I’ve had a issue with an irate cyclist last week and it got me wondering… When you overtake a cyclist, do you ensure that you are entirely in the right hand lane or do you leave what you would class as enough room between the n/s of your truck and the cyclist. I am being quoted highway code rule 163 which states:
Give vulnerable road users at least as much space as you would a car
No set distance as such other than as much space as possible, it all depends on the circumstances and to some extent the steadyness or reliability of the cyclist which you can only judge by gut instinct in the few seconds as you approach.
I err on the side of caution, if i have to follow a cyclist for several miles before a safe overtake opens up i will without a problem, i also won’t harrass the poor sod with noise or travel to close in order to intimidate as some do, by treating the rider decently the ones (without too tight lycra crushing their fundamentals) will usually help you past at the earliest opportunity.
Maybe i’ve been lucky but can’t recall a single unpleasant incident with a cyclist in all me lorry years.
Some cyclists do argue for this on the grounds of that is what the image in the highway code shows, but the wording does not say that;
Rule 163 is just badly worded rubbish - you could argue that you normally only give cars a foot of space when passing and that is what you will give a cyclist. That would be far too close for a cyclist but you could argue you have abided by the rule.
As a cyclist I think you should be giving a minimum of a metre when passing and a bit more if there is a huge speed difference.
There is a petition at the moment calling for a mandatory 1 metre of space, but sadly (at least for me) it is not being well supported, unbelievably many cyclists wont sign it as they say it is unenforceable. petition.parliament.uk/petitions/128190 I can’t imagine it being well supported in here either.
Juddian:
Maybe i’ve been lucky but can’t recall a single unpleasant incident with a cyclist in all me lorry years.
Me neither ^^^^^^. I was always taught to give them enough room to safely fall off into! Tbh I give them (and horsists) a lot more room than that as I know that it can be quite disconcerting to have the traditional “thundering juggernaut” whistling past you.
I usually have a gap of around 3 inches as I go past.
Which is around a foot too much in my view.
It depends entirely on my speed and also the speed of the cyclist, the more speed involved the more room they get. But if I can give them a whole lane, then I will.
In this area at least being on the map as cyclist mecca we’ve got used to waiting for an ideal place to pass them leaving as much room as possible like around a full car width.Even when the muppets are all grouped together across the road.Which I’m guessing is also what the highway code is suggesting.
The same as I give a car, mirror to mirror, or in this case handle bar 
Tongue in cheek, but my tin hat is on anyway
this has to be the best compilation ever…its not too long,and has everything you need to pee yourself laughing at the tree huggers…the only question you can ask is…why didn’t mr disco angry either have a heart attack,or end up with an assault charge.i couldn’t be that angry without having belted the guy, and the 405 estate wheel kicker Ronnie pickering lookalike near the end has to make you laugh or theres no hope for you… 
you have to suffer the intros by the fat tongued slabberer whos name could easily be Winston at the start of the clips,
I do indeed give them a full lane width. If I can’t I wait.
if god had meant there to be bikes on the road,then he wouldn’t have invented cars…I detest them on a par with horse riders and farmers to the extent that they make me think caravan chuggers arnt really that bad.i don’t terrorise the horses though as I couldn’t be unkind to an animal,people on the other hand… 
I pass just close enough that they wobble all over the place and get the stricken look of terror on their face as they desperately try not to fly over the handlebars.
I dont get close enough to ACTUALLY knock them off though, I leave fate in their own hands and down to their own skill. I like to give them a sporting chance
I’m a stick this out there, The Highway Code should not be treated as a rule book, more like guidelines, the RTA and so on and so forth are the rules.
You want do what they do
Try and go up the inside
dieseldog999:
this has to be the best compilation ever…its not too long,and has everything you need to pee yourself laughing at the tree huggers…the only question you can ask is…why didn’t mr disco angry either have a heart attack,or end up with an assault charge.i couldn’t be that angry without having belted the guy, and the 405 estate wheel kicker Ronnie pickering lookalike near the end has to make you laugh or theres no hope for you…
brilliant!
Is the peugeot drivers the same person ?
Haven’t seen the one with the funny little bad tempered gimp out of the disc before - can’t believe the cyclist tolerated that, I wouldn’t of.
But getting back on topic for a moment that was a stupidly close pass by the gimp, and the weird thing is the gimp has a cycling rack on the top of is own land rover
ronnie could deffo have a brother in the 405…and ive never ever seen anyone as angry without losing it as the disco dude,but theres a cycle lane on the side of the road hence the anger.funny how the whale kissers all have the same gobstick attitude problem,though they all seem to be evenly balanced with a chip on each shoulder.
We’ve already got the 1 metre rule over here, and as said before, it’s virtually unenforceable.
Upset that I didn’t make the top 5 but my answer now is ‘chase em till they fill their lycra with ■■■’ then scrape their elbows 
I give them as much room as I can. I’ll stalk, I mean follow 'em for miles if I have to like one of those Komodo dragons.
Firstly I really don’t want to kill or maim somebody to prove a point.
Secondly I saw an episode of The Bill once where some armed robbers opened a cash box beside a wagon. Have you seen the mess a dye pack can make on the side of a white box?
Bicycles rule:
There is a petition at the moment calling for a mandatory 1 metre of space, but sadly (at least for me) it is not being well supported, unbelievably many cyclists wont sign it as they say it is unenforceable. petition.parliament.uk/petitions/128190 I can’t imagine it being well supported in here either.
Here in France it is the law to leave min 1M in towns and 1.5M outside towns and to be fair most people respect it, but cycling is a big thing here.