Defensive cycling that saved your bacon ?

Raffles

Tonight I was cycling home and my bike had lezyne lights at front and back. I was riding up an incline and there is a sideroad to the left. This car wailed up to the giveway line and was positioned to turn right which would have meant cutting across the direction I was heading in. I try my best to 2nd guess drivers at the best of times and even more so on dark nights at this time of year. The driver was a bloke who was looking everywhere but in the direction he was going and I had a real bad feeling that he wouldnt see me :shock: . I slowed right down and watched him as I did he accelerated hard and came to a screeching halt when he finally saw me. If I hadnt slowed down and watched him I am 100% he would have plowed straight into the side of me. He looked straight at me in shock and was all flustered as he then drove on. Thank god I was keeping a watch on that fool, any defensive cycling stories that saved your bacon too ?

ShutUpLegs

THANK GOD YOU LIVED TO TELL THE TALE

Careca

Lezyne Lights???

You tart

jezzpalmer

Careca wrote:

Lezyne Lights???

You tart

Brand whore.

Mikey23

Had an incident last week as I was coming out of the cycle path at the top of a trading estate. Good conditions and broad daylight. Van man comes out of a yard to the left and is driving on my inside. My gut feeling was that he hadn't seen me so I slowed right down almost to a stop. Fair enough he should have seen me and should have been looking but he didnt. Sure enough he hadn't seen me and did a sharp right clean across my path and into the next factory gate. Would have wiped me out if I hadn't slowed.

I suppose its this kind of sixth sense that comes with many years of driving and means we are a good insurance risk...

Raffles

Mikey23 wrote:

Had an incident last week as I was coming out of the cycle path at the top of a trading estate. Good conditions and broad daylight. Van man comes out of a yard to the left and is driving on my inside. My gut feeling was that he hadn't seen me so I slowed right down almost to a stop. Fair enough he should have seen me and should have been looking but he didnt. Sure enough he hadn't seen me and did a sharp right clean across my path and into the next factory gate. Would have wiped me out if I hadn't slowed.

I suppose its this kind of sixth sense that comes with many years of driving and means we are a good insurance risk...

I would hazard a guess there isnt a cyclist on this board who hasnt had an experience as scary as that one.

Froomes Edgar

ShutUpLegs wrote:

THANK GOD YOU LIVED TO TELL THE TALE

Simmotino

I was riding early one morning along a section of road which forms part of a (single width) one way system which has one side road which joins from the left.

I knew there was nothing behind me and, as is my usual custom at this point when it's safe to do so, I moved out toward the middle of the road "just in case". As I did, an Audi TT arrived at the junction of the side road at reasonable speed driven by an Estate Agent type eating his toast AND trying to sort his tie out ( :roll: ). Without so much as a nod to his brakes, he started pulling out without looking at me. Thankfully being half way across the road gave me just enough time to get over to the right kerb and give him a mouthful at the same time.

The fact he dropped his toast and jumped on the brakes left me in front of him still offering him chance to prove his parenthood along with full hand signals!

Unfortunate for him really, as the roundabout at the end of that road is about 400 yards away and I rode all the way there in the middle of the road to demonstrate how being too hasty actually slows you down

(Fair play though, when we got to the roundabout he pulled alongside and apologised for not looking and accepted he was in the wrong)

chrisaonabike

Careca wrote:

Lezyne Lights???

You tart

Do some people not have Lezyne lights?

declan1

ChrisAOnABike wrote:

Careca wrote:

Lezyne Lights???

You tart

Do some people not have Lezyne lights?

Do Assos make lights?

alihisgreat

You maybe should have been wearing Rapha's Hi-Vis gilet? http://www.rapha.cc/hivis-gilet/

Careca

.

cougie

If a motorist hasn't looked you in the eye - assume they haven't seen you.

mcp73

http://www.londoncyclist.co.uk/raf-pilo ... -cyclists/

Useful info.

Mikey23

I always make eye contact now with anyone coming in from my left. Reassuring to see that they have seen you and are waiting and usually I give a nod. When on narrow country lanes, I always do a hand gesture to a vehicle coming up from behind so that they know I know they are are there and will not suddenly dart out while they are overtaking

unixnerd

One of the reasons I wear a head torch (AA MagLite) is to look directly at drivers on roundabouts or at junctions. Greatly increases the chance of being seen and isn't bright enough to blind them.

MichaelW

My last defensive riding saved the bacon of a 4yr-old boy. On a small lane, a transit van was parked on a bend. I rode wide and slowed down a little and just as I reached the rear, a boy darted out into the wet, muddy road. I applied disc brakes and came to a halt with no drama or panic.
If I had been racing along without thinking, on thin tyres with rim brakes, things could have ended differently.

beams87

ShutUpLegs wrote:

THANK GOD YOU LIVED TO TELL THE TALE

LIKE. I just ROFL'd hard

boogi11

MichaelW wrote:

My last defensive riding saved the bacon of a 4yr-old boy. On a small lane, a transit van was parked on a bend. I rode wide and slowed down a little and just as I reached the rear, a boy darted out into the wet, muddy road. I applied disc brakes and came to a halt with no drama or panic.
If I had been racing along without thinking, on thin tyres with rim brakes, things could have ended differently.

I saved a sausage dog today, he was stretched across a path, and he didn't see me, we eventually made eye contact but he panicked so I just bunny hopped over him and carried on, luckily we both survived.

DavidJB

I contracted hepatitis from a tramp I'd had a carnal relationship with in an underpass one drunken evening. The next day I rode hard and it disappeared. Phew.

diy

The vast majority of drivers approach junctions they way they did when they learned to drive. That is they will be concentrating on arriving at the stop line in the right gear and will make no attempt to check what is coming until they are at or close to the stop line. This can give you the impression they have stopped because they have seen you only to find they pull out any way. Motorcyclists suffer the same problem, its not about how bright your lights are, though good lights are better than crappy ones. Its about if they look and if you can trigger them to notice you.

Best option (if safe) is to get some sideways movement going, by moving out towards the centre of the road. This improves the chances of you being seen as the eye is better at judging distance/speed if the object coming towards it is moving across the eye. it also increases the distance they have to travel in to a narrower gap, which will make the brain think twice about risking it.

Pross

On my commute I have to go around a roundabout above the M4. Riding home in the dark last winter I could see a car hammering up the slip road. From experience I know that driving up you can get the feeling you have a good view but doubted the driver would have seen me and judging by the speed they were approaching they weren't planning on giving way. I varied my own direction of travel and end up nearly parallel with the car when it entered the roundabout and the driver didn't see me until I was within touching distance of his window (despite my Fenix L2D and another light that was on flash) - it was almost worth the fright though just to see the shock on the driver's face when he finally saw me! I had a very similar incident the next day and then on my third commute that week someone overtook me going into the same roundabout and turned left across the front of me. Since then I have avoided that route and taken a longer route around that puts me onto a cycleway but on that route I have to contend with all the shoppers coming out of Sainsbury who don't bother giving way as so little traffic goes around the roundabout. Oddly, other than these two locations I very rarely have any issues with drivers when I'm on the bike.

Emphursis

On my ride on Saturday, I went down a road that had a few of those small, raised roundabouts.

If you picture a T, I was going along the top of the letter, from the right. The roundabout was slightly towards the upwards stroke, so to go straight on from my side, you needed to actually go round, whereas going straight on from the other direction, you didn't need to turn.

I pulled up at the line, because there were two cars coming from the right, and indicating they were going to my left. While I was waiting, I could sense that there was someone impatient behind me, so I set off as quickly and safely as possible, giving clear indication that I was going straight on.

I was about halfway round, when out of the corner of my eye, I saw a taxi going the wrong way round the roundabout. Because he set off later than me, we reached the exit at the same time, and he had to swing in inches in front of me to avoid hitting the bollards in the middle of the road. I had to ram the brakes on, making the back end slip out (not as much fun as on a mountain bike!), nearly falling off in the process.

Unfortunately, I didn't think to try and get the license plate until he was too far away to make it out (having done about 45 in the 30mph zone), but I did manage to get an angry finger in as I stopping skidding.

alihisgreat

Emphursis wrote:

On my ride on Saturday, I went down a road that had a few of those small, raised roundabouts.

If you picture a T, I was going along the top of the letter, from the right. The roundabout was slightly towards the upwards stroke, so to go straight on from my side, you needed to actually go round, whereas going straight on from the other direction, you didn't need to turn.

I pulled up at the line, because there were two cars coming from the right, and indicating they were going to my left. While I was waiting, I could sense that there was someone impatient behind me, so I set off as quickly and safely as possible, giving clear indication that I was going straight on.

I was about halfway round, when out of the corner of my eye, I saw a taxi going the wrong way round the roundabout. Because he set off later than me, we reached the exit at the same time, and he had to swing in inches in front of me to avoid hitting the bollards in the middle of the road. I had to ram the brakes on, making the back end slip out (not as much fun as on a mountain bike!), nearly falling off in the process.

Unfortunately, I didn't think to try and get the license plate until he was too far away to make it out (having done about 45 in the 30mph zone), but I did manage to get an angry finger in as I stopping skidding.

How is that defensive cycling?

Defensive cycling is about avoiding the emergency stop situations.

nickyboy zz

ALIHISGREAT wrote:

You maybe should have been wearing Rapha's Hi-Vis gilet? http://www.rapha.cc/hivis-gilet/

Blimey, and I thought the decathlon one I just bought for £30 was expensive http://www.decathlon.co.uk/en1150-appro ... 54018.html

diy

serious question - how many people sense a potential conflict and do absolutely nothing to avoid it? I have a theory that some part of the primitive brain sees the potential for excitement/aggression and wants it to happen.