Operation Close Pass says minimum distance of 1.5m., or 1m at 20mph IIRC.
If it's a group, on a standard type road, (say 7m wide, although some residential ones are under 6m) using the other side of the road is fine. Just have regard to your speed.
To me the point is not to squeeze a cyclist by passing in the face of oncoming traffic. If there's a gap, I see no reason not to cross the centreline and leave another road user his bit of road.
It's common sense, or should be. Sadly it isn't.
Single track is something else. Sometimes it has to be about consideration and give and take. I don't like to see cyclists behaving as if other road users aren't there, but as a driver I try to show consideration anyway - maybe it will rub off. It's far more common to see dangerous driving around cyclists.
There are still drivers who seem to think that cyclists should just work with the space that normally exists between a vehicle and the kerb. If there is oncoming traffic you can be damn sure I am riding in the middle of my lane - too often the car behind will squeeze through if I don't, sometimes with a large speed differential.
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