Why do some motorbikers feel that they can rob the "safe" space you leave between you and the car in front?

[geejay]

It just annoys me when motorbikes (some) overtake / undertake you in moving traffic and feel that it is perfectly acceptable and safe to make you brake / slow down to create a safe gap between you and the newly inserted motorbike when you had a perfectly safe gap between you and the car in front which the motorbike has now robbed!! 

 

I have noticed that motorbikes really dont like it when you keep the same original gap between you and the car in front of the motorbike in front - for some reason they feel you are too close to their rear wheel - no f*&king S*** sherlock - dont rob my safe space i left for safety sake - i didnt leave the space for you to move into!!

 

I think  i might get a bumper sticker made up "MOTORBIKES : if you dont want me too close to your rear wheel dont steal the safe space between my car and the car in front!"

 

Rant over.

[Paul Morcom]

Not defending the actions of motorcyclist but many car drivers do exactly the same; particularly on Motorways - sometimes undertaking you and then moving into the safe space you left between you and the car infront.

[stu999]

Not defending *all* motorcyclists, but why can't he/she overtake and pop into the gap? He/she will be long gone before it will affect your journey time...

[geejay]

You're right its noit just bikes - its just that it is usually a bike in my experience - and it was a bike this morning!

 

If they "pop" into the gap and there is a sudden stop soon after then i am likely to find my self focussing on the bike which has just taken my "safe" space and hitting them from behind.  Its not about the journey time its about forcing me to brake / slow down unnecessarily!

[SootySport]

I'm sure sometimes you do the same in front of lorries, they like their safety space as well.

[stu999]

Easy solution...use your mirrors more, and leave more of a gap?

[pickmaster Andy Lowe]

If I see a bike approaching I move over and back off

This enables them to nip past and they are gone in no time

So it's all my fault

Live and let live

But other car drivers nipping in then slowing me down, they can rot in hell

[Rab (bombero) Reid]

I'm sure sometimes you do the same in front of lorries, they like their safety space as well.

I agree. Lorries, especially artics need a huge amount of distance to stop safely and motorists would soon respect this if they saw first-hand the mess one of these can make to your everyday family car!!

[Cleggy the Spyder Man]

I think it's poor drivers/riders in general - see it all the time

 

However I am sure we have all been caught out and rather than miss the exit, nipped into a tight space !!! When I have been caught out in the past and done just that I usually give a little sheepish hand of apology

 

Then there's the scenario when you move over to let a vehicle out of a slip road to be stuck out in the right hand lane when you need to move over to get off at the next exit - had that happen a couple of weeks back and the person that I had let out of the previous slip road was flashing his bl**** lights at me when I moved back over - grrr

 

Some people are oblivious to what goes on around them sometimes

[blue ass fly]

THEY SHOULD BAN MOPEDS IN LONDON

THEY DRAG THEIR MIRRORS DOWN THE SIDE OF THE VAN

THEY KNOCK MY MIRRORS AND THEN HAVE THE bl**dy CHEEK TO SHAKE THEIR HEADS

THEY CARVE ME UP ALL THE TIME

AND THEN SIT IN FRONT OF ME FILLING THE VAN UP WITH POXY 2 STROKE FUMES

 

THATS BETTER

[stu999]

It is indeed all road users, we are all to blame.

 

The 'safety space' isnt a set distance that you must maintain. Nothing infuriates me more when I am making progress (in car or on bike...) to come up behind a line of cars following a wagon or other slowish moving vehicle - all with their perfectly measured 'safety spaces' - which suddenly become non-existent if a car or bike were to pop into it!. But as the first car in line is a  bit too close to the wagon, or hasn't got the uumph, or the roadcraft or whatever, the queue stays exactly as it is, mile after mile. If do not intend to overtake, then pull back some more, and let others who can do so - and maybe use mirrors to see what is coming up behind! Like Pickmaster, if I see a bike coming, I'll make more room if possible, drop back a tad more, and let the bike pass. It will be gone in seconds, you aint wound up, and everyone stays safe.

City driving is another matter altogether though - and we can include cyclists in that too!!!    

[stephenh]

I agree with Pickmaster and Stu, either overtake or leave room for the vehicle behind to overtake. Simple really, if you use your mirrors.

[Onliest Smeg David]

[Stuart]

Overtaking is mainly a lost art in this country.  Frowned upon by many too - how many times you been flashed or gesticulated at after performing a perfectly safe overtaking manoeuvre?

[ralphy]

One road users definition of a safe space isn’t necessarily anothers, as is evident to all of us when out on the road (either on two wheels or four).  

 

As I choose to have a large safe space in front and behind I accept that means at times I have to allow others to pull into the space in front (and I therefore slow down) and also that I have to move over at times to allow a larger space behind me.  The thing about it being motor-bikers that seem to be the ones taking your front space is that they are more able to get there in the first place.

 

R