militant cyclists

[Bristolboro]

ok, it's only 3 points and £100 but this little incident is quite a big one:

1. you could lose your job
2. some cyclists are cycling around with surveillance looking for driving offences against them.

My view that both need educating.

 

[ThatFragranceGuy]

ok, it's only 3 points and £100 but this little incident is quite a big one:

1. you could lose your job
2. some cyclists are cycling around with surveillance looking for driving offences against them.

My view that both need educating.

1. Easily solved by following the law
2. See 1

It does need educating; that's why they're offering you the course I guess.

Replace distance with speed or alcohol limit and your argument will sound bizarre, it's no diffent and there is a limit for a reason.

 

[Blf]

There is actually no offence of driving to close. The 1.5 m is an educational distance . The charge will be careless driving ( just read this on line). Not sure how they could prove this. Speeding has to have calibrated cameras. How can you be proven guilty when you don't know how far back the cyclist was or what angle he is at or the lens on his camera is it zoomed or on normal. Seems like they are hoping you will just accept it and pay. I would look for legal advice and search for others it's happened to online. They might have first hand info for you.

 

[Train Man]

Jesus. This forum. Sometimes I think I’ve entered an alternative universe

 

[SilentProf]

I think the distance is relatively safe but it does look within 1.5m. The only argument against that is what type of lens is being used and whether it makes objects appear closer together in order to fit a wider view on screen. It doesn’t look distorted to me though and you could probably confirm that with a bit of maths and measurements.

Even if this image could be proven to be of a safe distance, the fact that the road turns to the left almost immediately could be used to show the overtake was unsafe either from traffic potentially heading towards you or the action of turning itself resulting in the portion of the vehicle behind the front wheels moving towards the cyclist. That movement would be more significant on a larger vehicle such as this one.

 

[Manhead]

Anyone had any encounters with these?

I've just been sent pictures from the Northumberland police taken by a cyclist following his mate who is also on a bike. The alleged offence is that I didn't give him 1.5 m space when overtaking down quite a narrow lane. If you look at the pictures I've left him plenty of room (I estimate about 1.4m) and there's no danger at all, in fact I would be more of a danger if I went further over.
For this I get 3 points or an 'educational' course option, plus £100 fine.

WTF is this all about?

Cyclists, on the whole, are irritating ***** whow look for a reason to be victims

 

[ForssAwakens]

here we go.
Now, at this point I'm on the other side of quite a narrow road and driving under 30mph.
I'm a bit confused and need advice.
Is this a driving offence?
Am I crazy to think this isn't a driving offence?
What am I supposed to do?

You’ve rightly been penalised, your trying to overtake into a corner

Also that’s one photo, what happens after is there anymore. And video footage

 

[pierrequiroule]

I'm late to this, so quickly, well done Bristol for at at least admitting that you have made an error. Just a couple of points to help you understand why.

You are driving a relatively long vehicle and overtaking on a left hand bend, which results in reduced visibility of oncoming traffic - you practically acknowledge this yourself. The cyclist is not static, probably moving at 15mph, so that by the time your back end clears him he will be somewhere near that post on the pavement. By that time you will have moved even closer to the pavement thinking you've completed the pass when in fact you haven't. This is exacerbated by the fact you're on a left hand bend.

There are plenty of documented deaths of cyclists by articulated lorries for this reason alone, the squeeze, and in some cases the driver was not even aware they had hit someone. I hope that helps.

PS The solution is to slow down behind the cyclist until you're round the bend and can see clearly enough to overtake leaving at least twice the distance between you and the cyclist. Ignore the impatient motorist behind you, this cyclist is someone's husband father etc.

 

[Centralscrutinizer]

here we go.
Now, at this point I'm on the other side of quite a narrow road and driving under 30mph.
I'm a bit confused and need advice.
Is this a driving offence?
Am I crazy to think this isn't a driving offence?
What am I supposed to do?

I'm not a roadie, try and keep to the MTB tracks and off the roads as much as possible, but that doesn't look that bad to me.
( tin hat on )

 

[RedAsABeetroot]

Anyone had any encounters with these?

I've just been sent pictures from the Northumberland police taken by a cyclist following his mate who is also on a bike. The alleged offence is that I didn't give him 1.5 m space when overtaking down quite a narrow lane. If you look at the pictures I've left him plenty of room (I estimate about 1.4m) and there's no danger at all, in fact I would be more of a danger if I went further over.
For this I get 3 points or an 'educational' course option, plus £100 fine.

WTF is this all about?

Patience?

 

[RedAsABeetroot]

To be honest I’d say your fat too close… look how close your wing mirror (the point of ref for the police) is to the cyclist

I’d say you’re around a meter from him.

The other thing I would add is that the cyclist is too close to the curb. Has he moved left because of your overtake? For me he should be 1m further left to prevent this sort of incident.

 

[Bernieslavenschin]

Not too many cyclists cause death or permanent disfigurement by dodgy cycling.

There’s something about not being properly in control of a high powered, heavy piece of machinery that makes it inherently dangerous to those not protected by a similar piece of machinery.

I say that as a predominant driver who cycles a bit also.

Would recommend that people regularly do both so they experience both sides.

Anyone that’s cycled on our roads and then comes away from these things feeling that cyclists need less protection wants their head examined.


I would also suggest that the proof provided to police has to be pretty conclusive for them to issue even fines and points in this circumstance, meaning there aren’t too many miscarriages of justice.
If you’ve driven dangerously enough to receive one of these it’s usually because you actually have driven dangerously, rather than both the cyclist and the police being the ones at fault.

 

[r00fie1]

If you drive something that size on roads which clearly werent built to take it.........buy something smaller.

 

[Colgates_shaving_foam]

Bit of a daft thing to do, overtaking on that bend. As you admit, you were not sure of what was coming the other way.

I also have a feeling that the next pic in this montage would have the cyclist almost leaning away from your mirror as you round the bend.

Every day's a school day.

 

[MolteniArcore]

here we go.
Now, at this point I'm on the other side of quite a narrow road and driving under 30mph.
I'm a bit confused and need advice.
Is this a driving offence?
Am I crazy to think this isn't a driving offence?
What am I supposed to do?

I’d say that is a close pass. You aren’t that far away from him and the road bends left. You must have also overtaken his mate behind and from that angle it looks like you might have been doing that and not been able to see around that corner.

Being in a big van you might have had a good view round that corner but from the pic this it not obvious.

My rule of thumb is treat a cyclist like they were a car, go over to the other side of the road. Sneaking past on the same lane, if videoed, is asking for trouble, especially in a very large vehicle like the open you were driving.

 

[MolteniArcore]

I ride with a camera on my bike and will report bad driving. In all fairness I don’t think (based on that one still) I would have reported the OP but it might be a different matter if we saw the video.

I had a really close pass yesterday, that driver will be getting reported this morning. She certainly needs some kind of educational course.

I am also a driver. Being a cyclist has improved my driving I would say. I drive a lot too, so I am a driver ahead of being a cyclist. And a walker 3rd.

 

[JesmondJ]

I'm a keen road cyclist so regularly experience the issues being raised in this thread, but there does seem to be a bit of confusion in this thread as to the rules around riding in groups. Rule 66 of The Highway Code states that cyclists should "be considerate of the needs of other road users when riding in groups. You can ride two abreast and it can be safer to do so, particularly in larger groups or when accompanying children or less experienced riders. Be aware of drivers behind you and allow them to overtake (for example, by moving into single file or stopping) when you feel it is safe to let them do so".
This is clearing stating that cyclists can ride two abreast (no mention of 3 abreast), but that cyclists need to be considerate of other road users and their surroundings and move into single file if that makes it easier for vehicles to overtake.

 

[MolteniArcore]

It’s funny how you need to give a cyclist 1.5M to pass
but they only require 0.5M whilst flying up the inside of your vehicle in slow or standing traffic.
which reminds me of a time about 30 years ago
.

That’s because a cyclist passing a car will not kill the driver, but a car passing a cyclist can, and does many times, kill the cyclist.

 

[ThatFragranceGuy]

It’s funny how you need to give a cyclist 1.5M to pass
but they only require 0.5M whilst flying up the inside of your vehicle in slow or standing traffic.
which reminds me of a time about 30 years ago
.

Is it that funny? A standing vehicle isn't a risk, unless someone opens a car door in front of them which shouldn't really be happening.

Someone overtaking in a motorhome on a corner is.

But I guess laughing at someone having an accident says it all.

 

[hobblewobble]

I would be grateful if cars in the town gave me that much room.
As others have said inches is the norm which is why so many people go on the pavement only to face the army of mobilty scooters!