Motorists cut-up cyclists using cycle lanes, finds bike-cam study

According to rule 163 of the Highway Code, motorists should “not get too close to the vehicle you intend to overtake…[and] must “give motorcyclists, cyclists and horse riders at least as much room as you would when overtaking a car.”

In law, cyclists are operators of vehicles. However, motorists routinely overtake cyclists in a way that’s dangerous to the ‘vulnerable road user’. In short, drivers ‘cut-up’ cyclists when overtaking, giving them far too little room. There are many helmet-cam videos on YouTube which show such bad overtaking. [Fit your own bike-cam, here’s how].

And a new study says motorists give cyclists even less room when they’re riding on gutter-side cycle lanes than when there’s no cycle lane present.

Using a bicycle with instruments that measure the distance of passing vehicles, Ciaran Meyers from the University of Leeds Institute for Transport Studies undertook the research on roads with and without cycle lanes.

Ciaran said: “The analysis shows that significantly wider passing distances are adopted by motorists on a 9.5 metre wide carriageway without a 1.45 metre cycle lane and with speed limits of 40mph and 50mph.” The same finding was not found on a carriageway with a 30mph speed limit, but that location had more side road junctions and there is likely to be a greater amount of variability in road positioning by motor vehicles.
The results reveal that, when there is a cycle lane, motorists drive within their own marked lane with less recognition of the need to provide a safe and comfortable passing distance to those using the cycle lane.
John Parkin of the University of Bolton, who was also involved in the study, said: “In the presence of a cycle lane, a driver is likely to drive between the cycle lane line and the centre line in a position which is appropriate for the visible highway horizontal geometry ahead of the driver. A cyclist within a cycle lane does not seem to cause a driver to adopt a different position in his or her lane. This has important implications for the width of cycle lanes and implies that their width should never be compromised.”

The study challenges the approach taken by many local authorities, which is to promote cycling by painting cycle lanes on roads, but not adding in hard segregation.

The study, which is due to be published in the scientific journal Accident Analysis and Prevention, says that on roads without cycle lanes, drivers “consciously perform an overtaking manoeuvre”. On roads with cycle lanes, they treat the space between the centre line and the outside edge of the cycle lane as exclusively their territory and make less adjustment for cyclists.

The study said: “Cycle lanes do not appear to provide greater space for cyclists in all conditions.”

Chris Peck, policy co-ordinator of the Cyclists’ Touring Club, said: “Cycle lanes have a part to play in improving road conditions for cyclists, but this research has raised concerns that they are not always the best solution and may in fact make cycling more unpleasant. Where a cycle lane exists, drivers may overtake with the belief that they can use the entire road space outside the cycle lane, and consequently may be paying less attention to the cyclist’s need for space.”

Work by Ian Walker of the University of Bath in 2007 suggested that motorists overtake more closely when cyclists give the impression of being “competent”, such as wearing helmets when cycling, and give more room to what they perceive to be “unsteady cyclists”.