any cyclists care to enlighten a driver?

Rock77

So I'm not looking for an argument, i would just like to hear a cyclists opinion on this.

This has happened me more than once recently. Driving on a smallish country road, two cyclists in front, hard to overtake and they refuse to go single file? I get when its a large group they can't, but just the two?

I know they are entitled to use the road aswell but why not move over a bit. When a tractor holds up traffic he will pull in to let you pass. The cyclists don't even have to slow down so whats the problem?

CamperMan

personally I would not want an impatient driver behind me so, when cycling with someone else, we go single file and let the car pass...

km991148

hard to generalise - maybe the cyclist didn't feel there was a suitable passing place or maybe they were just pri(ks..

(btw - this is in the sub forum..)

km991148

..

wildlifeboy

cause they were pricks

doolox

...I saw three cyclists go through a red light one after another. Consistent breaking of the law and I suspect the first breaker influenced the other two to follow him through the red light.

abff

Was it the same cyclists each time, or have you just been unlucky?

Rock77

So I'm not looking for an argument, i would just like to hear a cyclists opinion on this.

This has happened me more than once recently. Driving on a smallish country road, two cyclists in front, hard to overtake and they refuse to go single file? I get when its a large group they can't, but just the two?

I know they are entitled to use the road aswell but why not move over a bit. When a tractor holds up traffic he will pull in to let you pass. The cyclists don't even have to slow down so whats the problem?

Rock77

So I'm not looking for an argument, i would just like to hear a cyclists opinion on this.

This has happened me more than once recently. Driving on a smallish country road, two cyclists in front, hard to overtake and they refuse to go single file? I get when its a large group they can't, but just the two?

I know they are entitled to use the road aswell but why not move over a bit. When a tractor holds up traffic he will pull in to let you pass. The cyclists don't even have to slow down so whats the problem?

jon1981

As a driver and a cyclist ( remember cyclists do have/use other modes of transport) I think there are roads were two abreast is perfectly fine. However, there are small roads in which it is just pure ignorant to be holding up or slowing up traffic like this. I would like to think it's the exception rather than the rule, personally if you're two abreast on a narrow row in which a car can barely pass it's pure ignorant.

Now you can argue it's quicker to pass out cyclists who are abreast vs single file, this is more true for large groups, for 2 lads out on their spin this argument doesn't hold.

jon1981

As a driver and a cyclist ( remember cyclists do have/use other modes of transport) I think there are roads were two abreast is perfectly fine. However, there are small roads in which it is just pure ignorant to be holding up or slowing up traffic like this. I would like to think it's the exception rather than the rule, personally if you're two abreast on a narrow row in which a car can barely pass it's pure ignorant.

Now you can argue it's quicker to pass out cyclists who are abreast vs single file, this is more true for large groups, for 2 lads out on their spin this argument doesn't hold.

radia

Generally the idea is to avoid dangerous overtaking.
A car should leave at least 1.5 metres when overtaking a cyclist. This means pulling well out - over to the opposite side of the road - even when overtaking cyclists in single file.
So if there's not space to overtake cyclists two abreast safely, there actually probably isn't enough room to overtake them safely if they were in single file.

Unfortunately, if cyclists are in single file, some car drivers find it tempting to try to squeeze past on the same side of the road. It can be pretty scary to have a car go past at speed only a few inches away!

So staying two abreast discourages this from happening and means that overtaking only occurs when the road is clear and it's safe to overtake by moving over to the opposite lane and giving good clearance.

stra

I totally agree. It's really annoying but its not limited to just cyclists I regularly see this with walkers and joggers also.

jon1981

radia wrote: »

So staying two abreast discourages this from happening and means that overtaking only occurs when the road is clear and it's safe to overtake by moving over to the opposite lane and giving good clearance.

I find the opposite is true from my experience but see your point, some drivers can very frustrated and leave the outside cyclist with little margin, can be scary!

for some reason there's two threads on this

radia

Yeah - maybe I should have said 'Staying two abreast is meant to discourage...'

Unknown Soldier

Rock77 wrote: »

So I'm not looking for an argument, i would just like to hear a cyclists opinion on this.

This has happened me more than once recently. Driving on a smallish country road, two cyclists in front, hard to overtake and they refuse to go single file? I get when its a large group they can't, but just the two?

I know they are entitled to use the road aswell but why not move over a bit. When a tractor holds up traffic he will pull in to let you pass. The cyclists don't even have to slow down so whats the problem?

This is not the forum for this tbh.

But... there are probably two answers to your question. It is highly likely that the two people cycling know the road very well and know that going single file has a lot of inherent risk with giving someone in a car the highly risky opportunity to try and overtake. Most cyclist in twos would go single file on a safe straight bit.

Where there a lot of twists and bends on that road? Solid white line?

That kind of safety stuff? You reckon you'd get past them but what if a lorry came around a bend etc?

The type of road you wouldn't overtake a tractor on?

But you'd have a lash if the obstacle was a few feet wide? Like a person on a bike?


OR


They could just have been a couple of ignorant self centered people who cycle and you can just go fupp yourself. They exist, and it's probably not just on a bike that they are blinkered self obsessed eejits.


Only you OP, knowing the exact details can make an educated judgment call.

Smallish country roads are usually quite scary for people out cycling, for the record.

Beasty

3 threads (I appreciate the duplicates arose as a result of the current problems with the site), wrong forum, on a topic that's been done to death in the main forum, so I'm merging and closing these