General Category > On The Road
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 ;D
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.
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