*&$%£@ car drivers!!

[speccy1]

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[thomas]

a stupid cow in a silver Peugeot 306 (my French car theory still stands here!!) decides to slam her brakes on at a crossing, even though the lights were still green to let two kids with there bikes cross the road - and I very nearly hit them because they just appeared from behind her car.

How did you nearly hit them? Did you try overtaking her at the crossing?

Just make sure you follow the two second rule and have the ability to stop in the space you see to be clear.

 

[speccy1]

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[thomas]

No!! She jammed her brakes on, on a pedestrian crossing, even though the lights were green, putting those two kids right in my path. I would have had no problem if the lights had gone to red and she did it properly

Was she on the other side of the road?

 

[Oddjob62]

I'm confused.. If you were behind her you should have left enough space to stop in an emergency. If you were overtaking you would have been in the middle of the road and had plently of time to avoid someone who started crossing at the last second. If you were undertaking you shouldn't have been.

 

[Black Sheep]

I'm confused.. If you were behind her you should have left enough space to stop in an emergency. If you were overtaking you would have been in the middle of the road and had plently of time to avoid someone who started crossing at the last second. If you were undertaking you shouldn't have been.

sounds like the op did not expect anyone to do what sounds like an emergency stop for a green light.

as a result he chooses to overtake since the lights are green and he hasn't seen anyone at the crossing.

the kids start crossing and are hidden by the car, appearing in front of the op as he's overtaking the car.

had the driver not stopped but continued on through the green light and the children waited for the green light then the whole incident would have been avoided.

 

[thomas]

sounds like the op did not expect anyone to do what sounds like an emergency stop for a green light.

If this was the case, the person shouldn't of slammed on the brakes unless the kids were actually going to walk out. But if someone does slam on the brakes there generally is a reason - not that they just want to test them...so going past slowly, wide and paying a lot of attention is a good idea.

 

[beanzontoast]

Slightly different, but my peeve is people who don't do what the Highway Code advises when it comes to priority at junctions - you know the ones, hesitant drivers who signal someone else to turn when actually it's not their right of way. They think they're being ultra polite when in fact what they are doing is risking mayhem by upsetting the expected order of events. Have seen several near misses caused by this contradiction of common sense in the name of 'politeness'.

 

[mr_cellophane]

Sounds like you ignored rule 191

You MUST NOT park on a crossing or in the area covered by the zig-zag lines. You MUST NOT overtake the moving vehicle nearest the crossing or the vehicle nearest the crossing which has stopped to give way to pedestrians.

 

[HLaB]

I got caught out on a Urban Dual C/W with parking down the middle when an overtaking HGV slammed on its brakes, somebody had pushed out a pram in front of him from the central parking. He blocked my vision but fortunately I was able to stop in time. He had a similar bout of aggression towards me, its not as if I could see through his waggon (I'd left those specs at home that day)

 

[speccy1]

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[mr_cellophane]

I didn't know this until today - but

A zebra crossing with a central island is two separate crossings (see Rule 20)

- Knew that bit

197
Pelican crossings which go straight across the road are one crossing, even when there is a central island. You MUST wait for pedestrians who are crossing from the other side of the island.

So she was correct to stop.

 

[thomas]

She overtook me, quite normally, and then 500 yards further up the road she decided to slam her brakes on because it was a "nice idea" to let those poor little kids cross over (from the rhs of the road to the left) even though the traffic lights were green.

She stopped 500 yards up the road? Even if you were doing 70mph you would have stopped in under 75 meters or just over 82 yards (well, that's with car brakes, so maybe a bit further on a bike).

 

[Crankarm]

A green traffic light means that a vehicle can proceed but with caution being prepared to stop if necessary. Maybe you should the Highway code again. As a cyclist did you not see the two child cyclists at the crossing? How fast were you going? Were you paying sufficient attention? The answer is in your OP as you say kids on bikes, at a crossing and on a sunday..... You should have been more tolerant and anticipated them and stopped as the woman motorist did. It might have held you up for a few seconds which it sounds like you were anyway with the altercation you got into with the motorist. Calling her a silly cow is a little aggressive in itself. Chill it has been a lovely weekend of cycling. It couldn't have been a good image for those kids with you and the woman motorist abusing each other in the road . How common .

 

[speccy1]

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