Overtaking cyclists - as seen from a motoring forum

[ArMoRothair]

The view 'from the other side' so to speak.

A discussion on the idiots overtaking cyclists on blind bends on the Alfa Romeo forum. Gratifyingly at 8 posts in (at time of writing) not one mention of road tax.

[Vantage]

Going up a hill round a blind bend yesterday and having nowhere to pull in and let him past, I had a big black Audi wait behind me for about a full minute before the full road came into view and he took the opposite lane to overtake slowly and safely. I was so shocked that I gave him the thumbs up for which he flashed his hazards. Nice
Then today on my way to the lbs, a BMW driver slowed, held up following traffic and flashed the headlights to let me out onto the main road. Another thumbs up from me and a beep beep from him/her
Some of them are good eggs

[sirmy]

The last reply (at the time I looked) is interesting "It is not so long ago, after graduating with loads of student debt, that the only car I could afford was a Rover 25. I was tail gated, bullied and abused by other drivers. Now I drive a Giulietta I am let out at junctions and generally treated with more respect. I am the same person, with the same level of courtesy to other drivers. " (This followed a longer post on the reaction of drivers to being blocked by prestige and ordinary cars.)

Says it all about the way drivers minds work

[mnichols]

Good to see some balance on the forum. Normally only negative experiences with motorists get posted and this presents a distorted view

I do encounter problems with motorists, but I try to focus on the fact that probably 10,000 cars pass me between every minor incident, and I'm probably in the hundreds of thousands, maybe even millions between anything more serious.

If a new or prospective cyclist was to read a forum, newspaper or Facebook page you would think that everyone was trying to kill us and that's just not my experience

Also I try to see the situation from their perspective as I would expect them to do with me. A little give and take goes a long way. We share the road we don't own it

[Phil Fouracre]

Great post, exactly how I feel

[Bonefishblues]

Absolutely echo sentiments of the last 2 posters. See another thread on a different forum for another discussion with misguided views v-a-v cyclists being "jumped on" by the majority.

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topi ... &mid=52319

cf Urban Sports - he is deliberately trolling, as is often the case btw

[TonyR]

Am I alone in thinking 'pistonheads" is a perfect descriptor for something that is hollow, jumps up and down a lot and has lots of explosions going off around it?

[reohn2]

The last reply (at the time I looked) is interesting "It is not so long ago, after graduating with loads of student debt, that the only car I could afford was a Rover 25. I was tail gated, bullied and abused by other drivers. Now I drive a Giulietta I am let out at junctions and generally treated with more respect. I am the same person, with the same level of courtesy to other drivers. " (This followed a longer post on the reaction of drivers to being blocked by prestige and ordinary cars.)

Says it all about the way drivers minds work

I used to have a White Mondeo estate,MrsR2 had a Nissan Micra ATT,the difference when driving the Micra was incredible toward the negative,I had a word with MrsR2 which she confirmed that when driving the Mondeo the difference was the opposite.The class system at work

In answer to Vantage's post above.
I find good will all the time when cycling sometimes quite subtle,and sometimes overt and over courteous(if there can be such a thing)but overwhelmingly drivers are positively good.
Unfortunately a couple of morons per ride(it's usually about that average) are all it takes to frighten the life out of me.
The overtaking on a bend moron i find to be completely unbelievable as they don't even have their own safety(and in some cases that of their children) in mind let alone mine which is worrying in the extreme .

[Phil Fouracre]

Seems to be an increase in this strange behaviour. As you say great majority of drivers perfectly ok, in fact some of these, giving me loads of space are then on the opposite side of the road and at risk.. Almost as though they can do only one thing at a time! Scare the hell out of me on their behalf; worst recently, woman and two kids, overtaking, loads of space, smiling and kids waving at me, as we crested an incline on blind bend. She barely managed to avoid vehicle coming the other way, luckily I'd dropped back assuming this would happen!!

[Tonyf33]

The problem is when this does occur and ends in a death/serious injury..from recent cases viewtopic.php?f=7&t=80301&hilit=Helen+Measures it seems to be acceptable to the majority of the public so much so that overtaking on a blind bend and killing someone the person at fault..well, isn't

[661-Pete]

This may be my prejudice talking, but I have to say I wouldn't regard a forum calling itself 'alfaowner' as being a representative sample of the Great British Motoring public, the supportive posts in that forum notwithstanding. Nor would I have much truck with 'pistonheads': I've browsed through their stuff before and don't find it very edifying. Can anyone point me to a motoring forum which they regard as a realistic cross-section of drivers: one in which the participants' main concern is having their vehicle available for use, in good running order, reasonably efficient performance, not falling foul of the law, and not breaking the bank, etc. etc.? I don't know of any.

[Bonefishblues]

IME Pistonheads is as close as you will get. If you look at the depth of the Forums you'll see it's a very broad church.

[Mark1978]

Very surprising! Although I guess that type of forum tends to attract the more sensible drivers. Just as this forum attracts the more sensible cyclist.

[Bicycler]

Yeah, if you are willing to analyse yours and others' driving, discuss the safest course of action and attempt to understand why people do different things then you're likely to be more conscientious than most

[brooksby]

Says it all about the way drivers minds work

When I do drive (not often), my car is a 1970 VW Beetle. My wife's car is a 1973 VW Campervan. She says she gets treated much better in the van than when she drives the beetle, and says she thinks that it's because she is higher up and on a level with buses, vans, etc, and so they treat her better. Bigger vehicle = better treatment. Allegedly.