Wide Berth

[ar 145]

I'm sure we all do it as keen cyclists/commuters.

Just wondering what sort of vehicles/cars you give a wide berth to when on your bike.

Here is my list (apologies if I offend anyone):


Tinted front windows

Drivers who dont indicate

Drivers texting

[ewenm]

My commute is almost all on a shared footpath/cyclepath, so my list is:

Dog walkers - who knows what their hound is about to do? Possibly stringing a lead across the path or just getting under the front wheel.
Techno-zombies - people who are concentrating so hard on their device that they have no awareness of their surroundings (also known as mugger-bait).

[Gargamel]

Addison Lee Taxi cabs ! Obviously

[yellowjack]

Crappy red Hyundai Accent Coupés driven by late middle aged women who position themselves with their chins on the steering wheel hub, and their eyes peeking over the top of the wheel, squinting through scrunched up eyes despite the fact it's completely overcast, à la Mrs Magoo.

[neilski]

Cambodian mini-buses.

[anonymous-user]

And there was I thinking this was going to be another dig at fatties on cervelos!...

Citroen Xsara Picassos, Vauxhall Agilas, Imprezas and Evo XXXVVIIs... All unpredictable and liable to perform random manoeuvres at will.

[donfisher]

Gargamel said:

Addison Lee Taxi cabs ! Obviously

Yep, fantastic if you're in one and in a rush but the worst drivers out there. I now make a point of not taking them due to the many incidents I've had with them on bikes.

As well as:
Anything on diplomatic plates, particularly if it isn't a large saloon.
Rickshaws
Small cars in estate agent livery.

[ar 145]

keep it coming guys.

Yes diplomatic plates, generally means "I have the right to stop anywhere I want, without indicating. I will not make eye contact with you due to my jet black tinted windows too" lol

[jim3]

My current generalisations are:

Minis
Old Astras
Minicabs (any)

[Jayfish]

Mitsubishi Pickup's, guaranteed to pass within an inch of your elbow.

[DrMekon]

Big girls driving small cars with an interior by Clare's Accessories. One this morning was gobbling a pasty as she let the car drift into the cycle lane.

[yellowjack]

Honda fking Jizz.

Watched a couple of them in my mirrors today demonstrate that they had no freakin' idea of how to deal with passing a cyclist safely, despite having given them a demonstration/masterclass myself. This was the route coming off Dartmoor from Moretonhampstead to Exeter.

Despite a general display of idiocy by many car drivers, I was pleased to see that the general standard of cycling was high in that part of Devonia. I was particularly impressed by a chap on a flat-bar roadie on one descent, great bike control and positioning on a terrible surface with a steep drop to the left. I got a thumbs-up from him at the bottom, but mistook his gesture for an invitation to pass. I consequently made a pig's ear of my overtake, so that he probably now considers me as one to whom he should afford a "wide berth".

[IroningMan]

It was a Jazz that clipped me last year, so I'll second that.

Plus anything containing children between 0800 and 0900 on a weekday.

[Steve vRS]

Crew cabs, Range Rover Sports and X5s spring to mind.

Steve

[Accelebrate]

Other cyclists, especially now the sun is out.