Active discussions

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Cyclist gesticulating wildly at me

339 replies

FrankyGoesToBollywood · 02/06/2025 08:49

On the school run this morning which involves driving down a narrow winding lane which is always very busy at school run time. The lane is wide enough for two cars but it’s tight. There are three schools on this route and at school drop off and pick ups times it’s busy and congested. It’s 30mph. This morning I was driving along at about 25mph and a man dressed in serious looking cycling gear was cycling. I overtook him with quite a bit of space, definitely more than the 1.5m minimum, and as I was overtaking I could see a car coming towards me so nipped in in front of him- again definitely more than 1.5m from him. My windows were closed but I could then hear him shouting wildly “what the F was that!!” Over and over again and gesticulating. I didn’t indicate. I’m worried he will report me he was going wild, I genuinely thought I was driving quite considerately until I saw his reaction!

I’m now second guessing how close I was to him when I pulled in in front of him, and thinking he will report me and upload footage. If so how likely is it I will hear about it or be prosecuted?

OP posts:
tripleginandtonic · 02/06/2025 08:58

Learn the lesson and be more careful in future.

Spirallingdownwards · 02/06/2025 08:57

Don't worry about it. You were probably fine and he was one of those cyclists who believe cars shouldn't be allowed to share their space at all.

Mareleine · 02/06/2025 08:56

I had one of these the other day. Some people just can't cope with being on the road with other road users. Just put it out of your mind. But I wouldn't have posted this on MN, there are a lot of posters on here who love to automatically assume that cars are all wrong and cyclists are all right in any given situation and I suspect this thread isn't going to go well because people will invent things you did "wrong" and pin them onto the scenario you outlined, I've seen it quite a few times with cyclist/driver threads.

UniversalTruth · 02/06/2025 08:56

Agix · 02/06/2025 08:51

Unlikely. Cyclists like to have a go even when they don't have a leg to stand on. Absolutely baffling they'd decide to take their ride during the hours of the morning everyone's going to work or dropping kids off at school, if they're afraid of cars being close to them. I suppose he expected you to trawl behind him the whole way.

Possibly cyclists like to "have a go" due to the adrenaline of almost being killed by someone in a car who overtakes when they can't see if there's enough room.

Absolutely baffling to me that so many people insist on driving kids to school when much healthier options are available. This doesn't apply to everyone but maybe it applies to the OP, that's for them to decide.

giuspeace · 02/06/2025 08:55

If only all drivers had second thoughts about their treatment of other road users. Some drivers just offer physical violence when a vulnerable pedestrian or cyclust indicates that they have been frightened and put at risk ...

proximalhumerous · 02/06/2025 08:55

Agix · 02/06/2025 08:51

Unlikely. Cyclists like to have a go even when they don't have a leg to stand on. Absolutely baffling they'd decide to take their ride during the hours of the morning everyone's going to work or dropping kids off at school, if they're afraid of cars being close to them. I suppose he expected you to trawl behind him the whole way.

Yeah, totally baffling that someone would be cycling at c.8am. I mean people never use their bike to get to work, do they?

BallerinaRadio · 02/06/2025 08:54

I would imagine you were probably closer to him that you thought. Plus no indication, a sudden 'nip in' that he had no idea was coming... Yeah I can see why he was pissed off

paradisecircus · 02/06/2025 08:54

Can't imagine he'd bother to take this any further - he probably just thought you'd overtaken rather tightly, which maybe you had if there was a car coming the other way.

@Agix Cyclists might also be going to work, and their entitlement to use the road (and be safe on it) is the same as a driver's. So it's not all that baffling.

Asdada · 02/06/2025 08:53

Agix · 02/06/2025 08:51

Unlikely. Cyclists like to have a go even when they don't have a leg to stand on. Absolutely baffling they'd decide to take their ride during the hours of the morning everyone's going to work or dropping kids off at school, if they're afraid of cars being close to them. I suppose he expected you to trawl behind him the whole way.

Maybe he’s trying to get to work too! Why not go to the local school and walk your kids there?

I hope he has a head cam and gets you charged. Loads of cyclists do these days.

And to clarify I’m a cyclist and driver.

randomchap · 02/06/2025 08:53

So you overtook him and had to pull in quickly as a car appeared on the other side of the road? Sounds like you overtook in the wrong place, you should have stayed behind him until you could see that there were no cars approaching.

Be more careful next time.

VegQueen · 02/06/2025 08:52

You may well have been driving a little closer than you thought but also he may have just been having a bad day or be an aggro cyclist in general or had multiple close shaves recently so is on edge… I doubt he will report you and if he did, I doubt you would be prosecuted as ultimately, nobody was harmed. Maybe give a bit of extra space in the future.

Asdada · 02/06/2025 08:51

I hope he does report you! Sounds like you were driving terribly. You have to treat overtaking a cyclist as though you are overtaking a car. Would you pull back infront of a car you had overtaken leaving the car just 1.5m????

Agix · 02/06/2025 08:51

Unlikely. Cyclists like to have a go even when they don't have a leg to stand on. Absolutely baffling they'd decide to take their ride during the hours of the morning everyone's going to work or dropping kids off at school, if they're afraid of cars being close to them. I suppose he expected you to trawl behind him the whole way.

Katemax82 · 02/06/2025 08:51

Unlikely you will hear anything, if he had a helmet camera it will have picked up that a car was oncoming.

Swipe left for the next trending thread