Very, very nearly taken out this morning

downfader

Right.. story time:

:evil: I wish people would allow themselves a little time to wake up when they leave the house! :evil:

So there I was - obviously the invisible cyclist - in my hiviz reflective top, reflective ankle bands, 2 super bright lights on the front and 3 on the back this morning... and this dozy plonk just pulled right out of their driveway right at the last minute. Nearly into my front wheel. Man I screamed like a girl as I JUST managed to get the bike to flick out and avoid their bonnet. I was about an inch from their bonnet after I took evasive action.

I kept on cycling tbh, didnt feeling being told by another driver that its my fault for their bad driving, but glanced back to see said car stopped in the center of the road. There had been a car some way behind me, and I presume the driver had to stop whilst this numpty got back into the swing of things.

I pulled up at a junction some 15 seconds later and they were behind me. I didnt say anything, they didnt say anything, and tbh if they had I would have lost my temper. :x Thankfully they took a different turn to me.

Gonna put more reflectives on the bike later I think. Already have s*** loads, but perhaps if I blind them with their own headlights they might stop and bloody think.

End rant.

MonkeyMonster

I suspect that sort of driver wouldn't realise unless you were sherman tank with ride of valkyries playing and given forth some negative waves but very glad it was still a miss. far too many hits of late.

downfader

MonkeyMonster wrote:

I suspect that sort of driver wouldn't realise unless you were sherman tank with ride of valkyries playing and given forth some negative waves but very glad it was still a miss. far too many hits of late.

True.

Really felt like it was going to be like my accident last year. So glad it wasnt (that guy last year just ploughed through me despite my trying to shout and swerve)

And I agree, too many offs on here and locally too. Always seems to be the good riders too that get it in the blimmin neck.

Flasheart

You're not having a good run of late are you Downfader

downfader

Flasheart wrote:

You're not having a good run of late are you Downfader

Absolutely great week last week oddly enough. Had a tailgater as i said last week, but this ended up fine. Annoyingly it only takes one person out of the several hundred..

PARIS75

unlike you not to say anything

anyway nice story 8)

downfader

PARIS75 wrote:

unlike you not to say anything

anyway nice story 8)

I know, and its usually in my blood. But this time I just thought "leave it".

Right, had another 2 incidents this morning. This is getting silly. A council van and a council bin lorry all in the space of 2 minutes. :roll: I honestly dont know why this keeps happening. I put more lights on the bike than anyone down here, I ride assertively and I certainly dont hug the kerb. :?

In the end I sent an email to the council:

I don't normally have cause for concern with regards council drivers but this morning I did with two drivers in the space of 2 minutes.

I ride the pushbike into work and sometimes head up Shirley Road towards the hospital. I'm lit up like a christmas tree (2 very bright front lights, 3 bright rear all properly angled, and covered in hiviz reflectives - my bike is also covered in it) however one of your van drivers decided it was appropriate to overtake me at a traffic island, and doing so he crossed the last two chevrons forcing me to have to swing left and brake hard. For the time he saved I do not feel it was worth it. My speedometer said I was doing 25mph, and I remained behind him until the road started to incline slightly towards the next set of lights.

This happened on the island here:
http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&sourc ... 79,,0,17.6


As you can see the road is a little too tight here for this kind of overtake. Certainly too tight for a bike and van.

Then as I was riding up towards Lidl there was a refuse lorry waiting to pull out from the MacDonald's drive. The driver was flashed and nearly pulled out on me, had I not have shouted a polite "wait a minute!" and managed to get eye contact (hard in the dark at 7.10am) I think he would have proceeded. There was no traffic behind me at this point.

Further up Shirley Road he decided it was time to overtake, however the driver came way too close. A normal vehicle should leave just over a meter, however due to the drag from a large vehicle such as this lorry it is prudent to leave more space. I could have touched his cab and side of vehicle with my elbow, he was that close. A less experienced cyclist may have lost control here and ended up being sucked under the wheels.

As it turned out the driver was making an immediate left turn after the overtake. I wonder, what had been the point of the overtake if a turn was that close? We both arrived at the same junction at the same time (Villiers Road). Again, a less experienced cyclist may not have anticipated this turn and might have tried to slip down the left hand side. I do not feel he saved any time in the overtake but in doing so put my safety at risk.

I do not know who these drivers are, nor do I wish to see anyone lose their job. But I would like someone to have a chat with all council drivers (as close overtakes are nothing new, and this is becoming more common) with regards safe driving around cyclists. Often only a few seconds is saved, and there is little point in conducting a risky manoeuvre for that kind of advantage. Given the recent press over cyclists and HGVs in London I would hate to keep this to myself and then hear of an accident.

Many thanks and please forgive this long email as I needed to include as much info as possible.

D

Not the best email but we'll see. Atleast with council vehicles there is a chance that someone might listen. A normal driver would naff off and you'd have no chance to make a change.

andy83

Feel for ya, just put a thread up myself about two near misses and if it makes you feel any better i screamed and froze as had no where to go lol

silly season is definitely here, just hope i dont get knocked off in coming months, people seem to be really miserable and not caring in the tin cans of late

downfader

andy83 wrote:

Feel for ya, just put a thread up myself about two near misses and if it makes you feel any better i screamed and froze as had no where to go lol

silly season is definitely here, just hope i dont get knocked off in coming months, people seem to be really miserable and not caring in the tin cans of late

I'll have a look at your thread.

N0bodyOfTheGoat

We, as cyclists, are perfectly entitled to ride on most roads and motorised vehicle drivers should consider our safety when in our proximity.

However, I expect a postcard from Satan regarding cold weather long before we will see enough action taken against careless drivers!

In the meantime, I will continue to try and use quiet roads when possible...

highwaymunky

Ah the pleasures of cycling to work and fearing for you life!

I kept on cycling tbh, didnt feeling being told by another driver that its my fault for their bad driving, but glanced back to see said car stopped in the center of the road. There had been a car some way behind me, and I presume the driver had to stop whilst this numpty got back into the swing of things.

Well done for having the skills and reactions to avoid death by bonnet & not stopping to rip the head off the car driver. Clearly this driver was there purely in body! And these people are allowed the breed!!
:roll:

Safe riding.

mrchrispy

i've been practicing the old sideway emergancy stop skid with the intention doing a controled crash into the side of anyone that pull out on my on residential roads (ie quiet and lowish speeds). I reckon a pedal into the door and bar ends into the window might make them think twice next time.

ride_whenever

memo to self:

get massive bunny hops mastered... it's more dramatic if you slide over the top of their car.

NGale

I seem to be attracting trouble in the form of cars lately. Went out for a pootle on the bike today for the first time in about three weeks, going toward the town in Dartmouth, a car decides that suddenly wants to change lanes and almost left hooks me in the process.

I am not having much luck on two wheels lately

mudcovered

ride_whenever wrote:

memo to self:

get massive bunny hops mastered... it's more dramatic if you slide over the top of their car.

Well if you are going to master that skill get really good and you'll be able to either jump them or roll over the bonnet.

Mike

ride_whenever

i'm thinking an 80's cop show style slide across the bonnet, but instead do the roof.

ride_whenever

or

OldSkoolKona

^^Nice shorts

There seems to be an increase in incidents of later, perhaps its just the evenings drawing is as we head to winter, but I worry that the spate of anti cyclist journalism of late, particularly the Daily Mail's seemingly concerted campaign against cycling, is driving (excuse the pun) an attitude that cyclists 'deserve' what they get and that is ok to drive at a cyclist because they deserve nothing better...