Video: Chris Boardman explains why cyclists can - and do - ride two abreast

It's unlikely that the big boys - Odeon and Vue will show these films for free but it is possible your local community cinema might. I'm asking mine and I suggest you all do the same.

If these films were mandatory for all learner drivers and they were included as part of the test it would make a big difference.

I think everyone's missing a major point. As any cyclist will know it is possible to fit 6 foot wide vehicle into a 5 foot gap by scaring the shit out of the other road users. This means that the "good" driver can pass without damaging their vehicle and without having to slow to meet the speed limit.

I mean how dare us cyclist expect drivers to slow down and match our speed until it is safe to pass.

I would have liked to see a demonstration that you can't overtake a single cyclist safely other unless there is no oncoming traffic, in which case you can pass two anyway.

I would have liked to see a demonstration that you can't overtake a single cyclist safely other unless there is no oncoming traffic, in which case you can pass two anyway.

Singling outwards to primary on those roads?

ride in single file on narrow or busy roads and when riding round bends

So pretty much every road then! The Highway Code is stupidly vague sometimes.

A one hour bicycle ride in traffic should be mandatory to get the driving license – a matter of changing the point of view.

The video was co-funded by the Bicycle Association and British Cycling. Both of these organisations have good contacts with the Department for Transport.

The first video in the series ("why do cyclists ride in the middle of the lane" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJHXzt7TC2k) was sent to driving instructor organisations by the DfT's Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency. It's almost certain that the current two videos will get similar distribution. It would also be good for endorsement of the videos from the DfT, enabling them to become official public information films.

The Cabinet Office has a number of PIFs which it stores for use as fillers by broadcasters – we want to get on that list.

We also want all bike companies to send out the videos to their customers and for cycling organisations to do the same – via social media this has the potential to reach outside of cycling.

Clearly, we also want to get the message heard and seen by motorists. A start was made this morning with the great interview on Radio 5 Live with Chris Boardman and Chris Green of motoring.co.uk. (Radio 5 Live also told its 521,000 Twitter followers to watch the video, https://twitter.com/bbc5live/status/632142692085039104 ).

Motoring.co.uk is very supportive of cycling. It has run my story on the video, http://www.motoring.co.uk/car-news/cyclists-are-flesh-and-blood-give-the..., and has previously run a story on "why do cyclists ride in the middle of roads", http://www.motoring.co.uk/car-news/cyclists-why-do-they-ride-in-the-midd... (this has had 195,000 shares on Facebook).

If any road.cc readers are members of motoring forums please post the videos there.

There is plenty of advice for drivers on how to overtake cyclists safely, sadly some refuse to take any notice of it.

What can you do, make them take a test, hold a licence, and carry identifying marks?

All driver should be taught how to overtake safely when learning to driver, yet so many seem to have forgotten on not understood that all that stuff you learn before taking your driving test is supposed to be used in every day driving, not just for the 30 minutes of the test its self. Stricter enforcement would undoubtedly help, as the French have proved, ask any one (apart from Johnny Hoogerland) who has ridden in France in the last 10 years.

On Twitter. I asked the Met Police's cycle unit to endorse and promote the first video. Yep, you guessed it: silence.

chris boardman discussing 'overtaking cyclists' on BBC Radio 5 at 10:35 this morning, if you are interested in facts not anecdotes, tune in.

I don't think we can rely on government / DfT doing anything useful with these. How much would it cost to get these, say, into cinemas when the adverts are on before a film, or on TV? Does British Cycling have any funding for that kind of thing? Is crowdsourcing the funding an option? Anyone know if there are any keen cyclists high up in any of the big cinema chains who may be able to get them some airtime? Would a letter from CB / BC direct to the cinemas get anywhere?

The films themselves are great, but so far all I've seen is them being widely shared by cyclists among cyclists, who hopefully already know all about safely passing people on bikes. What we need is the message to get to people who don't venture on to the roads outside their metal boxes.

This and the previous were great and get the point across. However, it is not at all clear what happens next. Is the DoT being engaged to look at a campaign? Will BC undertake the marketing arrangement? There is every scope for some good work to go awry here. Meanwhile, we will still get impatient motorists honking and shouting at us on club runs or, worse, overtaking inappropriately.

How is this being distributed? Just wondering how it is intended to get those who need to be made aware, made aware.