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Research shows that cars overtake you more closely when you wear a helmet, and pass more safely when you don't (drianwalker.com)
submitted 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) by sem@piefed.blahaj.zone to c/fuckcars@lemmy.world
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Researcher also has free (speech and beer) schematics for making your own sensor and replicating the experiment.

Have you heard of this concept? Does it ring true for you? Do you live somewhere where cars pass you dangerously?

Wear a helmet or don't, but either way, society is responsible for making bicycling safer, and encouraging more people to take a bicycle over a car trip. Mandatory helmet laws reduce the number of people cycling, and the safety in numbers factor.

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[-] Arola@sh.itjust.works 6 points 2 days ago

I have found that if I hug the kerb, the overtakers driver side wheel barely kisses the centre white line. If I get in the middle of the lane, they generally wait until it's safe to pass and then get both sets of wheels over the line. Added bonus of some room between me and the kerb if I need to take evasive action.

[-] Squirrelsdrivemenuts@lemmy.world 4 points 2 days ago

That generally depends on the road width and how easy it is to see oncoming traffic etc. but is definitely a good strategy for certain situations. If a driver gets stuck behind me on a bendy road I will also try to signal them if I see no oncoming traffic around the bend, so they know when to do a safe wide overtake.

[-] sem@piefed.blahaj.zone 2 points 2 days ago

That's my intuitive experience also. This person's research found the opposite, ie passing distance was closer when the bicyclist was further from the kerb, but maybe the experiment didn't account for what you describe (drivers waiting for a safe chance to pass, bicyclists signaling or moving over to indicate a good time to pass).

On the other hand, i could believe that cars tend to pass closer if you ride further out, and still ride further out to be more visible, discourage unsafe (re: opposing traffic) passes, and avoid hazards on the edge of the road.

this post was submitted on 16 Sep 2026
94 points (97.0% liked)

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