Almost ran down a cyclist in my car. :(

ValeTudoGuy

On my way home from work at 11:15pm while driving along the Preston back roads near the Grasshoppers Rugby Club, I spotted a cyclist at the last possible moment and had to slam on causing me to stop moments before taking him out. I got out of the car but the cyclist had no intention of stopping and quickly made away.
The fellow was crossing the road so was horizontal to me. He had chosen the apex of the sharpest corner on this stretch of road, which also happens to be the darkest patch of road as there is no road light directly on the corner.

He had lights front and back but as he was completely perpendicular to me I did not see them until I was almost upon him. The gent had elected to wear a camouflage jacket and black cycling pants which might look cool in the day but don't help me see you at night, unfortunately had had also removed the reflectors that had no doubt been attached to the spokes of his wheels at some point during their life which only compounded his invisibility.

Luckily for him, I am very aware of this area and was travelling at 30 on this 40mph road due to the fact I know people often walk down these lanes on their way home from the rugby club bar. Had I been one of the local Fast and Furious wanabe's then I would probably have been traveling at 70mph and Mr cyclist would likely now be a puddle of meat on the floor.

I am posting this in the hopes that Mr Cyclist also frequents this site and perhaps uses this opportunity to consider improving other road users chances of trying to keep him alive.

I am a careful driver and very sympathetic to cyclist... being one myself. But tonight Mr Cyclist I think you are perhaps "Here but for the grace of god."
I would like to say that you are still here thanks 100% to my judgement, but I think perhaps your luck had a part to play in it too.

raymondo60

I'm sure that many of us on this forum are drivers as well as cyclists. I drive into London once a week - logistics of my work mean I have to - and find myself making huge allowances for cyclists and their behaviour. I'm happy to do so and glad I have the '2-way' knowledge, but the behaviour and riding techniques of many of the cyclists I encounter do leave a lot to be desired. I guess we just have to acknowledge that our increased interest in and relationship to cycling means we are perhaps more aware of the riding styles of others, but in your case that increased knowledge sounds like it saved someone's life. Well done.

meanredspider

There are undoubtedly times when we see cyclist behaviour that makes us cringe or whince. Twice, yesterday, there were cyclists crossing the "uphill" direction of the Kessock Bridge in the roadworks contraflow ignoring (missing?) the cycle path. Now, they're entitled to be there but it does show a massive lack of consideration for fellow road-users and will drain the goodwill of motorists towards cyclists as they're forced to follow them for nearly a mile at 10mph or less.

CiB

If you'd been doing 70 though you'd have been away long before Ninja Bikist crossed the road. Go faster - you know it makes sense.

</twisted logic>

Kieran_Burns

I watched an episode of Mythbusters were they proved that driving faster means less damage when you hit an Elk.

Cyclists are like Elk aren't they?

(I may be lying completely about there being less damage, in fact I am but hey it makes for a fun post)

dhope

CiB wrote:

If you'd been doing 70 though you'd have been away long before Ninja Bikist crossed the road. Go faster - you know it makes sense.

</twisted logic>

I bought a faster car after a crash once with this logic...

veronese68

Kieran_Burns wrote:

I watched an episode of Mythbusters were they proved that driving faster means less damage when you hit an Elk.

Cyclists are like Elk aren't they?

(I may be lying completely about there being less damage, in fact I am but hey it makes for a fun post)

Only if they have a head cam. The cranial appendage acts like the antlers in high speed deflection.
Also total and utter codswallop in my poor attempt at humour

davmaggs

dhope wrote:

</twisted logic>
I bought a faster car after a crash once with this logic...

Years ago I was with a friend who was pulling out of a side road (driving, not cycling) concealed by lots of parked cars. He clipped someone driving past. Long story short no damage and he admitted fault, but I happened to say to the driver that she'd been going too fast for that particular road, and advised caution. Her reply was that she must have been going below the speed limit otherwise we wouldn't have hit her, and it was said in all seriousness.


edit; typo

DonDaddyD

Happens all the time and every single time it has happened to me it has been the cyclist's fault - except that one time I turned left without checking my mirrors.

FACT.

UndercoverElephant

A couple of weeks back I was taking a car-full of family for a meal in a restaurant in East Lothian. It was a sunny Sunday evening, so there were a few cyclists about. Saw a roadie coming to rest on the pavement in front of me, after he'd signalled to leave the main carriageway, so he wasn't even on the road.

As I was about to drive past him, he had a clipless moment and fell into the road with his head roughly in line with, and only a few meters from my front wheel; it's a NSL section, so that's not far at all.

Being awesome and all, I drove round him, rather than over his head - he was wearing a helmet, though, so would have been fine. I pulled over to check he was alright but he waved me on, naturally embarrassed that he was delaying us getting to the restaurant.

He didn't have lights or hi viz. Really I should have run him over as a matter of principle.

gbsahne001

did you tweet it?

DonDaddyD

gbsahne wrote:

did you tweet it?

Genius!

ValeTudoGuy

you guys have a good way of making me smile about a potentially disastrous situation. Head cams acting as an antler like appendage, is perhaps my favourite reply.
And no I won't be heading to tw@tter or myface or nosybook or any of those other abominations.

Wunnunda

A major problem down my way this spring/summer is overgrowing trees. The trees, due to the wet winter and late spring I guess, have put on more and thicker growth that I can recall in my lifetime. Long sections of lane are, effectively tunnels and, of course, drivers are weraring sunnies on these bright mornings. Add a cyclist in dark colours and no lights to that scenario and you have a tragedy waiting to happen. Always a problem but especially bad this year IMO.

Kieran_Burns

Wunnunda wrote:

A major problem down my way this spring/summer is overgrowing trees. The trees, due to the wet winter and late spring I guess, have put on more and thicker growth that I can recall in my lifetime. Long sections of lane are, effectively tunnels and, of course, drivers are weraring sunnies on these bright mornings. Add a cyclist in dark colours and no lights to that scenario and you have a tragedy waiting to happen. Always a problem but especially bad this year IMO.

Ride with an Elk. You should be safe then.

markhewitt1978

Wunnunda wrote:

A major problem down my way this spring/summer is overgrowing trees. The trees, due to the wet winter and late spring I guess, have put on more and thicker growth that I can recall in my lifetime. Long sections of lane are, effectively tunnels and, of course, drivers are weraring sunnies on these bright mornings. Add a cyclist in dark colours and no lights to that scenario and you have a tragedy waiting to happen. Always a problem but especially bad this year IMO.

Cyclist came up to me (yes he caught me up grr!) and was like "mate your back light is on". "oh, cheers". I know my back light is on because even though it's bright sunshine here, but later on my route it's almost nighttime going through the trees.

Mr Sworld

markhewitt1978 wrote:

I know my back light is on because even though it's bright sunshine here, but later on my route it's almost nighttime going through the trees.

Try not to go through the trees. Try to go past the trees.

notsoblue

Kieran_Burns wrote:

Ride with an Elk. You should be safe then.

Agent57

Wunnunda wrote:

Long sections of lane are, effectively tunnels and, of course, drivers are weraring sunnies on these bright mornings. Add a cyclist in dark colours and no lights to that scenario and you have a tragedy waiting to happen. Always a problem but especially bad this year IMO.

I had this thought during sections of my ride today. There were certainly bits I thought "I wish I had a rear light on". The dappling effect of sunlight through the leaves doesn't help either (and makes it hard for me to see the road surface properly - I made at least one sharp swerve to avoid a pothole).

And no, I didn't have a helmet on, either. I've given up on wearing mine.

northstar

ValeTudoGuy wrote:

you guys have a good way of making me smile about a potentially disastrous situation. Head cams acting as an antler like appendage, is perhaps my favourite reply.
And no I won't be heading to tw@tter or myface or nosybook or any of those other abominations.

It sounds like you might need your eyes tested and perhaps head to a opticians instead if you can't see riders

daviesee

northstar wrote:

ValeTudoGuy wrote:

you guys have a good way of making me smile about a potentially disastrous situation. Head cams acting as an antler like appendage, is perhaps my favourite reply.
And no I won't be heading to tw@tter or myface or nosybook or any of those other abominations.

It sounds like you might need your eyes tested and perhaps head to a opticians instead if you can't see riders

:roll:

Blacktemplar

Kieran_Burns wrote:

Wunnunda wrote:

A major problem down my way this spring/summer is overgrowing trees. The trees, due to the wet winter and late spring I guess, have put on more and thicker growth that I can recall in my lifetime. Long sections of lane are, effectively tunnels and, of course, drivers are weraring sunnies on these bright mornings. Add a cyclist in dark colours and no lights to that scenario and you have a tragedy waiting to happen. Always a problem but especially bad this year IMO.

Ride LIKE an Elk. You should be safe then.

FTFY

Do you think Wiggle sell these? I'd certainly not blame them if they did....
http://www.bozemandailychronicle.com/news/article_5afca680-9862-11df-99d8-001cc4c03286.html?mode=image&photo=0

northstar

daviesee wrote:

northstar wrote:

ValeTudoGuy wrote:

you guys have a good way of making me smile about a potentially disastrous situation. Head cams acting as an antler like appendage, is perhaps my favourite reply.
And no I won't be heading to tw@tter or myface or nosybook or any of those other abominations.

It sounds like you might need your eyes tested and perhaps head to a opticians instead if you can't see riders

:roll:

:roll:

I can roll my eyes too :roll:

Agent57

northstar wrote:

daviesee wrote:

northstar wrote:

ValeTudoGuy wrote:

you guys have a good way of making me smile about a potentially disastrous situation. Head cams acting as an antler like appendage, is perhaps my favourite reply.
And no I won't be heading to tw@tter or myface or nosybook or any of those other abominations.

It sounds like you might need your eyes tested and perhaps head to a opticians instead if you can't see riders

:roll:

:roll:

I can roll my eyes too :roll:

Me too! :shock:

Oh. Seems I can't.

daviesee

northstar wrote:

:roll:

I can roll my eyes too :roll:

Very good. Can you get a point though?
Cyclists without lights or reflectives while wearing dark clothes are very, very hard to see in the dark whilst driving at a legal and safe speed.
They are a danger to themselves (and others) and having nearly been caught out while driving myself, it taught me a very valuable lesson in visibility.

Kieran_Burns

I was just pondering that if you did ride with an Elk, could you come up with a theory about dinosaurs?

Ben6899

Kieran_Burns wrote:

I was just pondering that if you did ride with an Elk, could you come up with a theory about dinosaurs?

What? Like the brontosaurus theory?

Kieran_Burns

Ben6899 wrote:

Kieran_Burns wrote:

I was just pondering that if you did ride with an Elk, could you come up with a theory about dinosaurs?

What? Like the brontosaurus theory?

Is it yours?

Ben6899

Not mine, but it's a good one.

http://www.incoseonline.org.uk/Document ... n_pres.pdf

snorri

meanredspider wrote:

Twice, yesterday, there were cyclists crossing the "uphill" direction of the Kessock Bridge in the roadworks contraflow ignoring (missing?) the cycle path. Now, they're entitled to be there but it does show a massive lack of consideration for fellow road-users .

The lack of consideration was on the part of Transport Scotland and their contractor who despite numerous complaints doggedly refused to provide a practical diversion route, and also refused to signpost clearly the quite impractical diversion they expected pedestrians and cyclists to follow.
There were no signs directing cyclists who arrived at the road works on the A9 towards the diversion route, apparently they were supposed to continue through the works on the A9 as the cyclists you complain about were doing. Only cyclists using the NCN were re-directed, and that signing was seriously lacking in clarity.
Anyway, do you feel the newly refurbished path was worth the six months of inconvenience?