Nearly lost my new sunglasses

[SteveRuss]

I probably should have known better than to trust this guy.

Read the comments on Youtube for a better general explanation...

Excuse my language..!

 

[flecc]

Another one completely underestimating your speed, and no doubt at the same time glancing around to check for vehicles in the opposite lane coming from the other direction.

Sometimes e-bike riding, which tends to be much faster over the ground than most sit-upright cyclists, adds to the judgement problem.

Difficult to be sure, but you did seem to brake rather late as he first started to pull out?
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[selrahc1992]

I probably should have known better than to trust this guy.

Read the comments on Youtube for a better general explanation...

Excuse my language..!

My sympathy, to state the obvious, you had clear right of way
https://www.gov.uk/general-rules-all-drivers-riders-103-to-158/multilane-carriageways-133-to-143
He didn't even bother to respond afterwards,as a motorist I find that kind of behaviour extremely selfish

 

[SteveRuss]

Sometimes e-bike riding, which tends to be much faster over the ground than most sit-upright cyclists, adds to the judgement problem.

Difficult to be sure, but you did seem to brake rather late as he first started to pull out?
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I did cover my breaks and had a quick look to my right to see if I had room to move out and overtake safely.

Again. The camera is ultra wide angle which makes even me think I broke late but I was actually much closer in reality. I breaked hard as well. No damage done other than my new sunglasses got ran over afterwards.

 

[Emo Rider]

Perhaps he sensed your anger and aggressive feelings towards cars and reacted in kind................just kidding ;-)

 

[SteveRuss]

Perhaps he sensed your anger and aggressive feelings towards cars and reacted in kind................just kidding ;-)

 

[SRS]

Is it not the fact that we all judge speed poorly when the moving object is coming directly at us.

I never trust a drivers perception of my speed in this type situation and always look for an escape route to the rear and not the front.

Luckily no real harm done.

 

[jonathan75]

If your camera picked up his licence plate then you can report him for failing to stop after an accident, as well as make a claim against his insurer for the cost of your sunglasses.

 

[SteveRuss]

If your camera picked up his licence plate then you can report him for failing to stop after an accident, as well as make a claim against his insurer for the cost of your sunglasses.

Thought about that but to be honest, I'll probably see them around at some point and have a word. I didn't actually feel threatened and no other damage was done.

My SG's flew out of my side bag and I only realised when I got home that they were gone. Nice chap was standing at the side of the road holding the case when I got back thoughtfully looking for the owner. Claimed they'd been driven over twice.

 

[mfj197]

Have to say that it was obvious as you passed the "Weighing Machines" shop at 1:11 that he was going to pull out. The only safe thing to do in that situation is to slow down and expect to stop - he is obviously looking the other way and even if you do move out to pass him he will probably pull out on you anyway and you'd end up having a bigger accident. You first touched the brakes at 1:14 and hit his back wheel at 1:16. Yes, you completely had the right of way but it was a very easy accident to avoid.

Sorry to hear about the sunglasses.

 

[tillson]

Have to say that it was obvious as you passed the "Weighing Machines" shop at 1:11 that he was going to pull out. The only safe thing to do in that situation is to slow down and expect to stop - he is obviously looking the other way and even if you do move out to pass him he will probably pull out on you anyway and you'd end up having a bigger accident. You first touched the brakes at 1:14 and hit his back wheel at 1:16. Yes, you completely had the right of way but it was a very easy accident to avoid.

Sorry to hear about the sunglasses.

I have to agree with this. The fact that you had right of way is not in question, you did. I know that wide angle lenses give the impression that objects are further away than they actually are, but the car started its manoeuvre 4 to 5 seconds before you hit it. It was obvious that the car was going to continue into your path 4 seconds before contact was made.

This has a similarity to an incident that I was involved in three weeks ago. I could have been avoided it with a bit more anticipation.

 

[mfj197]

Hope you're okay tillson. I was knocked off myself early this year when a car pulled out on me whilst I was going round a roundabout. I fully had right of way but it certainly made me focus even more on riding defensively (and I thought I did anyway!). Funnily enough I find that easier to do on an ebike as you are closer in speed to the traffic and feel less exposed when taking up primary or secondary position on the road.

Michael

 

[Croxden]

Perhaps we should start having bright daytime riding lights.
It works for cars.

 

[tillson]

This is bright enough for daytime running and I use it all the time on my electric bike. http://bikerayuk.co.uk/index.php?route=product/product&path=59_61&product_id=66 It's a bit costly, but unlike LED front lights, rear light prices don't seem to have fallen much. This light is seriously bright because it has a 3 Watt red emitter, not a white LED with a red filter in front of it like most of the cheaper "bright" rear lights.

Cree T6 front LEDs in flashing mode are good for the front during daylight hours.

 

[SteveRuss]

A

Perhaps we should start having bright daytime riding lights.
It works for cars.

Actually I have my lights on all the time and my front light is pretty bright.

I get people's concerns on here that I should have known that this was possibly likely to happen but in my experience, it general does not. In almost all occasions similar to this, the driver will see me riding up the hill towards them and will wait appropriately (as I would do as a driver if I had bothered to look in both directions, which I certainly do).

The other option is to play the "slow down, stop and wait game" as if I am giving way to them (as I actually would have done in my car as it would have appeared rude to cross in to the opposing lane to get by therefore becoming a danger to oncoming traffic). That in my mind would temporarily suspend my legal position on the road just because I am a cyclist.

Where does that then take us? That we are too scared to hold our rightful position in the road because we are too fearful? For others that may suit, for me it doesn't and if I end up getting knocked off my bike in these situations i'll know two things.

1. The driver made an illegal move causing an accident through driving with undue care and attention and will be fully responsible for the accident.

2. That I decided to continue riding within the rules of the road and to not temporarily suspend them for the benefit of motorists that are essentially driving on the wrong side of the road without looking at oncoming traffic.

I'm stuck with the idea of sticking up for myself as a cyclist here. Yep, a stupid position from a safety point of view in many people's eyes but I can't help myself. If I had have just stopped then what would a vehicle driving behind me have done? Maybe overtaken me and then crashed in to the car pulling out without looking forward? Or suddenly swerved in to me to avoid him?

The next time this sort of thing happens, I will do the same. Hold my position in the road, be careful by covering my brakes and be aware of what consequences stopping for no good reason may result with traffic behind me. The chances are 99% of drivers will have taken the time to wait for a clear road, unlike this idiot. If not, then I bounce another front tyre off of his rear door and he gets to think about what he did wrong as he slopes off down the road.

And. However obvious is may seem to some people that I should have known this was going to happen i'd say it is not that obvious in the real 3D world that I was in at that time. He did actually line himself up parallel and then stop. He then started to pull out causing me to break hard. I just tried to hold my line and ended up making contact. I'm not saying i'm perfect here but there are other dangers associated with playing the subservient cyclist that I am more a scared of than a tap of a front wheel on someone's rear door. My GF struggles up that same hill every day from work and she is much more subservient than me. I even recommend she rides the pavements when she feels threatened as if she doesn't then one day she'll get shunted up the rear by an overtaking lorry wondering why the hell she's just stopped in the road no obvious reason.

Cheers. Steve

 

[SRS]

I'm stuck with the idea of sticking up for myself as a cyclist here.

Steve, if someone is going to run you over and kill you, best get out of their way.

Doesn't matter if you had right of way when you're dead.

 

[SteveRuss]

I'm stuck with the idea of sticking up for myself as a cyclist here.

Steve, if someone is going to run you over and kill you, best get out of their way.

Doesn't matter if you had right of way when you're dead.

Hardly the situation here though right?

Maybe I was generalising too much. I'm no idiot. If I had have known he was then I would have taken a different approach.

He was obviously stretching the law but he did pause and I thought that was obvious.

 

[mfj197]

The other option is to play the "slow down, stop and wait game" as if I am giving way to them (as I actually would have done in my car as it would have appeared rude to cross in to the opposing lane to get by therefore becoming a danger to oncoming traffic). That in my mind would temporarily suspend my legal position on the road just because I am a cyclist.

Where does that then take us? That we are too scared to hold our rightful position in the road because we are too fearful?

Not in the slightest. You say just above that were you in your car you would have slowed down and stopped, but you didn't on your bike. Does that mean you are in fact being more aggressive / assertive on your bike than in your car?

I'm not sure this has anything to do with you being on a bike to be honest. Down here (near London) we get people pushing out like this simply to get going if there's solid traffic. I have to be aware of the possibility and react accordingly, whether I'm in my car or on the bike. They usually wave 'thanks' afterwards!

Michael

 

[SteveRuss]

Not in the slightest. You say just above that were you in your car you would have slowed down and stopped, but you didn't on your bike. Does that mean you are in fact being more aggressive / assertive on your bike than in your car?

No. It means there would have been no room for me to pass in my car (without taking to the opposing lane) but plenty on my bike.

I'm much more assertive in my car and much more protective on my bikes.

 

[flecc]

I agree with others that just asserting your rights is not the best course Steve. There's a similar situation at sea with the International Collision Regulations where the lesser vessel often has the right of way but would be very foolish to try and assert that.

There's a jingle about Jolly Jack Tar used to illustrate that, it ends:

" He was right, dead right, as he sailed along,

but he's just as dead as if he'd been wrong"

Ultimately Steve, your right to stay alive and unharmed is far more important that your right of way.

I always give way and I don't feel that demeans me in any way. It merely shows that I am more mature and sensible than the person who may by their actions have forced that choice on me.

Also it's wise to see the other's position too. That driver, having parked on the opposite side of the road, would have to look around intently at one point in pulling out to make sure he was clear to cross into that opposite lane. During that point he could not have been looking in your direction to see your speed of approach.

As a long experienced driver myself, I know it's impossible to cover for every possible eventuality through every second during every manouvre on the roads. We only have one pair of eyes and being in a restricted vision tin box doesn't help. It follows that we are all dependent on others allowances for us at those points.
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