HLaB
Marie Attoinette Fan
cd365 said:
There's your problem by going close to the kerb, it gives drivers the impression there is more room than there is so they squeeze through without slowing down.
When will I clump my first car driver?
- Thread starter cd365
- Start date
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There's your problem by going close to the kerb, it gives drivers the impression there is more room than there is so they squeeze through without slowing down.
OP
OP
cd365
Guru
- Location
- Coventry, uk
So do I drive more aggresively and stay further out? Just seems I'd get even more abuse from impatient drivers.
Archie_tect
De Skieven Architek... aka Penfold + Horace
- Location
- Northumberland
cd, it would appear that you can't win... just continue in your own way being helpful and considerate and let everyone else deal with it as best they can... the regulars will start to recognise you and being known is half the battle [even get people in cars moving out to the centre in queues to let me past when they see me coming up in their mirrors]. It's only the idiots that create problems and they'd be like that whatever they're doing, even riding a bike...
rh100
Well-Known Member
cd365 said:
Have a search on here for primary and secondary position, I can't really advise too much as I'm a newbie to commuting and road riding.
I just got the book Cycle Craft yesterday, what I've read so far is about how to take a safe and predictable route on road as part of the traffic. Riding in the gutter is a definite no-no.
If you ask in the Commuting section, there's some very experienced people willing to offer good advice.
Archie_tect
De Skieven Architek... aka Penfold + Horace
- Location
- Northumberland
Mind you there are some really daft people on bikes... one 2.4 family all on posh bicycles with dad on a road bike at the back, a baby seat on the back of mum's tourer, complete with helmets and the full kit, following their 5/6 year old [?] son on a small MTB wobbling along the road [on a 40mph urban section of the A34 through Stafford yesterday].
John the Monkey
Frivolous Cyclist
- Location
- Crewe
cd365 said:
The problem with hugging the kerb;
1) You don't really have enough space if a pedestrian decides to step out
2) You're right where the ironwork and road debris is
3) You turn an impossible (not enough room) overtake into a very close one, especially by traffic islands/pinch points
4) It's harder to ride predictably as you constantly have to swing in and out of position
5) There's no "escape route" other than up onto the pavement (and you may not even have that at junctions with guard rails)
6) You're in a part of the road that most studies show drivers pay VERY little attention to.
IME, it's harder to ride predictably taking this kind of road postion, and it exposes you to a lot of risk. Riding a metre or so from the kerb mitigates a lot of that. Where there's the risk of a dangerous overtake, you should be trying actively to prevent that by riding further out still. You don't take "primary" to antagonise drivers, you do it to keep yourself safe - it has the added benefit of providing somewhere for you to go if a dangerous manoeuvre is attempted by a following vehicle.
OP
OP
cd365
Guru
- Location
- Coventry, uk
Most of my route is on country lanes so no pedestrians really. I know my route quite well so know where all the potholes are coming up so give myself time to avoid them safely, in my opinion anyway.
I ride with a rear light flashing all the time so I can be seen from a distance away so I believe there is no excuse for not seeing me and the car driver paying me the respect that I deserve (being a road user with no cage around me to protect me).
I ride with a rear light flashing all the time so I can be seen from a distance away so I believe there is no excuse for not seeing me and the car driver paying me the respect that I deserve (being a road user with no cage around me to protect me).
HLaB
Marie Attoinette Fan
Even if you are highly visible by presenting a gap to following cars drivers will tend to go through it. Cycling further out makes most drivers have to think and most are decent enough and wait. Theres some good threads on here about the benefits of a slightly more assertive position, the fore mentioned secondary and primary. No matter what you do however there will still be that odd idiot.
John the Monkey
Frivolous Cyclist
- Location
- Crewe
cd365 said:
I rode with three front lights last year, and three rear - I still got hit by someone too impatient to wait. (Not a lot else I could have done about it, in that case, but I'm making the point that you can't rely on the fact that they SHOULD see you).
Couple your visibility with good use of road position and you've more of a chance, imo.
Lazy-Commuter
New Member
- Location
- Bottom Right Corner
In an ideal world, all that bit in bold would be right. But, we're a long, LONG way away from that. It's good that you're taking steps to be seen, and there probably is no excuse for someone not seeing you but surely your motorcycling experience taught you that people often don't see* what they should.cd365 said:
And, some people will never give you the respect you deserve. Most will, but many won't.
* OK, granted by the "didn't see you" what they often mean is "didn't look" or maybe even "saw you but didn't care", but that just reinforces the point that you should always assume they've not seen you.
John the Monkey said:
Perversly, this is what I enjoy these days on my commute in. There is one particular round-a-bout where a single lane traffics splits at the r-a-b into two (one lane is really for right turners into a very small housing estate) but both lanes are packed with motons going straight ahead.
On the otherside of the roundabout the junction is immediately pinched back to one lane, so betweem them the two queues have to organise themselves and filter.
Everyday I sail past thinking "if you all stayed in one lane you'd be through this junction much, much quicker"
http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en...2712,-2.950875&spn=0.001293,0.003229&t=h&z=19 I'm going 4o'clock to 10o'clock
cd365 said:
Seriously, John 'T' Monkey knows what he's talking about.
I've found that drivers tend to give you the same amount of space as you give yourself.
So if you ride six inches from the curb, that's what they'll give you on an overtake. If you ride 2-3 feet out (which is where I ride) they'll give you that room on the other side.
It honestly really works - I've been commuting for many years on and off and currently do 13 miles each way along both country and urban roads.
Just give it a try for a couple of days and you'll see.
Incidentally, I don't get stressed by drivers shouting at me - I have my iPod on so I can't hear them anyway! /opens can of worms, steps back.
John the Monkey
Frivolous Cyclist
- Location
- Crewe
Unless everyone is going very slow, it tends to sound like "BLARGH BLARGH" in any case - best to ignore them, I think.Woz! said:
wafflycat
New Member
- Location
- middle of Norfolk
HLaB said:
+1
wafflycat
New Member
- Location
- middle of Norfolk
