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?

Rawprawn 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

Similar factors (cyclist, side road, cardriver), just a differently ordered version here. Except hopefully your guy was "just" all mouth and no baseball bat!

www.roadhawk.co.uk/blog/video-cyclist-threatened-with-a-baseball-bat-during-incident/

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.

That may be so but actually I think it also provoked some useful and informative feedback from the cyclists on here. Mumskis explanation about what the cyclist was expecting in that situation is a good one as it might not have been immediately obvious to all of us that this is what he was likely to do, hence the confrontation. If it encourages anyone reading this thread to leave even more space for the cyclist when turning right in a similar situation then surely that is a good thing?

An explanation of why somebody does what they do can surely only help understanding among road users.

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.
And yet four others before me were dredging up other stories about car drivers supposedly doing something wrong. yet no car driver felt the need to point this out or be unpleasant.
I genuinely wondered if I missed something. Thank you those who tried. Turns out all of the examples given add something to the facts that didn't happen. So no I missed nothing. I did wonder about the kicking the car and falling over, he nearly fell despite the failure to kick!

Rawprawn it's this kind of attitude that frays tempers, yes: "A point that is obviously far too subtle for many drivers."

Scaredy I wasn't meaning to have a go at you individually. It is just the nature of these threads. Just have a search for "cyclist" on here and peruse the results. The attitude towards cyclists from many on here is appalling.

Given the situation, I'd have waited to let a queue of cars past. Much safer for me to have cars in front rather than waiting behind trying to overtake.

Cyclists can be slow - and I know that as someone who cycles, I also want to be considerate to others. It makes everyone happier.

Scaredy: your DH was reasonable to presume the cyclist in the right of the rt-turn-only lane was going right, then. I wonder why in the world the cycling group were spread out like that, though, it makes no sense.

Yeoldtrout scaredy states that all the cyclists were in the right hand turn lane. One to the right of her and some to the left. This would make sense if they had all filtered through stationery traffic which had stopped at the lights. Personally I would always filter on the right then position myself in front of the traffic queue (particularly if there is a bike box) to make sure I was clearly visible. I am assuming that there was no bike box here and the cyclist who had filtered on the right intended to move to the left as soon as he could after the traffic began to move which is the 'right' thing to do.

hmmm... Scaredy didn't say cyclists were all present within the rt hand lane. If they were all present in the rt hand lane then it was a massive lane for them to also be at all times 'metres' apart and for all 3 to be to the left of Scaredy's car. But 2 b fair, maybe all in rt-hand-lane is what she meant. I thought she meant that 3 were in the LHand lane and one over on the right side of same lane as Scaredy's car, but in front of S's car.

Perhaps the situation needs a diagram (.... please no ).

I think the cyclist who drifted across in front of scaredy realised half way through his manoeuvre that he had not checked behind or signalled and was suddenly spooked when he realised what he had done. He then in a fashion which is typical of the male species (apologies for the sexism) decides to blame someone else for his mistake and tells his mates that the car got too close. In reality though Scaredy is the best one to judge this as she was there at the time.

I am merely speculating as to why a cyclist might behave like this. I think we can all react in an irrational manner when we sense a danger even if we have put ourselves in that position.

Mumski I think you are probably spot on. If it had been our fault in some way then though an over reaction, a reaction was justified, but being surrounded by a group of men shouting at us with young dc in the car, and the kick with 2 dc in the car............
Just to clarify the bikes were positioned all in the right turn lane, crossing islands separating left turn lane, 3 to the left in a group and one to the right, which I thought was odd at the time.