Cyclist gesticulating wildly at me

Fucking hell!
Using a bike to commute to work isn't a stupid decision. Deciding to close pass someone and/or cut them up and risk their life is the stupid decision. Not the person on the bike, the driver, surrounded by a protective steel cage. I am sure their decision to hit someone and cause life changing injuries or worswle will keep them warm at night as they lie in their prison cell having been convicted of dangerous driving.
Riding a bike to work is not playing around next to traffic.

Why do pedestrians insist on doing something that literally endangers their life (~400 killed a year by cars, ~40 of them while on the pavement)? If they just took some responsibility and drove a car, they would be much safer.

Why do cyclists insist on doing something that literally endangers their life?

What's the point?

If they just took some responsibility and drove a car, they would be much safer.

So in summary you weren’t paying enough attention, overtook when you shouldn’t have done, cut up a cyclist and somehow this is his problem? Yeah…

Double standards are double standards.

But you're making the stupid decision to put yourself in a position where several tonnes of steel are passing you at high speed and just a few feet from you.

Why would you make such a stupid decision and risk your life?

I'm sure a framed copy of the highway code, and the knowledge that " you were right", will make you feel better when you find yourself lying on the side of the road with a broken spine. Have a read up on bowel managment for people with spinal injuries and see if you think playing around on a bicycle next to traffic is really such a good idea.

It's the usual story, a driver is worried that a cyclist "gesticulated wildly" at them. A cyclist is worried the driver is going to kill them.

Drivers: How dare this cyclist delay me 5 seconds.
Also drivers: I’m not using that empty lane and merge in turn. I’ll sit here for 10 minutes.

You say that two cars can just pass safely. Did you know you are supposed to be one car's width from a cyclist when you pass? Can you see the maths doesn't quite work here unless the cyclist was in the ditch? You were likely too close and then you cut him up by "nipping in" - we all make bad errors in judgment from time to time - no one got hurt so you were all lucky, but think more carefully before passing. If that cyclist had been your child - would you have passed?

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.

Agree.

Actually cyclists have more right to use the roads: drivers are there by licence, cyclists are there by right.

@FrankyGoesToBollywood Sounds like you overtook only to cut him up and slow right down. He will then have had to crawl behind you as you carefully pass the oncoming car.

What you should have done is stayed behind him, especially if you were going to stop soon after to drop off your kids.

If you do the maths, I’m confident you’ll find that staying behind a cyclist very rarely delays you by more than a minute, max.

Is it really worth dangerous overtaking?

Or could you just arrive 1 minute later (and likely even less)?

We see too often the same cyclists who scream 1.5 metres squeezing between cars, alongside buses and lorries because apparently it doesn't apply in reverse when it suits them.

I'm not normally one to defend cyclists, but the risk of injury to others caused by a cyclist passing too close to a car, lorry or bus is minimal compared to the risk of a driver injuring a cyclist by passing too close.

Sounds like you perhaps went wide enough but nipped back in far too close. If you can't see far enough ahead to know there is plenty of room to overtake then don't overtake.

I’m a cyclist and a driver. All these people saying the cyclist is stupidly to go out during school rush hour, I go out at this time as I need to get to work and unfortunately I can’t change my start time so that’s the time I have to be on the road.
Also, having experienced someone just ‘nipping in’, you are always closer than you realise. I’ve had it happen on a bend and when they pulled in they ran me off the road onto the pavement. It was that or be run over. I’m grateful when a driver gives me enough room to overtake, when that should be the norm. And yes I do gesticulate as it’s bloody scary having cars come so close!
my friend had to pay a fine and do a safety course after a cyclist reported him for passing to close and sent the head cam footage so you might get reported and I hope you do as maybe it might make you aware of safety other road users.

Helmet cams are dual camera front & rear so if he did have one on it definitely would have covered the whole incident.

I'm not quite sure what you did wrong - if it was a close pass or dangerous overtaking or if your driving caused him to swerve or stop & he has a helmet cam then he may well report that to nextbase dash cam portal.

They follow up accordingly from no action if it does not meet criteria to a warning letter & even a court summons.

I send in alot to nextbase as ride my horse on the road & every submission has resulted in positive action either warning letter or points/fine

Some people are just nutters & will shout & swear at anything but please remember that cyclists (and horse riders, carriage drivers, pedestrians etc) are extremely vulnerable on the road & also have as much right to be there as you do.

And so what if he was a ‘hobby cyclist’?
You don’t get superior road rights because you are a driver doing the school run!

You sound like a dangerous and inconsiderate driver who has no sense of spacial awareness.

If you had to pull back in because a car was coming, you overtook at the wrong moment. You must wait until the other side is clear and that you have visibility (ie don’t overtake before a bend where a car might suddenly appear around it).

Sounds like the cyclist witnessed this poor judgement from you and got understandably annoyed by it.

The 1.5m minimum is width; you have to give them that much space to their side when you overtake. That is not enough space when you pull back in front of them. He was very much as risk of hitting you.

The fact that you’re still saying 1.5meters is all you think you need to give when pulling in front of a cyclist or pedestrian shows that you are not a safe driver. How about you just listen to what you’re being told and realise that your judgement is wrong and you need to learn.

You overtook when approaching a bend and couldn’t see the road but you thought that was safe. It wasn’t.

You pulled in front of a cyclist when only 1.5 meters in front and you think that was a safe amount of space. It wasn’t.

You had your kids in the car. You risked them, the oncoming car and the cyclist yet you still think each move you made was safe. That s problem.

“I know cyclists have the same rights to use roads as everyone else but you’d think people would exercise common sense and not choose to cycle on narrow country lanes when there are lots of cars trying to get to school for a specific time. I know I’ll be flamed for saying that but come on it’s common sense!”

There’s entitled drivers and there’s entitled drivers on the school run that are entitled above all else.

Your usecase of the roads doesn’t trump anyone elses. Just drive considerately.

but I’m not lying when I say I was considerate to the cyclist and felt I left plenty of room. Like I say it was definitely over the minimum,

Considering you think the minimum is 1.5m, that assurance means fuck all.

I know cyclists have the same rights to use roads as everyone else but you’d think people would exercise common sense and not choose to cycle on narrow country lanes when there are lots of cars trying to get to school for a specific time.

You do not own the fucking road! Your sense of entitlement is off the scale. Having a child does mean having a license to intimidate cyclists.

Yoi shouldn’t overtake a cyclist unless you can do the whole manoeuvre safely, pulling out, passing and pulling back in, and having to nip back in doesn’t sound like that was the case.

I don’t think the cyclist is the one who lacks common sense 😒

Just because you made it back on to the correct side of the road this time without hitting the cyclist doesn't mean that you always will. That is probably why he was annoyed. He knew you couldn't see if a car was coming yet you chose to overtake. Next time the car coming the other way might be even closer, you will automatically swerve back to the left lane and knock the cyclist off the road. Please be more considerate. It doesn't matter why he was cycling along the road, if you kill him he will still be dead and it would be your fault.

"People should use common sense and refrain from doing things that inconvenience me"