more sense to adopt a more primary position.

Much the same as when the school run brigade hit the rush hour after their long summer break - it is mayhem for weeks until they get up to speed in their driving skills again.

 

[XmisterIS]

I just read the OP - if that happened to me, God help the bastard if I caught up with him! It's in situations like that that the red mist comes down for me ...

 

[Weegie]

I just read the OP - if that happened to me, God help the bastard if I caught up with him! It's in situations like that that the red mist comes down for me ...

That's the aspect of the original post that bothers me. Of course, the Fiesta driver is a certified dickhead. But by trying to chase him down for a "friendly discussion", Crank was adding fuel to the fire. The Fiesta was then driven aggressively in an attempt to escape, narrowly missing several cars. How would Crank have felt if the Fiesta had mowed down an innocent pedestrian?

Surely it's better in these situations to take a deep breath, note down the license, and report to the police. Acting on "red mist" will only lead to escalation and a more dangerous situation.

 

[tdr1nka]

That's the aspect of the original post that bothers me. Of course, the Fiesta driver is a certified dickhead. But by trying to chase him down for a "friendly discussion", Crank was adding fuel to the fire. The Fiesta was then driven aggressively in an attempt to escape, narrowly missing several cars. How would Crank have felt if the Fiesta had mowed down an innocent pedestrian?

Surely it's better in these situations to take a deep breath, note down the license, and report to the police. Acting on "red mist" will only lead to escalation and a more dangerous situation.

+1

This is exactly why I was suggesting that Crankarm either hold the road in primary, making it impossible for the overtake or seeing the driver was that impatient, simply pull to one side and let them pass.

It's when both the cyclist and the driver get pig headed about these things that they escalate into needlessly overblown situations.

 

[thomas]

Whilst I agree in essence, there are still roads were, in my opinion, the converse is the best plan at times. I think it is better to arm yourself with all these tactics and judge the road and the overall behaviour of the surrounding drivers at any moment and use your experience when chosing either to adopt the primary position or not.

Certainly! Same course of action, day from day on the same road may be different. I just gave what I generally would do.

 

[XmisterIS]

That's the aspect of the original post that bothers me. Of course, the Fiesta driver is a certified dickhead. But by trying to chase him down for a "friendly discussion", Crank was adding fuel to the fire. The Fiesta was then driven aggressively in an attempt to escape, narrowly missing several cars. How would Crank have felt if the Fiesta had mowed down an innocent pedestrian?

Surely it's better in these situations to take a deep breath, note down the license, and report to the police. Acting on "red mist" will only lead to escalation and a more dangerous situation.

That's true ... but it depends what mood I'm in at the time ...