Is it me or the cyclist?

[bettyfreddy]

I've just had an incident with a cyclist who was very angry and is going with his footage to the police. I'm quite shaken by it and it was honestly an accident. I was driving.

So I overtook the cyclist along with maybe 2 other cars in front of me. Carried on driving for around 300 yards and slowed down for the queue at the roundabout ahead.

As I began to move forward slowly - it wasn't my turn to leave the round about, there was a car in front of me - the cyclist shot by me on the left hand side of the car. I honestly didn't see him. He was absolutely cycling at quite a speed. I stopped as soon as I saw him (car in front had gone) and he went in front of my car and started swearing at me.

I didn't move the car, let him go round the roundabout.

I was dropping my son off at pre school which is just round the roundabout so he clearly saw where I was going so came to 'speak' to me. He called me a dangerous driver and he was going to show his footage from his cycling helmet to the police and to expect them to call round.

I apologised and said I genuinely didn't see him. I moved my car forwards at about 3mph probably, he just shot by me. Granted I should of checked my wing mirrors but it wasn't my turn to leave the round about so I was just slowing cruising along.

I can take it if I'm at fault and I really did apologise to him.

He's probably not going to send the video to the police anyway but if he does it doesn't matter. The worst they'll do is have a word with you as you weren't driving dangerously.

If you overtake a cyclist in future be conscious of the fact they'll be catching you up when you hit traffic.
Always check your mirrors.

People willing to accept the cyclist was going Too Fast but still Not Fast Enough to wait behind

You don't overtake people so you can stop in front of them

I don’t exactly understand what happened except that nothing material actually happened and the cyclist was an idiot for calling you out like he did.

The fact is that the OP sounds unsure of what she did and the cyclist has footage. If the footage shows she drove badly, he will be in the right; if it shows nothing she has nothing to worry about.

I didn't stop in front of him. There were about 2/3 cars in front of me that over took him and also a good probably 4 cars behind me that also over took him. I have judged the distance wrong however I know where I over took him so I'm going to find out what the distance was when I collect dd from pre school which I will put on here.

More likely the cyclist was going too fast as it was going faster than they could at the time. Drivers rarely worry about how fast they're going relative to anyone else.

But definitely. If you can see the road ahead has stationary traffic, what's the point in overtaking and potential impeding the cyclist 50m ahead? A lot of drivers have the memory of a goldfish or are selfish. I often see people do what the OP did but then hog the kerb for no reason or fail to mirror check.

That's exactly what you did. You said 300 yards and could see stationary traffic ahead.

You carried out a chain overtake despite seeing stationary traffic at a roundabout. Obviously only you know the rate of flow leaving the roundabout but clearly it was slow enough to make the overtake pointless.

So the question is why do so many drivers know this but carry on regardless? IMO it's just personal gain. Everyone can see that you're just going to impede the cyclist so why bother, if they're cycling quickly anyway. And then when you've acknowledged the cyclist (having overtaken them) why do you suddenly forget they're on the road and will likely undertake?

It sounds like there were at least 7 unthinking drivers in your account.

where does it say anything like that in the highway code?

Unfortunately you can't teach common sense.

Undertaking as a cyclist is a very stupid move. Self-preservation would dictate more sensible riding.

I was about to say the same thing. How can you not be maintaining some extra awareness after just overtaking a cyclist! Of course he was going to catch-up again if your slowing down behind other cars.

Personally in those situations I let the cyclist get ahead of me if I see them coming down the side of my car whilst I was stationary or even crawling I would just stop for the tiny second or two it takes for them to pass.

Without seeing the footage hard to judge really.

I didn't stop in front of him.

That's what you said you did, when you said you passed him for no reason and then stopped so that he had to undertake you, to no benefit to your headway at all

"If you could see queuing traffic ahead you shouldn't have overtaken the cyclist"

Do you apply that to cyclists too? When I'm cycling up behind a slower cyclist I wouldn't think twice about not overtaking just because there's other cyclists waiting at some lights in front.

Update: I dared to look on social media hoping for nothing but to my surprise there was a post from the driver who was behind me in the queue completely standing up for me who says I did absolutely nothing wrong. He was too shocked at the speed of the cyclist when it passed his car and knows of this cyclist and warned him he needs to slow down when cars are stationary. Another lady then commented and said the same thing happened to her a few months back on the same road and would presume it was the same cyclist.

He also reminded him of the cycle paths in the village to avoid the busy roads - again completely forgot about those. The cyclist, like me, was also turning right and said he was trying to cut in front of me (which is what he did) but as he was coming at some speed, I wouldn't of been able to react enough to stop anyway. He said his behaviour to me was appalling and he would of given the cyclist a peace of his mind had he over took him again.

Another lady (from my dds pre school) actually took a video of the cyclist shouting at me outside the pre school and said she would pass this on to me if needed. When I walked off to my car he apparently called me a 'stupid female c**t' which I didn't hear but she has it on video.

Anyway hopefully nothing will come of it now. I've messaged the lady and asked for her footage just incase. Haven't commented on the post itself but have messaged the driver behind me to thank him for putting my mind at rest.

Absolute reminder for me to always check my mirrors in any situation

Rule 159 - 161 includes use of mirrors, checking blind spots and in relevance here "be aware of other road users, especially cycles and motorcycles who may be filtering through the traffic. These are more difficult to see than larger vehicles and their riders are particularly vulnerable. Give them plenty of room,"
www.highwaycodeuk.co.uk/using-the-road.html

Rule 162 - Before overtaking you should make sure

the road is sufficiently clear ahead
road users are not beginning to overtake you
there is a suitable gap in front of the road user you plan to overtake.

That OK for you @oldwhyno ?

Cyclists are under no obligation to use cycle lanes and in any case you often have to come off them for junctions. Sounds like more blaming to me.

Sorry but the whole thing doesn't ring true to me.

Did you thoroughly check your left mirror before starting to move?

If a cyclist is passing on the left I let them finish before starting to move and it can give them a shock and reduce the space a lot. It's conman for cyclists to come up the left at any sort of junctions where traffic stops.

I can't tell from your description if you did get too close to him or not.

I always verge on the very cautious side when more vulnerable road uses are concerned.

Oh no there is a cycle path that comes out after the right turn (with a bridge for those who need to be on the other side) which will cut out the roundabout and the majority of the main road but it's rarely used to be honest. No one ever uses it but dog walkers really. To be honest if I were a cyclist, I wouldn't use it as I'd think that would be more dangerous than the road but it is there and it is for cyclists.

Does that really need answering, seriously?

Update: I dared to look on social media hoping for nothing but to my surprise there was a post from the driver who was behind me in the queue completely standing up for me who says I did absolutely nothing wrong.

"Driver backs up other driver vs cyclist shocker"

Hardly surprising that another driver, performing an even worse overtake, backs you up.

So basically, after you overtook with 300 yards to spare, another piles in on the overtake action with 200 yards to spare 🤦

Did you tell the other driver you feel like you were unaware of your surroundings whilst moving your vehicle?

Got the distance wrong as already stated. Apologies that it isn't isn't my strong point!
I have no idea on distances so googled it and had a guess wild guess which was clearly wrong. So very sorry about that but as already said, when I pick my dd up I will put it in my sat nav and put on the correct distance.

I know where I overtook as it was the wide part of the road. Not that it will make any difference to views on here however.

I'll leave it there and wait for the police to come

I haven't said anything to the other driver except thanked him for putting my mind at rest.

The cyclist was trying to cut in front of me as I moved my car (which makes sense as he turned right too) The car in front of me had already moved so he assumed he had time to do that. I didn't see him and moved forward.

I am still to blame for not checking my mirrors.

My guess is a close pass incident before the roundabout. Him undertaking you and it getting a bit close at the roundabout is neither here nor there tbh. HOWEVER you are supposed to treat overtaking a cyclist as if you were overtaking a car. If a cyclist is riding defensively, ie a couple of feet from the kerb (Which they are entitled to do) then it sometimes means you have zero chance of overtaking without being in the opposite carriegeway. You said a couple of cars overtook before you and is it possible you were nowhere near the 1.5 metres you are supposed to leave. Remember a mistake by the cyclist results in a mark on a piece of metal. A mistake by you can result in death.....if you have close passed him he is correct to be mad.