Traffic calming?

[John Holiday]

Just cycled into local town using quieter estate roads.
Several of the roads have alternating chicanes rather than the more popular speed bumps/"sleeping policemen".
As I was entering the chicane which gave priority in my direction, a woman in an Alfa Romeo accelerated & decided that as I was only a cyclist, she wasn't going to wait. Fortunately I had enough space to brake & swerve clear.
How do we get over to these arrogant drivers that they put other road users lives at risk.
Will be out on Speed Watch this afternoon, so interesting to see how many speeders we catch.
Safe cycling!

[alexnharvey]

It is very common for drivers to decide they do not need to wait for a cyclist to clear before passing an obstruction on the driver's side of the road.

[cycle tramp]

H'mmm..... you are far politer than i. Sadly I'm not the young slim person I was and have become somewhat portly... the up side of my wider frame is that I've no issue about staking my right of way along such road features by cycling squarely in the middle of the road...
..I can't recommend this practice and I'm sure it will back fire at some point, but so far I've only met polite road users

[Bmblbzzz]

TBH, plenty of drivers force their way through against priority versus another car too. I was here first!

[drossall]

I've faced this on roads with parked cars on the other side, so that the oncoming car has to cross into my side to get past. I've got priority of course. It helps to move out good and early, and more than you really need to, in order to "claim the lane". I tend to hold that position even if the driver keeps coming. Many will duck into a gap in the parked cars, but they'll at least move over - I've seen oncoming cars that were leaving less space on my side than between themselves and the parked ones.

But in the end, of course, they're bigger and heavier than we are, and there's only going to be one winner

[reohn2]

John Holiday
You live in a land where might is right and there's no law enforcement anymore to curb the behaviour of the more sociopathic mad people at large,so the law of the tarmac jungle prevails,worst of it is,it won't get any better anytime soon.
Cyclist are looked down upon by many motorists as scum and they'll do anything they can to make a cyclists life as hard and as dangerous as they can,there are also the the dopy idiots who just don't look or know the law.
The main problem being is that these dangerous idiots are mixed in with the more law abiding,decent and good drivers.
Our problem as cyclists is that we can't tell which is which,and so are forced to treat each one as potentially the worst,always expecting the unexpected,with 360degree vision and the reactions of a KungFu master

Be careful out there,you never know when you'll encounter the next maniac

[John Holiday]

Unfortunately, too true!
Always work on basis that drivers might do something stupid or dangerous.
When teaching children Bikeability, apart from stressing the need for constant vigilance, we also try to get them think that drivers might do something unpredictable or downright dangerous e.g. door opening, moving off without looking etc.
Try to stay safe out there!

[pwa]

H'mmm..... you are far politer than i. Sadly I'm not the young slim person I was and have become somewhat portly... the up side of my wider frame is that I've no issue about staking my right of way along such road features by cycling squarely in the middle of the road...
..I can't recommend this practice and I'm sure it will back fire at some point, but so far I've only met polite road users

I do the same, again relying on the suspicion that the so-and-so coming the other way won't fancy the dent my more than adequate bulk would make in their car bonnet. It seems to work, but again I'm not recommending it.

[VanDriver]

This would probably only come into play if the speed of the oncoming car is pretty low, but some cyclists might be tempted to hold their ground and thereby allow the car's paintwork to be damaged as it contacts their offside pedal. Might help a driver to grow up a bit.

[peetee]

This would probably only come into play if the speed of the oncoming car is pretty low, but some cyclists might be tempted to hold their ground and thereby allow the car's paintwork to be damaged as it contacts their offside pedal. Might help a driver to grow up a bit.

Or the cyclists pedal fits neatly and momentarily inside the vehicles wheel arch before they are bought crashing back down on to reality street.

[Wanlock Dod]

I've seen oncoming cars that were leaving less space on my side than between themselves and the parked ones...

I don’t think that this is at all unusual, I have observed it many times as a passenger with quite careful drivers. I’ve wondered if it was that parked cars are more likely to scratch paintwork than relatively soft cyclists, but I think it probably has most to do with peoples ability to better judge the size of the gap on the drivers side of the car when they are passing close enough that they might hit you.

[ChrisButch]

The impression I get, partly through my own recent experience of driving, is that older drivers who grew up with generally narrower cars find it difficult to adapt their reactions, especially instinctive awareness of nearside clearance, now that msot cars are significantly wider. Some overcompensate for this by always giving themselves too much room on the nearside.

[Grandad]

+1
I'll stick with my small Hyundai Matrix - big enough to get the bike in without removing the front wheel but small enough to minimise this problem

[fastpedaller]

TBH, plenty of drivers force their way through against priority versus another car too. I was here first!

If there is a 'one way chicane', irrespective of 'priority' if there is a car in it that has priority. This is a)sensible and b)the legal position.
At such a 'pinch point' my Wife's car nearly had the door mirror taken off by someone approaching from the opposite direction and clearly exceeding the 20mph limit. Neither car was visible to each other (due to bend after other end of pinch point) until my Wife's car was beyond the point of no return. Much remonstrating by the speeder who said 'I have priority' countered by my Wife (reasonably stating) 'but I was half-way through before you were visible - It's sensible to wait rather than have a collision, however much priority you have'
IMHO these calming measures cause more crashes than they prevent, and (in the example above) the locals agree.

[fastpedaller]

I had the situation 15 years ago when I was approaching one of these chicanes in my car. I slowed and stopped to let the approaching driver through (as he had priority) and witnessed the driver behind me overtake and get through before the guy approaching! I really was gobsmacked by that