Primary Position

Checked in again.

Just read a post regarding passive aggressive pedestrians, it made me realise a little habit I try to remember. 

When I do adopt the primary position, I try to do a little back hand wave to the following driver then a thumbs up wave when returning to the secondary position. (if they give room) This seems to make drivers realise you are human so they, may, give you a few cm more.

Had a new one today. 30mph down hill in a 30. Got overtaken on a narrowish road with oncoming traffic ! Wasn't in primary as I didn't think it necessary, though perhaps it was a good idea I wasn't, as the driver seem hell bent on squeezing by (and of course tailgating the next vehicle).

I am posting for the first time, I am very passionate when it comes to the road, I have been riding/racing, pedal and motorcycle as well as driving for over 25 years. I was also a motorcycle instructor for a number of years

I try to stick to the rules of the road when driving 95% of the time, like 99.99% of the population.

Cycling is a different story. I break the law. Why? To live.

I run red lights when I feel it is safer and it is clear, rather than stop and get swamped, cut up, honked, etc on green.

Road position, "Lets be" is correct with his comments, I ride left of centre of your lane, continually scanning ahead, and, listening behind, as well as looking. If there is a car hard up behind me I will move further out earlier if there is a hazard ahead, Any hazards I "lifesave" pull out to "primary"  pass the hazard, whether that means crossing over to the other side then I cross if it is safe. Once passed scanning ahead, If there is another hazard within a short distance I stay put, pass, then "lifesave" back to the left of centre of the lane. If it is busy I may move closer to the kerb to let drivers squeeze past, but this is my choice.

My attitude is, no matter how many people die or laws change driving attitudes are not going to change. Accept you need to look out for number one.

This pandemic is a good example, majority of people dont give a flying F about rules, laws, consequences etc.

You cannot win. If you habitually ride primary then you will be criticised for impeding the traffic and riding inconsiderately. If you ride secondary then you will get close passed, if you ride in the gutter then you will get punctures.

My policy is this - "If you ride in the gutter, people will treat you as though that is where you belong".  I ride usually on the righthand side or the centre of the cars' left wheel track, which is a bit left of primary.  Tends to be better tarmac than primary and a lot better than the gutter.  I have lights on day or night.

I generally find there's a happy medium - a sort of 'one-and-a-half-ary' position, further out than the suggested 1m for secondary, without taking the centre of the lane. That keeps you more in the eyeline of people driving behind you, and discourages the majority of inappropriate passes* without making it look like you're 'making a point' or just being awkward, and means that when they do pass it doesn't require such an exaggerated manoeuvre, so it doesn't generate the same level of frustration / aggression. If I think it would be particularly dangerous to pass I can then move out to the centre, or if I think there's a good opportunity for passing I can temporarily move to more of a full secondary. Also, when the inevitable idiot does decide to pass too close it gives plenty of road to the left to bail out to, whereas riding in secondary to start with generally means that you'd be heading into potholes and debris.

[* Of the vehicular kind, rather than the #MeToo variety.]

You should always use the primary position and revert to the secondary position when you decide it is safe and convenient to do so - not when bullied into doing so. 

This can take nerves and practice.

I am surprised at how un-militant I am in positioning, and I am invariably cycling alone. I am usually about 1 metre from the kerb- I have to force myself to move R when traversing the 2 local danger spots for psycho-overtaking- blind humped bridges with well-deserved unbroken white lines which drivers ignore with impunity. They overtake right up to the crest of the bridge with no thought in their tiny minds, already disabled by the delusion that they are god-like titans of the road, that they are approaching drivers like themselves coming the other way at a relative speed of 60+ (often a lot +)- I know that they would immediately move hard L into me to avoid colliding with that other driver, so I want to have somewhere to go except straight over the bridge parapet- although I doubt I would be able to react quickly enough. I know that the F***h would simply agree with the driver that he had to avoid the collision with the other car and so it was necessary to sacrifice the cyclist.