How To Handle Traffic When Cycling

Share your road safety tips in the comments 🚙🚴

Remove FUD (Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt) by never assuming cars, other cyclists, pedestrians, animals and road conditions are consistent or predictable. Always know where it's safe to "escape" danger at any given moment and never leave yourself without options

Thank you GCN for this video. I wish you could do an American version of this. I ride as far to the right as I can and do my best to stay out of the way of car traffic. I hope that people driving cars see me and also hope they don't want to kill me for riding my bike.

Something I learned while learning to drive that’s really come in useful when cycling on the roads: always keep an eye on what the wheels of a car are doing. While it’s good to make eye contact with a driver, watch the wheels of a car. You can’t see their steering wheel or their pedals, but you can see the outcome of what drivers do with their pedals and their wheel through the wheels of the car. That often helps me predict what a car might be about to do.

highway code Rule 72

Road positioning. When riding on the roads, there are two basic road positions you should adopt, depending on the situation.

1) Ride in the centre of your lane, to make yourself as clearly visible as possible, in the following situations

on quiet roads or streets – if a faster vehicle comes up behind you, move to the left to enable them to overtake, if you can do so safely

in slower-moving traffic – when the traffic around you starts to flow more freely, move over to the left if you can do so safely so that faster vehicles behind you can overtake

at the approach to junctions or road narrowings where it would be unsafe for drivers to overtake you

2) When riding on busy roads, with vehicles moving faster than you, allow them to overtake where it is safe to do so whilst keeping at least 0.5 metres away, and further where it is safer, from the kerb edge. Remember that traffic on most dual carriageways moves quickly. Take extra care crossing slip roads.

Rule 168

Being overtaken. If a driver is trying to overtake you, maintain a steady course and speed, slowing down if necessary to let the vehicle pass. Never obstruct drivers who wish to pass. Speeding up or driving unpredictably while someone is overtaking you is dangerous. Drop back to maintain a two-second gap if someone overtakes and pulls into the gap in front of you.

Rule 169

Do not hold up a long queue of traffic, especially if you are driving a large or slow-moving vehicle. Check your mirrors frequently, and if necessary, pull in where it is safe and let traffic pass.

I always stand up when stopping or putting on the brakes for any reason. It gets cars' attention because it is a change in size of an object so they'll hopefully spot you even in their peripherals. Always ride like you're invisible and don't assume anything. Ride with confidence that you're in the right, but as the saying goes: better alive than right.

Hi peeps, Apart from the flashing lights, bells and horns and reflective clothing I use, whenever I'm approaching a pedestrian island I take the centre of the lane and NEVER let anyone pass me till I'm through and safe, then I move over 😉

When I first learned to drive in the late 1980s, my dad (and the drivers’ manuals of the time) emphasized defensive driving. I apply a lot of that not to just driving but to when I’m riding my bike. Unfortunately, over the last 35 years, defensive driving has given way to offensive driving. Whenever I’m operating a vehicle, I also think of what I used to tell my older tennis players (I used to coach HS tennis for 7 years), and that is “Bigger kids look out for the littler kids.” I always try to do my best to look out for the physically smaller road users—motorcyclists, bicyclists, and pedestrians. Sadly, that, too, seems to have given way to “It’s all about me,” and “I need to get past you because you’re in my way.” If there was just more concern for others, things would be so much better.

Trying to be a more effective cyclist (i.e. learning how to ride your bike better) frees up bandwidth to look around you and anticipate. Look and listen for traffic, and don't assume that people driving cars aren't looking down at their phones because you do it too, when you're driving a car. We're all in this together.

Went out on the road for the first time in a year just the other day. Almost hit by a FedEx Truck! Then yelled at by the driver. Pretty much sums up my experience for a while now.

Top tip for me: be polite and courteous. Let’s improve motorists’ perceptions of cyclists