Re: Cyclist scratching car

Cars are insured, Cyclists are not, but have rights to use the road. Cars can't get through 3 ft gaps, cyclists can.

Cars are registered and therefore can be witnessed doing something and reported.

HTH.

Debacler

"Ian" gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying:

No, no, no. A motorist is a motorist whether he's in his car or on foot or on a bike.

Therefore, it's _always_ his fault.

Ian Smith gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying:

Not quite. One of those situations would allow you to make a note of a nice large, prominently displayed unique identification number and inform your insurance, who can then trace that particular Llama.

What happens if the cyclist also owns a car? Does it then come down to who owns the biggest car?

I think they should make this illegal. HC says that you should overtake on the right. I doubt though that there *was* adequate room to pass safely anyway. Was there room to pass allowing enough room for a numpty passenger to throw the door open and for the cyclist to still be safe?

"Dr Zoidberg" gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying:

Duhg's head explodes.

Probably.

"mileburner" gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying:

Oh, good. Yet more highly specific legislation. Just what we need.

As with so many things, it'd already fall under generalised legislation, if done in an inconsiderate or unsafe manner.

If it's not done inconsiderately, and if it's done safely, there's no problem, right? Except, of course, one of jealousy...

Are you sure that there's no exceptions to that...? Slow moving traffic, p'raps?

Clearly not in this case - else the OP wouldn't be asking.

Would that make it OK to throw the door open without looking? After all, "legal" and "to be expected" are far from the same thing.

I saw a cyclist passing a car in front of me on the nearside and his pedal hit the curbstone and he ended up falling off his bicycle. Why he didn't pass on the right perplexed me. There was much more room to pass on that side.

This is confusing. You say that the cyclist overtook you too close on the nearside (i.e. he was moving faster than you) but that *you* had allowed *him* adequate room?

The only way I can envisage this happening is that you attempted to overtake him but had not allowed sufficient space to complete the manoeuvre before you had to slow down for something

-dan

Daniel Barlow gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying:

Or that he'd stopped in traffic with full expectation of cyclists passing on the nearside, so had allowed space for them to do so.

I was stationary behind 3 cars at a set of lights, allowing as much room as possible (3ft approx) bearing in mind I had more cars next to me in the right hand lane turning right so could not be over any further than I was.

Debacler

One would only expect such a reply from a pscyholist.

How's this for a scenario.... The OP is in very slow moving, or stopped traffic, but being polite to cyclists, has left about 3ft between his car and the kerb.. it's often not possible to leave more. Cyclist comes down between car and kerb. It's like pullling teeth talking to you lot.

Mike P

A possibility that had not occured to me. But if I were stopped in traffic I'd have started the post with "When stopped in traffic the other day", not "When driving the other day" which absent other cues does usually tend to imply the car was moving.

Which is it, Dave?

-dan

No. They way I read the OP's description, he stopped in a queue and left a gap between the nearside of his car and the kerb through which a cyclist who had previously been behind him, overtook him. He estimates that the gap was big enough for a cyclist to ride without hitting either the kerb or the side of the car.

Is there any requirement in the Highway Code to stop so as to leave room for a cyclsit to overtake on the left? Assuming that there isn't a marked cycle lane on the road.

If I am approaching a junction and I'm about to turn left, I usually pull closer than normal to the kerb (if there's no cycle lane) to prevent cyclists attempting to turn left in a dangerous situation. Having said that, if there's a cyclist in front of me and he's close to the junction, I don't overtake him and then cut in and block his path: if he's already close I'll probably stop behind him.

You've been hanging around urc long enough to know that Ian has experience of this, except in this case it wasn't a little scratch he had, but rather more serious. And no, the large unique identification number didn't help one bit.

The Debacler gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying:

Here we go again...

You misspelled "cyclist".

As a cyclist I have far more experience of getting half-way overtaken by car drivers unable to judge my speed than I do of passing vehicles too close on the nearside and scratching them. In central London I would estimate that the misjudged overtake attempt by a car happens at least once on every trip, and I can categorically state that I have no experience at all of having scratched a car while undertaking it. So when I read of situations like these I try to relate them to things that I know happen frequently.

I am assuming you are primarily a car driver, and perhaps do not have the good fortune to overtake cyclists as considerate as I am - perhaps this happens to you (though I doubt it happens as often as the converse scenario does to me). So our assumptions are different

I appreciate the gesture, but honestly I'd far prefer to have the space on the offside where other road users will expect overtaking traffic (e.g. motorcycles) to be, and there is less of risk of passengers opening nearside doors or pedestrians stepping off the kerb without warning.

There would be no incentive for anyone to overtake on the nearside if drivers would not insist on hugging the centre line all the time.

-dan

Daniel Barlow gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying:

He also mis-spelled "psycholist", but...

ITYM as a competent, alert cyclist. Not all are.

Equally, if every other vehicle in the queue is towards the offside of the lane, one driver towards the nearside is just going to be a pain in the arse.

"Clive George" gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying:

I don't "hang around" urc at all - but I think I am aware of the incident you refer to, although I hadn't clocked it was the same poster. But, anyway, that large unique identification number certainly DID help, as otherwise the Llama in question would not have been traceable to begin the ensuing arguments about liability with.