Close pass and a pull-out

[Goto10]

Scary close by the van driver:
View: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFb3SWcJ6f8


This woman actually stopped, looked at me and then pulled out anyway!


View: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8uBJUWplVBQ

 

[chillyuk]

The van was scary. The woman in the car though I am undecided. Although she pulled out it seems from the video that she had time to complete the manouvre without causing you problems. It's Essex for heaven's sake, what do you expect

 

[upsidedown]

Agreed the van was ridiculous. The car manoeuvre I see a couple of times a day so I'm probably a bit de-sensitised to it.

 

[Glow worm]

Agreed the van was ridiculous. The car manoeuvre I see a couple of times a day so I'm probably a bit de-sensitised to it.

Same here. It's annoying though as they are clearly thinking- o it's only a bike I can pull out anyway. Many give you a lot less room than the clart in the green/blue snotbucket above.

 

[addictfreak]

I agree totally about the van, he clearly was not reading the road ahead and did not have enough time or space to complete the manoeuvre safely.

The car incident, well I see that an awful lot too. My main problem is that car drivers often don't take into account the possible closing speed of cyclists. The safe option is to wait that extra few seconds until the cyclist passes.

 

[Night Train]

The van was too close!

Had it been me I would have been happy for the car to pull out, saves it trying to over take me as part of the same move.


I was approaching a side road today, on my left, with a line of cars wanting to pull out. The first one pulled out fine but the one behind it didn't. I thought the driver was being nice waiting for me to ride pass, he wasn't, he was too busy texting to notice!

 

[BlackPanther]

The van was of course bang out of line. However......

You could have prevented it by riding more defensively. I never ride in the gutter because A/ You'll get people overtaking when there's no room, and B/ that's where all the punctures are picked up.

It helps having a decent mirror on your bike. That way you can see in plenty of time who's coming up behind you, and if there's oncoming traffic you have plenty of time to pull into the middle of the road to prevent an overtake.

 

[MacB]

Agreed the van was ridiculous. The car manoeuvre I see a couple of times a day so I'm probably a bit de-sensitised to it.

Agreed, in the same position I'd have been expecting the woman to pull out and surprised if she didn't...the van however is a shocker

 

[ianrauk]

Van = very bad
Car = nothing in it

 

[iLB]

don't ride in the gutter...

 

[addictfreak]

The van was of course bang out of line. However......

You could have prevented it by riding more defensively. I never ride in the gutter
because A/ You'll get people overtaking when there's no room, and B/ that's where all the punctures are picked up.

It helps having a decent mirror on your bike. That way you can see in plenty of time who's coming up behind you, and if there's oncoming traffic you have plenty of time to pull into the middle of the road to prevent an overtake.

Yep I agree and thats certainly what I tend to do.

But I was taking to my brother this evening, he was out riding today with a health group he attends. The ride leader is always at the rear, and today he did just what you suggest above (quite rightly). In this case it was at a pinch point in the road. He was hit by a woman in a car who still tried to get passed! No injuries thankfully. Unfortunately you will always get the idiots no matter how well you ride.

 

[gambatte]

Unfortunately, you can't see who's approaching from the rear and with a vehicle like that hire van it's likely to be someone who's never driven anything that wide before - they're an accident waiting to happen.

 

[mumbo jumbo]

Van = very bad
Car = nothing in it

+1

 

[BentMikey]

Van = very bad
Car = nothing in it

don't ride in the gutter...

+1 to both.

 

[cyberknight]

Unfortunately, you can't see who's approaching from the rear and with a vehicle like that hire van it's likely to be someone who's never driven anything that wide before - they're an accident waiting to happen.

+1 hire vans are scarey , you get someone used to pootling about in a car and stick them in something that big .

The car was a bit silly but as other have said the turn was completed before you got there , i think it was a typical"ooh a cyclist i have plenty of time" miscalculation of speed.

As ILB said it is hard to tell from the video but how far do you ride form the kerb? i ride a good 1.5 - 2 foot to avoid manhole covers/ debris and give me a bit of an escape route if someone comes to close.It also puts you further into the field of view so you stand out more and they have to think about overtakign rather thna just screeching past.
Of course you may already do this but as always cameras can be a subjective thing.