Matthew's Journal

I was wondering the same thing - I think the photograph implies option (b) - I certainly wouldn't overtake a car with my left-hand wheels in their lane, as depicted in the photo. Option (a) is a safer bet, though: I think it's only sensible to leave a larger gap between a car and a bike when overtaking than you would between two cars.

As a driver (hopefully a careful one), I find the occasional practice of cyclists riding two-abreast annoying for this reason - as I understand it, this is meant to increase the road presence of the cyclists. However, it makes it pretty much impossible to pass leaving enough space - even if the car overtaking is fully on the other side of the road, the outside cyclist is still closer than I feel comfortable with. I generally sit well behind such pairs of cyclists until they move to being in single file, which perhaps is the ideal result from their point of view. I don't think that's the typical driver response, though!