[Closed] When did overtaking bikes on the wrong side of the road

Just makes me feel alive, I guess.

Drivers generally don't know how to overtake cyclists generally. Twice last week I had long vehicles start an overtake they couldn't finish and then pull back in before they'd actually passed me.

Drivers generally don't know how to overtake [s]cyclists[/s] generally. Twice last week ...

There's a spot near us, although it's wide and flat, the middle is chevrons as there are 3 junctions within few hundred yards, and a couple of farm turnings. 🙄

are people really that stupid?

The amount of suspect/dangerous overtaking I see when I'm cycling up from Abinger Hammer to Holmbury is staggering. Blind bends and narrow roads don't seem to bother most drivers, least of all those in vans or huge 4x4s.

I think some people lack the cognitive ability to distinguish between a video game and real life... seriously... the obvious risk of injury and death from some driving manoeuvres appears to be not obvious at all to some people...

There's a theory I heard about of 'risk appetite' - we've evolved to live with a certain amount of risk/threat to survival but for most people these days, life is very, very safe - all the safety features and the sheer size of modern cars is just one example.

So life is very boring for many people. Some go and seek out the risk - participate in risky sports like rock climbing, base jumping, skydiving, mountain biking etc, but for those who don't do this, driving in a dangerous manner is one of the few routes left for a shot of adrenaline...

Of course, the safer cars get, the more you have to push your driving...

Years ago I jumped out of planes every weekend and it was interesting, in both my own experience and watching others, how the basic 'falling through the air' thing lost it's appeal after a while - you got used to the risk - so you started to do other things... free flying, formation, pulling low, swoops etc... to get the buzz back. In a sport like that where the risk is so high, you're aware you're doing it. But I don't think Joe Public has that kind of self awareness...

Exactly where I was once on the way there then again on the way home. Best example was a range rover coming up the hill to newlands corner on the wrong side of the road at the sharp blind bend trying to overtake a climbing roadie, I'm doing 40 ish so is he, nearly had me that one, he missed my car by inches the stupid C word..

are people really that stupid?

Yup. Today come round a corner to find some twerp doing just this, slam all on, toot the horn, nearly go into the ditch. Once he's by the car behind him proceeds to do exactly the same thing!!!

Muppet Audi driver,pulls out of junction in front of me (i was driving a vehicle), about 20 cyclists in front of me, the reason i was going slow and leaving a space, muppet pulls into space, then decides to overtake the cyclists on a road with parked cars the other side so limited space, and almost hits a white van coming towards him and almost taking out the lead cyclists.

Lavister near wrexham, grey audi.

Few years ago on a club run whilst making our way along a quiet, high banked lane in a Surrey a vehicle decided to overtake us on a blind corner. Vehicle coming in the opposite direction (at some speed but had done nothing wrong) with no where else to go had to swing off the road hitting the bank. This acted much like a ramp. Vehicle just about managed to land with its wheels the right side up.

Also, early one morning on my commute into work some muppet decided try an overtake me. Only problem being the traffic island in the middle of which the driver hit at about 30mph.

Driving back from peaslake today, I nearly hit a car overtaking a cyclist on a blind corner. Still had enough control while braking to flip the bird 😀

I think there's some case law on this.

Not dangerous.

Exactly where I was once on the way there then again on the way home. Best example was a range rover coming up the hill to newlands corner on the wrong side of the road at the sharp blind bend trying to overtake a climbing roadie, I'm doing 40 ish so is he, nearly had me that one, he missed my car by inches the stupid C word..

There was much similar behaviour between Westcott & Abinger too. I think folk fail to understand that if you can't see that it's safe to overtake, it probably isn't.

I think the surrey classic had quite a few roadies out which obviously infuriates a certain type of driver. The oddest thing is if you time it you are actually slowed down for a few seconds maybe a minute tops, what is so important that it's worth having a head on collision for on a Sunday morning?

Worse still, it seems most police forces now have a policy of NOT tracing these people down for a "chat" about their standard of driving.

Not sure how anyone can do anything to re-educate these people.

Only thing for it is compulsory retesting (at a higher than L test standard) for all drivers.

I see so much stupid driving these days it's unreal. I try to take particular care to observe whilst I'm driving and have a high degree of anticipation, which of course makes me a fantastic driver and I never do anything wrong.

So much so, I've just ordered a RoadHawk. Can one take a video into the police to try to get them to have a word?

as nedrapier suggests, [url= http://www.darkerside.org/2013/10/helen-measures-and-the-death-of-denisa/ ]you can do what the **** you like[/url]

We had a 'fun' one on the club run today - driver tries repeatedly to shove his way into the group from a side road (12 riders, all coming down a fast descent so fairly spread out) he pushed his car further and further into the road to the point that by the time I came down I had to take to the white line to avoid piling straight into the side of his car. I was shouting 'no, no, no!' to get him to stop driving out, for which I got the coffee bean shake 😯
Even when I drive I get scared these days by all the close calls. I'm glad I live in London so barely need to use the car

[s]Muppet[/s] Audi driver,

This is why I have a forward facing camera in the car!

The really worrying thing is - if a driver is going to have a head on collision with another car and there's some cyclists on the inside of them then what are the likely to do?
A) Have the head on crash?
B) Pull in to the cyclists?

A or B probably doesn't matter - do you want to be taken out by a car or by flying bits of car?

To be fair I've seen more people (like, *lots*) have a really good crack at A than B. I've even seen one driver force the oncoming driver to bail out onto the pavement - sounded like they took out their sump as I rode past, but fortunately no pedestrians.

Seems to be standard practice around here. You can ride a road with one bend in it and someone will come along and overtake you on it.

It's funny, they'll give you LOADS of space too. Totally mental behaviour. I think it scares me more in the car than it does on the bike. At least on the bike I can dive into the bushes if I hear anyone coming. In the car it's likely to come without warning.

I'd avoid Holme Moss for the next few weeks if you don't enjoy idiots driving straight at you on the wrong side of the road. I've never seen so much crap driving on one road as I did this morning. Some of the riding was ridiculous too - why do some roadies think it's okay to simply stop and stand across the road on a semi-blind crest. Bonkers.

overtaking on blind corners and blind crests are so common now it doesn't register with me anymore. A new favourite (for me) is the follow my leader overtake as if a moving bike is a parked car forcing the oncoming traffic to stop at same time failing to realize I'm also moving too ! 😯

it's not dangerous it's called making progress....

Must overtake

Apparently, there's a legend/rumour amongst car drivers that every time they sit behind a cyclist for more than 3 seconds, their penis shrinks by an inch.

Roadie killed a couple of days ago near me in Salisbury on a straight hill crest by a lorry pulling in on an incomplete overtaking manoeuvre.

No doubt the driver will get a £5 fine if any and be allowed to carry on driving dangerously.

All of the above.

It's becoming such a common occurrence, I just can't comprehend how these people's thought processes work. If it was a slow moving car / tractor / traction engine / whatever, would it present them a similar opportunity to cheat the consequences? I guess these are the same clowns who bundle past OAPs or pushchairs in the supermarket because they're in such a life threatening hurry that they can't possibly be held up.

Couple of years back I got hooted at then pushed past on an A road, over double white lines on a crest. When I caught the driver at the traffic lights about 200 yards further on and politely asked what had warranted the horn, I was advised I was "holding up traffic". If I recall correctly, I may have have firmly suggested that I was, actually, "traffic".

Until that level of ignorance and perceived class system is sorted, we'll sadly get no further with this.

I'd avoid Holme Moss for the next few weeks if you don't enjoy idiots driving straight at you on the wrong side of the road.

Ditto the B6265 to Grassington. Standard of driving is bad enough at the best of times, current rider numbers may be enough to completely explode their tiny minds.

gonetothehills - Member

It's becoming such a common occurrence, I just can't comprehend how these people's thought processes work. If it was a slow moving car / tractor / traction engine / whatever, would it present them a similar opportunity to cheat the consequences? I guess these are the same clowns who bundle past OAPs or pushchairs in the supermarket because they're in such a life threatening hurry that they can't possibly be held up.

It doesn't seem to matter too much what is slowing these people down, they just seem to overtake regardless in my experience.

A couple of Fridays ago I came off a slip road from the A1, which is a bit of a weird one, as there are houses on the slip road about 200 yds up it. It's also an exit and entry slip road that splits just before the A1.
Here (if this works):
https://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en&ll=52.5458,-0.335319&spn=0.002773,0.005901&t=h&z=18

I came off heading northbound, round the corner and then intended to go left back over the A1 on the A605 (EDIT - in the car, not on a bike).
Halfway round the slip road/bend there was a pick-up truck heading in the opposite direction pulling into a driveway and rather than wait for him to get off the road, there was a woman in a Mini Countryman overtaking him completely on the wrong side of the road, heading directly towards me. She panicked and swerved back in, narrowly missing the pick-up she was overtaking, I was braking as hard as I could and she still only just missed the pair of us.
Dozy bint. No idea why she thought it was a good idea to overtake on a blind corner, especially as the hedges are high and you really can't see very far round at all.

It's not a new thing, in my experience - just happening lots more because of the huge rise in leisure cycling maybe?

I agree about the huge amount of space some of them give you (as cyclists), maybe in their minds they are courteous, considerate drivers who are just in a bit of a hurry that day.

possibly a rise in the number of drivers (and leisure drivers thrashing their toys round)

There's an unsighted kink in the road on my commute, someone decides to pass me on it maybe 1 time in 5, straight into oncoming traffic, number of near misses is ridiculous. It's reasonably low speed which is the only thing that's stopped it being lots of crashes. Considering it's a commuting road especially- I've seen the same people doing it repeatedly. Always a bit hairraising, I figure there's got to be a correlation between the sort of driver that'll overtake into oncoming traffic, and the sort of driver that'll swerve over a cyclist to avoid a car.

Had someone overtake a cyclist coming in the opposite direction, at exactly the point we were level with them yesterday (on a country B road). So it was 2 cyclists (single file), car, cyclist on the width of the road. Really dumb, and pretty effing dangerous. It didn't help my perception of Audi TT drivers...

mikewsmith - Member

it's not dangerous it's called making progress....

this.

there's an advanced driving course you can go on, where they teach you how to see through hedges.

now, you may think that a head-on pass with only inches to spare is dangerous, but that just reveals you to be the inferior [s]human[/s] driver that you really are. That gap was in fact expertly judged to be adequately safe.

scaredypants - Member

as nedrapier suggests, you can do what the **** you like

I'm still really ****ing cross about this* case. Miscarriage of justice as far as I'm concerned.

* http://www.darkerside.org/2013/10/helen-measures-and-the-death-of-denisa/

The worrying thing about all this is that it is [i]always[/i] your/our fault, not theirs.

Yes, they might have decided to overtake completely unsighted just before the crest of a hill on a 60mph road. But they do it cursing your name for [i]making[/i] them take such a stupid risk.

(applies in a car, as well as on a bike, but definitely more pronounced if you're on a bike. "Stupid cyclist forcing me to risk certain death so I can get to those traffic lights before him").

I'm still really **** cross about this* case. Miscarriage of justice as far as I'm concerned.

Yep, absolute shocker that one. Amazing that the defence can openly lie in court and that character witnesses are such a large part of determining if someone drove dangerously ?!?

http://www.roadjustice.org.uk/get-involved

http://www.roadjustice.org.uk/police-petition

Had someone overtake a cyclist coming in the opposite direction, at exactly the point we were level with them yesterday (on a country B road). So it was 2 cyclists (single file), car, cyclist on the width of the road. Really dumb, and pretty effing dangerous. It didn't help my perception of Audi TT drivers...

This is where the debate about single file/2-abreast/primary position becomes more nuanced. If the riders on the other side had been 2-abreast, the driver would have more likely waited as the visual and physical barrier in front of him would have been bigger...

Unfortunately, current thinking appears to be that the people cycling have to take responsibility for the poor quality skills of the driver ie: 2-abreast would have deemed to be 'blocking the road' rather than 'the driver made a dangerous overtake'.

It was me and my girlfriend riding behind each other. It was going downhill (freewheeling not particularly fast) and my girlfriend prefers not to ride side by side in that situation - and neither do I really. It may have helped stop the manoeuvre, but I wouldn't have felt safe adopting that position at the time. As it turned out, we had space to apply brakes and move furhter left to avoid the idiot.

It's just another example of the kind of thing cyclists end having to put up with on an all-to-regular basis.

I still get incredibly angry when I read about that Helen Measures case - it's not just the fact she got away with driving dangerously, it's the way she blamed the victim for the death she caused that makes me sick to my stomach (along with her lawyer blaming the victim's boyfriend - blaming anyone but the woman overtaking dangerously and going headfirst into oncoming traffic).

So incredibly sad.

It seems that there are a vast number of road users who have no idea how to pass bikes,when is and when is not appropriate to overtake and also have any idea on the width of there vehicle or seem to be able to judge distance full stop.

How these people ever manage to get home safe in one piece is beyond me.
It seems as a cyclist you appear to be fair game for the psycho's to abuse and when it does end fatally the sentences(and often lack of them) are a joke.

had a rather impatient fellow behind me today, he did have an air of caution about him, but i sensed he was about to try and I halted him with a swift arm out, palm out, as i could see another car coming the other way. Saving myself was of course the priority. 30 yards later it was perfectly safe for him to pass on a straight bit, and he thanked me with a flash of the hazards.

Hopefully he has learnt his lesson!