Continuing on from our recent popular article, 10 Things Cyclists Wished All Car Drivers Knew - we thought we would give more of an insight to the top five ways drivers can make cyclists feel unsafe on our roads. This time we aren't necessarily talking about the bitter 'get off the roads' attitudes, but more so the everyday things that can make cyclists feel uneasy. 

With more cyclists on the road, and many people getting back on their bikes after a while we thought these type of articles are quite timely. We hope they aren't too negative, cycling is here for us all to enjoy - and so it should be. Kudos to everyone new who has started pedalling during the pandemic - keep going!

1. Not Giving Enough Space When Overtaking

This had to be the first point for us, and it's also one of the main reasons we started See.Sense. Being overtaken too closely is still unbelievably common - and seriously scary. Some countries are now enforcing the 1.5-metre passing rule (some great work has been done by our friends Stayin' Alive At 1.5 to campaign for this in Ireland), but it's not always enforced as much as it should be.

2. Parking In Bike Lanes

"Why don't cyclists use the bike lanes" - Because that's just not always possible. And a lot of the time that's because there's a car or a van unloading deliveries parked in them.

3. Sitting Too Close Behind

Otherwise known as 'tailgating'. Tailgating by motorists is something that (rightly so) annoys and can scare cyclists. It’s amazing how regularly some drivers think it’s OK to drive an inch behind your rear wheel. And it really shouldn't be the case.

4. Impatiently Overtaking

It's really not that difficult to wait a few more moments until it's actually 100% safe to overtake. More times than enough you will see cars overtaking cyclists on bends, hills and when there is too much traffic for it to be safe. It really is crazy that (in normal times) people will happily sit in standstill traffic for hours on end, and then when it comes to a couple of cyclists they lose their mind. You should check out the ‘Must Get In Front’ article by Carlton Reid, where explains how bicycles are not likely to lead to reduced passenger car travel speed.

5. Speeding

Our last point is more of an obvious one, and it happens more on quiet roads - and it was also reported that speeding offences have increased during the lockdown, even with much fewer cars on the roads (BBC News).

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Remember, using #SeeSenseReport, you can log the exact location of many of issues including the above (and more) that you face on your ride including close passes, parked cars in bike lanes, and much more. The reports will be displayed on our live dashboard page here (desktop only).