Am I too sensitive
- Thread starter Ducknald Don
- Start date
It was definitely too close, potentially endangering you, though something I've been so used to in London that I no longer flinch or even notice.
I doubt it's intentional, a high proportion of today's drivers have never ridden a bike and fail to appreciate that cyclists can need latitude to move sideways for road surface reasons. They routinely pass other vehicles very close and don't see bikes as anything different.
If they bothered to read the Highway Code they'd learn that what they are doing is both wrong and dangerous. Text and photo from the Highway Code:
Rule 163: Give vulnerable road users at least as much space as you would a car
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I doubt it's intentional, a high proportion of today's drivers have never ridden a bike and fail to appreciate that cyclists can need latitude to move sideways for road surface reasons. They routinely pass other vehicles very close and don't see bikes as anything different.
If they bothered to read the Highway Code they'd learn that what they are doing is both wrong and dangerous. Text and photo from the Highway Code:
Rule 163: Give vulnerable road users at least as much space as you would a car
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I seem to remember reading that the EU limit was one metre on speed limited roads and one and a half on unlimited roads.
Until the Police begin prosecuting these cases we will get nowhere.
Until the Police begin prosecuting these cases we will get nowhere.
A truck driver was prosecuted last year for driving too close to a bike.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-40571699
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-40571699
Hell yes, that was too close! I'm not a militant lycra-clad road warrior, but they'd be made very aware of my displeasure at that pass...
If you don't live in the West Mids you need to start lobbying for the Close Pass Initiative to be adopted locally.
https://www.westmercia.police.uk/article/40134/Operation-Close-Pass
If you don't live in the West Mids you need to start lobbying for the Close Pass Initiative to be adopted locally.
https://www.westmercia.police.uk/article/40134/Operation-Close-Pass
Today's disaffection with car drivers...
On leaving work, I have to cycle a short way up a single-lane, one way road which has cars parked on both sides - many end-on to kerb. This much is legal. Due to the narrowness, the curve, and the likelihood of people reversing out of their spaces without looking, I tend to go down the middle of the lane.
This evening, a flaming car was driving down the middle of the road head-on towards me. Luckily, just enough space to the left for me to get by.
On leaving work, I have to cycle a short way up a single-lane, one way road which has cars parked on both sides - many end-on to kerb. This much is legal. Due to the narrowness, the curve, and the likelihood of people reversing out of their spaces without looking, I tend to go down the middle of the lane.
This evening, a flaming car was driving down the middle of the road head-on towards me. Luckily, just enough space to the left for me to get by.
But if the car was driving towards you, were you riding against the one way?
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Thanks. The reason I checked is that it's so rare for a car driver to drive the wrong way on a one way street, but quite common to see a cyclist doing that.No - I was riding perfectly legally the RIGHT way.
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Near me, in Kincardine. There's a road which is one way. It's perfectly legal to cycle against the cars. There's a sign up to that effect. However, it's strange to cycle against the one way system but it's legal. Mind you, the first time I came to it, I was emm unsure about it.
It's here. https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@56.0751247,-3.724711,3a,37.5y,147.97h,82.09t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1snzvm5hH2NA1nM3s0PUtqRQ!2e0!7i13312!8i6656?hl=en
Yes, we've got some of those in London Jim. But we've also got some cyclists who think all roads are contraflow!Near me, in Kincardine. There's a road which is one way. It's perfectly legal to cycle against the cars. There's a sign up to that effect. However, it's strange to cycle against the one way system but it's legal. Mind you, the first time I came to it, I was emm unsure about it.
It's here. https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@56.0751247,-3.724711,3a,37.5y,147.97h,82.09t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1snzvm5hH2NA1nM3s0PUtqRQ!2e0!7i13312!8i6656?hl=en
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I try, hard, to obey whatever the law is regarding transport! Largely as a matter of self-preservation and (hopefully) common decency.
Pretty darned sure I regularly fail, though. :-(
I have noticed a definate improvement in cycle awareness from drivers in general, but, on my way home the road is wide enough for cars to pass me with plenty of room and still not encroach on the centre white line which they usually do except on the left hand bend. It would seem that drivers find it difficult to navigate a left bend whilst keeping a set distance from me and or the kerb and invariably, and I am sure not deliberately, cut the corner snd give me the squeeze.
Even if you have a legal right of way many drivers will see you as just another rule breaking cyclist who doesn't pay road tax and should be squished on sight.
We're very lucky really, it could be far worse.
In China the government have changed their minds a few times on which side of the road people should drive. Officially it's on the right now.
As a result, outside of cities with clear lane markings on main roads, it's not unusual for people to drive down the middle of the road in minor urban centres and pass either side. The authorities are increasingly putting physical barriers in the centre of roads, but their drivers still tend to go wherever they see enough space.
Head ons are not unusual, as in this video.
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