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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To think car driver should not have got arsey with me?

38 replies

MrsRossPoldark · 13/10/2015 13:42

Just had a set-to with an angry driver. I'm cycling home on my usual route which passes a wide two-carriageway road with lots of parked cars on the left. I always pull out a bit further if I can when passing these parked cars as drivers don't always check behind when they park up & get out. I don't want to splat on their door so I leave enough room for a door to be opened so I know I won't be knocked off.

At no point am I over (or close to) the white line in the middle of the road. It's a wide road! I also wear lots of bright clothing (standing joke in the office!) so no excuse for not seeing me.

Driver honks at me and gives me a glare as she passes. I hold my hand up in a "what did I do?" gesture (after all maybe she'd spotted a flat tyre).

She stops in the middle of the carriageway (!) and I pull up to ask if there's a problem & she accuses me of being far too far out (she just overtook me with plenty of room to spare ffs!). I explain to her that I am further out in order to avoid parked car doors opening & I was not in the middle of the road just in the middle of the carriageway, just meaning she had to slow a bit until she could safely pass. She claims she's been a cyclist for 2 years (so assumes I haven't been cycling very long) so she knows what she's talking about!

I've been cycling that route daily for 18 months with never a complaint until now.

AIBU to leave myself room (I know there aren't any cars in the opposite carriageway & I don't actually move out until I have checked behind me that I can) or is she BU to accuse me of being too far out?

Can I go for a coffee & a lie down?!

OP posts:

EvansOvalPiesYumYum · 13/10/2015 14:16

Yep, thought as much Tough. Always the same

catfordbetty · 13/10/2015 14:22

Fellow cyclist here - nothing to add to what's been said above, just posting in solidarity!

PickleSarnie · 13/10/2015 14:23

It's a pain overtaking cyclists. But it's supposed to be. Cyclists are supposed to be far enough out in the road to actually make you think about over-taking them instead of just whizzing past them.

YADNBU

babybat · 13/10/2015 14:29

I can never work out how drivers who get the rage because they've been held up by a few seconds by a cyclist seem to have all the time in the world to stop in the middle of the road and yell at you. If you're in such a hurry, why have you stopped?

YANBU OP, some people are just bad drivers. It's always a good idea to cycle away from car doors, and it keeps you a safe distance from people who might be crossing between parked cars as well.

EvansOvalPiesYumYum · 13/10/2015 14:29

Agree with you totally, Pickle

Maursh · 13/10/2015 14:33

DNBU. The only response to such poor behaviour from the driver is "THINK"!!

There's no such thing on the road as a "car lane." The only roads that motorists can call their own are motorways - the clue is in the name.

Cyclists, in law, operate "carriages", and have done since 1879. And, as operators of vehicles they have as much right to the whole lane as a motorist.

diddl · 13/10/2015 14:36

Yup, aren't you supposed to give a cyclist as much room as a car?

I was once cycling up a hill, nothing parked on my side.

Car coming down hill on my side to pass parked cars.

If I had moved over-just about to the gutter, there might have been room for us both.

I held my line (halfway between white line & curb) & the arsehole kept on coming, so we ended up face to fucking face-on my side of the road!!

Brekekekex · 13/10/2015 14:48

YANBU, I've had similar encounters when trying to avoid being doored and it certainly shakes me up. Primary riding position is recommended though in these circumstances - the driver was an idiot. Hope you're feeling vindicated now!

shovetheholly · 13/10/2015 14:49

Gosh, what an unreasonable woman - and how horrible for you to have to deal with.

for all those who give cyclists loads of clearance. It is unnerving (esp on country roads) to have someone whip right past your earhole at 50mph! A lot of people think they're leaving bags of room but actually don't take the speed of travel into account, and it can feel really close. As a new cyclist, I find it really scary sometimes.

punter · 13/10/2015 14:59

Probably does not apply in this case, but on some roads there is not enough width on the road to give a cyclist the same space as passing a car. Especially if a car coming towards you is doing the same! Not the fault of the car driver or the cyclist. And please do not say that it is only a delay of a few seconds, in some busy road cases it can be minutes and a whole queue of infuriated car drivers behind you which is dangerous as well. Try at the weekend behind the cyclists who are doing the olympic cycle route, it is not possible to wait behind a group of 20 cyclists and give them all a wide enough berth. I do not have a solution, our roads round here are not wide enough! In this particular case though YANBU.

Brekekekex · 13/10/2015 15:03

Punter - if someone on the opposite carriageway is overtaking and therefore you don't have enough room to safely overtake the cyclist on your side then you should wait behind the cyclist until they have completed their manoeuvre!

punter · 13/10/2015 15:17

Brekekekex - agreed, just as if you were behind a parked car and let the oncoming traffic go through first. Cyclists are moving though. But in my experience on urban roads here is not enough width to allow you to give cyclists enough room when overtaking.

Narp · 13/10/2015 18:30

She was in the wrong.

You are meant to leave a door's width for yourself

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