To be done with cyclists (as a car driver).

[bluegardenflowers]

Have cycled in the past but now only drive.

I'm a considerate driver and always allow plenty of room when overtaking and am patient in following the cyclist when it's unsafe to overtake and leave a big gap. I take care when left turning. They are more vulnerable on the road.

Yet I've been sworn at be a cyclist and it's pissing me off.

Yesterday on a busy road I saw the cyclist and was busy scanning ahead to make sure I could give him half a carriageways room to overtake. I started my overtake as he was wafting his arm around and looking back. It wasn't a clear right turn signal more a 30 degree flap around before swerving into the part of the road I was on, and swearing at me.

Ffs. If you want to turn right, stick your bloody arm out fully and make a clear signal. No wonder drivers and cyclists hate each other.

You do realise that MAMILS probably do short journeys and commute by bike too don’t you? I would say that the vast majority are also car drivers.

It’s actually quite refreshing to read a post where the majority of posters are supporting the cyclist.

I spend many hours out on the roads and have seen a positive change since the new Highway Code rules. There are still some idiots about, in vehicles and on bikes.

If you were doing 20mph, then 10metres is a fraction more than 1 second (20mph = 9.5 metres/s), so it sounds like you've made a last second serve round him

Hopefully others reading this thread have learnt from the discussion, I'm not sure you have. Even if the cyclist did make a mistake, you can't control that, only your own actions, and it sounds like you got your risk assessment wrong. Maybe next time you'll do better

With any pupils, I always teach them to hold back for cyclists as much as possible before over taking because, quite often they aren't aware of what exactly is going on behind them. If they were to put an arm out just stay well back until its more clear.

I have to say though, the amount of them by me who don't use the road correctly and don't have the correct gear on is ridiculous. If they have changed the highway code for drivers to accommodate bikes, more needs to be done with educating vulnerable road users to ensure they know more about the road too. Not sure how they would do that but even teaching the highway code in some form at a certain age may help?

They have their cycling club hand signals which are nothing like those in the Highway Code. You are expected to know and recognise their club signals.
in the Highway Code moving your arm up and down means I am slowing down or stopping, but the cyclists waft their hand in a low position to mean turning right when in fact the arm should be clearly out to the right

Who on earth are "they" and how do you know this particular cyclist was a member of a cycling club? I think what you are trying to refer to, and getting it badly wrong, are signals when people are cycling in a group and need to point out hazards such as potholes, parked cars, etc.. Note the use of the word "people" as opposed to "they"...

I also think its reasonably likely that the cyclist here felt unsafe to move out to turn right because (a) there was a vehicle trying to overtake him and (b) the less than 180 degrees arm signal might have been due to a fear that the vehicle was close to him and might have hit an outstretched arm. I've certainly felt that is a risk at times.

ps I do wear lycra, what with it being a modern stretchy material and all. I'm a woman and I just like to keep healthy and fit and I'd much rather be running, but arthritis precludes it. Its horrible knowing that there are people out there who see people like me who want to keep fit and healthy and enjoy the outdoors as some kind of lesser species.

A driver should be capable of being aware of any right hand signal from another road user and theres no need to overtake at a junction. Just wait until its safe to do so if you can't drive cautiously enough to need military standard signals...

Even so, their Audis would still be their main impact upon the environment whether their hobby was cycling or bird watching. They'd still be owning and driving the juggernauts even if they weren't then putting on lycra and jumping on a bike.

Oh my goodness. You saw a cyclist signalling with their right hand and looking over their shoulder as you were approaching a junction and you decided to overtake them??????

You are absolutely being unreasonable. You sound like a very unsafe driver. This could have ended very badly.

When I did my cycling proficiency we were taught to always look over your shoulder and check it’s clear, then signal (if it is clear), check over shoulder again and manoeuvre if safe to do so. It would have been a fail if we signalled without checking it was clear first and another fail if we moved straight out when it was it safe to do so (a car behind overtaking would not be a safe time to pull out).

It’s the same in a car - mirror, signal, manoeuvre. You shouldn’t signal your intentions to move out unless you have checked it is clear. You should then check again it is clear before you manoeuvre.

I think the cyclist was in the wrong on 3 counts - not checking it was clear before he signalled, his signal was not clear and thinking he could just pull out in front of a car (unsafe).

@BlackbirdsSinging but what if the cyclist looked at the car which was moving across approaching the junction and assumed it was safe to turn right as the car was also turning right? The cyclist can't see the opposite indicator so can only use road position to gauge a driver's intention, and everything about the car's position said it was taking the right turn.
The cyclist would (quite legitimately) see the car taking the same right as them, start moving over with a not-too-wide signal (as there was a car alongside, also taking the turn, keeping them safe for the manoeuvre).
Then, when the car actually didn't turn right, but accelerated past the junction, the cyclist would be confused and afraid, as their "shield" for the right turn had just literally turned on them.

The OP’s dangerous illegal manoeuvre is FAR worse than the cyclists ‘half hearted’ hand signal.