What I find is, the quieter hour, the more crazier the driver out their. You'd think at 5-6am in the morning would be a great time to ride but some of my most frightening close passes have been in the times above with 1 driver who had TWO empty lanes to use, decided they wanted the lane I was in and tried to push me out of lane into lane 2 and 3! There was NO other traffic on the 3 lane ROAD!!
All bicycle riders experience this. Why not simply stop this from repeating endlessly in the future? Here is how I solved this problem: 1) Pull a child trailer. After I did this some drivers would literally move into oncoming traffic and force drivers into the shoulder. 2) Use a rear-mounted baby seat. I had a similar result as #1. At first I also used a dummy baby but noticed similar results without the dummy so I instead carried my work items. 3) Tie a toy sword or toy rifle horizontally behind the bicycle with the sharp point to car traffic. I only did this for a few days because every car became so intensely focused only on me (exactly what I wanted) but I felt weird about riding with a toy sword. 4) I replaced the toy sword with a stick I found on the ground. Surprisingly similar results 5) I now settled on tying a dog-tennis-ball throwing stick. It creates less focus and fear as a child trailer or toy sword but overall it works well and probably would have caused enough fear in the car driver that he might scratch his paint. Fear causes focus on you and is how to prevent this problem. My tennis ball throw stick is bright orange. I guarantee the Mercedes driver would NEVER have made an unsafe pass if the bicycle was pulling a child trailer or toy sword. People are terrified of injuring babies and items that vaguely resemble a weapon. BMW and Mercedes drivers in particular are terrified of paint scratches. Fun fact - If I am on a narrow road and I think a car may give me a close pass, I do the "danse", which is when riders in the Tour de France go up a mountain pedaling out of the saddle and their bicycle leans wildly side-to-side. This causes my stick or dog-tennis-ball-thrower to repeatedly "stab" the air and cause intense fear in the car driver coming up behind me. It's completely ridiculous how hard they try to avoid me when passing.
A lot of interesting and innovative ideas. I regularly host touring cyclists through the warmshowers.org website and I recently hosted two around-the-world cyclists who strapped pool noodles to the back of their bikes. They said it worked in forcing motorists to give them more room and confirms your experience using a sword or stick. Alternatively, we could place every motorist who makes a close pass in the town stocks, for every Sunday over a whole year, close to a popular cycling cafe wearing a sign of shame that details their driving mistake. Jay
@@LiamE69 - I've been a motorcycle rider for a long time. The #1 rule in the motorcycle community is to accept responsibility for your own safety. What this means is if a car driver is drunk and runs the red light and crashes into a motorcycle rider, ultimately the motorcycle rider could have prevent this. It's completely counterintuitive but based on studies of riders that that ridden accident-free for 30+ years. An unexpected finding in the study is that a large percentage of these "million mile" motorcycle riders are airline pilots. There seems to be a connection between being safety minded (airline pilots) and riding motorcycles accident free even if most accidents are due to mistakes by OTHER parties. If your curious, I am not an airline pilot however I am a Class A licensed skydiver.
We now live in a "Selfish Society" where people care for nothing and nobody but themselves. They cannot wait for one second. Just about everything in life now is driven by selfishness
A sever lack of any patience whatsoever. Yes, he could have given much more room by taking a wider line, but surely he could have waited 10 seconds then overtaken safely away from the junction where there was more space.
I had an old woman reverse onto the road and force me to swerve. Apparently it was my fault because I could see she was reversing. I tried to explain the highway code but she just became abusive so I cycled off.
That's crazy! The more stories I hear like this the more convinced I am that we need to start going hardcore with our submissions of shitty drivers. Take care and of course, ride safe.
But as I have been told by my local police DET the 1.5m rule is not law. They have to consider the speed at which they overtake as well despite the HW code being clear that it is up to 30 mph. The law comes under s.3 RTA 1988 for careless and inconsiderate driving. I have had a few I have submitted come back as cannot take further. No explanation why. No accountability.
It never ceases to amaze me just how poor the police can be when dealing with cases similar to this. This is clearly an act of dangerous driving and a punishment should have been issued in order to teach this driver a lesson.
I couldn't agree more. The Police get a lot of these calls badly wrong and it is undoubtedly a deterrent to many cyclists submitting their video evidence. This in turn does nothing to improve road safety. Many motorists appear to think they can drive around cyclists however they like with impunity. To an extent they are right! As cyclists, we just have to keep calling this poor driving out whenever we see it. Thanks for your comment and contribution to the discussion. Take care and ride safe. Jay
But the legislation doesn’t actually mention 1.5m. It is the Highway Code which does and this is not a must not rule which is covered by legislation. Hence why police can pick and choose which cases and drivers to prosecute. I assume they have 3-4 of them in a room in front of their computers viewing the footages sent to them who are judge and jury in these cases. I also suspect they are restricted by how much public money they can use to prosecute drivers.
Yes Lancashire Police if the report meets a certain criteria, they will send a Notice of intended prosecution. Thats why having rear video is so important, you can prove the driver had no intention of providing space. @@badabing8884
Why did the Merc overtake the cyclist like that?, quite simple, the Merc driver viewed the cyclist as an obstacle, not another road user, something they thought more than a moving road block. We have to look at it as a thought experiment and break it down, green light, no one on the road, me driver want to turn left, beat cyclist to turn, me do quick..I do hope he was reported as this driver is a risk that needs to have is insurance hiked. ~Trooper
This was the same cyclist who appeared in the previous close-call video. Again it was reported to Southampton police who again could see nothing wrong with the driving. Southampton police are clearly staffed with incompetent thickos.
Certainly the car driver was in the wrong. But had I been the cyclist, I would have taken the lane while the car was still well back. The driver would have no choice but to slow down and stay behind the cyclist until they are clear of the intersection. This simply doesn't give a car driver the opportunity to put you in this danger. It's also entirely possible the car driver never even noticed the cyclist. They may have been looking up the road for oncoming traffic and focused on their turn. Again, taking the lane puts the cyclist right in front of the driver where they are easily noticed. Of course, as the cyclist taking the lane, you need to keep an eye on cars overtaking and make sure they are obviously slowing down and if needed quickly take whatever action needed to avoid being hit. But car drivers are not homicidal. Most are simply oblivious and do not actively look for cyclists and others simply make poor choices. Best to limit the number of poor choices they can make.
issues. again you say 1.5m when in fact that is a should not a must. it absolutely is not a law as you state, a cycling myth only. the police have even stated that it would be unenforceable as a law. its a simple fact that you were wrong on that point again. Any highway code rule has a law attached to it, shows the reference to the law. this rule does no such thing.
Good luck pleading that when you get stopped by the police. Regardless, giving less than 1.5 metres is just outright dangerous which is surely what is important?
@@Biking360 Wording of The Highway Code Many of the rules in the Code are legal requirements, and if you disobey these rules you are committing a criminal offence. You may be fined, given penalty points on your licence or be disqualified from driving. In the most serious cases you may be sent to prison. Such rules are identified by the use of the words ‘MUST/MUST NOT’. In addition, the rule includes an abbreviated reference to the legislation which creates the offence. See an explanation of the abbreviations. nothing to plead, it's a fact and a simple one at that.
I think a lot of cyclists need to read the whole book, they keep going on about 1. 5 meters but seem to of completely missed the bit about traffic lights 😂😂😂
What I find is, the quieter hour, the more crazier the driver out their. You'd think at 5-6am in the morning would be a great time to ride but some of my most frightening close passes have been in the times above with 1 driver who had TWO empty lanes to use, decided they wanted the lane I was in and tried to push me out of lane into lane 2 and 3! There was NO other traffic on the 3 lane ROAD!!
Wow! That's crazy!!
Seems to me it is time for lawmakers who felt it necessary to enact the law to step up and pressure law enforcement to actually enforce the law. 👮♂️
I completely agree and I intend to do my bit to start to apply some pressure to help stop this kind of thoughtless and inconsiderate driving.
Much the same in Australia. In fact if you can't identify the driver, and the driver says they weren't driving the car, that's the end of it.
That's disgraceful.
All bicycle riders experience this. Why not simply stop this from repeating endlessly in the future? Here is how I solved this problem:
1) Pull a child trailer. After I did this some drivers would literally move into oncoming traffic and force drivers into the shoulder.
2) Use a rear-mounted baby seat. I had a similar result as #1. At first I also used a dummy baby but noticed similar results without the dummy so I instead carried my work items.
3) Tie a toy sword or toy rifle horizontally behind the bicycle with the sharp point to car traffic. I only did this for a few days because every car became so intensely focused only on me (exactly what I wanted) but I felt weird about riding with a toy sword.
4) I replaced the toy sword with a stick I found on the ground. Surprisingly similar results
5) I now settled on tying a dog-tennis-ball throwing stick. It creates less focus and fear as a child trailer or toy sword but overall it works well and probably would have caused enough fear in the car driver that he might scratch his paint. Fear causes focus on you and is how to prevent this problem. My tennis ball throw stick is bright orange.
I guarantee the Mercedes driver would NEVER have made an unsafe pass if the bicycle was pulling a child trailer or toy sword. People are terrified of injuring babies and items that vaguely resemble a weapon. BMW and Mercedes drivers in particular are terrified of paint scratches.
Fun fact - If I am on a narrow road and I think a car may give me a close pass, I do the "danse", which is when riders in the Tour de France go up a mountain pedaling out of the saddle and their bicycle leans wildly side-to-side. This causes my stick or dog-tennis-ball-thrower to repeatedly "stab" the air and cause intense fear in the car driver coming up behind me. It's completely ridiculous how hard they try to avoid me when passing.
A lot of interesting and innovative ideas. I regularly host touring cyclists through the warmshowers.org website and I recently hosted two around-the-world cyclists who strapped pool noodles to the back of their bikes. They said it worked in forcing motorists to give them more room and confirms your experience using a sword or stick. Alternatively, we could place every motorist who makes a close pass in the town stocks, for every Sunday over a whole year, close to a popular cycling cafe wearing a sign of shame that details their driving mistake. Jay
I bet you are fun at parties.
@@LiamE69 - I've been a motorcycle rider for a long time. The #1 rule in the motorcycle community is to accept responsibility for your own safety. What this means is if a car driver is drunk and runs the red light and crashes into a motorcycle rider, ultimately the motorcycle rider could have prevent this. It's completely counterintuitive but based on studies of riders that that ridden accident-free for 30+ years. An unexpected finding in the study is that a large percentage of these "million mile" motorcycle riders are airline pilots. There seems to be a connection between being safety minded (airline pilots) and riding motorcycles accident free even if most accidents are due to mistakes by OTHER parties. If your curious, I am not an airline pilot however I am a Class A licensed skydiver.
I think a lot of motorists think the highway code is like the pirate code, it's mostly guidelines.
I think you are right!
Like most cyclists that think red lights don't apply to them you mean?
@@stukaseptember I think I know what I meant by that statement and that wasn't it.
And unfortunately they're correct about that :(
Police do as well. They use it to inform whether s.3 of RTA 1988 has been broken.
We now live in a "Selfish Society" where people care for nothing and nobody but themselves. They cannot wait for one second. Just about everything in life now is driven by selfishness
It definitely feels that way sometimes. Drive/Ride safe. Jay
A sever lack of any patience whatsoever. Yes, he could have given much more room by taking a wider line, but surely he could have waited 10 seconds then overtaken safely away from the junction where there was more space.
I agree 100%.
All the room in the world yet unable to use it
So true.
I had an old woman reverse onto the road and force me to swerve. Apparently it was my fault because I could see she was reversing. I tried to explain the highway code but she just became abusive so I cycled off.
That's crazy! The more stories I hear like this the more convinced I am that we need to start going hardcore with our submissions of shitty drivers. Take care and of course, ride safe.
But as I have been told by my local police DET the 1.5m rule is not law. They have to consider the speed at which they overtake as well despite the HW code being clear that it is up to 30 mph. The law comes under s.3 RTA 1988 for careless and inconsiderate driving. I have had a few I have submitted come back as cannot take further. No explanation why. No accountability.
You should tell Southampton police, Specsavers are open 7 days a week
They probably wouldn't be able to find it 😙
Interesting... thanks for sharing
The uk highway code has one page. It says 'Good Luck'
It never ceases to amaze me just how poor the police can be when dealing with cases similar to this. This is clearly an act of dangerous driving and a punishment should have been issued in order to teach this driver a lesson.
I couldn't agree more. The Police get a lot of these calls badly wrong and it is undoubtedly a deterrent to many cyclists submitting their video evidence. This in turn does nothing to improve road safety. Many motorists appear to think they can drive around cyclists however they like with impunity. To an extent they are right! As cyclists, we just have to keep calling this poor driving out whenever we see it. Thanks for your comment and contribution to the discussion. Take care and ride safe. Jay
A Close pass is cover under section 3 of the Road Traffic Act 1988, its classed as careless driving.
I did not know that. I appreciate the information. Take care. Drive/Ride safe. Jay
@@Biking360 Thank you.
But the legislation doesn’t actually mention 1.5m. It is the Highway Code which does and this is not a must not rule which is covered by legislation. Hence why police can pick and choose which cases and drivers to prosecute. I assume they have 3-4 of them in a room in front of their computers viewing the footages sent to them who are judge and jury in these cases. I also suspect they are restricted by how much public money they can use to prosecute drivers.
Yes Lancashire Police if the report meets a certain criteria, they will send a Notice of intended prosecution. Thats why having rear video is so important, you can prove the driver had no intention of providing space. @@badabing8884
Why did the Merc overtake the cyclist like that?, quite simple, the Merc driver viewed the cyclist as an obstacle, not another road user, something they thought more than a moving road block. We have to look at it as a thought experiment and break it down, green light, no one on the road, me driver want to turn left, beat cyclist to turn, me do quick..I do hope he was reported as this driver is a risk that needs to have is insurance hiked. ~Trooper
This was the same cyclist who appeared in the previous close-call video. Again it was reported to Southampton police who again could see nothing wrong with the driving. Southampton police are clearly staffed with incompetent thickos.
He would have made a wider move if it were a JCB instead of a cyclist.
Very good point.
Certainly the car driver was in the wrong. But had I been the cyclist, I would have taken the lane while the car was still well back. The driver would have no choice but to slow down and stay behind the cyclist until they are clear of the intersection. This simply doesn't give a car driver the opportunity to put you in this danger.
It's also entirely possible the car driver never even noticed the cyclist. They may have been looking up the road for oncoming traffic and focused on their turn. Again, taking the lane puts the cyclist right in front of the driver where they are easily noticed.
Of course, as the cyclist taking the lane, you need to keep an eye on cars overtaking and make sure they are obviously slowing down and if needed quickly take whatever action needed to avoid being hit. But car drivers are not homicidal. Most are simply oblivious and do not actively look for cyclists and others simply make poor choices. Best to limit the number of poor choices they can make.
A lot of great points in your analysis. Thanks for the contribution to the discussion and ride safe. JP
Berks drive Merc's!
Three of my friends drive Mercs and I can contest to the fact that they are all idiots!!
A little bit too much imagination in the commentary.
Thank you
issues.
again you say 1.5m when in fact that is a should not a must. it absolutely is not a law as you state, a cycling myth only. the police have even stated that it would be unenforceable as a law. its a simple fact that you were wrong on that point again. Any highway code rule has a law attached to it, shows the reference to the law. this rule does no such thing.
Good luck pleading that when you get stopped by the police. Regardless, giving less than 1.5 metres is just outright dangerous which is surely what is important?
@@Biking360
Wording of The Highway Code
Many of the rules in the Code are legal requirements, and if you disobey these rules you are committing a criminal offence. You may be fined, given penalty points on your licence or be disqualified from driving. In the most serious cases you may be sent to prison. Such rules are identified by the use of the words ‘MUST/MUST NOT’. In addition, the rule includes an abbreviated reference to the legislation which creates the offence. See an explanation of the abbreviations.
nothing to plead, it's a fact and a simple one at that.
It’s not act or statute but hc rules are still to be followed. There are plenty of other ones which apply but aren’t part of an Act.
@@Cous1nJack you confirmed that biking360 was incorrect, thank you.
@@Biking360are you new to the internet? The only thing that's important is being right!
nothing wrong with that
It’s happened to me, there’s not an excuse just another entitled cknt in a car, attempted murder and should be charged as such.
I agree that we need to find a way to ramp up the pressure and begin to truly hold motorists to account for their crappy driving around cyclists.
I think a lot of motorists think the highway code is like the pirate code, it's mostly guidelines.
That sounds about right!!
explain why then this channel falsely claims 1.5m is law when it is not?
I think a lot of cyclists need to read the whole book, they keep going on about 1. 5 meters but seem to of completely missed the bit about traffic lights 😂😂😂
Cyclist don’t read the Highway Code@@sorefinger4081