What would you do in this situation?

Bhima

On my commute to the gym, I use a road which has 2 lanes of traffic for each direction. It's not a full-on monster of a road, but it does get busy.

Anyway, there's one section which has INSANE potholes and sunken drains which have craters surrounding them, so I take the primary position right in the centre of the lane. The good thing is, the road is incredibly smooth/flat in the centre of this particular road so i'm not holding up the flow of traffic and can stay at a steady 26mph for the 3/4 miles that I do it. I keep a good distance between me and the vehicle in front and (usually) the traffic behind keeps its distance too.

The problem is, traffic on the right hand side sees this as a "gap" and turns left into the lane, boxing me in, with the "oh, it's just a cyclist, he'll move over to the left where he should be" mentality. :evil: :evil: :evil:

Here's what I mean:


One of three things happen:

1) They do it very quickly and i'm forced into the gutter, hoping that I can slow down quick enough to prevent SERIOUS wheel damage.

2) I see them just as they do it and accellerate/decellerate so that they don't force me off the centre line. I'm then forced to slow down (have these drivers not heard of "stopping distances"?) to leave space, which means I have to either have to re-accellerate once there's a big enough gap, or move to the left as the car behind overtakes when I slow down. :roll:

3) I see it before it happens, just as I see them putting the indicators on and (dangerously) start moving to the right with my right arm out, as if i'm moving in to thier lane (on a collision course with the car :shock:). This either means they slow down and wait for another gap or they go straight into me, forcing me to go into the right-hand lane (in the gap they've just left). Whichever lane I end up in, I probably look like suicidal, thus get a barrage of horns honked in my direction. I can't indicate right and then stay in the lane because the car behind me sees it as a chance to accellerate and close up the gap!

What should I do?

I've tried shouting, but it's useless. Banging on the windows of the car as i'm in the gutter doesn't really work and is dangerous, considering the extent of road potholes on that stretch. Also, staying slightly right of the lane doesn't stop them from boxing you in and i've had drivers behind trying to overtake me on the left before! :shock:

cjcp

I think you should write to your local Council and perhaps also to your local paper highlighting the dangerous condition of the road, emphasising this rather than lack of care on the drivers' part; the chances are that, those on the Council who procrastinate about these things are equally as oblivious or ignorant as the drivers you encounter.

There's also the fill-in-a-pothole websire.

Is there another road you can use?

Headhuunter

Yeah I've had some results from that fill a pothole website, however councils are less likely to sort it out if it involves shutting a main road/dual carriageway

fnegroni

Have you tried sticking to the right hand side of the right hand lane?

Just a thought, since every other sensible thing you have written does not work.

Unless of course there is a chance for people to turn right just in front of you.

I usually do that in the Wokingham one way loop, and works well. But that is a loop.

BTW this is also detailed in Cyclecraft.

always_tyred

I'm not sure I understand the scenario -

Are they coming from behind you, or passing and then moving in, or moving in next to you (ie. are you in their blind spot)? Or all of the above?

I'm thinking not from behind you - in that case the moving towards the right/middle of the lane should do the trick. Perhaps augmented by some assertive hand signals. Motorists don't like it, but they do tend to react instinctively and do what you say before objecting and getting indignant. I do this at pinch points a lot and drivers frequently pass with questioning "did you really think I was going to overtake you there?" looks on their faces, which I take to mean "it would have been alright... I think, probably....whats your problem anyway I'm a good driver...."

If they are passing you and moving in, its annoying, but essentially the same as attempting to leave more than 1/2 second to the car in front on the M25. Providing you are alert, when you can't prevent it, it shouldn't be too dangerous, as such.

If they are partly passing you, or the two lanes move at about the same speed and you find yourself in a blind spot, one way or another you need not to be in that blind spot. Cars creeping past should be aware that you haven't vaporised, but they often aren't and part of road craft is assuming that drivers have the memory of a goldfish. If you are in a lane that creeps up on them, from rear view to blind spot for example, part of road craft is to realise that they may not have shoulder checked before moving. Its no different from being in a car on a dual carriageway.

Its possibly not appropriate to suggest it, but if I'm in traffic that is moving roughly at my speed, I'll often be quite close to the car in front, almost in position to filter between lanes. The part of my (old ) commute where I would do this is a lot shorter than the stretch you describe, but I took to adopting this road position to at least give the impression that I was filtering forward through the traffic, not the other way around. It requires a bit more alertness on the brakes and is probably not in any books.