How to pass a slow cyclist

On Tuesday, February 9, 2016 at 11:39:55 PM UTC, MrCheerful wrote:
On 09/02/2016 21:29, Simon Jester wrote:
On Tuesday, February 9, 2016 at 8:17:39 AM UTC, MrCheerful wrote:

I think it was one of those strange pedantic posts that psycholists
resort to when they are losing the plot. He will start screaming abuse
in a minute and spitting.

I will leave spitting and ranting to moronists.
Usually when a primary road user confronts a moronist about their driving the first reaction of the subsidised road user is to make death threats ("I'll run you over"), an offence which is punishable by life in prison.
This is usually followed by an incomprehensible rant about the mythical 'Rude Tax'.


Just as I predicted

You predicted you would be wrong?
At least you are honest.

"MrCheerful" wrote in message
On 10/02/2016 08:27, TMS320 wrote:

A motor vehicle has to disturb a lot of air and the vehicle's physical
effect is not confined to the vehicle outline. A lorry has a low pressure
region in front of the back wheels.

When the cyclist gets it wrong, the cyclist suffers. When a driver gets
it wrong the cyclist suffers.

So bicycles are not viable to share the roads with motor transport, since
there will always be large speed differentials and blasts of moving air.

They are perfectly viable with normal overtaking clearances.

"Peter Parry" wrote
On Wed, 10 Feb 2016 08:27:28 -0000, "TMS320" "Peter
Parry" wrote
On Mon, 8 Feb 2016 14:12:04 -0800 (PST), Simon Jester
On Monday, February 8, 2016 at 9:58:26 PM UTC, Peter Parry wrote:
On Mon, 8 Feb 2016 13:46:30 -0800 (PST), Simon Jester
wrote:

Where does than come from?

Give or take a tad from an number of places (although they usually
refer to it as a cars width)

Then I guess something went wrong in translation. A lot of roads aren't
physically wide enough for that.

It's probably that a marked out cycle lane is ideally 6ft wide.

Driving in heavy rain today I passed a push biker traveling at 20 MPH
or so. A few hundred yards on traffic was slowed by a HGV. The push
biker rode past me on the left leaving a few inches spare and at
undiminished speed went past the HGV also on the left and with similar
clearance. Shortly afterwards the HGV overtook the push biker -
should he have left the same clearance the push bike rider did
earlier?

More room.

When the lorry overtakes, its speed will be higher than when overtaken. It
is not clear from your description but if the lorry was stopped when first
encountered it ceased to be different from any other fixed feature.

No, it was moving but only at about 10MPH as there were road works and
little room. Overtaking on the inside with a 10MPH differential and
given the road conditions was rather stupid.

It might not have been a good idea to overtake, depending on circumstances,
but once committed, it would be worse to do it with a
small speed differential. (If you're going down the motorway, you don't
tarry alongside lorries.)

A person can judge the clearance between their elbow and large object
better than a person can judge the clearance between the side of their
vehicle and a cyclist's elbow.

Agreed, but that is a slightly different scenario.

London riders in particular seem to use their elbows as touch sensors
and seem happy to put themselves in monumentally dangerous situations
squeezing into closing gaps between buses and HGV's in their quest for
speed. They want their bread buttered on both sides - they want
clearance from themselves for safety but also want to be safe
overtaking (or worse - undertaking) while leaving no clearance.

There is a difference between entering a gap ahead - which allows
calculation and planning - and having a gap forcibly imposed

It's certainly possible to overtake a cyclist with small gaps so long as the
cyclist has a chance to prepare, has some control over the timing and it's
not a matter of the driver starting off reasonably and closing the gap part
way.

Even so, you should say "some London riders".

When a cyclist overtakes, the part of the vehicle yet to be overtaken is
ahead of the cyclist and what is behind takes no more part in the
proceedings. When a motor vehicle overtakes a cyclist, the driver has
to get the rear of their vehicle past.

A motor vehicle has to disturb a lot of air and the vehicle's physical
effect is not confined to the vehicle outline. A lorry has a low pressure
region in front of the back wheels.

At 20MPH?

I still suggest there is a factor if clearance is not sdufficient for the
conditions

I'm not talking about situations where dV is great but the
more common one in traffic where push bike riders demand clearance
from overtaking vehicles but give none when overtaking.

Generally, the cyclist will overtake in congestion, the motor vehicle will
overtake in free flow. Circumstances are essentially different, and speeds
are necessarily different.

When the cyclist gets it wrong, the cyclist suffers. When a driver gets it
wrong the cyclist suffers.

A lesson many cyclists would be wise to learn. Having a gravestone
inscribed "You should have avoided me" isn't particularly rewarding.

That is a different lesson - about (not) taking defensive action when
someone else makes a mistake.

On Mon, 8 Feb 2016 14:19:31 -0800 (PST), Simon Jester
wrote:

On Monday, February 8, 2016 at 10:07:23 PM UTC, Alycidon wrote:
On Monday, 8 February 2016 21:46:31 UTC, Simon Jester wrote:
On Sunday, February 7, 2016 at 5:19:00 PM UTC, Peter Parry wrote:
On Sun, 7 Feb 2016 06:08:57 -0800 (PST), Alycidon
wrote:

Surely you should leave a push bike rider as much room as he gives
you?


Where does the Highway Code say that?

It doesn't of course - it says this.

http://bit.ly/23Tq0Ol

Just like I did in the video.

As I have said before, safe driving is about attitude.
Why are moronists willing to wait patiently to pass a horse but not a bicycle.


Because in general people like horses and ...........

On Tue, 09 Feb 2016 08:16:08 +0000, MrCheerful
wrote:

On 08/02/2016 23:42, Simon Jester wrote:
On Monday, February 8, 2016 at 11:11:46 PM UTC, MrCheerful wrote:


Oh I see, in that case of course there is no need to leave a bicycle any
gap at all as it will be stationary since it cannot move on its own.
Living horses on the other hand may wander around all over the place.
Dead horses require no distance when passing them since they also will
not move at all.

By Jove I think he has finally got it.
When passing a pedal cycle ridden by a cyclist you must follow the Highway Code.


yes, you should, you leave as much room as you would for passing a car,
anything over a foot is perfectly safe for passing cars and is the same
for passing bicycles that are being ridden.


One problem with riding close to a cyclist, is the fact that if you are very
close and suddenly sound the horn very loudly as you overtake them they often
fall off.

On Mon, 8 Feb 2016 14:07:21 -0800 (PST), Alycidon wrote:

On Monday, 8 February 2016 21:46:31 UTC, Simon Jester wrote:
On Sunday, February 7, 2016 at 5:19:00 PM UTC, Peter Parry wrote:
On Sun, 7 Feb 2016 06:08:57 -0800 (PST), Alycidon
wrote:

Surely you should leave a push bike rider as much room as he gives
you?


Where does the Highway Code say that?

It doesn't of course - it says this.

http://bit.ly/23Tq0Ol

Just like I did in the video.

It also says that you are not to exceed thirty mph in a thirty mph limit - just
like you did in the original video.

On Tue, 9 Feb 2016 13:29:08 -0800 (PST), Simon Jester
wrote:

On Tuesday, February 9, 2016 at 8:17:39 AM UTC, MrCheerful wrote:

I think it was one of those strange pedantic posts that psycholists
resort to when they are losing the plot. He will start screaming abuse
in a minute and spitting.

I will leave spitting and ranting to moronists.
Usually when a primary road user

I know that you are very well educated: please could you explain what is a
"primary road user"?

Is it someone who keeps clear of "secondary roads"?

On Mon, 8 Feb 2016 16:16:07 -0800 (PST), Simon Jester
wrote:

On Tuesday, February 9, 2016 at 12:04:36 AM UTC, JNugent wrote:

That one has come up before.

The answer I gave at the time was that it seems reasonable to expect an
adult on a bicycle to behave better than (say) a 9-yr-old on a horse,
and perhaps even better than the horse.

But I accept that it is possible to be a bit too optimistic.

As if by magic The Noddy appears.


Why on earth are you known as "The Noddy" - where you called that at school?

On Mon, 8 Feb 2016 14:25:12 -0800 (PST), Alycidon wrote:

snip


Maybe because a horse can give a tin box a severe ****ting with its iron hooves.


Are horses' hooves really made of iron? I didn't know that.

If that's true - why on earth do they need to put iron horse shoes on them?

Seems a waste of time and money to me.