What do you think I should have done (road incident)?

bungle73

Was on my way back home from my daily ride on Wednesday, and I turned into a side road from a main road. As I was accelerating away from the main junction I was literally just about to pass a side road when the car that was waiting there suddenly pulled out right in front of me.....and I mean RIGHT front of me. I had to suddenly swerve in front of them onto the opposite side of the road to avoid running into them. I pulled back onto the correct side of the road and stopped. I think the car stopped but after a short time drove off. I was still seething and though about chasing after them, as they had to stop for the main junction I mentioned earlier. But I decided to just get home asap. I didn't feel that shaken when I got home, just angry. This wasn't the usual someone pulling out way down the road who can't judge a cyclist's speed, this was someone pulling out right in front of me. They either didn't bother to look or shouldn't even be on the road.

pblakeney

Agreed on all points, but in the end, nothing. They stopped so know they did wrong. Ranting would not have helped. Well, maybe for you but the situation could then escalate and any lessons learned, forgotten.

trivial_poursuivant

Best not inflaming matters if the driver didn’t hit you. You have nothing to gain and could end up just making matters worse. It’s sh1t it happens and drivers need to take more care but you get to live to fight another day. Be grateful for that.

redvision

You mean something like this?
https://youtu.be/vjZOHuSDBzY

That video was from a few years ago. I was wearing high vis clothing and made eye contact with the driver. Yet he still pulled straight out pushing me on to the other side of the road. Fortunately nothing was coming.

I learned from my mistake of not being further out - more in the primary position.

I guess the main thing is you are ok. Just use this as proof that you can never be sure the car will not pull out at a side road, so get in to primary position and be prepared for the car to pull out.

bungle73

redvision wrote:

You mean something like this?
https://youtu.be/vjZOHuSDBzY

That video was from a few years ago. I was wearing high vis clothing and made eye contact with the driver. Yet he still pulled straight out pushing me on to the other side of the road. Fortunately nothing was coming.

I learned from my mistake of not being further out - more in the primary position.

I guess the main thing is you are ok. Just use this as proof that you can never be sure the car will not pull out at a side road, so get in to primary position and be prepared for the car to pull out.

Not quite. The car was turning right so went across my path, and it pulled out a little earlier than that. I was in the primary position as the road is quite narrow, and there are cars parked along parts of it. It happened here: https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.34358 ... 6656?hl=en

redvision

Bungle73 wrote:

Not quite. The car was turning right so went across my path, and it pulled out a little earlier than that. I was in the primary position as the road is quite narrow, and there are cars parked along parts of it. It happened here: https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.34358 ... 6656?hl=en

Well like I say the main thing is you are ok.
Just try to learn from it and be aware whenever you are approaching a side road - you just never know whether a driver will pull out in front of you.

bungle73

One just to chalk up to experience then. Thanks for the comments.

sloppyschleckonds

Yes, count your blessings

MrATX

I've never had that happen to me but I've had some people pull out a bit close and of course very close passes. And I also get a little angry but in the end I think it's usually just carelessness not malice so I don't think being aggressive is usually the right thing to do. I remember once I was driving, I was coming out of a small street onto a larger road, with maybe a 50kph speed limit. The road I was turning onto had a slight downward slope, maybe a few percent grade. I saw a cyclist coming but he was so far away I thought I had plenty of time to take my turn in front of him. But what I didn't consider was how fast he was coming down the road. Now that I know a bit more about cycling, I can imagine with that slope he could have been going 60 kph. Anyway there was a sort of a small bike lane on the side of the road so the cyclist came riding by me and he yelled something as loud as he could, which of course was startling, as at the time I didn't know I'd did him wrong. Now with the ebikes, I have to be extra aware of bicycles coming down the road at 50 plus kph.

chippyk

I’d have called him a Cnut and got on with my day.

redbikejohn

Wow you guys are very forgiving

rowanharley

I had a similar incident, expect the car was pulling into a turn instead of pulling out. They passed me out as cars usually would but as soon as they passed me out, they pulled right in front of me to turn into their driveway rather than just waiting behind me. I almost ran into the side of them and only missed them by a fraction! They didn't indicate either which couldve left me out of sports for months. Drivers need to be better informed on cyclists because at the moment, they seem to underestimate our speed which leaves many out of sports for months

ZMC888

In theory there's nothing to be gained from getting angry. Just stay ZEN or even better to have a mini camera and send it to the police so the driver can be warned or charged, fantastic if they have to do a police driving skills course to avoid a fine.

The reality is that you probably won't have a camera and you will see red. The best thing is to learn to let it go. If I can forget it that day, by tomorrow morning it's all forgotten. If I choose to get angry I will carry that incident around for days simmering and sometimes getting angrier plotting revenge on the car if I ever see it again - like pulling the tire valves leaving them on the windscreen. So for my own mental health it's better just to expect bad driving and learn to forget it.

Almost every driver other than very nervous and inexperienced usually female drivers believe they are fantastic. Being told that they are in fact crap by any other road user than a police officer will probably make them angry and abusive, especially being told by a cyclist who they believe is at the bottom of the hierarchy.

EBEB

If I think a car is about to do that I normally shout “hello” and wave at them. I haven’t actually had one pull out once they’ve been forced to make eye contact. Pretty sure I’ve yelled ‘hello’ at some people who wouldn’t have pulled out anyway, but I’d much prefer that to 1 SMIDSY.

In this case, I’d cycle on a bit and then when a safe distance away call them a ‘f****** idiot’ and raise the middle finger in a way they would find hard to miss in their mirrors.

trekvet

I'd prefer to turn in behind him, as that way he is moving away.