Near miss - Moan
peat
Posts: 1,242
Yes, this is another thread about nearly getting squashed by less than adequate car drivers. I've no-one to tell at work today, so i'm venting here. I don't expect the world to change, nor you to care....
So - Out on a beautiful 30 mile loop yesterday. I'd picked very quiet & sceneic roads as per usual. The only potentially unpleasant bits were crossing 2 A roads, the second of which involved doing a short 0.2 mile dog leg to get to the opposing junction I wanted.
The 1st passed without incident, didn't even need to break my stride. Lovely.
The second, well.............
I turned right onto the A4, which was surprisingly clear. Now, the junction I was taking wouldn't win many road-planning awards, it's a bit of a mish mash of the old and new. Here: http://goo.gl/maps/Vx5sn
As I neared the traffic island (heading East), i heard a car approaching from behind. No problem, the road was plenty wide enough for them to pass safely before the island. The driver hesitated and came off the throttle/perhaps braked. Then decided they'd try and beat me to the island. Meanwhile, a car on the parallel sideroad to the left saw me and decided they wanted to beat me to the junction too. Woe betide being caught behind a cyclist!
The end result was: the car behind came flying in between me and the traffic island. It wasn't the closest shave ever, but so very unecessery. And at the same time, the car coming from the left had bottled it and came to a stop with his front right wheel and bonnet on the main carriageway (despite there being stacks of room to the left).
I was effectively pincer'ed by 2 car. I had to slam on the brakes and came to a stop at the driver's door of the car on the left.
A few expletives later, the stopped driver had the 'rabbit in the headlights' eyes on and hurriedly pulled away. I took my left turn just a few yards later.
So, on a 32 mile ride that contained all of 0.2miles of an A road, I was nearly wiped out by 2 cars in the space of a few seconds.
Great, innit?
So - Out on a beautiful 30 mile loop yesterday. I'd picked very quiet & sceneic roads as per usual. The only potentially unpleasant bits were crossing 2 A roads, the second of which involved doing a short 0.2 mile dog leg to get to the opposing junction I wanted.
The 1st passed without incident, didn't even need to break my stride. Lovely.
The second, well.............
I turned right onto the A4, which was surprisingly clear. Now, the junction I was taking wouldn't win many road-planning awards, it's a bit of a mish mash of the old and new. Here: http://goo.gl/maps/Vx5sn
As I neared the traffic island (heading East), i heard a car approaching from behind. No problem, the road was plenty wide enough for them to pass safely before the island. The driver hesitated and came off the throttle/perhaps braked. Then decided they'd try and beat me to the island. Meanwhile, a car on the parallel sideroad to the left saw me and decided they wanted to beat me to the junction too. Woe betide being caught behind a cyclist!
The end result was: the car behind came flying in between me and the traffic island. It wasn't the closest shave ever, but so very unecessery. And at the same time, the car coming from the left had bottled it and came to a stop with his front right wheel and bonnet on the main carriageway (despite there being stacks of room to the left).
I was effectively pincer'ed by 2 car. I had to slam on the brakes and came to a stop at the driver's door of the car on the left.
A few expletives later, the stopped driver had the 'rabbit in the headlights' eyes on and hurriedly pulled away. I took my left turn just a few yards later.
So, on a 32 mile ride that contained all of 0.2miles of an A road, I was nearly wiped out by 2 cars in the space of a few seconds.
Great, innit?
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Bad drivers are everywhere, as are bad cyclists, walkers, annoying dogs and traffic lights, but there's nothing like the feeling of the wind in you hair (helmet) and the freedom of the downhill.
I ride the A4 from Hungerford to Newbury almost daily although not at high traffic times...it's normally OK...I hate it during the weekday's if I happen to go up early far to busy and way too many lorries.
I can usually let these things go easily, but this just stuck in my craw.