Invisible cyclist?
robbohenn
Posts: 26
Had my first close shave with a car the other evening. I normally have my front and rear mounted Cat Eyes on flash mode, but as it was so warm and bright I thought I wouldn't need to - big mistake. I was cycling through a village about a yard out from parked cars when the door of the car I was just going past opened. Luckily I managed to swerve to miss it and just heard a "sorry" behind me. That could have been very costly for my bike and me. Needless to say my lights are back on again and will stay on in future.
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Chances are the person didn't look at all. Brightest lights in the world wouldn't help0
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markhewitt1978 wrote:Chances are the person didn't look at all. Brightest lights in the world wouldn't help
+1 to that the only way to stay safe in that situation is to ride at least a doors width out into the road (then your light come into play as hopefully the drivers behind you see them!).0 -
Boy oh boy, you wait until you get a 'punishment pass' or similar.
Ps. Don't ride so close to parked cars.I'm sorry you don't believe in miracles0 -
I'll echo everyone else, it's not because of the lack of lights.
It's the lack of attention on the drivers part.0 -
try to ride a little further out as already stated. you could have flashing blue lights and a siren but people still may not see you.0
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Here by law you have to leave 1.5 metres space when overtaking a parked car, and cars overtaking you have to leave 1.5 metres space between you and them, I've yet to find a road wide enough to do this though
my isetta is a 300cc bike0 -
I had a driver beep me yesterday after driving so close he nearly touched. Things to take from it
1. What the point of beeping me when? what does it accomplish when you are right up my ar5e?
2. What do these people think will happen if they do make contact? There are other cars about and I am sure at least one person would take their plate if they were to try and do a runner.
Some people are cnuts who just think they own the road. You have to just hope you avoid them and ride defensively. The majority of accidents are, I am sure, completely accidental. But some people just drive so dangerously it cannot be called an accident. I have had driver cross the road and drive directly at me to intimidate. Sadly there is very little hope for these lunatics but hope they never actually cause anyone else any harm.
All I can say as keep safe and look out for yourself. And if possible try to ride with company.0 -
Most drivers will give you at least as much space as you take from the kerb, it's a neural shortcut that means they don't have to think.
Exploit this by riding 'primary' (middle of the lane) when it wouldn't be safe for a car to pass, most of them wont and you'll have plenty of room to escape the few who override the impulse and try to pass anyway.I used to just ride my bike to work but now I find myself going out looking for bigger and bigger hills.0 -
Always ride with flashing light front and back, but the fact stated about drivers just not paying attention is spot on. Fortunately, my home area is pretty safe and the drivers on their toes. Not to get complacent though, one slip and I'm road kill.Lets just got for a ride, the heck with all this stuff...0
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I was hit by a car in broad daylight as it overtook me it's wing mirror slammed in to my bars.
I was very lucky that I was on the hoods so my hands weren't hit, just the metal bars and that I managed to stay on. The only good thing was that as they drove away I saw that the wing mirror was shattered and hanging on my a thread.
Since then I always have my rear light on.0 -
Yerp, defensive riding 101.
In some cases, it doesn't matter if they see you or not. I was cycling along on Friday, a car pulls up at the end of the sideroad i'm about to pass. She looks both ways, fixes eye-contact with me and waits....... or so I thought. Of course she pulls out, still looking at me. Her vacant stare is met by my grimacing face as I struggle to brake and swerve left.
Moral of the story. Expect the worst of people and be happy/thank them when they show you a modicum of respect.0 -
Peat wrote:Yerp, defensive riding 101.
In some cases, it doesn't matter if they see you or not. I was cycling along on Friday, a car pulls up at the end of the sideroad i'm about to pass. She looks both ways, fixes eye-contact with me and waits....... or so I thought. Of course she pulls out, still looking at me. Her vacant stare is met by my grimacing face as I struggle to brake and swerve left.
Moral of the story. Expect the worst of people and be happy/thank them when they show you a modicum of respect.
I ended up taking the wrong route home Friday night and ended up on a main road cycle lane through East London - a truly dreadful place to ride a bike. The amount of times people did the above. They look at me, look again and then when i am a few metres from them they decide to pull out. This happened at least 4 times in an hour.
If it was dark and I was wearing all black them maybe they might not of seen me - But its was bright blue sky and i was wearing bright pink !!!!!
I will never be riding that route again and as said above - its just a case of expecting this at every turn and preparing for it0 -
find a balance that gives you enough space for a door to open and for you to see someone emerging from between parked cars but also doesn't leave you riding down the middle of a lane for no good reason obstructing people looking to pass you. Bicycles don't make very good road blocks. There isn't a right place to be in a lane only a right place to be at that time given everything around you. If you do anything to make it hard for people to pass you, then you are deluding yourself that you are improving your safety.0
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Rode home through East London Sunday afternoon for the 1st time. NEVER AGAIN. The A11 and the A118 are a nightmare and on 3 occasions I had to brake / swerve / call out for people to either not walk in the road, not to walk across crossings while I had a green light and worst of all pull out in front of me in their cars.
Never drive down them roads if you want to enjoy a ride. I shall go back to the country from now on and never ride to work again!0 -
I'm cycling LEJOG for charity in a couple of weeks and it's this reason that I'm bricking it. The endurance part should be the main focus but all that's worrying me is stupid drivers.
Was doing 35 in a 40 the other day on a long downhill road. There was a narrow "on road line cycle lane" obviously full of chippings, grates etc. Riding about 2 cm to the right of this line a car pulls closely along side, matching my speed points out the cycle lane followed by a couple of expletives..he then drove on and to my totally pant filling surprise he was towing a caravan..wider than the car by about a foot...passed my arm about 3 inches away..!!!!
I caught him up at the base of the hill where we WERE BOTH STOPPED AT THE LIGHTS asking "what the hell?" told me he didn't drive on my cycle lane so I shouldn't be on his road. He told me he knows the law and I should be in the cycle lane....sigh... I left him with this thought: "We reached the lights at the same time. I'm now holding you up telling you about your bad driving. Had you have just waited behind me rather than trying to kill me with your caravan we would both be on our merry way by now"..
Its always the same old siht.."I pay road tax" "get insurance" "you have to ride by the kerb" "you have to use the cycle lane" . No idea how to battle general ignorance and a bad attitude. I always make a point of thanking patient drivers how wait to pass safely or show me courtesy. Nearly always met with a wave back or a thumbs up...probably cyclists!!0 -
Rissoles there will always be...0
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Even if you paid insurance, paid 'road tax' and hugged the curb like a frightened bunny, they would still have reason to complain.0
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markhewitt1978 wrote:Even if you paid insurance, paid 'road tax' and hugged the curb like a frightened bunny, they would still have reason to complain.
Spot on, Mark, as we say here, "if you gave them a new rope to hang their selves, they would still complain" :roll:Lets just got for a ride, the heck with all this stuff...0 -
litwardle wrote:I'm cycling LEJOG for charity in a couple of weeks and it's this reason that I'm bricking it. The endurance part should be the main focus but all that's worrying me is stupid drivers.
Was doing 35 in a 40 the other day on a long downhill road. There was a narrow "on road line cycle lane" obviously full of chippings, grates etc. Riding about 2 cm to the right of this line a car pulls closely along side, matching my speed points out the cycle lane followed by a couple of expletives..he then drove on and to my totally pant filling surprise he was towing a caravan..wider than the car by about a foot...passed my arm about 3 inches away..!!!!
I caught him up at the base of the hill where we WERE BOTH STOPPED AT THE LIGHTS asking "what the hell?" told me he didn't drive on my cycle lane so I shouldn't be on his road. He told me he knows the law and I should be in the cycle lane....sigh... I left him with this thought: "We reached the lights at the same time. I'm now holding you up telling you about your bad driving. Had you have just waited behind me rather than trying to kill me with your caravan we would both be on our merry way by now"..
Its always the same old siht.."I pay road tax" "get insurance" "you have to ride by the kerb" "you have to use the cycle lane" . No idea how to battle general ignorance and a bad attitude. I always make a point of thanking patient drivers how wait to pass safely or show me courtesy. Nearly always met with a wave back or a thumbs up...probably cyclists!!
I'm trying not to say it...but...fecking caravaners! That is one of the worst cases I have ever heard, you did well to talk to him rationally. I would have been foaming at the mouth and punching his poxy 'van.
Driving home the other night and a dope in car looked me in the eye and pulled out in front of me. You just have to assume they haven't seen you and don't care if you're there or not.0 -
I'm sorry to say that there are just some people out there who shouldn't be let loose in a pram on the public roads. They have no sense of other road users' or their own safety (witness the clods up each other's backsides on the motorway, people speed up to close the gap with the car in front so that they then have to brake to avoid rear ending the car they've just caught up with).
I'm afraid that I now assume that I may need to take evasive action in all cases and plan accordingly. Fortunately, most of my riding is on quiet country roads. Even so, I've was close to being a statistic on a roundabout courtesy of someone who was looking straight at me just before they pulled out. So now I try and de-risk my cycling by trying to anticipate the potential threats and change my behaviour accordingly.
If I remember my Highway Code (c 1980 version) cars etc. were meant to give the space equivalent to a cyclist falling off their bikes as they passed i.e. around 5ft. There's no chance of that on today's roads.Someone's just passed me again0 -
I often use flashing front light in the daytime and it makes a big difference IME.
Mines a Knog Blinder which is probably about 100 lumen on the alternate flash mode. Cars often pull out from kerb to let me by when its on, which never really happens without it on.
Guessing cars are also more likely to see you on their offside too.0 -
Maybe of some use but I have recently started using 'Daytime Running Lights' like you get on modern cars like Audi etc - Essentially all I did is go on Amazon and by 2 x 30cm battery powered LED strips in white and 2 x Red. I zip tied them to my rear seat stays and also my front fork blades. The battery packs I just put in my saddle bag. Even from a distance in the daytime they really light up - My reckoning is 30 LEDS lit up bright white is better than a single (albeit powerful) LED bike light. Total cost was about £25 all in including batteries.0
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No point trying to reason with a git, just let them get on with their bad day and lack of life skills whilst you get on enjoying your ride.0
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If I remember my Highway Code (c 1980 version) cars etc. were meant to give the space equivalent to a cyclist falling off their bikes as they passed i.e. around 5ft. There's no chance of that on today's roads.[/quote]
Actually it says give them at least as much space as you would a car.
https://www.gov.uk/using-the-road-159-t ... 162-to-169
But it also tells cyclist not to do stupid/inconsiderate things in Rule 66, which you see every day.
https://www.gov.uk/rules-for-cyclists-59-to-820
