Making vehicle drivers give you more room

[Kim]

No, wriggling cargo gets you more room.

[hubner]

On narrow roads and pinch points where close passes are more likely, I glance over my shoulder and listen out for high reving. And put my right arm out to prevent a close pass. I do this on wider roads as well if I hear or see fast approaching vehicles.

I do this also for oncoming vehicles.

On occasions when I do sense a close pass but can't be arsed to look behind, invariably I do get one.

[nuttycyclist]

Isn't the cheap option to strap a pool noodle across your rear rack (if you have one?)

J

I really must dig out my reading glasses - I was initially thinking the poodle would wriggle too much.

I also misread it and so spent a few minutes trying to work out the benefit of a pot noodle in this situation.

[T42]

El Prez had a sticky-out mirror on his flat-bar eBike - bars were about a metre across, all told.  A gendarme pulled him over on the main drag of a local town and told him that if he didn't take the so-called bike path (glorified footpath frequented by kids from local school, with 4 non-priority intersections whereof two with major roads, and two kerbs to negotiate) he'd do him for obstructing the traffic next time.

[Tynan2]

I ride 20 hours a weekcommuting in London and find the care from drivers as good as it ever has been. The problem is a hard core of utter dicks that think they are either in fast and furious or just do not care and jump lights, chop lanes etc etc without a care in the world. I am full roadie fwiw. And the peds in some areas are as mindlessly idiotic as they could be.

[sg37409]

I think Jeremy vine also got some of the hard core dicks the other day.  He also said that this family ride on some new facility was overwhelmingly great. 

https://mobile.twitter.com/theJeremyVine/status/1476197563716055041

[Wowbagger]

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2022/jan/05/filming-cyclingmikey-dangerous-drivers-mike-van-erp-motorists-britain-roads-safer?fbclid=IwAR0FPKGU3ShvDe0zhaFWFy5jNtBxQCgS0_Mt4ivNpyOGVt1EDlqOy64-jyE

Our very own Mikey interviewed by my namesake.

[handcyclist]

Okay, to be fair, with regard to the hundreds of cars that must surely have passed me, not everyone played the game, but it really was a significant amount to be noticeable.

A friend has one of those stuck onto the side of her offside pannier, and said she noticed an appreciable reduction in close passes.  Not eliminated entirely but far less stress.

I've put a Passipix patch on my offside pannier, to coincide with my newish GoPro habit. Gotta say that it feels like the considerate drivers do give more room. I've had one total twat driver pass at speed in a downpour with very little room - completely unnecessarily - but unfortunately there was too much rain on the lens to make out the plates.

I don't know if it was concidence, but I was passed fast (I reckon 40mph+) in Aylesbury yesterday in a 30mph zone. The driver then saw a cop car with two bored looking policeman leaning against it in the parallel feeder road. Cue flashing emergency brake lights and puffs of smoke out of the car's tyres.

Whether they'd registered the camera symbol I was carrying and put 2 and 2 together and made a close pass / speed trap operation I'll never know .....