thirdcrank wrote: ↑27 Dec 2021, 8:27pm
It seems odd to me that the driver/rider of one vehicle should consider themselves the best judge of things like the field of view of another. As a particularly memorable example, I was once driving behind a rider on a twist climb in the Dales. He was gesturing me to overtake windmilling his right arm but I had zilch view of the road ahead and there was no way I was going to overtake him, even though he was inevitably climbing relatively slowly. I'd not drive right up somebody's exhaust pipe - even when they don't have one. One real concern in these situations is that if you are driving with a tailgater, moving out to overtake may be misinterpreted as a chance to pass on the inside.
That's not to say that a "danger" signal might be appropriate. On another occasion I was riding on a very narrow Dales road with a car behind and I could clearly hear something coming the other way. I tried to indicate to the driver behind that they should stay behind me but they raced past and then wished they had taken my advice.
I'm not sure it's judging what someone else's field of view is, more like having a better field of view than they do because you're further forward/higher up. But yes I take your point.
The scenario I was picturing in the "you can get a bus through there" example was where I knew that the forward visibility of the following driver at that point would be plenty good enough to see that there was nothing to stop them overtaking (they are roads that I drive on more than I ride on, in general).
With regard to your second paragraph, when I'm on the bike with a car behind and there are bends in the road, I do sometimes signal to the driver one way or the other - as soon as I can see round the bend and I am certain that it is clear, I'll give them a thumbs up, but I take no offence if they take no notice. If I were in that car, would I take the judgement of some cyclist whom I don't know from Adam? Of course not. As well as a cyclist, I am a competent driver (or at least I like to think so!), but they don't know that.
I sometimes see slow-moving vehicles e.g. tractors give a flash or two of the left indicator to mean the same thing.
Conversely, if I can see round the corner that it isn't clear, I will give a palm downwards "no, hang on, not yet" sort of gesture. Particularly if one driver has already chanced his/her arm, gone past and made me think "That wasn't safe", I'll give that gesture to the second driver to try to dissuade them from blindly following (e.g. the first driver got away with it but I can see that there is now an oncoming vehicle and if the second driver follows they won't be so lucky).
I'm not trying to direct traffic or drive someone else's car for them, just to be helpful and not hold up anyone more than is necessary. Yes, I know I've just as much right to be on the road as they have, but if we can all get along with a bit of give and take, then why shouldn't we?