Cars that pull out

SimonAH

I'm getting really ticked off now with cars pulling out in front of me on roundabouts because they see a bicycle and assume that I'm doing sub 10mph.

Guys, at 20 plus I'm on you in seconds and I'm fed up with having to emergency brake.

Common problem?

danlikesbikes

Do get it a bit when out on a group ride - but I to be honest I don't think its any different to when I'm in my car and some idiot who quite simply cant be bothered to think and just do it and balls to everyone else pulls out.

Just make sure you sat in a nice "defensive" position in the road when approaching the roundabout so that people don't cut you up and make sure you own the bit of road your on as you go round.

Failing that there is always the 1 finger salute which doesn't resolve the problem but often makes the giver feel better and hopefully the receiver feel like a t@@t.

Mr Plum

I definitely get it more when I'm on the bike. I get it all the time when drivers look me in the eye, pause, look at how fast I'm going, pause to let it all register, pull out... mother fu&%ers!!! Obviously I'm in the wrong each time though, because I either "shouldn't be on the road", or "should get a fu&%ing car", or "should slow the f&%k down" etc...

It's an annoying fact of commuting through town.

Clarion

Get it a lot of the time

Clarion

Get it a lot of the time

lost_in_thought

Happens a lot. I now presume that drivers that look at me for any length of time are going to pull out.

asquithea

Ride slower then.

asquithea

Just kidding

Sorta.

deptfordmarmoset

There's a little roundabout at the bottom of Dog Kennel Hill that I've been round 3 times in the last couple of months. On two out of the three occasions that I've gone round it, someone has looked and pulled out anyway, taking ''my'' road even though their exit was blocked. I've taking to calling this style of driving ''plugging'' - it's the irresistible urge that drivers seem to feel to drive without care or concern for others' safety simply to arrive a split-second earlier at the stationary car up ahead. It got you nowhere, it stopped me even exiting the roundabout because you plugged up the exit, but you did force your way ahead of me

The only time I've got round it without incident was after I came down Dog Kennel Hill, with a bus in the bus lane, me to the right, keeping my downhill speed down to 30 (in a 30 limit) mostly because of the bumpiness of the road. And after the idiot pulled out of a side road ahead of me, forcing me to emergency brake, I knocked on his windscreen (because he'd driven in a plug style into the jam 10 metres up ahead) his explanation was that he'd thought I'd go into the bus lane. Which actually means he thought ''me first even though it will get me nowhere'' and to hell with anyone else. Great, force someone else to make an emergency change of direction into the path of a bus, just so you can advance 10 metres.

Getting smoothly round the roundabout that day was a complete miracle.

jonny_trousers

Perhaps part of the problem is the growing numbers of bicycle pootlers out there clouding drivers' perceptions of how quickly a cycle can travel. But then again maybe they are just idiots who think it is acceptable/cool to drive aggressively. There's lots of them in SE London and they tend to drive Golf GTIs.

Pufftmw

lost_in_thought wrote:

Happens a lot. I now presume that drivers that look at me for any length of time are going to pull out.

Sorry LiT, have to ask but what is it about your appearance that makes drivers want to knock you over :?:

further

There was one standout time I had a real with something pulling out on a roundabout.

It was a crisp winter's afternoon, last year. I'd come down off Waterloo Bridge looking to go straight ahead through the imax roundabout.

I was on the roundabout. I even think I got decent eye contact with the driver of this dirty great coach. Still, he pulls out. I check over my shoulder and veer into the next lane, slowing down. Then he keeps pulling out. I'm still slowing down, just not f-a-s-t enough. He keeps pulling out so he's across two and a half lanes of roundabout.

It was like slow-motion but I don't even have time to check behind as I turn sharp into the inside lane, pull off a 180 degree skid-stop (my first since 1986) and thank a non-existent God for nothing behind and well-maintained brakes.

There was a bloke on a bike a bit further back and he started going mad at the driver. Even mild-mannered me raised a finger. We got a wristy hand signal back and the coach moved off, driver cackling like a villain.

You live and learn. For the purposes of cycling I now assume every coach driver is a blind, malicious idiot.

There's a little roundabout at the bottom of Dog Kennel Hill that I've been round 3 times in the last couple of months.

The one at the junction with lordship lane? It's always full of 'pluggers'. ( ) I do believe it's on a lay line linking Liverpool Switch Island and downtown Istanbul with other centres of traffic horror.

HebdenBiker

Switch Island

Lol - it's bad enough driving it

Back to the OP, I can possibly offer an explanation from a driver's perspective. When I was a young and inexperienced driver, I once pulled out in my car across a congested mini roundabout, (junction of Waldegrave Rd and Strawberry Vale, TW11), in front of a couple of cyclists, causing them to have a yell at me. At the time I couldn't understand why. Of course, I understand now.

Did I see the cyclists? Yes.
Would I have pulled out like that in front of as car? Probably not.
Was it malicious? No.
Was it deliberately impatient/discourteous? No.
Was it stupid? Of course, and looking back I am ashamed of myself.

So why did I do it? Hard to put my finger on it. I think it's just that I didn't think of the cyclists as a collision threat. It was OK - they would stop.

Admitting to poor driving is risky on this forum. Feel free to flame me if you like, but please bear in mind that it was an act of youthful folly that I have very much learned from.

lost_in_thought

Pufftmw wrote:

lost_in_thought wrote:

Happens a lot. I now presume that drivers that look at me for any length of time are going to pull out.

Sorry LiT, have to ask but what is it about your appearance that makes drivers want to knock you over :?:

Maybe they don't like my face... or maybe they're trying to do a Sewinman...

further

Lol - it's bad enough driving it

Purgatory lol. Must admit, I haven't done it on my bike.

EKE_38BPM

HebdenBiker wrote:

Admitting to poor driving is risky on this forum. Feel free to flame me if you like, but please bear in mind that it was an act of youthful folly that I have very much learned from.

Don't beat yourself up about it. We've all done stupid things and, hopefully, learnt from them. As my Dad always says, you can't teach experience.

When I was a young'un I wrote off three cars in 4 years* by thinking that I had the skill of Sebastian Vettel. Admittedly old and/or cheap cars are easy to write off, but I drove like a dick.
Now I plan ahead, never plug junctions, hold down my speed in built up areas etc.
The accidents and time taught me how to drive better. Sounds like a lesson you've learnt over the years too.


Back OT, I've just got an Airzound, so I shall be able to give dickhead drivers an 115dB blast of that. I'll let you know if it works or if they are still pull out on me.
When the helmet camera I've ordered gets delivered I'll be able to post their idiocy online but I doubt I will because I just can't be bothered with that.


* also damaged 3 parked cars and took out a tree and a concrete bollard

HebdenBiker

further wrote:

Lol - it's bad enough driving it

Purgatory lol. Must admit, I haven't done it on my bike.

My Dad grew up on Moorhey Rd. He remembers when Switch Island was all fields

rjsterry

HebdenBiker wrote:

Did I see the cyclists? Yes.
Would I have pulled out like that in front of as car? Probably not.
Was it malicious? No.
Was it deliberately impatient/discourteous? No.
Was it stupid? Of course, and looking back I am ashamed of myself.

So why did I do it? Hard to put my finger on it. I think it's just that I didn't think of the cyclists as a collision threat. It was OK - they would stop.

Admitting to poor driving is risky on this forum. Feel free to flame me if you like, but please bear in mind that it was an act of youthful folly that I have very much learned from.

Think you've hit the nail on the head there, and would agree that it's usually an almost sub-conscious act rather than deliberate or malicious.

W1

further wrote:

....this dirty great coach.

There's your problem.

I had an argument with a moron in a white van, who told me in no uncertain terms that you give way to those entering a roundabout, not those already on it. At that point I gave up.

The Rookie

My commute involves no roundabouts, but I get the same plugging, uphill to a traffic light controlled crossroads, so I'm not motoring, but certainly exceeding 10mph, cars desperate to pass to join the queue for the lights so I have to filter past them less than 10 seconds after they polluted the atmosphere with more CO2 than necesary to pass me - dolts, even when I've pulled out right out to the white line (primary is for fairies!) they still drive right round the outside of me to do it!

Simon

Aidy

I seem to get it a lot.

The other common occurrence is for drivers to hover about whether they're going to cut me up or not, and end up waiting until I'm directly in front of them, and then pulling out.

MonkeyMonster

Pufftmw wrote:

lost_in_thought wrote:

Happens a lot. I now presume that drivers that look at me for any length of time are going to pull out.

Sorry LiT, have to ask but what is it about your appearance that makes drivers want to knock you over :?:

So they can try to perform a bit of sly mouth to mouth...

Headhuunter

W1 wrote:

further wrote:

....this dirty great coach.

There's your problem.

I had an argument with a moron in a white van, who told me in no uncertain terms that you give way to those entering a roundabout, not those already on it. At that point I gave up.

I think some people genuinely believe this. Roundabouts are less common outside the UK and perhaps it's foreign drivers who simply don't understand them. Having said that I've had plenty of drivers simply pull out of side roads (not roudnabouts) in front of me after clearly looking at me/making eye contact...

snooks

There are two places on my commute, where, if there is a car in the junction, I expect them to try to pull away from the junction, and completely misjudge either my speed, or the acceleration ability of their vehicle.

In both places I'm turning right, and giving the right arm out, riding in primary, but still they chance it

First one here coming down from the north, turning right going West

Second one coming down from Southwark Bridge turning right onto sumner street

Short of breaking very early and going into pootle mode at 5 mph I don't think there is much I can do.

If I expect them to be idiots, I'm pleasantly surprised when they are not

Initialised

Roundabouts are bad enough in the car. There's one near me where I used to have to cover the horn because getting cut up was almost inevitable. It's been re painted and had it's priorities change so many times... there's usually a paramedic or police car stationed there. It seems OK now, but I don't drive it everyday or in the same direction that often now. TBH I can't imagine cycling it safely.