What did I do wrong?

Mikey23

concentrating on clipping/unclipping is a distraction when trying to do all the other stuff to stay safe. as that becomes more automatic so will your riding at junctions such as this. you now have a mental impression of a potentially hazardous mini roundabout. you didnt do a lot wrong but you will learn and become more confident and competent

i noticed early on that you went up on the inside of slow moving traffic. i personally wouldnt have done that as you are vulnerable to a left hook from car door or sudden turn into that side road. im a complete pussy myself in these situations but i think i would have kept my place in the traffic ...

Mikey23

aah i see its one of those narrow cycle lane thingys that just stops for no reason and has been put there by planners who dont ride bike so that they can say they have a cycle policy... belay that last order shipmate!

Cycool

I was near the kerb going up the road and didn't know there would be a traffic queue up ahead so was kind of
forced to stay there. When I pass a silver Mercedes on the inside I am indicating to go out on the approach to my
turn at the roundabout but the car in front brakes and I panic a bit and head back to kerb. I then take the same
attempt and move out. I was a bit flustered and unsure of what was to do for the best at this point to be honest.
What should have been my best move? Move out early or wait and see what is up ahead? Thanks for any tips.

(I see you have answered again but i'll post this anyway)

Initialised

Slowbike wrote:

Right of Way is a strong term and I believe it should be scrapped so nobody has Right of Way. It should be Priority - inferring that although you may have priority over other traffic, you don't have full right of way and should be prepared to Give Way at all times.
In practice there isn't much difference - but critically it softens the absolutes of Right of Way may lead more ppl into thinking about how they interact with other vehicles.

A road, public footpath or bridleway is a Right of Way on the road on vehicle may have Prioity over another depending on road layout, position etc... Archaic, erroneous use of of the term Right of Way persists in motoring talk, same as Road Tax.

rickeverett

looking at the vid, the only thing I could say is you approached the roundabout situation a tad to fast.

Firstly the drivers in front wouldn't be expecting something to overtake them on the left at a roundabout, junction or crossing. Although you can do this on a bike its extra dangerous overtaking or filtering down the left and particularly right side of slow/stationary traffic.

people get used to "the norm".

The red car who turned left at the roundabout would have also seen the que of traffic first and you last. - There's no excuse, but we are not always perfect.

Trouble is- what if the red car was carrying on instead of turning left. ? Would you have been able to stop in time?- looking at the speed, probably not as you were forced to manover over to the traffic island.
Sometimes driving or riding into someone's dangerous situation is what make bad things worse.

When I watched the vid I knew straight away what might happen. I would have unclipped a foot and manoeuvred really slow whilst signalling there, precisely because of drivers and situations like that.

If im in no rush, seeing as there were only two cars in-front, I would have waited in the middle right behind. If the cars were waiting, but there was no congestion then no way would I ride down the left or right of traffic at a junction or roundabout like that.

mattbabs

At least you are giving this some thought. Just before you get to the roundabout there is a women riding on the pavement on your left who rides straight across a T-junction without stopping.

Cycool

Thanks for all the feedback, i'll try and put it into practice. It all seemed so simple 20 years ago speeding round on
my Raleigh racer but now it seems I'm a learner again and the roads are a lot busier and more complicated. Can't
wait to get back out there again.

Mikey23

Confidence and competence will come. I thought I can ride a bike because I rode a bike as a kid. Didn't realise that it was going to take yonks to learn to ride a bike properly and to realise that the roads are a very different place now...

bianchimoon

If you signaled the oncoming cars should have stopped plain and simple, but agree some people don't know how to use mini roundabouts. Play safe on that one in future wait till a car stops for you or no cars coming before turning right. If it's happened once it'll happen again!

awavey

dont think you did anything wrong personally, the Pug should have stopped for you. In someways because of the build of the road you wonder whether they missed it was a mini roundabout at all (its amazing despite all the clutter/signage how people miss things youd think were obvious) because they literally seem to be able to just carry straight on, I wonder even if a car had been turning if theyd have stopped.

think the only thing to take from it is to be mindful cars dont do what we always expect they should

rickeverett

awavey wrote:

dont think you did anything wrong personally, the Pug should have stopped for you. In someways because of the build of the road you wonder whether they missed it was a mini roundabout at all (its amazing despite all the clutter/signage how people miss things youd think were obvious) because they literally seem to be able to just carry straight on, I wonder even if a car had been turning if theyd have stopped.

think the only thing to take from it is to be mindful cars dont do what we always expect they should

Yeah- key thing is speed in those areas. Ability to get the bike stopped, or in worst case, slow enough not to cause major injury.

the same thing your supposed to do in a car. slow so there's enough time to look and make the manoeuvre.

T Junctions are also one to look out for. Many people do look properly, but some miss you and pull out. If you approach looking out for this and reduce the tap, you can take measures to avoid.
The road isnt always a fast race / cycle training track.


THIS - Is a clear example of going too fast IMO. The cyclist was going full pelt into a busy junction area. Was the drivers fault, but he could have slowed down. IMO he was faster than a car would go through that.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6qycF0raqpg

slowbike

rickeverett wrote:

THIS - Is a clear example of going too fast IMO. The cyclist was going full pelt into a busy junction area. Was the drivers fault, but he could have slowed down. IMO he was faster than a car would go through that.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6qycF0raqpg

Disagree - the cyclist seems to be keeping pace with cars going in his direction, in a good position on the road and stopping or slowing may have only changed which vehicle ran him and his bike over.

2 drivers where grossly negligent in observing what was going on around them. They were lucky that the cyclist wasn't killed (otherwise they'd be facing suspended sentences).

There will always be inattentive drivers and it's just (bad) luck when a cyclist ends up interacting with them - would've/could've/should've wouldn't change a thing. If the cyclist had gone faster he may have cleared the junction before the idiot knocked him off and avoided the other driver completely. If he'd gone slower then the idiot would've passed in front. If he'd gone a different route he could've avoided that particular incident completely. But - it could've happened anywhere and at any time.
Yes, cyclists need to be more aware of what's going on around them - for their own safety - but sometimes there is nothing you can do to avoid a collision.

Cycool

Thanks again for all the advice. It is an unusual roundabout and I can fully understand why the drivers didn't stop
now. I've lived round here all my life so am pretty much aware of all the road layouts and junctions so will try
and be more aware that maybe drivers don't always have local knowledge. I am also going to spend a bit longer on
quiet roads practicing with the SPD-SL's as I think this is very likely to cause me an incident if I'm not able to clip
out quickly enough. It's all so simple driving a big car that other drivers are looking for and flashing orange
indicators letting others know your plan but a small thin biker waving his arm while wobbling is not quite as
noticeable!

Mikey23

and if more motorists realised that and reacted accordingly, the world would be a better place...