Certainly not malice

.....just incompetence

I had two close calls in less than half a mile - first, a van overtaking
another van, coming in the opposite direction, making me brake to almost
walking pace to avoid a head on collision.

Then a driver who certainly had his or her heart in the right place.
Pity he was giving me the whole width of the road about 50 yards ahead
of where I was, not when actually passing me. When he was actually
passing me, he was so close that the 'bow wave' from his car
significantly made me wobble (I suspect his mirror passed my elbow
within 3 inches, the car was probably doing 60 mph).

I think perhaps there needs to be an information campaign on how to
safely overtake other road users.

--
From the sunny Isle of Man.
Yes, the Reply-To email address is valid.

I think perhaps there needs to be an information campaign on how to
safely overtake other road users.

Agreed. I took my driving test only two years ago. Dealing with bikes
and horses was only mentioned in the theory test, not when actually on
the road. I tend to approach a bike pretty much the same way as a
horse but not quite as slow. I think drivers need to realise they need
the same sort of caution as both of us 'don't dent', as a wonderful
campaign by a young horsewoman says.

Dylan Smith wrote:
Then a driver who certainly had his or her heart in the right place.
Pity he was giving me the whole width of the road about 50 yards ahead
of where I was, not when actually passing me. When he was actually
passing me, he was so close that the 'bow wave' from his car
significantly made me wobble (I suspect his mirror passed my elbow
within 3 inches, the car was probably doing 60 mph).

Yes, clearly a menace.

However when I'm overtaking cyclists in my car on roads with restricted visibility /and/
more vehicles behind me I keep on the right for a good way in front (if safe to do so)
because I can see the road ahead is clear and so if I'm there the vehicles behind know
they can safely use the RH side of the road when from where they are they can't see ahead
far enough to be certain.




--
Peter Fox
Beer, dancing, cycling and lots more at www.eminent.demon.co.uk

Peter Fox wrote:
Dylan Smith wrote:

Then a driver who certainly had his or her heart in the right place.
Pity he was giving me the whole width of the road about 50 yards ahead
of where I was, not when actually passing me. When he was actually
passing me, he was so close that the 'bow wave' from his car
significantly made me wobble (I suspect his mirror passed my elbow
within 3 inches, the car was probably doing 60 mph).


Yes, clearly a menace.

However when I'm overtaking cyclists in my car on roads with restricted
visibility /and/ more vehicles behind me I keep on the right for a good
way in front (if safe to do so) because I can see the road ahead is
clear and so if I'm there the vehicles behind know they can safely use
the RH side of the road when from where they are they can't see ahead
far enough to be certain.

If the leading vehicle in a line of overtakers has a sufficiently good
view of a *clear* road ahead, that is always a good idea - no matter
what is being overtaken - and as long as following drivers are quick
on the uptake.

On Oct 25, 11:05 am, Dylan Smith wrote:
....just incompetence

I had two close calls in less than half a mile - first, a van overtaking
another van, coming in the opposite direction, making me brake to almost
walking pace to avoid a head on collision.

Then a driver who certainly had his or her heart in the right place.
Pity he was giving me the whole width of the road about 50 yards ahead
of where I was, not when actually passing me. When he was actually
passing me, he was so close

I get this regularly, not necessarily cutting so close, but cars
moving away as they pass, making it fully to the right only 20 yards
ahead.

A truck driver got it right yesterday, at least as far as I was
concerned. Out at a proper passing distance as he went past, didn't
cut back in - in fact stayed out so long that he made a car coming the
other way brake sharply. Less than perfect driving, but if motorised
vehicles are going to get too close to something, it should be the one
with air bags and seat belts rather than vulnerable road users.

Rob

In article ,
says...
....just incompetence

I had two close calls in less than half a mile - first, a van overtaking
another van, coming in the opposite direction, making me brake to almost
walking pace to avoid a head on collision.

Then a driver who certainly had his or her heart in the right place.
Pity he was giving me the whole width of the road about 50 yards ahead
of where I was, not when actually passing me. When he was actually
passing me, he was so close that the 'bow wave' from his car
significantly made me wobble (I suspect his mirror passed my elbow
within 3 inches, the car was probably doing 60 mph).

I think perhaps there needs to be an information campaign on how to
safely overtake other road users.



Today it was silver Merc drivers with me - two of them. The first tried
to overtake me in London as the road was narrowing so had to pull back
over too soon. I caught him at the next traffic light and tapped on his
window to ask if he got pleasure out of reaching the red light five
seconds earlier by cutting me up. He claimed he didn't realise he'd
done it so I used the line that if he'd hit me he would have a scratch
on his paintwork while my children would have been visiting their Dad in
hospital. That seemed to connect with him and got profuse apologies.

The next silver Merc used the cycle lane line as the stop line coming
out of a side street. I stopped (deliberately) with my front wheel
against his front wing and again knocked on the window and had a
conversation.

Hopefully two silver Merc drivers will now think a little more about
cyclists but somehow I doubt it.

--
Tony

" I would never die for my beliefs because I might be wrong."
Bertrand Russell

On 25 Oct, 17:23, Tony Raven wrote:
In article ,
says...





....just incompetence

I had two close calls in less than half a mile - first, a van overtaking
another van, coming in the opposite direction, making me brake to almost
walking pace to avoid a head on collision.

Then a driver who certainly had his or her heart in the right place.
Pity he was giving me the whole width of the road about 50 yards ahead
of where I was, not when actually passing me. When he was actually
passing me, he was so close that the 'bow wave' from his car
significantly made me wobble (I suspect his mirror passed my elbow
within 3 inches, the car was probably doing 60 mph).

I think perhaps there needs to be an information campaign on how to
safely overtake other road users.

Today it was silver Merc drivers with me - two of them. The first tried
to overtake me in London as the road was narrowing so had to pull back
over too soon. I caught him at the next traffic light and tapped on his
window to ask if he got pleasure out of reaching the red light five
seconds earlier by cutting me up. He claimed he didn't realise he'd
done it so I used the line that if he'd hit me he would have a scratch
on his paintwork while my children would have been visiting their Dad in
hospital. That seemed to connect with him and got profuse apologies.

The next silver Merc used the cycle lane line as the stop line coming
out of a side street. I stopped (deliberately) with my front wheel
against his front wing and again knocked on the window and had a
conversation.

Hopefully two silver Merc drivers will now think a little more about
cyclists but somehow I doubt it.

--
Tony

" I would never die for my beliefs because I might be wrong."
Bertrand Russell- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Do you worry that someone is going to get aggressive with you when you
consider reprimanding them?

In article m, asrl07
@yahoo.co.uk says...
On 25 Oct, 17:23, Tony Raven wrote:
In article ,
says...





....just incompetence

I had two close calls in less than half a mile - first, a van overtaking
another van, coming in the opposite direction, making me brake to almost
walking pace to avoid a head on collision.

Then a driver who certainly had his or her heart in the right place.
Pity he was giving me the whole width of the road about 50 yards ahead
of where I was, not when actually passing me. When he was actually
passing me, he was so close that the 'bow wave' from his car
significantly made me wobble (I suspect his mirror passed my elbow
within 3 inches, the car was probably doing 60 mph).

I think perhaps there needs to be an information campaign on how to
safely overtake other road users.

Today it was silver Merc drivers with me - two of them. The first tried
to overtake me in London as the road was narrowing so had to pull back
over too soon. I caught him at the next traffic light and tapped on his
window to ask if he got pleasure out of reaching the red light five
seconds earlier by cutting me up. He claimed he didn't realise he'd
done it so I used the line that if he'd hit me he would have a scratch
on his paintwork while my children would have been visiting their Dad in
hospital. That seemed to connect with him and got profuse apologies.

The next silver Merc used the cycle lane line as the stop line coming
out of a side street. I stopped (deliberately) with my front wheel
against his front wing and again knocked on the window and had a
conversation.

Hopefully two silver Merc drivers will now think a little more about
cyclists but somehow I doubt it.

--
Tony

" I would never die for my beliefs because I might be wrong."
Bertrand Russell- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Do you worry that someone is going to get aggressive with you when you
consider reprimanding them?


I did have a truck driver climb out his cab to come and remonstrate with
me for not using a psyclepath once but as soon as I stood all of my
6'6" height up from my bicycle he backed off.

--
Tony

" I would never die for my beliefs because I might be wrong."
Bertrand Russell

Adam Lea wrote:
Do you worry that someone is going to get aggressive with you when you
consider reprimanding them?

stereotyping
That's black BMWs.
/stereotyping

I think I only had two 'pass too close' incidents today in about 30
miles of London riding: one from in front and one from behind. The
latter had heaps of road available but chose not to use it.

It really isn't that bad out there.

Colin McKenzie

--
No-one has ever proved that cycle helmets make cycling any safer at
the population level, and anyway cycling is about as safe per mile as
walking.
Make an informed choice - visit www.cyclehelmets.org.

Adam Lea wrote:

On 25 Oct, 17:23, Tony Raven wrote:

Hopefully two silver Merc drivers will now think a little more about
cyclists but somehow I doubt it.

Do you worry that someone is going to get aggressive with you when you
consider reprimanding them?

In my experience, if I approach people calmly and politely they react
calmly and politely.

Cheers,
Luke, driver of a silver Merc


--
Red Rose Ramblings, the diary of an Essex boy in
exile in Lancashire http://www.shrimper.org.uk