ColinJ
Puzzle game procrastinator!
- Location
- Todmorden - Yorks/Lancs border
I'll describe the scene ...
I was riding along the A646 this afternoon at about 20 mph. There was oncoming traffic, and a parked car ahead of me on my side of the road. I was already well out in the road ready to pass the parked vehicle when I heard the sound of an emergency vehicle coming up fast behind me. It would only take me a couple of seconds to pass the parked vehicle so I decided to continue and then pull well into the left once past it.
Suddenly, a car from behind came into my peripheral vision swerving left at me. I had to brake hard and swerve left myself to avoid being hit. The car ended up forcing me towards the kerb and I stopped inches from the kerb and the left side of the car which was now stationary in front of me at 45 degrees to the kerb.
I'm afraid that I completely lost my cool and screamed at the driver who turned the back of his head to me and simply acted as if I were not there.
The emergency vehicle was actually a police car on 'blues and twos' and it soon shot past. The idiot driver who had nearly hit me then drove off without ever acknowledging what had happened.
I think that the driver somehow hadn't noticed that I was directly in front of him, had seen the blue flashing light in his rearview mirror, and had decided to swerve in behind the parked car to allow the police car to go by.
It was the closest that I have come to being knocked off my bike in years ... Scary stuff!
**********
While on the subject of left hooks ... I was cycling from Manchester Piccadilly station to Manchester Victoria yesterday afternoon. I needed to take a left turn. Ahead of me was a minibus indicating left but it had stopped to allow an HGV to pull out of the side street. There was ample room to ride up the inside of the stationary bus and make my turn but I know better than that so I waited behind it. At that moment, the HGV driver realised that he couldn't complete his turn with the bus in the way so the HGV stopped. The bus suddenly started moving again and swung left across the gap that I would have cycled into. As it did so, I saw a sign on the back of the bus warning cyclists not to cycle up the inside of it. I see riders doing that kind of thing all the time and it makes me shudder!
I was riding along the A646 this afternoon at about 20 mph. There was oncoming traffic, and a parked car ahead of me on my side of the road. I was already well out in the road ready to pass the parked vehicle when I heard the sound of an emergency vehicle coming up fast behind me. It would only take me a couple of seconds to pass the parked vehicle so I decided to continue and then pull well into the left once past it.
Suddenly, a car from behind came into my peripheral vision swerving left at me. I had to brake hard and swerve left myself to avoid being hit. The car ended up forcing me towards the kerb and I stopped inches from the kerb and the left side of the car which was now stationary in front of me at 45 degrees to the kerb.
I'm afraid that I completely lost my cool and screamed at the driver who turned the back of his head to me and simply acted as if I were not there.
The emergency vehicle was actually a police car on 'blues and twos' and it soon shot past. The idiot driver who had nearly hit me then drove off without ever acknowledging what had happened.
I think that the driver somehow hadn't noticed that I was directly in front of him, had seen the blue flashing light in his rearview mirror, and had decided to swerve in behind the parked car to allow the police car to go by.
It was the closest that I have come to being knocked off my bike in years ... Scary stuff!
**********
While on the subject of left hooks ... I was cycling from Manchester Piccadilly station to Manchester Victoria yesterday afternoon. I needed to take a left turn. Ahead of me was a minibus indicating left but it had stopped to allow an HGV to pull out of the side street. There was ample room to ride up the inside of the stationary bus and make my turn but I know better than that so I waited behind it. At that moment, the HGV driver realised that he couldn't complete his turn with the bus in the way so the HGV stopped. The bus suddenly started moving again and swung left across the gap that I would have cycled into. As it did so, I saw a sign on the back of the bus warning cyclists not to cycle up the inside of it. I see riders doing that kind of thing all the time and it makes me shudder!