Near Miss of the Day 213: Close pass driver gets police letter

JohnnyRemo wrote:

A lot of newbie cyclists would benefit from learning how to ride tight 2-abreast and not allow situations like this to arise. Problem is most now start cycling outwith the traditional club system and take great exception when advised how to ride together properly.

 

Why should riders learn to ride "tight" two abreast, we aren't all racers and neither do we want to be and riding tight is more dangerous as it means increased chances of touching whels and handlebars etc. Being able to ride two or three abreast taking up less than the space of even a small motorvehicle is fine, asking some people to get out the way as you are doing by suggesting they need to learn to ride in less space as opposed to forcing those posing the harm in the first instance is wrong and never has improved safety.

Not allowing the situation to arise would require focus on those doing the harm, npt attributing blame and saying the vulnerable need to change their actions when that action in itself is not harming others!

Typical wrongheaded thinking again that never solves anything ecept push the onus away from the killers. 

JohnnyRemo wrote:

A lot of newbie cyclists would benefit from learning how to ride tight 2-abreast and not allow situations like this to arise.

Bollocks.

That kind of advice is inappropriate and unhelpful and has nothing to do with the overtaking manoeuvre in this video. If you give that kind of advice on a club ride then I'd certainly not want ride with you.

Simon E wrote:

JohnnyRemo wrote:

A lot of newbie cyclists would benefit from learning how to ride tight 2-abreast and not allow situations like this to arise.

Bollocks.

That kind of advice is inappropriate and unhelpful and has nothing to do with the overtaking manoeuvre in this video. If you give that kind of advice on a club ride then I'd certainly not want ride with you.

Also, and I'm going to make a bit of a guess here, the majority of trips are made by individuals. And, while on occasion I might ride 2-abreast with another random cyclist to have a bit of a chat, I reckon I'd more usually get a bit of an odd look and a "erm, what are you doing?" from my 'companion'...

Jimbonic wrote:

Simon E wrote:

JohnnyRemo wrote:

A lot of newbie cyclists would benefit from learning how to ride tight 2-abreast and not allow situations like this to arise.

Bollocks.

That kind of advice is inappropriate and unhelpful and has nothing to do with the overtaking manoeuvre in this video. If you give that kind of advice on a club ride then I'd certainly not want ride with you.

Also, and I'm going to make a bit of a guess here, the majority of trips are made by individuals. And, while on occasion I might ride 2-abreast with another random cyclist to have a bit of a chat, I reckon I'd more usually get a bit of an odd look and a "erm, what are you doing?" from my 'companion'...

I'm taking the video to be a group out riding together, not random individuals. 

silkred wrote:

looks to me that the cyclists do have a part to play in this

as a group it is good practice to ride in a compact 2 up formation which requires more deliberate overtaking thinking on the part of the driver - as a singled out group you have try to be in each others wheels - if like it seems here you are strung out then you are in effect making it hard for drivers to get past unnecessarily - imo

this is not to condone the actions of this driver - only to suggest that there is something we can do as cyclists to make our occupation of the road more sympathetic to other users

being strung out in a long broken line is not sympathetic

The problem with this is that many drivers are not even aware this is considered acceptable for cyclists and in my experience you get more anger from drivers shouting "you're not on the f***ing Tour de France".

Damned if you do, damned if you don't.

bagseye wrote:

silkred wrote:

looks to me that the cyclists do have a part to play in this

as a group it is good practice to ride in a compact 2 up formation which requires more deliberate overtaking thinking on the part of the driver - as a singled out group you have try to be in each others wheels - if like it seems here you are strung out then you are in effect making it hard for drivers to get past unnecessarily - imo

this is not to condone the actions of this driver - only to suggest that there is something we can do as cyclists to make our occupation of the road more sympathetic to other users

being strung out in a long broken line is not sympathetic

 

The problem with this is that many drivers are not even aware this is considered acceptable for cyclists and in my experience you get more anger from drivers shouting "you're not on the f***ing Tour de France".

Damned if you do, damned if you don't.

 

 

This is true...

I think however shouting and hooting is better than passing too close - in a sense our taking a more deliberate occupation of the road as a tight 2 up group is safer but we have to accept that some drivers don't have the capacity to share the road - at least this group shape means they can't get past without the required space - singled out we invite the more selfish, entrepreneurial drivers taking marginal chances as in this video.

silkred wrote:

I think however shouting and hooting is better than passing too close - in a sense our taking a more deliberate occupation of the road as a tight 2 up group is safer but we have to accept that some drivers don't have the capacity to share the road - at least this group shape means they can't get past without the required space - singled out we invite the more selfish, entrepreneurial drivers taking marginal chances as in this video.

Probably right here. The more we move into the side and try to accomodate other road users the more dangerous the over-taking move. The give some space campaign did nothing to educate drivers, maybe some Bodecea-type wheels are the solution...

Eton Rifle wrote:

Well done on reporting the incident.  A warning letter is about the best you can hope for for a pass like this.  Hopefully the cops keep a record and can escalate accordingly for repeat offenders. 

Given the chronic lack of police resources now, the mass use of cameras is about all we can do to at least alert shit drivers to their shit driving. 

Yes, pulling together as a community with hours of footage might actually push forward some real changes or work to improve our cycle network.

Probably won't happen though. Our government seems to hate anyone who does not fully contribute to the tax system by buying their weekly quota of petrol/diesel.

bagseye wrote:

Eton Rifle wrote:

Well done on reporting the incident.  A warning letter is about the best you can hope for for a pass like this.  Hopefully the cops keep a record and can escalate accordingly for repeat offenders. 

Given the chronic lack of police resources now, the mass use of cameras is about all we can do to at least alert shit drivers to their shit driving. 

Yes, pulling together as a community with hours of footage might actually push forward some real changes or work to improve our cycle network.

Probably won't happen though. Our government seems to hate anyone who does not fully contribute to the tax system by buying their weekly quota of petrol/diesel.

I don’t know, I pay a fair old amount of tax on the extra pies I eat when I cycle in to work. That and how much petrol has to be sold to make up for the air quality fines?

Honestly, I don’t think tax has anything to do with it. It’s all about what gets votes, and the gutter press make sure keeping fuel tax down is a big vote winter and road policing is “stopping the police tackling real criminals”.

bagseye wrote:

Eton Rifle wrote:

Well done on reporting the incident.  A warning letter is about the best you can hope for for a pass like this.  Hopefully the cops keep a record and can escalate accordingly for repeat offenders. 

Given the chronic lack of police resources now, the mass use of cameras is about all we can do to at least alert shit drivers to their shit driving. 

Yes, pulling together as a community with hours of footage might actually push forward some real changes or work to improve our cycle network.

Probably won't happen though. Our government seems to hate anyone who does not fully contribute to the tax system by buying their weekly quota of petrol/diesel.

That would be the heavily subsidised weekly quota of petrol/diesel?  How many years is it since fuel duty was last increased? 

brooksby wrote:

bagseye wrote:

Eton Rifle wrote:

Well done on reporting the incident.  A warning letter is about the best you can hope for for a pass like this.  Hopefully the cops keep a record and can escalate accordingly for repeat offenders. 

Given the chronic lack of police resources now, the mass use of cameras is about all we can do to at least alert shit drivers to their shit driving. 

Yes, pulling together as a community with hours of footage might actually push forward some real changes or work to improve our cycle network.

Probably won't happen though. Our government seems to hate anyone who does not fully contribute to the tax system by buying their weekly quota of petrol/diesel.

That would be the heavily subsidised weekly quota of petrol/diesel?  How many years is it since fuel duty was last increased? 

8. The IFS estimates that has 'cost' £9bn per year, which presumably keeps falling off the back of the Magic Money Wagon, driven by The Hard-Pressed Motorist.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2018/oct/03/theresa-may-pledges-to-...

brooksby wrote:

bagseye wrote:

Yes, pulling together as a community with hours of footage might actually push forward some real changes or work to improve our cycle network.

Probably won't happen though. Our government seems to hate anyone who does not fully contribute to the tax system by buying their weekly quota of petrol/diesel.

That would be the heavily subsidised weekly quota of petrol/diesel?  How many years is it since fuel duty was last increased? 

It takes a special type of madness to describe not increasing a tax as a subsidy.