Cyclist gesticulating wildly at me

[FrankyGoesToBollywood]

On the school run this morning which involves driving down a narrow winding lane which is always very busy at school run time. The lane is wide enough for two cars but it’s tight. There are three schools on this route and at school drop off and pick ups times it’s busy and congested. It’s 30mph. This morning I was driving along at about 25mph and a man dressed in serious looking cycling gear was cycling. I overtook him with quite a bit of space, definitely more than the 1.5m minimum, and as I was overtaking I could see a car coming towards me so nipped in in front of him- again definitely more than 1.5m from him. My windows were closed but I could then hear him shouting wildly “what the F was that!!” Over and over again and gesticulating. I didn’t indicate. I’m worried he will report me he was going wild, I genuinely thought I was driving quite considerately until I saw his reaction!

I’m now second guessing how close I was to him when I pulled in in front of him, and thinking he will report me and upload footage. If so how likely is it I will hear about it or be prosecuted?

I’m a cyclist and a driver. All these people saying the cyclist is stupidly to go out during school rush hour, I go out at this time as I need to get to work and unfortunately I can’t change my start time so that’s the time I have to be on the road.
Also, having experienced someone just ‘nipping in’, you are always closer than you realise. I’ve had it happen on a bend and when they pulled in they ran me off the road onto the pavement. It was that or be run over. I’m grateful when a driver gives me enough room to overtake, when that should be the norm. And yes I do gesticulate as it’s bloody scary having cars come so close!
my friend had to pay a fine and do a safety course after a cyclist reported him for passing to close and sent the head cam footage so you might get reported and I hope you do as maybe it might make you aware of safety other road users.

Sounds like you perhaps went wide enough but nipped back in far too close. If you can't see far enough ahead to know there is plenty of room to overtake then don't overtake.

We see too often the same cyclists who scream 1.5 metres squeezing between cars, alongside buses and lorries because apparently it doesn't apply in reverse when it suits them.

I'm not normally one to defend cyclists, but the risk of injury to others caused by a cyclist passing too close to a car, lorry or bus is minimal compared to the risk of a driver injuring a cyclist by passing too close.

Actually cyclists have more right to use the roads: drivers are there by licence, cyclists are there by right.

@FrankyGoesToBollywood Sounds like you overtook only to cut him up and slow right down. He will then have had to crawl behind you as you carefully pass the oncoming car.

What you should have done is stayed behind him, especially if you were going to stop soon after to drop off your kids.

If you do the maths, I’m confident you’ll find that staying behind a cyclist very rarely delays you by more than a minute, max.

Is it really worth dangerous overtaking?

Or could you just arrive 1 minute later (and likely even less)?

Absolutely baffling to me that so many people insist on driving kids to school when much healthier options are available. This doesn't apply to everyone but maybe it applies to the OP, that's for them to decide.

Agree.

You say that two cars can just pass safely. Did you know you are supposed to be one car's width from a cyclist when you pass? Can you see the maths doesn't quite work here unless the cyclist was in the ditch? You were likely too close and then you cut him up by "nipping in" - we all make bad errors in judgment from time to time - no one got hurt so you were all lucky, but think more carefully before passing. If that cyclist had been your child - would you have passed?

Drivers: How dare this cyclist delay me 5 seconds.
Also drivers: I’m not using that empty lane and merge in turn. I’ll sit here for 10 minutes.

It's the usual story, a driver is worried that a cyclist "gesticulated wildly" at them. A cyclist is worried the driver is going to kill them.

But you're making the stupid decision to put yourself in a position where several tonnes of steel are passing you at high speed and just a few feet from you.

Why would you make such a stupid decision and risk your life?

I'm sure a framed copy of the highway code, and the knowledge that " you were right", will make you feel better when you find yourself lying on the side of the road with a broken spine. Have a read up on bowel managment for people with spinal injuries and see if you think playing around on a bicycle next to traffic is really such a good idea.

Double standards are double standards.

So in summary you weren’t paying enough attention, overtook when you shouldn’t have done, cut up a cyclist and somehow this is his problem? Yeah…

Why do cyclists insist on doing something that literally endangers their life?

What's the point?

If they just took some responsibility and drove a car, they would be much safer.

Why do pedestrians insist on doing something that literally endangers their life (~400 killed a year by cars, ~40 of them while on the pavement)? If they just took some responsibility and drove a car, they would be much safer.

Fucking hell!
Using a bike to commute to work isn't a stupid decision. Deciding to close pass someone and/or cut them up and risk their life is the stupid decision. Not the person on the bike, the driver, surrounded by a protective steel cage. I am sure their decision to hit someone and cause life changing injuries or worswle will keep them warm at night as they lie in their prison cell having been convicted of dangerous driving.
Riding a bike to work is not playing around next to traffic.

Thats a joke right?

This is so daft and backwards it's hard to know where to start.

Same goes for someone driving a small, older car, sharing roads with 44 tonne lorries. Should the two collide at speed, the occupants of the car can expect, at a minimum, serious injuries. No one tells the owners of such vehicles that they have no business being on the road; everyone understands they are legitimate road users. The same applies to cyclists, whether you like it or not.

Bollocks do they. I haven't cycled for years but I remember so well the feeling of almost being killed or hurt by a car. Car drivers and cyclists can both be twats but cyclists rarely kick off unless given good cause.

Yes, that's why we don't let them walk down train tracks.

But at least pedestrians have pavements to walk down that keeps them away from traffic. Most of the 400 people you mention have walked out in front of the vehicle that hit them, rather than the vehicle mounting the pavement and hitting them.

But you are correct, if all those pedestrians had chosen to drive instead of walking, they wouldn't have been hit by a vehicle.

But you haven't actually my questions?

Perhaps they don’t have a licence to drive a car…. 🤔

They literally do, thats why cars have airbags and internal roll cages, to help protect the occupants. That's why people with kids drive big SUVs, to help protect the themselves in the event of a collision. That's why we have NCAP scores to help buyers decide on the safest vehicle.

Why do you think they stopped building vans with the engine under the front seats?

This is really basic stuff and if you're stupid enough to choose to drive a car which has no crumple zones or air bags, you are partly responsible for the injuries suffered in and collision.

No pavements on OPs road, the pedestrians jump in the bushes! Apparently!

So wouldn't it make more sense to put restrictions on the vehicle doing the killing and maiming?

My husband is a cyclist and cycles to work as a teacher almost every day. He wears "serious cycling gear" because he is cycling.

Also the irony of car drivers getting mad at cyclists for using main roads so many of us try our best to avoid them. And yet car drivers now also get annoyed at us for using country lanes! Where are we meant to go?

It sounds like you scared him in some way, I think it's hard to know exactly how far away the back of your car was from him. I would just learn from it and give more space in future/overtake when you've got more visibility. Don't try and justify it by saying he shouldn't have been on the road at that time, he has exactly the same right as you to be on the road at any given time, regardless of his reasons for being out at that time.