“Some drivers see safe cycling as a character flaw”: the fight for fewer close passes + the UK's booming gravel scene

On episode 69 of the road.cc Podcast, we delve into the reasons and behavioural patterns that underpin most, if not all, of the 887 (and counting) examples of close passes and dangerous driving that make up our Near Miss of the Day series, aided by a road safety expert currently undertaking a PhD study on the relationship between motorists and cyclists on the road. 

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The intrepid researcher in question is Will Cubbin, the manager of the Safer Essex Roads Partnership, who combines his day job attempting to keep the roads safe with part-time doctoral research at Anglia Ruskin University, where he explores the very behaviour that makes them dangerous in the first place.

Inspired to dive into academia following an unfortunate encounter with a close passing driver, who lambasted him for being ‘in the middle of the road’, Will chats to Ryan about his PhD research, which attempts to understand how a driver’s knowledge of cycling can affect their actions on the road.

He also explains the interesting methodology behind his new co-authored study – titled ‘Close passes caught on camera: How knowledge and behavioural norms relate to perceptions of liability when cars overtake cyclists’ – which involved assessing the responses of 239 UK motorists to eight video clips of real-life close pass incidents submitted to Essex Police in 2020.

In the study, Will and his co-authors assessed these road users’ reactions to close passes to understand the effect of cycling experience, knowledge of recommended cyclist road positioning, and (rather alarmingly) a driver’s tendency to express anger behind the wheel on the way individuals perceive and approach close passes – and, crucially, how at fault they would deem a cyclist who has nearly been clipped by a dangerous driver. (Spoiler: Those who admit to using their vehicle as a means of expressing anger are less likely to view a driver as culpable for a close pass, instead pinning the blame on the cyclist. Who knew?)

> The Highway Code for cyclists

During the interview, Will explains how simple actions by cyclists designed to improve their safety on the road – such as taking up the middle of a lane while approaching a traffic island – can be viewed by some motorists, with limited or no knowledge of the Highway Code, as a “character flaw”, one that pigeonholes the safety-conscious cyclist as “selfish” (or worse), rather than the result of external factors on the road.

The Safer Essex Roads Partnership manager also gives us a sneak peek into his latest research – which explores cyclists’ positioning from a motorist’s perspective – and outlines his ambition to use his research, in tandem with his day job, to educate drivers across the UK about safe cycling behaviours, “adjusting their expected social norms” on the road (which at the moment tend to negatively characterise cyclists as an anger-inducing hindrance), and improving safety for all road users.

In part 2, Ryan and Suvi catch up with road.cc and off.road.cc contributor Matt Page, who is also one of the people behind the sold out Battle of the Beach gravel (and sand, obvs) event that is taking place between the 6-7 April. With UK road racing experiencing numerous struggles and diminishing numbers, are gravel events what is needed to make cycling events in Britain boom again? 

The road.cc Podcast is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Amazon Music, and if you have an Alexa you can just tell it to play the road.cc Podcast. It’s also embedded further up the page, so you can just press play.

At the time of broadcast, our listeners can also get a free Hammerhead Heart Rate Monitor with the purchase of a Hammerhead Karoo 2. Visit hammerhead.io right now and use promo code ROADCC at checkout to get yours.