Its not just cyclists that annoy motorists...

[adinigel]

....We did accurately predict one BMW who did much the same manoevre. I would probably have moved out and blocked him but Jenny just let him come by.....

Then I'm afraid Jenny's is the better attitude for on the road, so all credit to her.

What is there to gain by moving out to block someone from overtaking? Far better to let him go out in front. Let him involve someone else in his accident.

Nigel

[jan19]

jan19 wrote:
....We did accurately predict one BMW who did much the same manoevre. I would probably have moved out and blocked him but Jenny just let him come by.....


Then I'm afraid Jenny's is the better attitude for on the road, so all credit to her.

What is there to gain by moving out to block someone from overtaking? Far better to let him go out in front. Let him involve someone else in his accident.

I don't have a problem with someone overtaking if its safe to do so. In this case the BMW was trying to squeeze past on a roundabout which simply isn't wide enough for that to be a safe manoevre (big solid bank in the middle of the roundabout). Jenny is happy to move sharply into the left to let someone like this get by. I'm afraid I'm not. Sorry if that makes me a bad driver.Perhaps I'd better stick to the bike.

Jan

Jan

[thirdcrank]

jan19

IMO you are not to blame for the silly attitudes of others behind you. Try the Thirdcrank survival approach. If you are driving carefully along somewhere a bit narrow (therefore overtaking difficult) one of the dangers is that somebody coming the other way will trust their innate ability to see around corners (something I've never been able to do) and the only defence against a head on collision will be the fact that you are driving at a sensible speed and able to make an emergency stop. Now, if you have another clown with extrasensory perception up your exhaust pipe you risk being sandwiched between two driving experts whose behaviour you have not influenced. OTOH, if you are selfish like me you will pull over at the first opportunity and they will roar by (unless they are habitual tailgaters and just pull in behind because they are too close to see what's in front.) With somebody in front who can see round corners and who drives at a matching speed, the road ahead is being made safer for you. If the worst comes to the worst and a little further down the road you come across a collision, you will be in a position to offer help, summon the emergency services, and your statement, as an independent witness, will include something along the lines ".... I felt so threatened by this aggressive driving that I pulled to the nearside at the first opportunity to let the driver behind overtake. XX (insert distance) further along the road I saw that the vehicle which had overtaken me had hit a lorry head-on / overturned in the ditch / hit a tree (or as appropriate.)"

[jan19]

TC, Adinigel,

I agree completely that the best form of defence with these drivers is to let them go past asap - much better to have them in front of you. I don't deliberately hold people up unless, to return to my OP, by overtaking they are putting me at unnecessary risk, which was something I felt this BMW driver was doing by trying to squeeze past when there simply wasn't room. We had seen him coming - it was the same roundabout where the Saxo had cut Jenny up but on the return journey. As I said, her inclination was to squeeze herself into the kerb, hugging the extreme left of the roundabout, thereby giving him just enough room to pass by. Mine would have been to take the centre of the lane (its only single carriageway) and make him wait until we'd got round the roundabout and he could then have passed in relative (although not total - its not that wide) safety.

The whole point of my post - which incidentally seems to have taken quite a different turn in the few days since I last came on here! - was to bemoan the lack of consideration some drivers show to their more inexperienced colleagues, all because they can't wait a few seconds, or feel being behind a "P" plate will hold them up unnecessarily.

Jan

[thirdcrank]

... the lack of consideration some drivers show to their more inexperienced colleagues, ...

Adinigel will have vastly more experience of this than most of us but I think it is always sad when people bully anybody having driving lessons. A lot of us learned to drive when two or three cars waiting at lights was a traffic jam and anything more than that was likely to make the regional news. It's a lot harder these days. Also, I fancy the greater part of all driver tuition is now done by qualified instructors with much less kangarooing in dad's car without dual controls for emergencies (to the relief of dads everywhere ) My daughter-in-law was slow to pass her test and her instructor eventually said that what she needed was some longer trips just to build up confidence, rather than more practicing manoeuvres which she had mastered. By the time she started with me, she was technically competent. I still had to reassure her that she should decide her speed according to road conditions etc., within the speed limit, rather than accept the opinion of somebody too close behind. (I suppose I've got meic's "olice" attitude )

[DavidT]

Years ago I was a passenger in a car being driven by a work colleague. We caught up with a learner driver under instruction, who was obviously in the early days of learning. To my amazement my colleague tailgated, aimed loads of abusive comments at the driver being useless (etc etc), and maintained this intimidatory positioning all through restricted speed limits, bends and double white line systems during which it was obvious there was no possibility whatsoever for an overtake.

At the time I was an Observer for the IAM, and wanted to weep. I tried to encourage some thoughts in the right direction - e.g "If you think they are that bad, wouldn't it be a good idea to drop back a bit?" "Have you noticed the road signs and markings that suggest you are going to be behind them for a little while?" but these predictably fell on deaf ears. Thinking about the principles taught by the IAM and how they contrasted with that idiot (who was otherwise a reasonable work colleague) makes me proud to be a member to this day.