“This shouldn’t be normal, but it is”: Chris Boardman blasts “common criminal behaviour” after overtaking driver “almost kills” cyclists – “protected by hi-vis” – on charity ride

... I think she shows amazing timing - she literally had to time that perfectly to be inches from the car approaching at maybe 70mph closing speed and still avoid a collision. What a skilled stunt team!

What she demonstated was cluelessness; she should have moved left, if she had observed the overtaking vehicle heading towards her, rather than waving to another cyclist like she's riding on a quiet bike path, instead of a high speed road.

What she demonstated was helplessness; she should have moved east*, if she (or the organisers) had observed the overtaking habits of British motorists. Unfortunately riding across the UK on quiet bike *paths* is impossible as they don't exist. And "quiet bike route" in the UK has considerable overlap with "High speed road". Of course - it's not the road going fast, it's the drivers.

None of this detracts from the inability of UK drivers to make safe overtakes. Lots of us demonstrate what is known as restlessness (must get in front no matter what, right now) and blindness (to anything further than the next motor vehicle, or indeed anything other than motor vehicles...)

* either a couple of hundred miles (NL from Scotland) or a few hundred more again (Denmark). Germany has more places which are better than the UK but is still AFAIK firmly in the 3rd class category with us. Of course much of the UK is "hasn't even started" and now the PM says he wants to go backwards.

A B-Road is not a high speed road. Personally I drop my speed to 40/50 when driving these roads. 
 

*edit - as a motorist you should not commit to a manoeuvre that would cause another road user to brake or take evasive action.

This comment show's how bad your understanding is of the high way code and what constituates safe driving near vulnerable road users.  A load of victim blaming tosh from a moronic waste of space!

OldRidgeback wrote:

If you want to be depressed, read the comments on the Daily Hate page on this event. Most of the comments seem to think she was in the wrong.

To be fair, if a person is looking for reliable reporting and ends up reading the Daily Heil, then they're not exactly in touch with reality.

There is a reason it is not allowed to be quoted as fact on Wikipedia.

FFS

Flybat wrote:

Stay clear from other traffic as far you can, other road users might not be as responsible as you are.

I swear some people would say it's your fault for not taking all the precautions possible if you were hit by a car that drove through your front window while you were quietly sitting at home waiting for the road.cc website to load. The driver was overtaking at high speed in the oncoming traffic lane inches off the edge of the cycle lane and it's the cyclist's fault they had a near miss (which in this case should be titled a near death experience) because they didn't stay as far away from it as they could have done?

I'd say that quote is just common sense and doesn't really apply to living room situations or ram raids and the like. Look at the first still, she's practically making a hard right at that point.

But seriously, apart from the larger cities with their cycle (super)highways, the UK has a massive infrastructure problem when it comes to cycling, in addition to terrible mentality on both sides (yes, cyclists too, refer to the comment sections on here). And who in their right mind would cycle down that road to begin with? As the video shows, it's not very safe at all..

Flybat wrote:

But seriously, apart from the larger cities with their cycle (super)highways, the UK has a massive infrastructure problem when it comes to cycling, in addition to terrible mentality on both sides (yes, cyclists too, refer to the comment sections on here). And who in their right mind would cycle down that road to begin with? As the video shows, it's not very safe at all..

It's always easy to take a side. One then has the power of a small mob to enhance one's own. Of course, the other side also has mob-power.  

Our Bwitish tradition is the half-arsed dialetic often found in opposing mobs. We do the thesis and antithesis but never seem to get to to the synthesis of a resolution or compromise between the two groups of red-faced hollerers. They just keep at it, louder and louder. Then they pick up their pitchforks and burning brands ..... .

**********

The overtaking car loon in that vid is a dangerous incompetant. The cyclist, going by the vid, is also incompetnt but, of herself, not dangerous except to car loon P&Js, which might get a scratch or a dent. So too is the designer of that road with a cycling murder strip perfect for bringing speeding car loons and inept cyclists into close proximity. Will any of them attempt a synthesis? 

It seems unlikely. The car loon will find 20 reasons for doing what they did, along with 20,000 other car loons in the car loon mob to bray support. The road designer will "design" some more just as bad, if not worse. The cyclist will remain inept and oblivious to all sorts of dangers that are unfairly imposed on cyclists but nevertheless a reality that has to be dealt with in an immediate and practical way, including not just "avoid them" but "anticipate them and have skills to mitigate their effects".

In short, humans can be very stupid and many seem determined to remain in that state.

No. The road is safe. The overtaking motorist made it dangerous. They weren't happy to sit behind a lorry at 40 mph who was overtaking another road user and were totally fixated on getting past. 

Doing it for effect? What a silly thing to say, you sound like another driver apologist. Actually, reading your last paragraph would suggest you are a returnee to this site.

Yes it was a silly thing to say and the car driver was 100% at fault, but I hope that my children do not cycle in the manner she does on dangerous, high-speed roads.
On another point, since when was black and dark purple, "Hi-viz"?

polainm wrote:

Just a normal day out on UK roads on a bicycle. Toxic drivers are the majority. Policing not allocated or trained for this, CPS goes for slapped wrists, Judges and juries all drivers. There is no 'war on motorists', it's 'carnage from drivers'. This behaviour is way past out-of-control; it's a widespread mental illness. 

Its long been understood that the best method for psychiatrists to employ in getting to see the deeper mental states of humans is to put them in a car then observe them as they "drive" in traffic. The many aspects of their particular human nature variant will emerge, good, bad and indifferent.

As the population goes gradually mad due to the pressures and privations of our slowly disintegrating pseudo-society, more and more of them are becoming "troubled" with a fair percentage well along that road to full-barmpot status, including "dangerous nutter".

Personally I will no longer get in a car with many I know, these days. I've become over-sensitive (or just sensitive) to their incompetance and inability to recognise just how incompetant they are .... with the many possible consequences for themselves, me (the passenger) and who-knows-who unlucky enough to cross their path at the wrong time.

It's astonishing how many fail to look where they're going for long periods; fail to anticipate obvious hazards ahead; have no understanding of basic physics and its relevance to driving. Many are madly aggressive, rude, inconsiderate ... yet convinced they are "right" in some queer imaginary contest of who has precedence and how to get it from those would-be (but lesser-human) usurpers outside their windscreen.

Mention or even hint at their lack of competance and there's an explosion of self-righteous indignation, claims to be a much better driver than everyone else and a long huff of, "You've badly hurt my feelings and I hate you".

So I stay out of their cars. I explain that, amongst other benefits, this will mean I won't be a witness agin' 'em when they inevitably have their next "accident".  More huffery and puffery ensues.

Some friend, me, eh? How very dare I not go along with their kings&queens-of-the-road schtick!! No wonder I yam Cugel-no-mates.

Can totally relate to that, had many a fall out with close relatives after attempting to explain to them their bad driving habits.  I'm not going to lie, I was probably similar not long ago, putting priority on getting to where I needed to be on time above everything else but since being on this site it has given me a better understanding on being a much less selfish driver.  The hard part is convincing others to do the same.

It is pretty clear neither you nor Boardman have ever had any training on industrial safety.

The ‘protected by high viz’ shows that like most of the general public you/Boardman don't comprehend the layered approach to safety.

Hi viz is a single safety layer intended to aid situational awareness. (If it was the fallacy as you claim we wouldn't deploy it successfully on hazardous industrial sites).

However if operators in the Hazzard location are not practicing appropriate scanning of the environment, then the high viz safety layer is negated. That was clearly the situation with that driver.

Not industrial safety but surgical safety definitely yes. And we've looked at the Prospect model, from industry. But we wouldn't use a method that had no evidence base, particularly one where there was negative evidence, such as that for hi-viz in cycling safety.

Bradshsi wrote:

It is pretty clear neither you nor Boardman have ever had any training on industrial safety.

However if operators in the Hazzard location.........

  Not sure I trust the postings of someone apparently claiming qualifications in H&S when they can't even spell hazard.

What you seem to be saying is that it doesn't matter that hi-viz doesn't work because your manual says that it does.  Never mind reality, just follow the book.