Music when riding.

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Comments

  • njee20
    njee20 Posts: 9,613
    Car wing comes extremely close, you can move over. Not difficult. IME most people trying to squeeze through when you've left too little a gap will do so slowly, knowing they've not really got room. It's rare for someone to come screaming through very close. A cars widest point is not the first bit to get to you, there is still time to react when they're alongside you. Also common is these people start pulling in once they think they're past you - again, if you have a bike width of room you can move in with them, if you're in the gutter then you're screwed.

    As a general rule drivers don't want to kill people, it tends to be a lapse in judgement or concentration that causes it.

    I've had two physical 'altercations' with cars in probably 70,000 miles of road riding (weirdly within 200 yards of each other, but some distance from my house!) - one when a car turned across me and I hit it, and one where I was passing parked cars and a driver hit my hand with her wing mirror. I wobbled, but because I'd left plenty of space absolutely nothing else happened. Well I reported her to the police, but no crashes happened.

    If you want to contravene all the advice given to cyclists and put yourself in danger then do, but please don't advocate it as sensible, it's not.
  • veronese68
    veronese68 Posts: 27,823
    Njee is completely correct about road positioning. There was some research done a while ago that showed drivers tend to leave cyclists more room if they are further out from the kerb. For a bit of further reading take a look at this.
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  • cooldad
    cooldad Posts: 32,599
    If it's really narrow, or a two lane road with parked cars etc, I'll happily block cars behind me until it's safe for them to overtake, just as if I was a car. Pisses some people off, but I am still alive.
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  • njee20
    njee20 Posts: 9,613
    It's exactly what you're advised to do. That's my point about drivers not wanting to kill. It may annoy them, and they'll sit behind the wheel and froth, but if you move right over a minority will think "yeah... I can fit through there" and have a go, when they twat you with a wing mirror you're going to be stuffed!
  • robertpb
    robertpb Posts: 1,866
    Advice to horse riders is, stay out from the kerb and if there are two of you ride side by side until you think it is safe for cars to pass.
    Now where's that "Get Out of Crash Free Card"

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