Pushbike Riders!?

[mickd1961]

Where is the common courtesy shown by drivers to cyclists? In very short supply, it cuts both ways. If you are doing, say 60mph on a single carriageway road and you come up behind another car doing 45mph, should that car move off the road to let you through? No, Same as coming up behind a cyclist, wait until it is safe to pass, that means giving adequate clearance and it is a criminal offence not to give that adequate clearance. There are a few narrow lanes that I ride, most of them there is no room to pass and I have had drivers get very impatient with me for not getting out of their way; why should I, if I am doing 20mph or more on a narrow road like that I don’t think it unreasonable that anyone behind has to wait a few minutes until the end of the lane. As for tractors, occasionally one will move over for following vehicles but mostly they don’t. If I am riding up a steep hill and a car behind has no room to pass, tough, I am not going to lose what momentum I have on a steep hill by getting off to make way, only to have to restart on a steep gradient. By the way, I am a car driver too. What do you lose by giving cyclists some room and waiting for a safe place to pass, just a few seconds, what’s the rush?

I always give the single cyclist riding a third of the way into the lane loads of room Kets and take into account the effect my “wake” from a 4x4 can cause them.

I take exception to the idiots near me riding along side by side in two’s and three’s chatting to each other without any thought for the queue behind them.

If you’re riding a bike then you’re riding a bike, it’s not the place to be having a social get together along 60mph to 70mph country lanes ( in some places ) but with very limited visibility to allow an overtake.

Whenever I was on my bike as a ****ager I always rode in single file, it seems like the most sensible, safe and courteous way of behaving as a cyclist.

The frustration they cause locally is palpable.

Two and three abreast might not be illegal as such but it’s antisocial and it impedes traffic flow.

[Omegstrat6]

[QUOTE=kettering_baggie;39876727]Where is the common courtesy shown by drivers to cyclists? In very short supply, it cuts both ways. If you are doing, say 60mph on a single carriageway road and you come up behind another car doing 45mph, should that car move off the road to let you through? No, Same as coming up behind a cyclist, wait until it is safe to pass, that means giving adequate clearance and it is a criminal offence not to give that adequate clearance. There are a few narrow lanes that I ride, most of them there is no room to pass and I have had drivers get very impatient with me for not getting out of their way; why should I, if I am doing 20mph or more on a narrow road like that I don’t think it unreasonable that anyone behind has to wait a few minutes until the end of the lane. As for tractors, occasionally one will move over for following vehicles but mostly they don’t. If I am riding up a steep hill and a car behind has no room to pass, tough, I am not going to lose what momentum I have on a steep hill by getting off to make way, only to have to restart on a steep gradient. By the way, I am a car driver too. What do you lose by giving cyclists some room and waiting for a safe place to pass, just a few seconds, what’s the rush?[/QUOTE
I totally agree that there are plenty of discourteous drivers about! I am fortunate to live in a lovely coastal and rural area that obviously attracts a lot of tourists, Sunday drivers and cyclists. Living in such an area you have to accept this just as you do tractors on the roads. Lockdown also saw a lot of new cyclists on the roads and these were often less fit and slower but that was fine too. I always overtake cyclists safely and I accept that being stuck behind them only adds a few minutes normally into your journey time which is nothing in the scheme of things. However, there are those for whom you don't wait just "a few seconds" for, but rather for more than several minutes and they cause a build up of traffic behind them. In these cases (and I'm not talking about pre-arranged cycling events obviously nor the situations like you mentioned of narrow roads where there is no safe place for them to stop) is it really unreasonable that , if there is a safe place to do so, they stop briefly to let this traffic pass? I don't doubt for a second that many cyclists have experienced other road users being abusive or discourteous to them but I think some cyclists are selfish I'm afraid. I have even seen some groups deliberately move across the lane when there is no oncoming traffic and a straight piece of road that would let people overtake just to seemingly put people off overtaking. As you say, such selfishness cuts both ways.

[boingy]

Too dangerous for bicycles now. Just is. Seperate lane fine.

[Prando]

Like Kettering baggie, I also am a keen road bike cyclist averaging 70 miles a week. An OPIL (Oldie Pensioner In Lycra)
My observations are that for every discourteous driver there is sadly a discourteous cyclist. A reflection of most things in life.
I consider myself to be courteous and indeed wave as a driver who has waited to overtake me passes. I have also been subjected to intended dangerous attempts to force me into the side. Indeed into the hedgerow on one occasion.
Six of one, half a dozen of the other, but us OPILs will inevitably in most cases come of worse !

[westcountryvillain]

I'm a keen roadie too and wholeheartedly endorse what Ketts & Prando have said, there are many country lanes so I/We stick to them as much as possible, go into single file to allow a safe pass but should we find ourselves on a busy road for a few minutes then it's 2 abreast if no cycle lane. This is only to ride defensively, ie to deter a dangerous close pass - works fine and on the rare occasion of a very close call I've uttered a tirade of expletives on instinct, which isn't a good move as it'd be impossible to defend myself wearing cycling shoes!

Definitely a case of mutual respect needed.