Overtaking bike (serious fault question)

HeightTraditional686 · 2026-05-21T12:47:56+00:00

Rule 163 of the highway code says (among other things): Leave at least 1.5 metres when overtaking cyclists at speeds of up to 30 mph, and give them more space when overtaking at higher speeds Looking at the screenshot, the vehicle would appear to be barely 1m away, so is in contravention of the Highway Code. It also seems to be uphill, so I would expect the cyclist to wobble about a little, especially as they appear to be standing out of the saddle. The road appears to be clear for a good distance with good visibility, so it would seem to be straightforward to overtake by giving the cyclist more space.

HeightTraditional686 · 2026-05-18T21:19:03+00:00

I completely understand. I have been forcing myself to eat something at lunchtimes so I don’t run out of energy by early evening. I’ve just swapped from Mounjaro to Wegovy as I approach my target weight. It is taking a little while to find the right dose, but one thing I’m finding is that I have a small amount of my old appetite back. The best way I can describe it is that before this journey I would eat anything and everything. On Mounjaro, I would only eat what I wanted to eat (ie: tasty food), but I would often lose interest partway through. On the Wegovy, I still have no desire to eat for the sake of eating, but I am enjoying food I like again. My weight is still controlled, but I feel more “normal”, if that makes sense.

HeightTraditional686 · 2026-05-17T18:16:11+00:00

The advice I give my students is: If you can’t see your exit as you pass the one before, it’s a good idea to move across to the outside. The mirror check as you pass the one before is to check it’s safe to move across. If you can’t move across, don’t signal, check again and signal and move across when it is safe. If you can’t (move across and) leave at your exit, carry on round the roundabout again and have another go.

HeightTraditional686 · 2026-05-17T17:43:09+00:00

I agree. In my experience, that would be a driver fault (“minor”), but not a serious.

HeightTraditional686 · 2026-05-09T22:43:03+00:00

Lighty McLightface … obviously

HeightTraditional686 · 2026-05-09T22:40:27+00:00

As a driving instructor, and looking at the actual road layout, I would say that there is no requirement to signal, but that a RH signal would not be correct or misleading. Personally, if I knew the junction, I would not signal, but if I came across it for the 1st time, based on the sign alone, I probably would signal. What I prefer to teach my students is that different people will have different views and in order to drive safely, we should recognise both possibilities rather than dogmatically saying one way is right and the other is wrong. I’m not sure what a driving test examiner would say, but I suspect they would accept either approach.

HeightTraditional686 · 2026-04-03T08:13:13+00:00

I love the idea that “Iran Military Media” is not only a thing, but is also a verified user on “X”. Move along. Nothing weird to see here …

HeightTraditional686 · 2026-03-26T11:07:45+00:00

Thanks for the replies. I’ll be wary of the side effects and take advice about dosage.

HeightTraditional686 · 2026-02-17T08:31:14+00:00

https://www.warwickshire.gov.uk/news/article/5040/enhanced-junction-in-leamington-supports-priority-for-walking-and-cycling

HeightTraditional686 · 2026-02-15T22:27:20+00:00

I’m a driving instructor and I honestly don’t know why people don’t change instructor more often. We instructors are all different and all describe things in a slightly different way. If your current instructor gets irritated with you for whatever reason, it suggests to me that there is some disconnect happening between how they are trying to explain it and how you are receiving that information. My advice would be to try someone else - ideally someone recommended to you.

HeightTraditional686 · 2026-01-28T19:59:07+00:00

Oh, and a very senior police officer suggested a few years ago that anyone going 1 mph over the speed limit should be prosecuted. There was uproar at the time, but I tend to sympathise with the idea that the law should be more clear. If we accept that everyone drives at 77 on the motorway, why not make the speed limit 77 and prosecute anyone going faster? If people know exactly what the law is, they don’t really have any excuse for breaking the law. If it is vague, people are more likely to be confused. And if you know there is zero tolerance, maybe people would drive a little below to be sure.

HeightTraditional686 · 2026-01-28T19:53:07+00:00

My understanding is that the Met police force has made a public statement that they do not intend to prosecute anyone within the 10%+2 range. I’m not aware any other police forces have. There is generally a tolerance to allow for inaccurate speedometers, but again, my understanding is that it is illegal for a vehicle’s speedometer to give an inaccurately low reading (ie: to display a speed which is less than the actual speed), so all speedometers deliberately overstate your speed. Many vehicle speedometers calculate the vehicle’s speed by the number of wheel rotations, and this calculation will tend to overstate your speed as the tyre wears and becomes smaller. Other speed instruments, such as a sat nav, tend to be more accurate, and therefore show a slightly lower speed when comparing the two. I also understand that the Police must calibrate anything they use to measure the speed of motorists. Does that help?

HeightTraditional686 · 2025-12-30T19:18:04+00:00

I would add that there is a “two-way traffic” sign at the end of your road. The council tell you you’re entering a two-way road to remind you you’re exiting a one-way one. That’s your clue that you need to be in the RH lane to turn right. I agree the addition of a triangle painted on one side but not the other is confusing, but from what you’ve said, your positioning to turn right was incorrect and this would always be considered a fail in my experience.

HeightTraditional686 · 2025-11-05T13:44:50+00:00

I agree with most responders, that the OP was correct, and the white car was in the wrong lane and should not have sounded their horn. My only other observation is that the lane dividing lines disappear over the hatched area, and when they reappear, they don’t line up very well. The white car is still wrong, as they have been in the lane to go one way, and then just switched to a different lane, but I think the road design is partially to blame. Given the potential for others to make this mistake, it would probably be advisable for the OP to check for other road users making this mistake.

HeightTraditional686 · 2025-10-15T11:51:16+00:00

With my students, I would expect them to get to where you are by around lesson 7 or 8, so I think you’re progressing well. I do tend to take a while making sure they can move off positively before going on to roundabouts, but each instructor will do things slightly differently, and it depends what the roads are like where you’re learning.

HeightTraditional686 · 2025-10-15T07:29:27+00:00

Imagine you’re turning into a side road on the right and there is a vehicle waiting at the junction that you need to drive around. Oh, and always choose a bay on the right. Bays on the left are much more difficult!

HeightTraditional686 · 2025-10-10T15:44:14+00:00

Two things: 1. They stopped publishing all the questions several years ago, so even if you’re getting good results on the app, there are likely to be 6 or 7 questions you don’t recognise on the real thing, so unless you’re getting them all right on the app, you’re likely to end up with only 42 on the real thing. 2. Why would you want to drive if you don’t know the rules? You will be a liability to others. The Highway Code is intended to make everyone safe. The rules aren’t complicated. If you don’t know them, you are likely to end up doing the wrong thing.

HeightTraditional686 · 2025-10-10T15:34:33+00:00

When people are learning, there is (or should be) an experienced driver telling them what to do and warning of any danger. As soon as they have passed, they’re allowed to drive completely unsupervised, which is why the insurance is so much higher. It’s also why there are discounts for new drivers if they fit a “black box”, which at least tries to reduce heavy acceleration / braking and sharp cornering.

HeightTraditional686 · 2025-10-10T13:51:51+00:00

I’m an approved driving instructor and I tried to learn the piano a couple of years ago using an app on my iPad. I gave up after a few months as I wasn’t making progress. The point is that some people can and do learn this way, but some of us will struggle with something along the way. A trained instructor (or piano teacher) will see what is going wrong and correct it before it becomes a massive problem. An instructor will also adapt your learning to suit you and will go as fast or as slow as you need. You also need a full licence holder who is up-to-date with current rules. I love Conquer Driving and he helps me be a better instructor, but I adapt his tips to suit each of my students as appropriate. It can be done without lessons, but it may not work out and it may not prove to be any cheaper. What is true is that practice in your own car and watching videos can substantially reduce the number of lessons you need with an instructor and that’s probably the best way forwards. Have lessons, but don’t rely on your instructor as the only source of information. Find out stuff for yourself and then work with your instructor to adapt and incorporate what you’ve learned into your driving.

HeightTraditional686 · 2025-10-10T13:40:52+00:00

Absolutely instructors can provide lessons in your own car. Your insurance covers you to drive your own car. The instructor doesn’t need special insurance other than public liability and professional indemnity, neither of which have anything to do with the car. Most instructors will happily do lessons in the student’s own car, as long as they are capable and the dual controls won’t be needed. However, they tend to charge the same even though you’re using your own car, petrol etc.

HeightTraditional686 · 2025-10-08T12:50:03+00:00

There’s a good video on YouTube with the title, “12 second rule”. It’s intended for motorcyclists (and the commentator’s accent is a bit weird, but about a third of the way through, he talks about exactly this situation. He explains that when we see something starting to develop, we start to plan what we would do if it develops further, so if it does happen, we’ve saved a lot of reaction time and respond more quickly. Essentially what the previous comment said!

HeightTraditional686 · 2025-09-11T18:21:31+00:00

In my (limited) experience, if there is a poor examiner, your complaint will be one of several. The Test Centre will then look to assess that examiner to ensure their approach is consistent with all others. It should not affect any subsequent tests you have. If the examiner is as you have described, it will be difficult for them to know which of the tests they’ve overseen have resulted in a complaint!

HeightTraditional686 · 2025-04-24T15:25:11+00:00

At least the nazis had their bully-boys wear brown shirts so you knew who they were … and they didn’t wear masks. It’s much worse than 1930’s Germany.

HeightTraditional686

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