SMIDSY??

heneghj

Ok so this morning I was involved in an accident although I am not sure if it could be considered my fault or not?

I was coming down a side street that was backed up with traffic and as there were a few buses it left me with two options to either cycle down the pavement side of the traffic and have to continually stop behind the buses, or pull out to the middle of the road and cycle down the right hand side of traffic. Rightly or Wrongly I chose to go with the latter.

Further down the road I was continuing past the traffic when a People Carrier appeared in front of me to turn the way I had just come from and as you can imagine I went straight into the side of it.

Got the womans number however I am unsure as to who was in the wrong. Should I not have been cycling down the outside past unmoving traffic or should the woman have been more observant went coming out of the junction?

Thanks in advance

cookeeemonster

I'm pretty sure it's her fault - she should've checked before undertaking that maneuver.

Are you insured? It could get messy if she turns rounds and says it was your fault

Raffles

is this question anything to do with you making a claim ?

heneghj

Dont have insurance but there is no damage to my bike just to me. trapped my finger between the hoods and her car and smashed my shoulder in to it.

I wasnt really looking to make a claim just wanna make sure she doesn't claim for damage on her car as my hoods went in to the side

gozzy

If you consider that motorbikes go down the outside all the time without getting done by the police then I reckon you're ok, she really should have checked properly.

Btw, you actually had 3 options, you could have moved with the traffic. But it's good you're ok, crashes are rubbish.

Raffles

heneghj wrote:

I wasnt really looking to make a claim just wanna make sure she doesn't claim for damage on her car as my hoods went in to the side

Good, Im glad to know that as there are far too many claim mongers out there . You had a lil bump and you can walk away and you should be thankful for that, now put the incident behind you and move on.

Women drivers spend more time natterring on the phones and checking makeup than actually watching what is going on around them and drivers should really pay full attention to any driver on the road and always expect some really shoddy driving before it occurs.

rolf_f

She should have been more observant. But it's one of those things where being right but dead is no consolation. Whenever filtering past stationary traffic, you have to expect things to happen - either people pulling out or pedestrians appearing from nowhere. In your case, whilst you were probably in the right (depending on the detail - but simplistically you had the right of way), you should expect people to be squeezing out of side turnings and across your path and you should be ready for it. Filtering past moving traffic tends to be a lot safer.

Anonymous

Do you mean that she pulled out from a side road on the left doing a right turn?

If so I would have thought she would have only had to give way to the vehicle and not a bike shooting down the outside?

Glad you are OK though ;-)

heneghj

Ive had 3 bumps and managed to walk away. The only time I claimed out of the 3 was when the driver drove off.

My thinking is if he cant be arsed to stop them im not arsed about pressing charges or sueing.

heneghj

Carbonator wrote:

Do you mean that she pulled out from a side road on the left doing a right turn?

That was probably a much easier way of explaining it yes. haha

gozzy

Raffles wrote:

Women drivers spend more time natterring on the phones and checking makeup than actually watching what is going on around them and drivers should really pay full attention to any driver on the road and always expect some really shoddy driving before it occurs.

[/quote]


Sexist much?

heneghj

Gozzy wrote:

Raffles wrote:

heneghj wrote:

Women drivers spend more time natterring on the phones and checking makeup than actually watching what is going on around them and drivers should really pay full attention to any driver on the road and always expect some really shoddy driving before it occurs.

Sexist much?

This makes it look like I wrote the thing about woman drivers

gozzy

Sorry. will edit.

Anonymous

heneghj wrote:

Carbonator wrote:

Do you mean that she pulled out from a side road on the left doing a right turn?

That was probably a much easier way of explaining it yes. haha

Edited my above post to add..........

If so I would have thought she would have only had to give way to the vehicle and not a bike shooting down the outside?

Glad you are OK though

Raffles

Gozzy wrote:

Raffles wrote:

heneghj wrote:

Women drivers spend more time natterring on the phones and checking makeup than actually watching what is going on around them and drivers should really pay full attention to any driver on the road and always expect some really shoddy driving before it occurs.

Sexist much?

Definitely not, I see what goes on around me.

gozzy

Ok, so I take it that men are never on the phone, messing about with things and are the best drivers too? Are you friends with Stirling Moss or something?

heneghj

Gozzy wrote:

Ok, so I take it that men are never on the phone, messing about with things and are the best drivers too? Are you friends with Stirling Moss or something?

Haha Nice retort and very current

Anonymous

Cars are meant to not block junctions (all junctions, not just the ones with writing on the floor) so if it was stationary or slow moving traffic you should have expected cars to pull out from a side road if there was a big space in front of it.

heneghj

Just looked on Google Maps now and it isnt actually a junction its on of those little laybys outside shops

Anonymous

heneghj wrote:

Just looked on Google Maps now and it isnt actually a junction its on of those little laybys outside shops

Thats still technically a junction though isn't it?

Raffles

Gozzy wrote:

Ok, so I take it that men are never on the phone, messing about with things and are the best drivers too? Are you friends with Stirling Moss or something?

did SM say women drivers suck too ?

Im not gonna argue with a legend like SM

Bobbinogs

Carbonator wrote:

Do you mean that she pulled out from a side road on the left doing a right turn?

If so I would have thought she would have only had to give way to the vehicle and not a bike shooting down the outside?

Glad you are OK though ;-)

Interesting one. I can picture the scene and imagine how the driver got a gap in the traffic (quite rightly as it was not moving and would have covered off the junction) and then simply could not see past the cars that had stopped. Advanced driving courses teach a driver to anticipate others driving badly or where the driver may not be well sighted and therefore make a mistake. I think this looks like one of those accidents that, although the driver may have been technically at fault, hindsight would say that the cyclist should have only proceeded on the outside of stationary traffic by moving very slowly and with extreme caution...which would have enabled the cyclist to prevent the accident.

Ho hum, glad all is ok which is the main thing. Last prang I had was at the start of the year when I went over the bonnet of a car at a mini-roundabout. Totally my fault, misjudged my stopping distance whilst cycling fast on a very wet road whilst eating a banana! Driver was fantastic and showed great concern for me (I think I may have even nodded in his direction as I flew past his windscreen). All ok thankfully, which is the main thing (sod the bike in these cases, no matter what other folks may post).

heneghj

suppose so, but If I was in my car coming down the right hand side of a lane of traffic and another car shot out a junction on the left and I went in to the side of it then its 100% there fault as im established on the road and seen as the law for a car is the same as the law for a bike is that not the same thing

Anonymous

heneghj wrote:

suppose so, but If I was in my car coming down the right hand side of a lane of traffic and another car shot out a junction on the left and I went in to the side of it then its 100% there fault as im established on the road and seen as the law for a car is the same as the law for a bike is that not the same thing

How could you drive a car down the outside of another car? There would have to be two lanes.

Raffles

Ive googled stirling moss thang going down. What makes me wince is all the women drivers whingeing that they get a bad rap , go to any supermarket and watch them try to back their car into a parking space or any street corner and watch them try to parallel park.....................nuff said and case closed.

heneghj

Not necessarily, if the road splits in to two further up and there is no solid white line in the centre then legally I can pass the traffic to turn right ahead as long as there is no oncoming traffic

danlikesbikes

heneghj wrote:

suppose so, but If I was in my car coming down the right hand side of a lane of traffic and another car shot out a junction on the left and I went in to the side of it then its 100% there fault as im established on the road and seen as the law for a car is the same as the law for a bike is that not the same thing

First thing is that you are OK.

However you also should not have been attempting an overtaking move at or approaching a junction (as per the highway code) & the reason is that all to often that both the person on the main road & the person at the junction looking to join the main road could well be unsighted to each other or have reduced/last minute vision.

Know its hard to tell for all of us internet warriors & I too can picture the situation as I think you have described it. Yes the person pulling out of the junction should have possible taken more notice when pulling out as the onus is on them to ensure it is safe to do so & that would probably trump the fact that your overtake was not the best option to over take.

Anonymous

heneghj wrote:

Not necessarily, if the road splits in to two further up and there is no solid white line in the centre then legally I can pass the traffic to turn right ahead as long as there is no oncoming traffic

Not sure you can do that!

heneghj

Yeah I agree going down the right hand side is not the safest or smartest and I do in the most part try to avoid it. But the best part of bicycle commuting is the ability to avoid waiting in traffic.

All in all, im as fine as i can be with a few bruises and you live and learn

heneghj

Carbonator wrote:

heneghj wrote:

Not necessarily, if the road splits in to two further up and there is no solid white line in the centre then legally I can pass the traffic to turn right ahead as long as there is no oncoming traffic

Not sure you can do that!

Is overtaking illegal? as that is what it is

danlikesbikes

Carbonator wrote:

heneghj wrote:

Not necessarily, if the road splits in to two further up and there is no solid white line in the centre then legally I can pass the traffic to turn right ahead as long as there is no oncoming traffic

Not sure you can do that!

^-^ Tend to agree

Overtake only when it is safe and legal to do so. You should;
stay in your lane if traffic is moving slowly in queues.

Taken from the highway code