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?

It’s his hobby. I stay out of it. 😂

Better than being dead/injured because the motorist couldn't wait to get to the next red light.

She gave sufficient space to overtake. She didn't give sufficient space to pull in.
I've been that cyclist where someone who is in a rush to overtake has pulled sharply in front of me, causing me to break sharply to avoid crashing into them.

It's scary and very dangerous.

I'm not surprised he gesticulated. But as others said learn and move on.

When you've had your body or life put at risk by someone else's actions you would understand.

😂

It sounds like you overtook him in a way that frightened him.

If he had a camera, I expect he will report the footage to the police. If the footage shows you driving safely, the police won't prosecute. They will only prosecute if the footage shows that you were driving in a careless or dangerous manner.

I cycle to school with my primary school children on a road that sounds similar (I'm only on it for about 45 seconds but it is narrow and winding and full of blind bends) and often send footage to the police of drivers that overtake us too closely or overtake on a blind bend, resulting in near-collisions with oncoming motor traffic. The close passes usually result in 3 points and a fine for the driver but the blind bend overtakes get quite a bit more (one recent one got 5 points and £1000 fine).

When I am driving a car, I will only overtake a cyclist if there are no blind bends and I can see that the opposite lane is clear as I always use the full oncoming lane to overtake a cyclist. There are very few roads in the UK where it is possible to overtake a cyclist legally without using part of the oncoming lane, so there is nothing to be lost by using the full oncoming lane (and a lot of safety to be gained). A general rule of thumb to follow is that if the cyclist hits a pothole (plentiful in this country) and is suddenly left laying on the road sideways, would you still be giving him enough space? If I'm going to be making a turn in the next 400m or so while driving, I don't bother overtaking a cyclist at all -- it just isn't worth the risk and won't save anyone a meaningful amount of time.

I wish I didn't have to run a camera on my bike (or spend chunks of time cropping video and filling in police forms). But I do it because reporting my near miss might save someone else's life.

Ah the reasoned voice of a driver and a cyclist

You overtook him when you couldn't be sure the road was clear then pulled back in suddenly and close to him. He is a more vulnerable road user and was scared and angry at your dangerous overtaking. I am a driver who waits behind cyclists till itbis safe to pass and last week was cycle proficient my kid's school so we rode to school and work for a week and bloody he'll it was terrifying. For every one considerate driver there was one like you and isn't fair that it is unsafe for my child to cycle to school.

Here I was thinking that the busyness of motherhood meant I no longer had hobbies. Good to know that the school run I cycle with my young children is a hobby. Does cycling to the supermarket or the doctor count as a separate hobby or the same one?

It's unlikely it'll go anywhere and that's a shame, you sound like you'd benefit from a course

I thought of this thread this morning on my way to work. Lad in his 20's cycling along with a fishing rod sticking out the rucksack on his bike. Strange sight but nothing too bad.

What made me think of this thread was that he took an amazingly strong defensive position in the road. The only way to overtake him was to be fully in the opposite carriegeway. Its quite a long consistent downhill and he was maintaining 20mph all the way with a line of cars behind him. The car directly behind him made no attempt to overtake and i was very chilled sitting further back.

The point of the post. Hats off to this young man for positioning himself in a way that made it impossible for lunatics to try to squeeze past. Hats off to the lady who sat behind him for 5 mins making no attempt to overtake. Hats off to me for not giving a hoot about the 2-3 mins this cost me in time.

Life is too valuable to be putting it at risk for such things as 2-3 mins of your time.

I know he was in lycra but it doesn't mean he wasn't commuting.

(I agree with you on Sundays when they block up the roads to people who might actually be trying to get to work or eg visit an elderly relative).

OP in future you need to brake and pull back in behind the cyclist!

he took an amazingly strong defensive position in the road. The only way to overtake him was to be fully in the opposite carriegeway

Which is exactly what you are meant to do when you overtake a cyclist. Bravo to him too.

As others have said, you cut him up without realising - learn from this and move on - but also remember, the cyclist was on a bike, you were in a big, heavy metal object moving at speed - one of those will come of worse in any collision.