Pinch point strategy

[LittleWheelsandBig]

I don't enjoy commuting in outer London and it is the volume of traffic that does it. Everything is a pinch point.

[Kim]

[Ive said this before ...]

Many many drivers were incredibly nervous when they started out. New stuff often makes us anxious. We get over these things!

I've yet to get over the nervousness of directing a tonne of metal at speeds my brain wasn't designed to process.  YMMV.

[Kim]

I don't enjoy commuting in outer London and it is the volume of traffic that does it. Everything is a pinch point.

See also: Wet Midlands Connurbation^[1].  Very similar to outer London in that respect, with little in the way of arterial roads where you can make good progress with relatively little conflict by sitting in the bus lane.  Main roads are streams of nasty junctions, and minor roads are squeezed with parked cars.  Also, proper hills.


_{[1] AKA "Greater Brummingham", but that makes it sound better than it is.}

[CrinklyLion]

I find a cute 7 year old in a bobble hat just behind me, doing the indicating (occasionally supplemented by me on tricky right turns)/jazz hands/waving thanks with his Very Visible Stripy Gloves gets me a fair bit more room and kinder treatment.  Mind, a stokerless tandem doesn't do too badly...

[mattc]

[Ive said this before ...]

Many many drivers were incredibly nervous when they started out. New stuff often makes us anxious. We get over these things!

I've yet to get over the nervousness of directing a tonne of metal at speeds my brain wasn't designed to process.  YMMV.

No, it doesn't much.

[Tigerbiten]

I find a cute 7 year old in a bobble hat just behind me, doing the indicating (occasionally supplemented by me on tricky right turns)/jazz hands/waving thanks with his Very Visible Stripy Gloves gets me a fair bit more room and kinder treatment.  Mind, a stokerless tandem doesn't do too badly...

And a bent trike does even better ........... 

One advantage I've noticed of the bent trike, which I didn't think about before I started to ride it is ......
You don't/cannot wobble.
Which translates to, as long as the speed differential is not to great to a large degree I don't mind close overtakes as long as the driver is being sensible about it.

[Kim]

One advantage I've noticed of the bent trike, which I didn't think about before I started to ride it is ......
You don't/cannot wobble.
Which translates to, as long as the speed differential is not to great to a large degree I don't mind close overtakes as long as the driver is being sensible about it.

Having a wheel between your arm and the passing vehicle is reassuring too.

But you do get splashed...   

[hellymedic]

I don't enjoy commuting in outer London and it is the volume of traffic that does it. Everything is a pinch point.

We don't live far from LWaB and would agree that cycling hereabouts is horrible. There are not many cyclists, carriageways are lined with parked cars and motorists are NOT polite, considerate or courteous.

My David has been cycling in London for over 30 years so is not 'inexperienced' and is 'confident' enough when he is not bullied.
But he is bullied.
Almost every day.

[ian]

I know ian (et al)  means well,  but ultimately he seems determined to focus on the bad. I'd rather focus on how I have come to enjoy cycling in a variety of environments - whilst agreeing that we would benefit from a bit of driver education too (preferably with "square bullets in the face" @TM M.Larrington).

Oh, I agree in principle, I cycle because I enjoy it, not because I have to. But any new cyclist will be focused on the bad.

Only if they read your posts!!!   

I meet a lot of new/inexperienced riders - well ok, some - e.g. 2 guys at work who ride 1 mile and 2 miles to work,  some days. They don't talk about the danger - we talk about what gloves might work at -4'c. And why our building no longer has showers.

Now, i'm not saying you're hallucinating these Fearful Friedas,  Ian - but perhaps we should focus on how to enthuse them; how to help them make traffic less of a problem; or any of the other good stuff!

But that focus is human nature and psychology. Evolution means we fear the things that might harm us, the negative experiences, because if we don't, then we don't learn to avoid them. As such they stick like painful little splinters in our memory.

I suspect you're talking to cycling enthusiasts, and enthusiasm requires commitment, the kind of commitment that puts occasional bad experiences in context. If cycling is to be a viable and casual means of getting around, people have to feel safe doing it. You can yell positive messages as much as you want, but if someone gets to work shaking and scared because some neanderthal in a Range Rover has just bullied them off the road, they're probably going to get the bus tomorrow. I wish it were otherwise, but they're going to remember the one driver, and not all the others who didn't bully them off the road.

[Kim]

The corollary to that is all the bad experiences people have on other forms of transport - had a crash or near-miss in a car, been harassed/mugged/assaulted on public transport, whatever.  I don't think the cycling experiences are necessarily that much worse.  But they're a convenient excuse not to do something that requires effort (physical or social) and is (to most people) unpleasant anyway.

[ian]

The corollary to that is all the bad experiences people have on other forms of transport - had a crash or near-miss in a car, been harassed/mugged/assaulted on public transport, whatever.  I don't think the cycling experiences are necessarily that much worse.  But they're a convenient excuse not to do something that requires effort (physical or social) and is (to most people) unpleasant anyway.

It's a gestalt. No one thing puts people of cycling and you're right, ultimately, cycling takes that little bit more effort than other forms of transport and humans like to self-justify. A car comes with an armchair and a/c, buses and trains don't require you to work up a sweat, and you don't need to buy special equipment to walk.

It's a valid point that we should push the good things about cycling. The health benefits, the pure joie de vivre of freewheeling down a hill on a sunny evening (not even spoiled by swallowing a bug), the unalloyed and thoroughly earned smugness of filtering past long queues of traffic and raspberry faced drivers on the way to work, or arriving home on a wave of endorphins and not having to worry about eating the entire box of Belgian chocolates and why not have a beer, because you're worth it.

But equally, we should nibble away at the negative, and work on environments that help make cycling feel a reasonable, viable, practical and fun way to travel for anyone willing to try it.

[Cudzoziemiec]

It's a valid point that we should push the good things about cycling. The health benefits, the pure joie de vivre of freewheeling down a hill on a sunny evening (not even spoiled enhanced by swallowing a tasty, nutritious bug), the unalloyed and thoroughly earned smugness of filtering past long queues of traffic and raspberry faced drivers on the way to work, or arriving home on a wave of endorphins and not having to worry about eating the entire box of Belgian chocolates and why not have a beer, because you're worth it.

Pushing the good things. 

FWIW, I find cycling far less stressful than driving partly because I feel far more in control of it. The stresses of jams, parking, speeding, just don't apply.

[andyoxon]

Article on road.cc today:
 
Research finds measures aimed at making drivers slow down increase danger to cyclists
First findings from Near Miss Project launched last year look at carriageway narrowing

http://road.cc/content/news/141513-research-finds-measures-aimed-making-drivers-slow-down-increase-danger-cyclists

[Kim]

FWIW, I find cycling far less stressful than driving partly because I feel far more in control of it. The stresses of jams, parking, speeding, just don't apply.

The parking thing particularly.  While there are always exceptions (parking a bike near Mordor Central is much harder than parking a car, for example), the great thing about cycling is that it's pretty much always door-to-door.  When motorists in supermarket car parks make "that looks like hard work" comments as I load the bike up, I tend to say "perhaps, but I can wheel this straight through my front door, rather than having to find somewhere to park halfway down the road and carry it all".  That's something that pretty much anyone can see to be an advantage.

[The Seldom Killer]

A look back is sometimes sufficient but sometimes I use the 45 degree indication to show that I'm going to change lanes. As a rule I find that properly indicating right is more likely to lead to an attempt to overtake but a lane switch indication is ceded to as there is an expectation that you'll return to your position after the obstacle.

Erm, did I miss something the week I was ill and skipped a Cycling Proficiency lesson?

My understanding is there are exactly two indications understood by drivers: "I'm turning left" and "I'm turning right".  The highway code also includes "I'm slowing down / stopping" and "I'm turning widdershins in a vehicle where my arm doesn't reach", neither of which I'd rely on the average driver understanding.  I don't remember anything special for lane-changing.

Nothing missed but drivers and other road users understand more than just the prescribed indications.

As your driver if you flash your lights at a driver and they'll know you're going to let them out, pull across, come the other way through a pinch point etc. Flash lights at a passing truck and they'll know it's safe to pull back in. Indicate left where there is no turn on a clear road and a motorcyclist may understand you're happy to let them pass. A certain wave at a pedestrian and they'll probably understand you're happy to let them cross where there is no crossing.

Communication can be prescribed but that doesn't mean it needs to be proscribed. Humans can interpret a range of communications they may not be expecting and, as long as you're prepared for misinterpretation, it doesn't necessarily hurt to try. I've been experimenting with the pro-peleton elbow flick to indicate to tailing cars that they're good to pass and it's been fairly effective.

[Kim]

Communication can be prescribed but that doesn't mean it needs to be proscribed. Humans can interpret a range of communications they may not be expecting and, as long as you're prepared for misinterpretation, it doesn't necessarily hurt to try.

Yeah, that makes sense.

I sometimes point at glass (or other non-obvious) surface hazards as I move around them by way of explanation to kindle patience with drivers, if not actually out of concern for their tyres.  And I've experimented with the raised arm as an indication to emergency vehicles that I know they're there and I'm going to hold my line (slowing down and stopping if necessary, rather than pulling out) and not do anything stupid (this was mentioned in some thread or other) - no idea if they get the message, but it can't hurt.

Pedestrians I'm giving way to I tend to communicate with verbally - "it's okay, go on" sort of thing, with a bit of a head flick.  Usually because I'm busy with gears or brakes.

And then there's the left-right-left signal used by motorists to mean "thanks for letting me in".  Do a straw poll and I'm sure loads of people would say the thought they were just overshooting when cancelling the indicator.  But as you say, doesn't hurt.

But I'd be wary of using anything different from the standard 'left' and 'right' to indicate a lane change, in case it was missed.

[Tigerbiten]

On the trike, I tend to give trucks/wagons/hgvs/busses a thumbs up just after they've passed me to let them know it safe for them to pull in.

[Kim]

Yeah, I often give a thumbs up to motorists who've been particularly patient (usually on narrow uphill sections or, indeed, multiple pinch points) when they eventually overtake, if only for positive karma.  I'm sure I've said before how a disproportionate number of these are HGVs and buses.

Also the nonspecific arm gesture for telling bus drivers that it's okay to pull out and you're going to slot in behind them (though they don't always see or trust it, especially if you've got lights on).

[Aunt Maud]

I wish it were otherwise, but they're going to remember the one driver, and not all the others who didn't bully them off the road.

Precisely.

After my November run in with a Danish Psychopath in a van I have been out on my bike in Denmark once only. I feel much safer riding in SE England than I do riding in DK and although I can count the number of motorist that I normally see here on an 80km ride on the fingers of one hand, I feel very unsafe on Danish roads.

It's been a total headf@*©k.

[Domestique]

Very rarely do I give a thumbs up, or similar signal to motorists. As a motorist I don't expect it for simply driving a car carefully.

[Pancho]

I give a thumbs-up for giving way to me at single carriage narrowings.

I *do* have a strategy for these: head down and keep going. From the drivers perspective, I ain't stopping. However, I can see his front wheel and detect motion very easily.

99.99% of the time, the driver gives way. While they  might *want* to bully me, but generally they aren't willing to kill me so they back down.

[rabbit]

I check behind and move into the primary position if there isn't something flying up behind me at rapid speed.  Then I speed up a bit, get through the pinch point so it looks like I am helping the situation rather than being deliberately obstructive, and thank the driver as they pass.  It's no big deal.  I thank people if they give me consideration when I am driving, so I also do it on the bike.

If someone is coming up rapidly I will make a judgement on the situation and if I think they either haven't seen me, or they have no intention of giving me any room, I may decide that my health is more important than principle and slow to let them pass first.  Or if the 'pinch point' is long line of parked cars.  I'd rather just let an aggressive rider past and then pootle on up that have them trying to get past for a distance.  Or if they are nice, then I'll just let them past straight away in that situation, it's a second out of my ride, and no hassle.  Give and take and all that. 

I do, however, regularly shout, curse and give the finger if they just squeeze through and pass too close.  I rarely control my temper if people try to kill me.  More for my stress relief than anything.  I find shouting **** at the top of my voice very liberating and I normally end up chuckling to myself in the end.  Although I am not sure how I would react if any of the drivers actually stopped......

[Tigerbiten]

Very rarely do I give a thumbs up, or similar signal to motorists. As a motorist I don't expect it for simply driving a car carefully.

I work on the principle .......
That if I acknowledge good driving then the next time I meet the same driver hopefully I will get even better.
But then again my "bike" (a recumbent trike with a trailer behind) is unique, so easily remembered.

[matthew]

Unfortunately whilst the Mar 2011 google earth image shows a CCTV pillar, June 2014 does not 

I think I shall just have to push for a visit to the driver to provide education and a potential marker on the PNC for future reference.

And so just over a week later the driver can't be spoken to as he hasn't been home any time the PC has called round and the vehicle hasn't been there to confirm the registered address is correct. So an intelligence report has been filed and a marker put on the PNC so the next ANPR traffic car that come across him will go ping instead.

About the best I could hope for in the end. 

[LMT]

All starts with a shoulder check and then goes on from there...

Not picking nits, just taking the opportunity to remind people because there are soooo many who don't.

Actually, it stops with a look over the shoulder, it is called "a lifesaver" for a reason. Whatever else you do, whatever your riding style, a lifesaver before any maneuver is always a good idea.

If someone is likely to overtake inappropriately I will do a 'hold back' signal (right hand, fingers down, palm back) and wave them through when it's clear.  Seems to work.

I'm not a fan of making hand gestures which are not in the HC or understood (imo) by most of the general public.

IME, a shoulder check is more then sufficient (and in most cases) will stop a motorist trying to do a close pass on the approach to a pinch point.

If they do overtake then my position gives ample room to cycle into and I know that they are there from my initial shoulder check, and as Ham pointed out, this is the most important and pertinent thing is to do before any manoeuvre.