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?

Why not work locally and walk?

The OP doesn't need to indicate. You don't need to indicate when on a dual carriage or motorway when returning to lane 1, as it's the default lane.

indicating to go back in a lane that you've just come out of, when it's very damn obvious that the OP isn't going to hang around in the opposite lane is silly. I don't indicate going back over to the original lane. The law doesn't require it. I do indicate when going to overtake.

Entitled cyclists are soooo annoying, he sounds like a very angry man OP with moronic issues dont let it get to you.

Comparing a motorway to a quiet country lane??!😂

It was not damn obvious to the cyclist that OP was going to go back to her lane a mere 1.5m in front of him! An indication she was going to make that dangerous move may have given the cyclist just that little bit more notice to take evasive action.

This response is absolutely crazy. Have you read the op properly? She herself is so concerned about her own driving she ends with asking if she could be prosecuted!

She overtook at 25 mph on a busy, winding road that is only just wide enough for 2 cars. She admits she had to 'nip in' only 1.5 metres in front of the bike. If you would have done the same then god help any cyclists in your locality. People on bikes ARE entitled to be there, even if it slows you down. They are entitled - like all other road users - to go about their business safely.

The op badly misjudged this one. It isn't moronic or entitled for him to be angry and shaken up.

Yeah.....morons wanting to be safe on the roads.
The only way OP could have overtaken the cyclist safely was if she drove into the oncoming car. Obviously she didn't want to do that, so she took a BIG risk and nipped in just ahead of the cyclist who quite rightly was angry.

If you can't overtake safely you have to wait.

The 1.5m is for overtaking. You need to leave much more than that when pulling back in front of him. That said, I wouldn't give it much more thought. Very unlikely anything further will happen. Take the learning and move forth 😅

What exactly made this cyclist entitled or moronic? Simply being a man?

The OP overtook when she did not have a clear view of the road ahead of the area and distance she would need to compete that overtake. She did that with her children in the car and with a very vulnerable cyclist on the road. She was then faced with an oncoming car, and had no room to complete her manoeuvre safely, so pulled back in front of the cyclist with only 1.5 meters between them. It’s a tight road, so she most likely did hit the brakes once back in to straighten up and pass the car, which makes it even more dangerous with how close she pulled in front of the cyclist. He can’t brake that hard without going over the handlebars so that was a close call. Even if she didn’t brake, having a car at speed pulling in so close to that cyclist would still cause them to need to brake and also cause them to get a big scare. OP put herself, her children, the cyclist and the people in the oncoming car in danger. That’s a fact.
The cyclist is not entitled or moronic.

She said she genuinely thought she was being careful until she saw his reaction. He sounds very angry and OTT in my opinion.

Because she thought that 1.5 meters was a safe distance to leave when pulling back in front of someone, that’s why she thinks she as driving safely. But it isn’t, and she wasn’t. She was wrong. Which is why she posted; to ask how she was wrong. And she’s been told.

What she did was not Ok or safe. The cyclist was put at risk, and his reaction was to
show that. And it has worked, because OP has now learned something.

Ok, maybe she did make a mistake. I just get annoyed with people getting OTT angry as EVERYONE makes mistakes on the road its called being a human, frantically swearing and raging is no good for anyone.

He is on a bike. You are in a big metal box that weighs about 1-2t. If you hit him there is a good chance of life changing injuries or death for him.

Regardless of if you 'think' you left 1.5m it sounds like a narrow road where there isnt really much space for overtaking unless you go into the opposite carrieage. You already stated you had to nip in because a car was coming in the opposite direction so there is a high likelyhood you nearly took him out.

Its near a school, its a busy narrow road. If someone is cross at you because you were stupid, learn from it and dont be in such a bloody hurry. What did you save in time.......5/10/15 seconds? Was it worth it.

Making mistakes is forgetting a pint of milk from the shop.

What the OP did was not a mistake, it was reckless and dangerous!

A cyclist makes a mistake with a car and it might be a scratch or a dent on the car. A car makes a mistake with a bike it might be a broken bone or a mother/father/son/daughter never going home again. You really think its unreasonable for a cyclist to get angry?

I cycle and drive. Sounds dangerous to be overtaking and cutting back in on a narrow road by a school. Sometimes you just have to wait. It costs you, what, 15 seconds. Usually when you do overtake the bike will catch you up at the next junction anyway.

The cyclist's reaction seems a pretty good indication you didn't give him enough room.

But it wasn’t OTT angry. Chucking stones at her windows and following her to the school to bash her car to scream at her would be OTT. What he did was proportionate. He was scared, it is scary when that happens to you. He swore and gesticulated to get her to see what she had done, and to shake off some of his own adrenaline. He wasn’t OTT. The OP was entirely wrong in her driving and a mistake like that can kill more than one person, so she did need to be made aware. Next time, she will think before she overtakes.

We all drive every day so it is so easy to forget how dangerous it can be.

It’s very easy to issue a fixed penalty type ticket if a cyclist provides camera evidence and a lot of cyclists have cameras now. My local force has a website where you can upload evidence and a civilian workers reviews the evidence and decides whether or not to issue a fine.

Police must love it as its income for minimal work.

i would't be too sure about him not reporting you - many cyclists have helmet-cams and rear cams and it is very easy to upload the video for the police (have watched a few videos by that Dutch chap in London)

As pp said: overtaking a bike should be treated like overtaking a big van. Leave more space and don't be an idiot.

Nipping back in front of a moving cyclist just 1.5m in front of him is terrifying behaviour. And you’re posting on here like he did something wrong.

I absolutely love cycling when on holiday in Denmark; it’s an amazing experience. But I don’t cycle in the UK, because drivers’ attitudes to cyclists are awful and aggressive, and it feels far too dangerous. I worry every time my DH is out on his bike, not because of his skill on the road, but the behaviours of drivers.

I agree with you. As well as being scared he has no other way of communicating with the driver apart from gesticulating. I had a similar incident as a cyclist once and I gesticulated. Doesn’t mean I was angry.

The driver actually pulled over, jumped out the car and said sorry, that he’d misjudged it. I was fine with him, not angry, appreciated it was a mistake which he owned.

I just looked at my local police website and last year they had 2400 dashcam and cyclist footage uploaded to their website. Only 638 were no further action. 1095 were prosecuted and over 600 given warnings. It’s for stuff like going through red lights as well as close passes of cyclists.

Always the drama queens as well. OP made an error of judgement, nobody died. I'm sure he will get off on handing footage into the police. If he does OP, just expect a warning to be more careful.

In all honesty I’ve always left about 5-10m between my car and the cyclist I’ve overtaken. However if you were already overtaking and a car was coming there’s not much you could have done other than pull back behind the cyclist if it was safe to do so.
We have very windy roads here but I’m very cautious not to overtake unless I have a clear view.

At you I presume are a level headed driver……

You’re exactly the type of person who should not be driving, because your clear anger issues say “see cyclist” be aggressive to them,