Near misses
Totalnewbie
Posts: 932
After a lovely few weeks it seems the eejits are out again.
Serenely riding the five minute ride from my flat to a meeting point for a ride with Lambeth cyclists on Sat, I was clipped by a massive Bentley-style car overtaking; his wing mirror hit my handlebars.
I managed to stay upright but was furious and screamed at him at the top of my lungs like a madwoman (usually I keep quiet but this is the first time a vehicle actually touched me and I couldn't help it). He kept going. I was already well out from the kerb (there is no room to overtake there when there is oncoming traffic) but obviously I should have been planted out bang in the middle of the lane.
Then this morning a car pulled out on me and I just about managed to stop inches from his bumper due to a combination of not trusting him and very good brakes on the new bike. He kind of smiled and waved me across (he saw me at the last minute and slammed on the brakes too) as though he was doing me some kind of favour, I just glowered at him and carried on.
And a man in Hyde Park shouted at the cyclists that we shouldn't be cycling in the park (yes we were on the cycle path).
Serenely riding the five minute ride from my flat to a meeting point for a ride with Lambeth cyclists on Sat, I was clipped by a massive Bentley-style car overtaking; his wing mirror hit my handlebars.
I managed to stay upright but was furious and screamed at him at the top of my lungs like a madwoman (usually I keep quiet but this is the first time a vehicle actually touched me and I couldn't help it). He kept going. I was already well out from the kerb (there is no room to overtake there when there is oncoming traffic) but obviously I should have been planted out bang in the middle of the lane.
Then this morning a car pulled out on me and I just about managed to stop inches from his bumper due to a combination of not trusting him and very good brakes on the new bike. He kind of smiled and waved me across (he saw me at the last minute and slammed on the brakes too) as though he was doing me some kind of favour, I just glowered at him and carried on.
And a man in Hyde Park shouted at the cyclists that we shouldn't be cycling in the park (yes we were on the cycle path).
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I slapped a taxi last week that was way too close but otherwise have been OK lately. Apart from the car I nearly hit yesterday which was my fault
Not pleasant, you have my sympathy
It's just a hill. Get over it.
Then read MY BLOG @ http://www.pebennett.com
Twittering @spen_666
Highway Code states that Cars overtaking bicycles should treat the bicycle as though it were another car, that to me means at least 6 ft.
http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/TravelAndTransport/Highwaycode/DG_070314
Photography, Google Earth, Route 30
The problem with this is two fold: -
a) The Highway code is not law and there is no sanction for ignoring it
b) What exactly does treat a bicycle as though it were another car mean. - there is no guidance on this. I would like to think people interpreted it as you do, but sadly most interpret it differently
Then read MY BLOG @ http://www.pebennett.com
Twittering @spen_666
I've never been up for hitting cars, but if I'd have thought quickly enough I'd have thumped that one, I was so outraged he did something so dangerous. I would also have had words if I could have caught him, but he was off.
I'm thankful I had a really stuffed pannier on the right, or he might have passed me even closer.
The result was only a manky patch on the shoulder of my jersey and in no way reflected the potential danger of the event. At the time I was, literally, frothing mad and ranting incoherently, but everyone I told the story to (non-cyclists) said I was over-reacting and it was a near miss. A hit's a hit as far as I'm concerned!
The thing that REALLY vexes me with near misses isthat the drivers are always:
a) completely oblivious to the anything that just happened
b) shrug of the shoulders, so what...your not dead are you?
c) screaming abuse at you for questioning their driving ability
Seems pretty clear to me:
Photography, Google Earth, Route 30
I dont understand it to be honest the cars that pass me take horrific risks and its only a matter of time before I witness a head on collision going round a blind bend
what is it that makes some drivers so stupid
If a driver was to give you that much room, it wouldn't surprise me for another driver to try and squeeze in between.
I had a big car come up and leisurely swing sideways into where I would have been if I hadn't braked hard. This was just before a junction, so I got to peer very hard into the (open) drivers window at the red light. It was a fat yank* in a hire car who hadn't seen me, and didn't really give a stuff. And he was about to be off down a bus only stretch of road. :roll:
*sorry but he was!
most motorists give cars very little room- I hope they give me more than they give over cars. They pass other cars far to close and far too fast
Then read MY BLOG @ http://www.pebennett.com
Twittering @spen_666
In London, three cyclists and a motorcycle courier would squeeze in between, and someone on an MTB would try to undertake you.
I don't like cars passing close either but your post makes me think my threshold far too lenient. Cars frequently pass leaving me little more than a foot. I don't ride in the gutter either. I ride where the left wheel of a car would be.
"Although failure to comply with the other rules of the Code will not, in itself, cause a person to be prosecuted, The Highway Code may be used in evidence in any court proceedings under the Traffic Acts (see 'The road user and the law') to establish liability. This includes rules which use advisory wording such as ‘should/should not’ or ‘do/do not’."
From here: http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/TravelAndTr ... /DG_070236
You are half right with a): whilst the highway code is not law, failing to comply with it could be used as evidence for a charge of 'Driving without due care and attention'.