Members login

• Home
• About Cycle Shrewsbury
• Join in
• News and events
• Kids
• Commuters
• Cycle routes
• Cycle network improvements
• Sustrans Connect2
• Shops, maintenance and training
• Tips and advice
• Buying a bike
• Road signs and markings
• Keeping your bike in good condition
• Advice for new cyclists
• Advice for parents
• Advice for drivers
• Getting your bike back on the road
• Where to dispose of or recycle your old bike
• Cycling in the dark or winter months
• Health advice
• Bicycle accessories
• Keeping your bike secure
• Trains and bicycles
• Photo gallery
• Cycling for sport
• Useful links
• Contact us
• Cycling in Oswestry and Ludlow

Home > Tips and advice > Advice for drivers

About this website | Site map |

Advice for drivers

As a driver you should remember that you are sharing the road with cyclists. Cyclists are more vulnerable than car users and you should take particular care around cyclists.

The Institute of Advance Motorists has come up with some helpful tips on how to ensure that you drive safely and with consideration when sharing the road with a cyclist.

DO

• Overtake with care, not too close and not too fast. Whizzing past cyclists within a foot of their handlebars may feel perfectly safe, but it doesn't for the cyclist
• Leave cyclists enough 'wobble room' when passing them - cyclists may have to move out slightly to negotiate drains, potholes, smashed glass and other debris. They don't want to be squeezed into the gutter
• Check the door mirror and the blind spot before opening the driver's door after parking to avoid knocking down a cyclist

DON'T

• Don't sound the horn when near cyclists
• Don't cut up a cyclist passing on the nearside when turning left, and don't overtake then turn left across their front wheel
• Don't drive into the 'advanced stop area' for cyclists at lights: it is against the Highway Code

Visit the Institute for Advance Motorists (IAM) website for more tips about driving safely.

The IAM recently carried out some research on cycling motorists. Their conclusions included:

• Both cycling and non-cycling motorists agree that experience of cycling makes drivers more careful
• Among cycling motorists, twice as many men as women ride regularly but, of the non-cycling motorists, women are twice as likely to take to two wheels again.

Read the full report at the IAM website.