Nearly off!

[Soltydog]

Went out for a ride early yesterday & due to the frosty/icy roads I changed my plan & stuck a little more to main roads. Travelling west on the A614 towards Driffield I was as close as I've been to being taken out. Approaching Bracey Bridge, just by the lay by I was passed by a yellow Smart car, which immediately turned left into the lay by forcing me to brake hard.

I was tempted to follow the car & have a word, but settled on just shouting a few expletives as I normally do. Life's too short to be having confrontations & getting more stressed IMO. A little further up the road, said car passed me again (much safer manner this time) then at the next roundabout maybe a mile further on the car was parked up just off the roundabout & there was a young lady stood at the roundabout flagging me down. It was the driver who had just cut me up, but she had taken the time to stop & apologise for her actions. She looked quite distressed by the incident & genuinely sorry. I was pretty gobsmacked to say the least.
After advising her about her driving around cyclists in future, I thanked her for taking the time to stop & apologise, don't think many drivers would have the balls to do that.

 

[Jefferson Meriwether]

Nice of her to stop & apologise. Hopefully she'll be more careful in future.

 

[Justinslow]

So why did she make the dodgy manoeuvre in the first place?

 

[Soltydog]

So why did she make the dodgy manoeuvre in the first place?

Apparently she always gets nervous around cyclists & isnt sure what to do, she was pulling into lay by to use her phone (suppose thats better than using it whilst driving) I just asked her to give cyclists plenty of room & never to cut in front of anyone. After our little chat I felt I was consoling her & shouldn't it have been the other way round?

 

[Spoked Wheels]

she had taken the time to stop & apologise for her actions.

Don't be modest, your good looks must have persuaded her to flag you down

Very similar thing happened to me two weeks ago and I also felt like chasing after the car, I realised I would never catch up with the driver anyway so it was best to forget about it. I captured the incident on video but the angle wasn't good to read the number plate.

I'm glad you OK though

 

[Soltydog]

Don't be modest, your good looks must have persuaded her to flag you down

can't have been my good looks, it was that cold I had a balaclava on Had I not had that on I may have scared her away lol

I'm fine, not one to worry about close calls as a rule. It's not pleasant sometimes but I aint going to let it put me off or stop cycling. I'm very fortunate to live in a rural area with plenty of quiet roads & most motorists round here seem fairly patient, so close calls are few & far between. Just too cold & icy to be safe on the quiet roads yesterday

 

[Markymark]

So why did she make the dodgy manoeuvre in the first place?

I had a balaclava on

She though you were a terrorist.

 

[Bollo]

She though you were a terrorist,

Or had poor fashion sense. Which is worse.

 

[annedonnelly]

Good for her. There are very few people who are prepared to apologise for anything. And it'd take a bit of courage for a woman to stop and speak to a bloke who may have reason to be angry with her.

 

[Karlt]

Apparently she always gets nervous around cyclists & isnt sure what to do, she was pulling into lay by to use her phone (suppose thats better than using it whilst driving) I just asked her to give cyclists plenty of room & never to cut in front of anyone. After our little chat I felt I was consoling her & shouldn't it have been the other way round?

Does demonstrate why it'd be so much better if drivers had to put in a few hundred miles on a bike before they were allowed to apply for a provisional licence though. For too many learner drivers the first time they've ever propelled a vehicle on a road is their first driving lesson; when I were a lad most of us had already notched up hundreds of miles on bikes long before that 17th birthday came along, any many of us had done cycling proficiency, which certainly had its faults, but did teach you about priority and the basic rules of the road.

Had I my way, this'd be law - 500 miles covered on a pedal cycle in a period of a maximum of a year within the two years preceding application to qualify for application for a provisional licence. Disabled applicants could put in 1000 miles by moped in lieu. If too disabled for a moped, then and only then they'd be exempt from the requirement.

I reckon learners would actually save money because they'd need fewer lessons; they'd have developed some roadcraft (you can rest assured that Bikeability takeout would rocket as people too afraid to cycle on the roads but wanting a driving licence would seek out cycle training) and the driving instructors' jobs would be adapting the driver to driving a motor vehicle.

 

[Rooster1]

Wow, quite an episode.

 

[SpokeyDokey]

Went out for a ride early yesterday & due to the frosty/icy roads I changed my plan & stuck a little more to main roads. Travelling west on the A614 towards Driffield I was as close as I've been to being taken out. Approaching Bracey Bridge, just by the lay by I was passed by a yellow Smart car, which immediately turned left into the lay by forcing me to brake hard.

I was tempted to follow the car & have a word, but settled on just shouting a few expletives as I normally do. Life's too short to be having confrontations & getting more stressed IMO. A little further up the road, said car passed me again (much safer manner this time) then at the next roundabout maybe a mile further on the car was parked up just off the roundabout & there was a young lady stood at the roundabout flagging me down. It was the driver who had just cut me up, but she had taken the time to stop & apologise for her actions. She looked quite distressed by the incident & genuinely sorry. I was pretty gobsmacked to say the least.
After advising her about her driving around cyclists in future, I thanked her for taking the time to stop & apologise, don't think many drivers would have the balls to do that.

Where's the Gender Police today?

Had that been a negative post containing a reference to the female of the species it would've taken about 1 millisecond to get a response along the lines of "why do you think it's necessary to mention the drivers sex blah, blah blah...." cue meltdown.

Blooming double standards I say.

 

[midlife]

So you got her phone number then

Shaun

 

[Soltydog]

Or had poor fashion sense. Which is worse.

I'm sure my fashion sense is far worse than any terrorist

Good for her. There are very few people who are prepared to apologise for anything. And it'd take a bit of courage for a woman to stop and speak to a bloke who may have reason to be angry with her.

Especially a 6'5" bloke who apparently looks like a terrorist

So you got her phone number then

I'm at that age where 1 woman is more than enough for me Although I must admit I did just want to cuddle her & tell her it was ok & no big deal as no one was hurt this time

 

[Smokin Joe]

Does demonstrate why it'd be so much better if drivers had to put in a few hundred miles on a bike before they were allowed to apply for a provisional licence though. For too many learner drivers the first time they've ever propelled a vehicle on a road is their first driving lesson; when I were a lad most of us had already notched up hundreds of miles on bikes long before that 17th birthday came along, any many of us had done cycling proficiency, which certainly had its faults, but did teach you about priority and the basic rules of the road.

Had I my way, this'd be law - 500 miles covered on a pedal cycle in a period of a maximum of a year within the two years preceding application to qualify for application for a provisional licence. Disabled applicants could put in 1000 miles by moped in lieu. If too disabled for a moped, then and only then they'd be exempt from the requirement.

I reckon learners would actually save money because they'd need fewer lessons; they'd have developed some roadcraft (you can rest assured that Bikeability takeout would rocket as people too afraid to cycle on the roads but wanting a driving licence would seek out cycle training) and the driving instructors' jobs would be adapting the driver to driving a motor vehicle.

Virtually all drivers have cycled before they are old enough to drive a car. And as a former ADI with two decades experience and many cyclists as pupils through club connections I can tell you that cyclists are no better or worse when it comes to learning to drive than non cyclists.

The one group who do learn very quickly and to a high standard are motorcyclists..