Road bullying

[handcyclist]

There seems to be a new habit forming by drivers on one of my commuting routes.

The route goes through two small villages. The roads are two lane carriageways, so one standard lane in each direction. There are always parked vehicles on the road toward the village centres, often in bunches of 4 or 5.

Just lately, I've noticed an increase in drivers refusing to wait behind parked vehicles on their side, even though I'm already beyond the point where I will meet them before they clear the obstruction, sometimes even coming at me when I'm already opposite the parked cars or vans.

It really is getting tedious being bullied into the gutter. I try to hang out in a primary or strong secondary position as long as possible to discourage it, but ultimately a ton + of vehicle ends up squeezing me into the pavement or verge. I'm not talking 10+ parked vehicles on one side (as happens on one notorious stretch in my home town) where you have to give way sometimes even when the obstruction is to the oncoming, or they'll be waiting for ten minutes for a gap in traffic. This is a few parked cars where waiting for an oncoming cyclist would cost 10 or 15 seconds.

It's getting very boring. Is it just a blip?

[Little Jim]

Did you ever see that film clip where Peter Sagan put his bike on the roof rack of the team car?  The one where he did not unclip first, he just rode up the bonnet and onto the roof.  Time to start practicing 

[CrazyEnglishTriathlete]

It happens, but I couldn't say whether or not it is on the increase.  There are a couple of roads I use regularly with parked cars but on those the motorists are generally respectful.  I have noticed a slight increase on narrow lanes with passing points where drivers will drive past a passing point expecting me to stop / park in a hedge.

[aidan.f]

I have a couple of times had drivers reverse back into the "just passed passing place", but then I am sitting in the way on an upright trike

[Nutbeem]

It happened to me yesterday with a double decker bus whose driver had clearly decided to pull out past parked vehicles and was coming through despite me already being on that section of road and there not being room for both of us.

My impression is that it has increased in recent weeks along with deliberate close passes and pulling in sharply after passing.

There's an awful lot of anti-cyclist rants coming up in certain newspapers and on social media following the revisions to the Highway Code & I wonder if what we are seeing is a result? If so it's scarey.

[Kim]

Not sure there's a real change in genuine bullying behaviour, but impatience levels seem to be increasing...

[Canardly]

Just wait until additional speed limits are imposed to limit fuel demand. That will really piss them off.

[rogerzilla]

The new HC rules have militated the Mr Toads.

[JellyLegs]

A long ride yesterday, mainly rural but with some busier roads and larger town sections was one of my most pleasant ever when measured by the behaviour of other drivers.  I didn’t experience a single close pass of note or any bullying when it came to passing through narrow sections.   I even remember a number of vehicles waiting patiently for a safe opportunity to pass whilst I ground my way up a few hills at what felt like 0kph. Was this just a fluke or is the new HC beginning to bed in?

On a less positive note, shame the last 10km in the dark was plagued by a procession of car drivers who had no intention of dimming their retina-burning headlights or perhaps no idea they were on full beam.

[arabella]

:
On a less positive note, shame the last 10km in the dark was plagued by a procession of car drivers who had no intention of dimming their retina-burning headlights or perhaps no idea they were on full beam.

I made a similar comment, can't remember where.  It was commented that a lot of folks now have auto-dip and it's possible (how do we check?) that auto-dim fails to pick up on bike lights.

[rogerzilla]

My auto-dip does see bike lights but is totally ignorant of cars waiting at side roads.  Like all automatic features, it works 95-99% of the time and the other 1-5% is enough to render the whole concept useless.

[rafletcher]

My auto-dip does see bike lights but is totally ignorant of cars waiting at side roads.  Like all automatic features, it works 95-99% of the time and the other 1-5% is enough to render the whole concept useless.

And the latest wheeze is not having a dip beam at all, the LED array being "Smart" and "Dynamic" in turning segements on and off to maximize visibility whilst (allegedly) not dazzling other road users.

[Diver300]

My auto-dip does see bike lights but is totally ignorant of cars waiting at side roads.  Like all automatic features, it works 95-99% of the time and the other 1-5% is enough to render the whole concept useless.

And the latest wheeze is not having a dip beam at all, the LED array being "Smart" and "Dynamic" in turning segements on and off to maximize visibility whilst (allegedly) not dazzling other road users.

My limited experience of that is that it works very well. However, I haven't used it much in the 1 - 5% of use cases that Rogerzilla mentioned.

I think that the car that I was driving also had a real dip function.

[John Stonebridge]

My auto-dip does see bike lights but is totally ignorant of cars waiting at side roads.  Like all automatic features, it works 95-99% of the time and the other 1-5% is enough to render the whole concept useless.

And the latest wheeze is not having a dip beam at all, the LED array being "Smart" and "Dynamic" in turning segements on and off to maximize visibility whilst (allegedly) not dazzling other road users.

Ive definitely noticed this too - mostly when driving rather than cycling tbh.  Id initially thought that it was either (a) my weakening eyesight resulting in greater sensitivity or (b) the motorists moving vehicle equivalent of YPLAC, where the equivalent level of selfishness would be to keep headlights on full beam.  However having read up on it, I now realise that its a so called smart set up.  Im sure its also the product of some car headlights now being far brighter than they actually need to be (the same effect as those retina burning rear bicycle lights).     

It reminds me of the automatic window blinds in our multi million pound office - when we first moved in the sun would come out, blinding folk sitting in the wrong spot and the blinds would stay open.  After much to-ing and fro-ing trying to get them to work correctly (and some folk point blank refusing to come into the office on certain days) they were all replaced with manual ones.

     

[JellyLegs]

It was commented that a lot of folks now have auto-dip and it's possible (how do we check?) that auto-dim fails to pick up on bike lights.

Auto-dip - another bit of technology that removes the need for a driver to be aware of the current “state” of their car.  I wonder if the fact that the technology will dip the beam 90% of the time means drivers are slower to react in the 10% of cases where they need to manually intervene?  I have no way of knowing whether auto-dip plays a part but my experience is more and more drivers are leaving their lights on full beam as I cycle toward them.  Cue manic hand signals in an attempt to get them dipped.

[arabella]

I was musing on this yesterday during an after-dark ride. (& I did feel I got a better response when I turned on the "fuck-off" light.)
Given that reaction to no-dipping auto-dip is so slow, how much faith do I place in "supervisory" person with a self driving car (clue: == 0)

[Pickled Onion]

Surely a self-driving car doesn't need lights at all, apart from little ones on the corners so you can see it's there?

[Kim]

Surely a self-driving car doesn't need lights at all, apart from little ones on the corners so you can see it's there?

It does if it's using cameras to see.  (This is Tesla's approach, as cameras are much cheaper - if less robust - than LIDAR.)

Conceivably it could all be done in the near-infrared, thobut, so you could have IR headlamps that are invisible to humans.  But they'd still cause a glare problem for other IR-camera-using cars.

[Cudzoziemiec]

Given that fully self-driving vehicles, if and when they hit the streets, are going to be mixing with human-driven vehicles for at least a decade (not to mention actual humans), people will still need to see them. The passengers might also feel more comfortable with some exterior lighting. Plus, it's a chance for both marketing and market protection (see DLRs in European markets).

[Kim]

Also, you can guarantee that if all the problems with self-driving were solved tomorrow, they'd still be marketing luxury cars on the basis of how good they are when driven manually on empty mountain roads while fleeing volcanic eruptions and whatever.  Headlights would be part of that.

[toontra]

Given that fully self-driving vehicles, if and when they hit the streets, are going to be mixing with human-driven vehicles for at least a decade (not to mention actual humans),

This has always struck me as the hardest part of a move to self-drive.  In the dual-use period there will be some manual drivers who will try and exploit the avoidance software of the self-drives to their advantage - i.e. push in, cut up and generally get up to all sorts of mischief.  I suppose mandatory dash-cams & GPS will mitigate to an extend, but even so.

[Cudzoziemiec]

The real problems will be when those drivers treat the other human-driven vehicles the same way, assuming they're also automated. Or just when the automated vehicles are not quite as fast in their reactions as they think.

[Hot Flatus]

I seem to have had an exponential increase of close passes and hassle in the last month. I don't think it is just a question of my perception. I've fitted a camera to my bike and have at least one close pass per commute. Morning seems worse than afternoon. Submitted one to the police yesterday.

[perpetual dan]

Given that fully self-driving vehicles, if and when they hit the streets, are going to be mixing with human-driven vehicles for at least a decade (not to mention actual humans),

This has always struck me as the hardest part of a move to self-drive.  In the dual-use period there will be some manual drivers who will try and exploit the avoidance software of the self-drives to their advantage - i.e. push in, cut up and generally get up to all sorts of mischief.  I suppose mandatory dash-cams & GPS will mitigate to an extend, but even so.

Will self driving cars perform the same niceties to other cars that human drivers do? E.g. slowing / not accelerating into a gap to let someone out into a busy stream of traffic.

Once a self driving car has dashcammed the number plate of the obnoxious, will they share it and make life hard? A hive-mind grudge, if you like.

[andyoxon]

Wondering if the OP runs camera/s; may be worth thinking about.  These days I run a forward Go-Pro + powerbank, & long running ebay-special cam to the rear.  Oncoming drivers slowing up/not on narrow sections, is a continual issue.  On one occasion (narrow lane, no camera) small flatbed bombing along towards us, we had to cycle into verge.  As they went past, I stuck my arm out and shouted slow down.  They slammed on anchors, got out, and had a swaery gammon fit.  Fortunately they were a way further on, when we just set off.  No time to slow down for a few seconds, but enough time to stop be a total 'carrot'.  Most common bad manoeuvre I see are poor overtakes by drivers who narrowly avoid a collision with oncoming vehicle - which may or not have to slow considerably to avoid.