Overtaking is flippin' scary!

Kieran_Burns

So - a number of people said overtaking is safer when the traffic is slow. Well this morning it was REALLY bad, backed further than I'd seen it in some time.

Sooooo, I decide to take people's advice about overtaking rather than undertaking and flick to the outside and start pedalling past.

I soon realised that while the traffic on MY side is doing 10mph and I'm belting past, the traffic coming towards me is doing 50 and is bloody scary!

Overtaking dustbin lorries who take exception to bikes going past and so accelerate is 'fun'. Also riding down the dirty bit has you fearing for your tyres but generally I was quicker.

Not sure if it's entirely wise on a country A road, no matter how slow the traffic, but I did notice lots of people allowing me room.

I'm cycling in again tomorrow (mate wants an escort back tomorrow - he likes my commute run and he's a bit slower than me, so I can relax) and I'll give it another go, see if I can learn anything from the experience.

davmaggs

Did you find that really small cars insist on running really close to the centre line (and you) despite having all the room in the world?

This seems to happen in the London traffic. I can only assume that people who buy small cars often do so because they are nervous.

daviesee

I pick whichever side has adequate space to move up safely.

If no side has enough space, I wait :shock:

Kieran_Burns

I did flick back inside when it was clear that there was more than enough room to do so, but tanking up the outside of traffic on a major A road was very nervy.

Pufftmw

Wuss...

rjsterry

daviesee wrote:

I pick whichever side has adequate space to move up safely.

If no side has enough space, I wait :shock:

+1

Clever Pun

I find on the inside there's always one person who's practically sitting on the curb and halts your way. Going on the outside you have more control imo and pick and choose your time to overtake, as lorries/buses coming towards you can make things tight

Feltup

If a car makes room for you make sure to thank them with a wave. Not only does it make them feel good but if other cars see it it might just make them do it in the future. Costs you nothing but can benefit all in the future.

redvee

Don't try and cut back in at too fast a speed like I did last summer which has left me with a two-tone calf.

Kieran_Burns

Feltup wrote:

If a car makes room for you make sure to thank them with a wave. Not only does it make them feel good but if other cars see it it might just make them do it in the future. Costs you nothing but can benefit all in the future.

Always do

Pedalling zone of positive karma here

Sewinman

I think it is much more dangerous on the outside. It seems like taking a punt on their being room for you to merge back in with traffic should traffic approach - if you get it wrong you are contending with a head-on collision. Motorbikes have the acceleration to get away with it.

I avoid it unless I can see there is nothing coming the other way.

Red Rider

I think it is much more dangerous on the outside... Motorbikes have the acceleration to get away with it.

My legs have the acceleration to get away with it Plus I can fit into quite small gaps if I really had to.

In all seriousness, I generally feel safer on the outside.

jonginge

Kieran_Burns wrote:

Feltup wrote:

If a car makes room for you make sure to thank them with a wave. Not only does it make them feel good but if other cars see it it might just make them do it in the future. Costs you nothing but can benefit all in the future.

Always do

Pedalling zone of positive karma here

+1 virtuous circle, positive reinforcement etc etc

desweller

If you're scared, try doing it with your eyes shut. It's a lot less unnerving if you can't see what's coming.

mroli

Speaking of motorbikes - I generally work on the principle that undertaking is for cycles and if I want Motorbikes to stay out of the inside lane/let me pass them, I should do likewise on the outside lane when overtaking there (ie, be aware of motorbikes and give way to them if appropriate). Just a thought!

graeme_s-2

Sewinman wrote:

I think it is much more dangerous on the outside. It seems like taking a punt on their being room for you to merge back in with traffic should traffic approach - if you get it wrong you are contending with a head-on collision. Motorbikes have the acceleration to get away with it.

I avoid it unless I can see there is nothing coming the other way.

As long as you look and plan ahead, it's genuinely not a problem, I have never been caught out like this. If you can see something big coming, then pull in. If the traffic to the left of you is starting to pull away ahead of you, then adjust your speed accordingly and pull in behind a car that's just started moving, before the car behind it has moved off.

It sounds far more complicated than it is, it's the easiest thing in the world when you do it.

MrChuck

rjsterry wrote:

daviesee wrote:

I pick whichever side has adequate space to move up safely.

If no side has enough space, I wait :shock:

+1

+1 again

And if you're on the outside beware of fed up drivers doing U turns into your path to go and find another route.

graeme_s-2

mroli wrote:

Speaking of motorbikes - I generally work on the principle that undertaking is for cycles and if I want Motorbikes to stay out of the inside lane/let me pass them, I should do likewise on the outside lane when overtaking there (ie, be aware of motorbikes and give way to them if appropriate). Just a thought!

I've got stuck behind motorcycles while overtaking more often than I've had them stuck behind me. If they're behind me it's easy enough to pull into a gap and let them through, whereas they rarely have the room or manoeuvrability (or just don't care enough) to do that.

Marcus_C

If i'm on a road like that one in your videos unploaded recently where the traffic is always moving then I generally undertake, i've been caught out a few times in the middle of the road and it's not fun. Some people are really annoying but they're generally few and far between. I overtake when the cars aren't moving much or at all, a lot of cars seem to pull in when they slow down.

Kieran_Burns

Marcus_C wrote:

If i'm on a road like that one in your videos unploaded recently where the traffic is always moving then I generally undertake, i've been caught out a few times in the middle of the road and it's not fun. Some people are really annoying but they're generally few and far between. I overtake when the cars aren't moving much or at all, a lot of cars seem to pull in when they slow down.

It's exactly the stretch on the vids I've recently uploaded - it was much worse this morning, the traffic was backed up about a mile and a half to the roundabout (and slower moving)

thecrofter

Marcus_C wrote:

a lot of cars seem to pull in when they slow down.

Happened to me this morning. Big white Range Rover trying to get past in the last ten feet before the queue of traffic. She soon realised there was not enough space for both of us when my elbow "accidentally" folded her door mirror in. Judging by her reaction I'm not convinced she knew they can do that.

El Gordo

Graeme_S wrote:

Sewinman wrote:

I think it is much more dangerous on the outside. It seems like taking a punt on their being room for you to merge back in with traffic should traffic approach - if you get it wrong you are contending with a head-on collision. Motorbikes have the acceleration to get away with it.

I avoid it unless I can see there is nothing coming the other way.

As long as you look and plan ahead, it's genuinely not a problem, I have never been caught out like this. If you can see something big coming, then pull in. If the traffic to the left of you is starting to pull away ahead of you, then adjust your speed accordingly and pull in behind a car that's just started moving, before the car behind it has moved off.

It sounds far more complicated than it is, it's the easiest thing in the world when you do it.

+1. Only overtake when you can clearly see there is time to get past before anything big comes the other way.

I thought I was going to witness a nasty squashing the other day when a roadie maybe 50m infront decided to overtake a stationary bus despite the HGV coming the other way and a parked car on his right. Fortunately the truck stopped in a hurry and everyone waited until the bus crawled forward and the idiot could move back in.

Blacktemplar

Kieran_Burns wrote:

I soon realised that while the traffic on MY side is doing 10mph and I'm belting past, the traffic coming towards me is doing 50 and is bloody scary!.

Is that not what the hole in the middle of the Selle Italia saddle is for.....brown lycra moments? Combined with a set of aptly-named Crud-catchers, brave cyclists in the following peloton are surely safe from such "outpourings"...... :twisted:

Butterd2

mroli wrote:

Speaking of motorbikes - I generally work on the principle that undertaking is for cycles and if I want Motorbikes to stay out of the inside lane/let me pass them, I should do likewise on the outside lane when overtaking there (ie, be aware of motorbikes and give way to them if appropriate). Just a thought!

Not sure if it's just me but now motorbikes are getting used to using the bus lanes in London they appear to use the inside line more often and now regularly block the cycle lane?

Pufftmw

I'm a motorcyclist so am used to being on the outside, so keep with it on the cycle - where safe...

I'm more wary of going up the inside - the number of times people have moved in on me when a noisy motorbike is passing on the outside, forcing me to the curb or just turned left without looking. At least on the outside you generally have room to move

mroli

I ride a motorbike too - and was always told NOT to ride up the inside on a motorbike as it was far more dangerous. Of course, I don't know how that works with bikes. Generally I find in that there London that etiquette is pretty good with the majoriy of motorcyclists/scooterists if they are filtering on the inside leaving room to get a bike past. The ones that don't - well, to me they're like cyclists who hold up motorbikes on the outside lane/jump reds - just inconsiderate.