Originally Posted by
Paul Barnard
If the road ahead is so narrow that the cyclist feels the need to take the lane or otherwise impedes the flow of the cars he just filtered past, then it is inconsiderate for the cyclist to filter. I'll be damned if as a cyclist I am willing to save myself 10 seconds to filter past cars that will ultimately be held up by me. That cyclist that just passed within 3 feet of the doors of the stopped or slowed cars certainly doesn't have any *****ing rights if the cars pass the cyclist at the same close distance once they get up to speed. Can't complain about door openers or right hookers either.
I don't suppose anyone here is arguing the case you're making, which is a specific one, relating to certain road conditions. what drivers are saying isn't that they've been held up, but that a rider has the cheek to keep on overtaking them. In city traffic, in my commmuting days, I, and others did this all the time on the grounds that we're
not holding anyone up, nor interfering with them. Yet they will (at least, it seems, in the US) complain regardless, as tho' they have a
right not to be treated this way. In the original complaint, whingeing about it after the death of a cyclists, the driver concerned seemed outraged by the idea - a non sequitur using the death of another human being to snivel about the unfairness of it.
If you ride inconsiderately, overtaking in such a way that you impede another road user, then a complaint is understandable, but to adopt is as a general rule, elevating it to a right, is absurd. Drivers suffer no inconvenience from this cycling tactic except in the circumstances outlined.