to wonder what was the "right" thing for the cyclist to do?

[5Foot5]

Seriously this is not a cyclist bashing thread. We encountered a potentially awkward car/bicycle situation at the weekend and I am really not sure what would have been the best way to tackle it so I am asking for opinions on here - especially from cyclists.

We were driving on a small country road with numerous twists and uphill stretches and had been following some bicycles for quite a way. Fair enough - they had every right to be there and were making the best progress they could, we had to follow because there was nowhere we could pass safely.

Just before we reached our destination we came to a stretch of this road which is only wide enough for one line of traffic and is light controlled. This stretch of road goes over a slight rise so cars at either end cannot see whether there is anything still coming in the opposite direction, i.e. when the light changes to green you have to trust that it is OK to set off.

When we approached the light it was still red but when it changed to green the cyclist set off ahead of us, hence we had to crawl behind in first gear all the way along. Now this is not an especially short stretch of road so it was quite feasible that the lights would change before we were through and we might find ourselves meeting oncoming traffic who thought it was safe for them to go.

DH was getting quite agitated about the cyclist having gone ahead of us instead of letting us go first. While I can understand his frustration and concern about meeting traffic coming the other way I am still not sure what the cyclist could have done for the best. Whatever he did he risked meeting oncoming traffic.

Would he have been better getting off to push in these circumstances?

WWYD. Was DH BU to be annoyed in expecting the cyclist to let him go first?

Sometimes when I ride my horse on the road I can't help holding people up. I let them get by as soon as possible. I always thank considerate drivers. I have noticed that it helps to keep things civil

sycamore There had been several cyclists but we had had an opportunity to pass most of them a little earlier. We were still following this one cyclist when we got to the lights. And, yes, they were on red when we and the cyclist reached them and we all came to a halt. Ours was the only car by then.

I don't think the cyclist did anything wrong.
I know it's annoying getting stuck behind a cyclist, but when they are obeying the rules of the road, they have just as much right as drivers, pedestrians and horse riders.
Is it possible that he wasn't a local and didn't know the stretch of road ahead? Of ten the set up you describe is just to go under a railway bridge, or over a bridge, so not a long distance.

You may think it didn't have any effect on his driving but I bet that on other occasions it has and will.

What's that all about!? I was in the car and I could see for myself that, despite feeling frustrated, he continued to drive safely and considerately. How can you reach the conclusion that he will do differently another time? And are you saying you have never, ever been in a driving situation yourself where you have felt irritated or annoyed with another road user but have not let it affect your common sense and judgement?

There's plenty of research showing how driving whilst angry, frustrated or whatever else has a huge impact on everything from common sense to reaction speeds and judgement of others' speeds.

From how het up he was at this insignificant event and his over-inflated sense of importance on the road, this isn't the first or last time it will happen. I bet he's more likely to act like this when the only person in the car.

Of course other road users annoy me and I'd like to think it didn't have any effect on my driving but who knows. Perhaps along the lines of "it was a small glass of wine, I'll be fine." I was cut up last year, emergency braked and nearly slid into the central reservation (from 70 mp/h). Of course I was furious. I like to think I drove home sensibly. I reversed into our drive and straight into my H's car's towbar!

Op I am a cyclist and in that situation I would definitely have waved the car on ahead of me. If there had been a stream of cars then I wouldn't have. A pp mentions the cyclist was well within his rights to do so - this is of course correct, but sometimes common sense should be used too! Just because you have a 'right' to do something, doesn't mean you should always do it.

I try to be as considerate as I possibly can because I like to treat others in the same way I want to be treated myself....

He wasn't being unreasonable. There would be much less animosity towards cyclists if they acknowledged that they're slower than other road users and pulled over in situations like this.

Exactly, amicissimma

Unfortunately I think the cyclist did the “right” thing albeit it must be frustrating for you and your DH. As a non-cyclist this may not seem obvious and I really appreciate you coming on here and politely asking the question.

I have been in exactly this situation just a few weeks ago – ie on a narrow country road coming up to traffic lights at road works. I did exactly as you suggested and whilst I arrived at the red light first I waited and allowed the car behind me to go first for which I got a friendly wave, it does take a bit of time though for a driver to realise you are letting them go and then set off. The car drove off quickly and I then proceeded up the hill through the roadworks as fast as I could.

However this was not fast enough for the car at the top of the hill who then set off through the roadworks towards me despite having a clear view that I was still coming through the narrow lane on the wrong side of the road.

I have no idea why they did this as when the car reached me I had nowhere to go (high hedge on one side and roadwork barriers on the other. I had to stop, get off my bike and push myself into the hedge for the car to get past in the meantime the driver wound down their window and was shouting and swearing at me assuming I had gone through the light on red which I hadn’t.

So in trying to be polite as you suggest I severely pissed off another driver and I would not do that again. Unfortunately I would go first and expect traffic behind me to wait. Had I done this there is no way that the driver coming towards me would have set off from the top with a clear view of bike AND car behind rather than just a bike.

arethereanyleftatall I'm a cyclist. I would have let you go first in this situation (assuming you were the only car), and then pegged it as fast as i could to keep as close behind you as poss. I would have felt that was safer than run the risk of head on collision.

This seems like the best option to me. Get to draft off the back a bit as well

One of my regular routes includes a short-but-steep humpy back bridge where the lights change quite fast (fine if you hit them on green but a bit harder if you go from stopped)

I nearly always let the waiting cars behind me go first. I'll have one foot on the ground and I'll twist right round and give them a big smile and wave them on, so its clear what I am doing.

1. This saves me from having to absolutely wreck myself getting over the hill as fast as humanly possible.
2. It does one more tiny thing to stop non-cyclists hating cyclists, as evidenced by the smiles and thank you waves I usually get.

Mumski45 the car at the top of the hill who then set off through the roadworks towards me despite having a clear view that I was still coming through the narrow lane on the wrong side of the road.

Just yesterday I turned back into the local/residential roads near my house and was riding past a whole section of parked cars on my left (so yes, I was on the other side of the road but was already moving/had no where to go if I wanted to).

A taxi that had been waiting on a corner less than 10-15 metres away then fully pulled out of that side road and just came straight at me without a flicker of hesitation. Bear in mind it was broad daylight and I was dressed almost head to toe in bright/neon colours.

I had nowhere to go so had to simply slow to a crawl,, squeeze between him and the parked cars and hope nothing connected!

Shotsfired it's quite scary how inconsiderate some drivers can be isn't it. Luckily my personal experience is that such incidents are rare although they do shake you up when they happen.

I find that being a considerate cyclist and slowing to let people pass/ wave thanks when they sit behind for a while then pass giving you space helps but there are some instances such as the one the OP describes where it's actually safer to hold your position.
I appreciate that non cyclists don't always see it from our perspective and will take any opportunity to explain calmly what it's like to be the cyclist.
My daughter once complained that she had been stuck behind 2 cyclists side by side on a narrow road. She was annoyed but genuinely asking me why they would do this. I explained that they would have been deliberately preventing her from overtaking until it was safe ie a clear view ahead and a road wide enough and now she gets it.
We all need to see things from both sides and be courteous and I thank the OP for having the courage to come on here and do exactly that :)

Hear hear mumski!

A charming fellow in an expensive open top car screamed abuse at Dh for this and tried to actually run him off the road I kid you not. Dh took the number plate and called police who took it seriously he was interviewed Dh wanted him arrested. Very wealthy 60 something. Twat. Hopefully the police arriving at his house will give him pause for thought before doing that to someone else which was dhs intention.

Mumski After what happened to you I can very much see your POV and understand why you would make that decision.

OP I think this is a case of the right thing to do is not always the correct thing to do. A little bit of give and take does wonders.
Can I ask, as this isn't a bunfight yet? I'm still trying to work out quite what happened a month or so ago. We pull up to red traffic lights in the right hand turn lane, good junction, lots and lots of space, daytime, very few vehicles, turn joins a hill going down. 3 cyclists in lycra to our left and one to our right. Lights turn green, OH driving waits for cyclists to pull off and then slowly starts to turn. There is lots and lots of space, and every body is meters away from each other, cyclists doing a decent speed as it's down hill, the the guy who started parked to our right drifts across our path to join his mates who were to our left, no hand signals or looking over his shoulder, slows down, looks over his shoulder, stops directly in our path, starts screaming at us that we were to close, which we were by this point as we had had to stop at least two meters behind him. Every body except the other cyclists is stationary in the middle of the junction waiting for him to stop screaming and continue, which he did and joined his mates who then all start screaming at us. I turn and see one of them is trying to kick the back passenger window with my 4yr old sat behind it. But as I said there is lots of space at this junction so he too was meters away trying to kick glass into a child's face, nice. It was all just so odd. I'm guessing somebody else had pissed them off earlier and decided to take it out on us. We live in the nightmare traffic with all the country roads nobody can overtake any body and then the organised Sunday bike rides and groups, but this was a purpose built big clear loads of space junction, very rare round here. I just can't work out how he thought it was his right to drift across a lane whilst of flowing traffic whilst turning a junction and then blame the other vehicle for getting close, even though we weren't. The rest was clearly wrong. I still want to know WTF happened and I probably got the clearest view.

There was a cyclist in the right side of a right hand turn lane who crossed your path and then got angry that the car behind was moving at all?... is the lane right hand turn only or do the arrows show a mix of straight/rt?

It sounds like encountering a set of arseholes, Scaredy, but odd that you managed to find a whole pack of them, so I can't help but wonder if there's some fact you left out.

I have a problem driving on my local city ring road... the right hand lanes have arrows to say straight/or right turn. But sometimes, God Forgive you if you go straight on from these mix straight/rt-turn lanes. Some other drivers completely freak out & think that only a rt turn is allowed from that (in reality) mixed direction lane. Most drivers are completely relaxed, though, and don't freak out.

Scaredycat3000 it's a little hard to understand what happened here.

How did the cyclist/s - who were all in front of you - end up being behind you to be able kick the rear window?

Was he still on his bike or dismounted and standing up? (Either way, he'd had to have a pretty high kick to reach a car window?)

Were you actually too close (behind or laterally) and/or going at a speed which would have caused a wind buffer to hit them as you passed? The rec'd distance is 1.5m (as a rough rule of thumb, the car should be across the central white line)

Regarding the drifting: Despite not using good practice of signalling where he was going*, he was still a road user. You wouldn't just drive into the 'space' if he had been in his car and not signalled.
(* sometimes the road is just too slippery/potholey/whatever to safely take your hands off the bars to signal and you have to rely on a quick glance and [assertively] go. I hate doing it but it's just how it is)

Based on what your post said, there are two and a bit answers I can think of:

1. He was just a dick on a bike (not a cyclist)
2. Your husband had, perhaps quite innocently/unknowingly, done something to make him afraid for his personal safety and he lashed out in reaction. Been there done that, it's terrifying when you think you're about to be spread out like jam on the tarmac by 2 tons of metal.
3. Combination of above.

And one last question, Colombo style , out of interest, why did you feel the need to specifically mention they were in Lycra?

It's a space thing everyone seems so angry on the roads here. Why was your Dh so angry? Chill the fuck out. It's pathetic.

There was a cyclist in the right side of a right hand turn lane who crossed your path and then got angry that the car behind was moving at all? It was a right hand only turn lane, with traffic lights only allowing our lane to move at that time. And yes I think that probably was it TBH.
After the junction we overtook, it turns into two lanes, one try to kick the car sat on his bike, almost wish he had connected, only way we could have got the police involved and plenty of witnesses. Sadly no bike reg numbers to report. If 2. it was due to 1. and not driving in a safe manner and caused this himself. I drove a moped round London for years, I would never have drifted like that, it would be stupid and dangerous and I would expect to land my self in hospital if I had.
As I already said this area has organised Sunday bike rides and groups, and this was a Sunday morning. The Lycra round here would imply the serious bike riders, I would expect if you go to the trouble of buying lycra you might bother to pick up a copy of the highway code.

The Lycra round here would imply the serious bike riders, I would expect if you go to the trouble of buying lycra you might bother to pick up a copy of the highway code.

Well, I wear Lycra because it fits and doesn't flap and has the padded section for comfort. Also because it's comfortable and doesn't give me an awful chafe/sore on the inner thigh like the time I did a short 5 mile errand in my jeans. And also because it wicks sweat away when I am doing a long ride. And because it comes in natty bright colours so people can easily see me rather than have moans about cyclists being invisible.

I probably have those reasons in common along with the rest of the 80% of cyclists who also drive. If you drive but don't cycle (much lower figure - 15%), there's no reason for you to know that, so I hope that helps clarify

But I only do a few dozen miles a week (my bf, for example does many thousands a year), and I have to wear plus size kit, so I'm not kidding myself I actually look good, either. So I'm hardly a serious cyclist, yet I wear lycra. It's almost as if there was a reason other than just being a wanky cyclist

www.cyclinguk.org/resources/cycling-uk-cycling-statistics#How many drivers cycle? And how many cyclists drive?

Scaredycat I think what has happened here is that the cyclist on your right will have expected you to anticipate that he would be moving across to the left to rejoin his mates. He would not have been expecting you to try to overtake them with him still on the right. If he was trying to get up to speed from a standing start he may not have had enough stability or seen the need to signal what to me would be an obvious manoeuvre from the circumstances you describe.

The safest thing to do when leaving a junction with cyclists in front of you is to stay well back until it becomes clear what their intention is. You will be surprised how intimidating it feels to have a car close behind you when on a bike and what may seem like lots of space to you can feel close to a cyclist particularly if he is sending you starting to accelerate to overtake.

His reaction however is totally unreasonable and whilst I can't believe a cyclist would try to kick your window ( this would leave him seriously unbalanced and likely to fall off) I can believe that the shock of what to him felt like a near miss could cause him to lash out and try to kick the door.

Don't forget that he would be much worse off than you if a collision were to occur and the fear of this can make people react in an irrational way.

Please don't let the overreaction of one group of cyclists colour your opinion of us all as in general I find cyclists to be a very friendly bunch who just want to get out a joy their chosen sport.

The cyclist might have wanted to go first to make sure that they got through the lights before they changed. Also with a car behind them, if they did change having a car also coming through with you will make it much less likely for traffic coming the other way to barge you off the road. If you were following the car then you may not be very visible, so if the lights changed cars might start coming through without realising you were there.

There doesn't appear to be anything awkward about what happened with the OP though. It wasn't safe to overtake so her DH didn't. That's the end of it surely? The cyclist may have been able to let them through fine and was just being a twat, or there might have been reasons why not (such as I've said above). Without others being there it's very difficult to say. But why does it matter to work out if the cyclist was a twat or not? All sorts of road users are twats every day, yet we don't feel the need to overanalyse the situation.

And Scaredy's example is yet again a reason why any thread about cycling on here ends up a bunfight. It just ends up dredging up other stories about cyclists supposedly doing something wrong.

It's the twattish, entitled attitudes of some cyclists that pisses people off and causes tempers to fray.

And they wonder why people are scared to cycle in this country.

I was nearly killed by a driver who thought I was a 'fucking twat' as he pulled out of a side road straight into me. I guess it was my fault for causing his temper to fray.

Cyclists ARE entitled. They're entitled to use the roads which drivers are only allowed to use by licence.

A point that is obviously far too subtle for many drivers.