Rear ended by a motorbike this morning

rjeffroy

Coming down Embankment this morning (busy highway, two lanes each direction) I'm in the left lane, to my right and ahead is a large BMW. We are approaching a zebra crossing, most of which is obscured by the car. I see his brake lights go on, no cars ahead so I assume he is slowing for someone on the crossing so I hit the anchors as well.

I come to a stop just as the ped steps in front, suddenly I hear a skid behind then I am shoved onto the crossing in front of startled ped. Look back and there is a motorbike tyre resting on my rear wheel.

Not really sure if a cheery shrug from the biker cuts it as an apology but I am not in the mood for an argument so I just let it go.

Its all at low speed so no damage done, just the thought of what might have been if it had all been a bit faster...

homercles

No need for that - did well to keep your cool.

I tend to find that I am more often 'startled' by people on bikes/ scooters etc than cars as they tend to accelerate harder when gaps etc appear and are often competing for the same space/ with the same concerns about cars, so often get closer than cars do. Never been hit yet though, though I was clipped by a fellow cyclist this morning (courier with large bag over shoulder caught me as he passed at a RL, but did swiftly apologise).

Cyclegent

Motorcyclists in London are often lethal. On my route there is a seperate bus lane with a traffic island seperating it from the normal lane. You need to keep in primary, otherwise taxi drivers squeeze past you at high speed, but then if you do, these *&^%$£" Judge Dredd motorbike p&^^ks on their muddy scrapheaps pass you at about 50mph with inches to spare, so you have to adopt a sort of cross between primary and secondary.