Gotta admit, the driving test / learning materials ain't as clear or upfront as they should be in my opinion about the rights cyclists actually do have in the Highway Code. I think a lot of people driving genuinely don't think they are even legally allowed on the road, hence the 'hatred' we hear and joke about between cyclists and motorists. Surely a bit more clarity from instructors / new section on the test could help with this. Interested what you would think about that
portland_bill ?
How learners treat cyclists will depend on a lot of factors. Instructors will of course discuss them, but practically dealing with them will depend on local areas and prevalence of cyclists. I've had lessons where we do not see a single one, and others where we think we've got stuck in the middle of an event. Had one learner got almost to test, had never had to deal with one, we spent a whole two hours searching them out, to gain practical experience. In Oxford, blink and you've probably missed 5 around you. Where I grew up on Portland, being hilly, they were scarce. Local areas change too. In the Weymouth/Portland areas, cyclists were generaly tolerated well and treated with care and respect (might be different now, left that area, sadly, in 1987). In Swindon, they are treated more with contempt. How a driver deals with cyclists after they pass their test will be more influenced by family prejudices than anything their instructor tried to drum into them.
Bicycles on the road hit a psychological nerve. We are pre-programmed to dislike them.
Consider when you are walking in a busy town centre. (remember them?) We all have our own natural walking pace, and we will alway scatch up with someone slower, but only a little slower. Slowing your pace to match theirs is difficult. Passing them without breaking into a run will take ages, and being alongside for a time is uncomfortable. This situation wrankles a little. How much will depend on possibility of passing, and our own mood at that time. Then if they change speed, slowing to look in shop window, and then moving on again before you can pass, this annoys a lot.
Those feelings are carried with us into the driving seat. We catch up with a bicycle, knowing it will slow us considerably, and often passing can be difficult. If this is the sixth one in 10 minutes, our feelings will be different than when we met the first. Then the cyclist changes speed, or position, just at the moment you were planning your escape. How do you feel now?
For me a cyclist keeping a steady speed is easy. Whatever that speed is. I expect that speed to drop if a hill is encountered. But so many cyclists pedal a little, then rest, then pedal more, giving a varyaing speed that is difficult to manage from behind. Those cyclists will get more aggression from drivers than steady ones.
My advice to any cyclist is try to keep a steady speed, and before changing speed, be aware of traffic, and their needs. Freewheeling towards a junction, intending to go straight ahead, when the following car wishes to turn left, is guaranteed to annoy the driver.
We only remember the cyclists that annoy or inconvenience us. The good ones are brushed from our subconscious and forgotten. Because of this, we think all cyclists are a pain.
Can be funny though. A cyclist on a road with a solid white line can be passed, if safe, if they are travelling at 10mph or less. A cyclist pedalling hard up a hill, at 11mph, with a solid line, has to be followed. I've had a few collapse for a rest at tops of hills, from teh effort of trying to keep moving. If they'd slowed just a little, I could have gone by.
I would prefer cyclists to ride two-abreast. This makes a quicker overtake than two in line. But psychologically, that appears to be a bigger blockage, so most drivers will hate it.
When in groups, I would like them to be three pairs, then a gap for overtaking vehicles, then another six. The gaps between should be big enough for the usual vehicles on that road, so can vary from transit van size, to articulated truck size, with space to get in and out of course. But educating cycling groups of this is likely impossible.
