A "What should I do question?"

Nathaniel Porter said:

While driving the other day, I was going into the opposite direction
to a cyclist, and another car that was catching the cyclist, on a
rural, normal width A road. Obviously I slowed down, but I also moved
to the left, widening the gap between me and the cyclist.

Now moving left has its advantages - the extra distance (which is
maybe a 2 feet at most) means the cyclist is safer and less
intimidated by my presence, and there are more space should the
driver of the other car be stupid enough to attempt to pass between
both me and the cyclist. But the thought occured to me that I may
actually inadvertantly encourage stupid drivers to attempt the pass.

I can't find any advice in RoadCraft or the Highway Code on the
subject.

So what should I do in this situation?

I assume you were in your car at the time? I'd hold a normal road position
unless it looks as if the bloke behind the cyclist is determined to have a
go at an overtake. FWIW, I doubt moving left a couple of feet is going to
make anyone more or less intimidated by your car. The only thing that really
puts the wind up me on a bike are the types who overtake too closely, or
sound their horns as they overtake. OTOH, when I'm driving, I've seen people
start wobbling about the place when they hear my car's engine at fairly high
revs, despite the fact that I always overtake with masses of room.

On Sun, 23 May 2004 18:21:42 +0100, "Nathaniel Porter"
<[email hidden]> wrote in message
<[email hidden]>:

Quoted message said:

While driving the other day, I was going into the opposite direction to a
cyclist, and another car that was catching the cyclist, on a rural, normal
width A road. Obviously I slowed down, but I also moved to the left,
widening the gap between me and the cyclist.
So what should I do in this situation?

Slow down is good, move left is maybe as you say likely to be seen as
an invitation by other drivers. I suspect there is no one right
answer. I would be inclined to move left but very slowly so I only
get to the maximum leftness close to the cyclist. Of course, the
cyclist shuld have spotted that potential problem and moved out
himself ;-)

Guy
--
May contain traces of irony. Contents liable to settle after posting.
http://www.chapmancentral.co.uk

88% of helmet statistics are made up, 65% of them at Washington University

Quoted message said:

Nathaniel Porter said:

While driving the other day, I was going into the opposite direction
to a cyclist, and another car that was catching the cyclist, on a
rural, normal width A road. Obviously I slowed down, but I also moved
to the left, widening the gap between me and the cyclist.

Now moving left has its advantages - the extra distance (which is
maybe a 2 feet at most) means the cyclist is safer and less
intimidated by my presence, and there are more space should the
driver of the other car be stupid enough to attempt to pass between
both me and the cyclist. But the thought occured to me that I may
actually inadvertantly encourage stupid drivers to attempt the pass.

I can't find any advice in RoadCraft or the Highway Code on the
subject.

So what should I do in this situation?

I used to move left in that situation, as you described, but got fed up
with people passing in that situation and it leading to a less-than-safe
situation for said cyclist. If I've moved over left, and the overtaker
gets it wrong and clips me, if he swerves, he'll get the cyclist...
fitting two cars and a cyclist on a normal sized A-road doesn't work out
to leave ANY margin for error - and I decided it just makes the drivers
prone to assume that it is their right to overtake in this situation and
*expect* the on-coming car to get out of their way...

Now I hold my ground, or positively move slightly over to the right (but
still on my side of the centre lane) to discourage the other driver from
attempting a pass. It doesn't always work, so I'm ready to dive out the
way to the left if necessary, but more often than not I find people on
the verge of pulling out (to squeeze between me and the cyclist) abort
the idea when they see me drift over to the centre line - and turn the
space from a possibly-squeeze-past to a
I'm-not-going-to-fit/might-have-a-head-on sized gap.

--

Velvet

Also meant to say, that I keep a close eye on the closing speed between
the potentially-about-to-overtake car and the cyclist. If the car shows
no signs of slowing down, or is too fast and too close to the cyclist,
then I'll slow and consider moving left - there are some drivers who
will leave it VERY late (and some TOO late) before braking behind a
cyclist in that situation.

Hard one to call really, they're all different in one way or another,
but generally I position myself in my car to put them off a stupid
overtaking unless I can see they'd be a greater risk...

--

Velvet

Nathaniel Porter said:

While driving the other day, I was going into the opposite direction to a
cyclist, and another car that was catching the cyclist, on a rural, normal
width A road. Obviously I slowed down, but I also moved to the left,
widening the gap between me and the cyclist.

Now moving left has its advantages - the extra distance (which is maybe a 2
feet at most) means the cyclist is safer and less intimidated by my
presence, and there are more space should the driver of the other car be
stupid enough to attempt to pass between both me and the cyclist. But the
thought occured to me that I may actually inadvertantly encourage stupid
drivers to attempt the pass.

I can't find any advice in RoadCraft or the Highway Code on the subject.

So what should I do in this situation?

If you were a cyclist the advice given in Cyclecraft would be to hold
your line and thus strongly indicate to the oncoming vehicle that
overtaking was not advisable, whilst being ready to take evasive action.
Yes it can take some nerve but it is something I am increasingly finding
mysef having to deploy, and it does seem to work..

i can't see why such similar advice for a motorist who was 'reading the
road' would be wrong.

John B

in message <[email hidden]>, Velvet

(') said:

Quoted message said:

Nathaniel Porter said:

While driving the other day, I was going into the opposite direction
to a cyclist, and another car that was catching the cyclist, on a
rural, normal width A road. Obviously I slowed down, but I also moved
to the left, widening the gap between me and the cyclist.

[snip]

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

So what should I do in this situation?

[snip]

Quoted message said:

Now I hold my ground, or positively move slightly over to the right
(but still on my side of the centre lane) to discourage the other
driver from attempting a pass.

My view as well. Do not encourage idiocy. Expect it and be prepared for
it but do not encourage it.

--
[email hidden] (Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/

The Conservative Party now has the support of a smaller proportion of
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