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?

So many posts on here about bad car drivers. Some cyclists drive badly as well, you know. Car drivers don't seem to obsess about filming and complaining about cyclists driving badly as much as cyclists do.

No. I haven't got anger issues, if you read what I said I dont like overly angry people. I read OPs post and her description of his reaction was OTT and angry. IMO.

Because cyclists don’t tend to be response for killing car drivers. Not saying they’ve never caused accidents, they have, but much less likely to kill someone. People driving like the OP kill or injure cyclists every day.

Have you ever been in the situation were you were a meter or two from death because of someone else’s actions? It is very scary. He wasn’t OTT.

The OP hasn’t come back because OP’s don’t usual return when they realise they’ve been wrong. Why are you still acting like this cyclist was wrong?

Of course there are bad cyclists, but cyclists are much more vulnerable so a small mistake by a car driver may have a much larger impact on the cyclists (injury), than the car driver (scratched paintwork, sharp stop).
So more cyclists have taken it upon themselves to bring bad car drivers to account.
It's also much harder to track a cyclist down (from a dashcam) so car drivers are a bit stuck if they want to report or prosecute.

I am a cyclist and a car driver. I am in utter despair at times with the recklessness of some cyclists in Cambridge. No lights, no high viz, veering all over the place.

Jesus, @Spirallingdownwards really really hates cyclists. You really need to get a life, Spiralling....

@ OP, just learn from your experience. A cyclist isn't going to hold you up any longer than 15-20 seconds - no more than a milk float or a learner driver. We're all trying to get somewhere - just be patient. Our paper boy died in my mum's arms many years ago, after being knocked over by a driver who was in a rush. I just care about getting home in one piece.

And for the non-cyclists, just a couple of facts that you might learn from:

• if a cyclist has reacted to something you've done, 9 times out of 10 they have felt their life or safety was in danger. We don't react for the sake of it, just if you're driving irresponsibly or on your mobile - cyclists see this an awful lot.
• Giving 1.5m is more than a lot of people give, but it doesn't mean much if you pull in quickly and cut the rider up. Overexaggerate your manoeuvres - you can never give too much space if you have it and you'll sometimes get a friendly wave or thumbs up if you do.
• Don't underestimate a cyclist's speed - as an indicator, I'm a 53 year old overweight woman and my average speed to work this morning on a normal rode bike (a lumpy 9 miles from suburbs to large city centre), was 18.2mph. And I can go faster if I don't have a fully laden rucksack on my back.
• We don't just have helmet cams - sometimes we have a chest harness, or a camera (or even two - one facing each way) on our bikes.
• A lot of us are insured - British Cycling and Cycling UK together have 200,000 members and 3rd party insurance comes with membership. So if we damage your car and it's our fault then it's covered. If you hurt us and it's your fault we also have legal cover. A friend was "doored" and the corner of the door ripped open his bicep - he had a manual job and was off for months recovering from microsurgery - he was awarded £30k.
• The vast majority of us also drive, and pay VED and tax through our general taxation system.

Yes many times. My attitude is 'nothing bad happened so move on' sorry if you think I should always be lashing out at people for 'human error'

I think you have and you need to address it, you saw the word cyclist, attached angry and moronic? Why, he was angry because OP cut in front of him, because she had to because she overtook on a stretch of rad she couldn’t see far enough in the distance to make sure it was clear. I can’t see how you can justify in anyway why you think he’s moronic, which means foolish or stupid?

Im not going to keep repeating myself!!

You called a man you didn’t see or meet moronic. I won’t use that word due to the history of it. I think reacting like that to a story of a cyclists gesticulating shows you are angry and over react. Doesn’t sound like you simply move on.

The guy didn’t do anything wrong. OP put two cars and the cyclist at risk. And won’t even come back to hold her hands up and accept it.

Men are called moronic and much worse on MN. Why get so het up about it now; are you a cyclist?

Google the word.

Cyclists are very vulnerable so, yes, they very rightly have a go when someone puts them in danger. If more people cycled during the rush hour, and school pick up and drop off time, our roads would be much better. And don't get me started on the driving behaviour of some parents around schools.

CBA

What do you find so baffling about a road user doing what they are allowed to do on the road? Do you realise that some people cycle to work? Lots of people do and they will wear proper cycling gear and change when they get there. Really nothing baffling about it.

Guessing the OP isn't coming back, but if anyone has ridden at 25mph on a push bike, it feels very fast. It's a safe speed (it's actually safer to be moving with the flow of traffic if possible) but it would take time to stop.

Doing an emergency stop in a car would feel scary and uncomfortable, but rarely results in injury

Doing an emergency stop on a bike - which was a close call given the OP cut him up - usually results in going over the handlebars and a broken collarbone (one of the most painful bones to brake apparently)

If it's a winding narrow road and the cyclist was going 25mph I struggle to see the need to overtake in the first place, I can't imagine a car could/should be going much faster anyway?

So basically you carry out an overtake without the visibility to make it safely and write a post wondering why the cyslist was pissed off.

Unless you have cycled out on the roads then you have no comprehension of just how vulnerable cyclists are!

Yeah sums you up!

And then others back her up, to make her think she’s right, saying the cyclist was angry and moronic!

You do realise the difference in the consequences between a bad driver and a bad cyclist dont you?

Oh dear you aren't going to let that word go are you?!!!

Nope, I’m not!

Can I just make sure I understand your point? All cyclists are dangerous, so they all deserve to be killed? Mandatory death sentences for anyone cycling in public? Gonna be honest, that sounds a bit extreme...

She could be at work???

Worrying isn't it!

If cycling a few miles in rushhour was a mandatory part of a driving test we would probably cure some of these ignorant people.

Alas.