I must bike several thousand kms a year on quiet French country lanes and roads, and try to be a considerate rider…Occasionally oncoming cars will flash, and cars passing from behind will hoot (they don’t know me, ie they’re not long lost friends!), and sometimes verbal comments are included that are probably not suitable for a family forum. Why?
It made me wonder if there are rules and/or norms requiring bikes to keep well over to the right hand side, and perhaps those cars consider I am not far enough over. In general I’m probably 0.5-1m away from the edge of the road surface, which I would have thought appropriate. Checking online, (see attached) the official guidance is helpful, saying don’t bike too close to the edge (out of towns) to avoid ruts and gravel etc. The other relevant guidance is bike at least 1 metre from the edge and/or parked cars.
In short this is what I would naturally do, so I’m puzzled why drivers might occasionally take exception. Have others experienced this, and what do you do if different?
I am surprised to say the least. I have always thought that in France drivers are far more protective and understanding of cyclists than ever they were in the UK.
Most cyclists don’t have bells to let you know that they’re silently approaching behind you.
Last Sunday I nearly inadvertently caused a family pile-up while walking on the Lot velo route (which despite its name, is also for pedestrians and equestrians).
OH generally gives a little warning toot if we are behind and want to overtake a cyclist…
Flashing from oncoming cars might be a warning that you and they will be sharing the road…
and I hate it when we are out walking and a silent cyclist whooshes by. A bell is mandatory but … even those who do have one very rarely use it… at least in my presence they don’t …
I doubt the cars were being “off”… just being proactive… and I’m sure you would ring your bell to warn unsuspecting walkers…
EDIT: I’ve just noted that some drivers are verbally rude to you… that is rotten !!
Some locals hold home made red cloth on a bamboo stick. Possibly because they have in the past been goosed by a vehicle and would rather have no repeat.
I drive an EV so do not disturb the peace and quiet of our lovely local scenery with the roar of a combustion engine. However, a friendly beep is necessary now and again to make cyclist aware of my approaching presence.
Sometimes an experienced cyclist will make a positive move to the right to indicate that he is aware of my presence.
Basically a lot of drivers don’t think cyclists should be on the road in front of them and consider them an obstruction that annoys them. Particularly if there’s not enough space to overtake you immediately, due to there being a moment of oncoming traffic. This is France remember. “I see, therefore I overtake” .
Even those (usually women) that mean well and toot their horn as a warning that they’re there and about to overtake you in case you hadn’t been noticing them for the past half-mile, mostly give a huge scary blast of the horn (scary even if you knew they were there. As they’re in a cage and can’t hear). Instead of a delicate tiny toot.
You’re entitled to 1 metre from the edge, more if necessary, and I know the legally required closest distance they’re supposed to leave when they overtake you is at least 1m away from you, and 1.5 or even 2m may be recommended.
I have found that if I deliberately turn my head 90 degrees left when they get to 75 yards or so behind me, even if I’ve been aware they were there since half a mile back, me turning my head makes them think that’s when I’ve noticed them and avoids the well meaning but gratuitous horn honking.
On a completely different topic I’ve often wondered what my legal position would be if I accidentally let fly a couple of eggs and they hit the rear of any overtaking vehicle (such as a medium sized van of the type where part of the load area runs over the cab - so the more old-fashioned type) - if they were later found and linked back to me. Other putrefying or even sticky substances might have also come under consideration.
Separately, linguistically I have also wondered if the traditional 2-fingered English salute is really understood in France. My experience is it seems not to be hence my vague musings above.
If there’s a nice straight road, with plenty of passing space… OH just drives gently past without using his horn, giving loads of room to the cyclist.
If the cyclist appears to be wobbling about and moving left, right erratically/struggling… (that sort of thing)… provided there is a clear stretch on the other side of the road… OH will gently toot well in advance (no, he does NOT blast his horn… ) and overtake leaving loads of space.
A gentle toot will bring a group of cyclists into some sort of order and where they’ve been three they slim down to two…
I agree that reassembling a Teletubby would (obviously!) justify hooting, flashing and probably more. But no, I wear a Railtrack worker-style hi viz gilet in a fetching chasseur orange…
I totally agree… Statistically it’s a very small % that either hoot/flash aggressively and/or hurl abuse. Nothing compared to the routine abuse I used to receive when biking from various inhabitants of the Great County of Essex…More than a few drivers wind the window down here and shout encouragement -“bon courage” etc.
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While it’s far from a scientific test, in terms of perceptible noise, at around 30mph or more there’s no obvious difference between similar EV and IC vehicles when I go for a walk. There’s a major road nearby, and with the cars coming from behind, I couldn’t hear the difference between say, an ID3 or a Golf etc. All I could hear was tyre noise.
At low speed the difference is very obvious, but in normal out of town driving not very much at all. I suspect an IC car fitted with quiet tyres would make less noise than an EV fitted with noisy ones.
and I’m sure you would ring your bell to warn unsuspecting walkers… 
