cars not overtaking

thelawnet

Sometimes cars sit patiently behind, I usually try and up my speed a little, so they're not going too slowly.

On Saturday I came out of RHS Wisley and had a car sat behind for 2 miles, a very slight uphill gradient and my son (30kg) on the back of the bike, so it was hard work, was doing 16-19mph, so still quite slow relative to the 40mph speed limit. I was riding near the left of the road, but it was fairly narrow (wide enough for two cars to pass however) and windy.

He overtook as soon as we got off the rather narrow lane and onto the main road.

Here:

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=d&sourc ... 8&t=h&z=15

Any thoughts?

MonkeyMonster

he didn't want to spook you at all, was being very considerate and regardless of it weirding you out should be commended for his safe driving?

deptfordmarmoset

I see a lot of cars which, in effect, are being driven by the car behind them. I mean that they don't drive as they would completely on their own but they drive with the speed of the car behind - and the impatience of the driver behind - on their mind. In that kind of situation, the car in front will typically use ASLs as unofficial deceleration zones because the car behind is just a little bit too close - what they're doing ends up being determined by a preoccupation with the traffic behind.

On an open road with an uphill gradient and your son on the back, I don't see how a bike can compete with a car. I'd say, accept (and be glad) that there's a patient or cautious driver behind you unless it's beginning to bug you or push you into changing your style of riding - so that you too are in some sense being driven by the car behind you. If it's beginning to bother you, wave them on before you end up riding differently, and if they don't overtake then, and you can't establish ''fellow traveller'' eye contact, consider pulling over. Nobody's racing and nobody seems to be worried about getting from A to B in the shortest time. If you pull over, they'll go past and you won't have them bugging you because they're on your tail.

bails87

Good driver! In that situation I'd always be sure to turn round and give a quick smile/'thanks wave' to the driver.

CiB

Probably best with hindsight to have pulled over, or at least wave the car past - making it clear that you really would like the it to pass. I get a lot of this on my rural commute, cars that won't pass. Damn annoying sometimes.

shouldbeinbed

CiB wrote:

Probably best with hindsight to have pulled over, or at least wave the car past - making it clear that you really would like the it to pass. I get a lot of this on my rural commute, cars that won't pass. Damn annoying sometimes.

+1

But I'd rather be puzzled and mildly irritated by a bit of a nervous ovetaker than cured of constipation by some knob in a van leaving a layer of paint on my arm

iclestu

bails87 wrote:

Good driver! In that situation I'd always be sure to turn round and give a quick smile/'thanks wave' to the driver.

+1. Tend to give em a thumbs up in the air as you hear them starting to pass, often precipitates a 'no problem' flash of the rear indicators when they've passed.

UndercoverElephant

Bloody drafting fairies.

daviesee

Last time that happened to me it was 2 MILFs that were obviously enjoying the view.

Smiles and a thumbs up when they eventually did pass. Made my week!

itboffin

The weekend before last while on a sportive three of us came across a parked car blocking the narrow lane, no bother we all just hooped onto the grass verge and carried on, almost immediately the driver followed, fair enough we were all shifting at the time and to be honest there was very little chance the car could have safely driven faster, we get to the main road and sure enough the driver pulls beside me and complains that we should have moved out of her way sooner :shock:

Right! so where would we have gone, up in the air? :roll:

Headhuunter

This is all the complete opposite of the driver behind me on the New North Rd in London last night. I was positioned in primary because all traffic was slow moving and not going anywhere but he insisted in honking at me to let him past. Eventually he shoved past at a pinch point only to have to slam the brakes on because the vehicle in front of me was slowing. I had to slam my brakes on too, then simply filtered straight past him. Utterly, utterly pointless driving....

itboffin

Yesterday once again a little car overtakes me in the fire road out in the back of beyond then pulls off down a driveway 100 yards ahead, I mean really WTF! they clearly knew where they we heading and how far / long they'd have to wait behind me.

There seems to be a fair amount of unmarked lanes around these parts, I'd say unsuitable for all but the most rugged 4x4s yet it doesn't seem to stop people hacking down them in any old thing other than 4x4s.

I'm just waiting for the day when one of these collects me head on :?

gtvlusso

The thing that annoys me most; is people who have no idea about the size of their car....i.e. they don't go through gaps that a jumbo jet could land in! Yet, they don't leave enough space for you to blat by them, they creep through the gap slowly....very slowly...

Been stuck behind some muppet in his Brand new Audi this morning who was a gap fairy, sadly it was on the only downhill section of my ride - ruined my morning.....git!

Feltup

I have deliberately not overtaken when I could have because I had an idiot in the car behind me. The gap might have been long enough for me to make it safely past but certainly not for two cars and having seen how the following car was driving I just knew they wouldn't have waited. Therefore better for me to wait a bit longer and find a gap for the both of us. Sad when you feel you have to make decisions on others behalves.

roger_merriman

on that road I'd not slide past on a car either unless the bike was near zero speed. I'd over take so that means waiting for a gap.

bikes do sometimes do very odd things partially ones with tag alongs and such.

so giving a margin of error is best after all we are talking more than paint work! if it goes wrong.

And as the overtaker it's my reasonability to do it, my pet hate is people trying to wave me on though blind corners and so on.

cee

UndercoverElephant wrote:

Bloody drafting fairies.

you own me a new keyboard!

bails87

The more I think about this, the more I think "ah good, an observant and patient driver". I'd bet that he/she was aware of the kid on the bike, knew that they wouldn't save much time and decided not to take the risk of injuring your child, you or themselves by overtaking.

Well done again, seriously.

snooks

If I'm driving, I'll often sit behind a cyclist until I think it's safe to pass. It's what you should do isn't it? :? I know what it's like when some numpty tries to pass and either passes too close or overtakes to get to the stationary traffic earlier. It just aint werf it.

If someone does the same for me I'll give them a thumbs up or wave as the pass.

I had one cyclist call me a wanchor for leaving a safe gap behind him and not overtaking him the instant the lights went green. If he had give me some sort of indication he was going to go left and not go straight as I though he was, it might have been clearer. :roll:

I did have a comedy moment once, I was giving a cyclist room and some impatient blacked out Golf behind me though he could overtake to get one car ahead and arrive at the bus blocking the lane (or over take it)be fore we did. He got alongside me and only then noticed the fcuk off big red bus coming towards him (on other side of the road) and a cyclist in the gap he wanted to take. I might have shortened the gap ahead a bit and left him out to dry :twisted: Meanwhile the gap he'd left had been taken and he was now playing chicken with a bus that showed no sign of giving way until they were bumper to bumper.

El Gordo

If there's genuinely not enough space for the car to overtake then it's not so hard to pull over and let them through.

If the road is wide enough to overtake but the driver is still too timid then I don't mind holding that one person up and will thank them for their consideration. If the traffic starts backing up behind them though then it's got to be worth waving them through to show you're comfortable with it. There's nothing to gain by annoying a load of people who have places to be.

jomoj

In this situation I'd be grateful to the driver but try and encourage them to pass when it was safe. Sometimes it's consideration, sometimes it's indecision in which case there's a possibility of a rash decision being made and a worse outcome. Better to try and influence the driver to do the right thing and thank them.

I'd always check if its a lone vehicle or the head of a queue, people drive like sheep and if one person goes, everyone else will follow so make sure that's taken into consideration.

itboffin

I stopped the car behind me this morning to let a "frog" cross the road - yep I have that kind of time on my hands

Driver of said car also thanked me once the frog had passed, many were not so lucky

t4tomo

Did you get a croak of thanks from the frog? To be honest it had more to thank you for than the car driver

jomoj

I forgot its randy frog season. Encountered a mass frog road crossing a few years ago and spent a good hour trying encourage / cajole the buggers to get to safety. Not got the best road sense, yer amphibian.

Headhuunter

Not sure about frogs but I saw a MASSIVE earthworm crossing a path at my local park last week, it must have been a good 15-20cm long and was working it's way across the path like a snake. No idea why it decided to take the tarmac route rather than burrow underneath...

snooks

itboffin wrote:

I stopped the car behind me this morning to let a "frog" cross the road - yep I have that kind of time on my hands

Driver of said car also thanked me once the frog had passed, many were not so lucky

Are we talking amphibian or bloke in a beret with a fondness for cheese and wine?

snooks

jomoj wrote:

I forgot its randy frog season. Encountered a mass frog road crossing a few years ago and spent a good hour trying encourage / cajole the buggers to get to safety. Not got the best road sense, yer amphibian.

I once slowed down for a squirrel that was running towards me, poor little critter jumped from the pavement onto the road and bump bump, ran straight under my wheel in a fraction of a second. : :shock:

Stopped and went back to see if it was all right, or if I could do anything, it was lying in the middle of the road looking back at me, still breathing, while I was waiting for a break in the traffic to work out what to do, it got proper squished by a car....

iclestu

snooks wrote:

jomoj wrote:

I forgot its randy frog season. Encountered a mass frog road crossing a few years ago and spent a good hour trying encourage / cajole the buggers to get to safety. Not got the best road sense, yer amphibian.

I once slowed down for a squirrel that was running towards me, poor little critter jumped from the pavement onto the road and bump bump, ran straight under my wheel in a fraction of a second. : :shock:

Stopped and went back to see if it was all right, or if I could do anything, it was lying in the middle of the road looking back at me, still breathing, while I was waiting for a break in the traffic to work out what to do, it got proper squished by a car....

They are suicidal!

One jumped, and i mean jumped, into my spokes waaay back and just kinda 'twanged' off. Have to say I never bothered to stop!

rjsterry

Headhuunter wrote:

Not sure about frogs but I saw a MASSIVE earthworm crossing a path at my local park last week, it must have been a good 15-20cm long and was working it's way across the path like a snake. No idea why it decided to take the tarmac route rather than burrow underneath...

Coz under the tarmac will be 6" of sub-base, then another 6-8" of compacted hardcore on top of compacted subsoil - they can't tunnel through that lot and they don't go much deeper than the top 12" of soil. Or it may have just been dropped by a bird.

Headhuunter

rjsterry wrote:

Headhuunter wrote:

Not sure about frogs but I saw a MASSIVE earthworm crossing a path at my local park last week, it must have been a good 15-20cm long and was working it's way across the path like a snake. No idea why it decided to take the tarmac route rather than burrow underneath...

Coz under the tarmac will be 6" of sub-base, then another 6-8" of compacted hardcore on top of compacted subsoil - they can't tunnel through that lot and they don't go much deeper than the top 12" of soil. Or it may have just been dropped by a bird.

Poor earthworms, had no idea that pathways and roads effectively cut them off!

jomoj

Seeing as it's animal slaughter confession time, I would like to own up to running over a partridge whilst mountainbiking. Unlucky bird was destined to be shot at and chewed by a dog but it ran out of some heather straight into my front wheel. SMIDSY...

I also stunned a vole with a beercan once but that's a different story.

Headhuunter

jomoj wrote:

Seeing as it's animal slaughter confession time, I would like to own up to running over a partridge whilst mountainbiking. Unlucky bird was destined to be shot at and chewed by a dog but it ran out of some heather straight into my front wheel. SMIDSY...

I also stunned a vole with a beercan once but that's a different story.

I hope you took the Partridge home and roasted it? Better yet you should have run over another and gone for the brace.