Video: London cyclist in very scary close pass by Serco van

Colin Peyresourde wrote:

Pretty awful. But I hate cycle lanes because they are just a piece of blue slippery paint, and they're barely respected. That one appears to 'end' shortly thereafter - begs the question what special protection does the blue streak afford?

seems to only serve to encourage the cyclist to ride in the gutter, which is arguably what encouraged the pass in the first place!

beezus fufoon wrote:

seems to only serve to encourage the cyclist to ride in the gutter, which is arguably what encouraged the pass in the first place!

The cycle lane there isn't even wide enough for the rider to ride in the position recommended by the close pass initiative, so it's completely pointless.  The "Cyclists should ride 0.75m from the kerb and cars must give them 1.5m overtaking space" needs to be enshrined into the Highway Code asap.

tom_w wrote:

beezus fufoon wrote:

seems to only serve to encourage the cyclist to ride in the gutter, which is arguably what encouraged the pass in the first place!

The cycle lane there isn't even wide enough for the rider to ride in the position recommended by the close pass initiative, so it's completely pointless.  The "Cyclists should ride 0.75m from the kerb and cars must give them 1.5m overtaking space" needs to be enshrined into the Highway Code asap.

agree, but lose the "should ride 0.75m from the kerb" bit - I ususally ride between 1 and 1.5 metres out

beezus fufoon wrote:

seems to only serve to encourage the cyclist to ride in the gutter, which is arguably what encouraged the pass in the first place!

Victim blaming perhaps? Possibly right though. I found myself on a windy/windy country main road at around 6pm yesterday and was constantly passed by cars on blind corners, often on double white lines. It got to the point that I just started taking the lane every time I heard a car approaching on a blind bend, it mostly stopped them from passing. Still got close passed by artics and countless BMWs whatever I did. Some people will always risk it, but forcing people to pass in the opposite lane (as they should anyway!) seems to make people stop and think.

ktache wrote:

But it's not just a choice between hitting a big metal thing or a squishy thing, there is often the choice of that braking thingy.  But that would delay them just a little bit and mean getting to the next queue of traffic a little bit slower.

I'd put last-minute braking and/or swerving in the 'evasive action' category - they just shouldn't be getting into those situations as frequently. That was kind of the point of my second paragraph - fix the behaviour that gets the numpties into those situations in the first place.

spen wrote:

It looks like the driver is actually looking at his nearside mirror ad he passes and yet still continues to pull to the left. Defies belief

This is the mentality of most drivers, it's happened to me. Drivers will in most cases collide with a cyclist rather than another vehicle in a potential crash situation as its conditioned in people not to hit another vehicle.

Its crazy. I was riding to work one morning and a driver tried to pass me at 24mph through a gap that just wasn't there. His mirror hit me forcing the pedal into the kerb and over I go. Fortunately not hurt and just scratches to bike.

The crazy thing is we were approaching a red light that had been red for few seconds.

Unless you are a driver that is also a cyclist you will treat cyclists as a nuisance rather than a vulnerable road user and until that perception changes the carnage will continue

Critchio wrote:

spen wrote:

It looks like the driver is actually looking at his nearside mirror ad he passes and yet still continues to pull to the left. Defies belief

This is the mentality of most drivers, it's happened to me. Drivers will in most cases collide with a cyclist rather than another vehicle in a potential crash situation as its conditioned in people not to hit another vehicle.

Its crazy. I was riding to work one morning and a driver tried to pass me at 24mph through a gap that just wasn't there. His mirror hit me forcing the pedal into the kerb and over I go. Fortunately not hurt and just scratches to bike.

The crazy thing is we were approaching a red light that had been red for few seconds.

Unless you are a driver that is also a cyclist you will treat cyclists as a nuisance rather than a vulnerable road user and until that perception changes the carnage will continue

Crash into a big metal thing or little squishy thing? Little squishy thing, 10 times out of 10. I disagree that it is conditioned - I think it's instinct. Can't change that; shouldn't try to.

The behaviour, the terrible judgement, poor overtaking, impatience, incompetence that gets drivers into situations where they might hit the squishy thing - we should go all out to knock that out of the idiots.