Cut across

[SportMonkey]

Because you saw it coming and anticipated such a manoeuvre it doesn't look so bad on the camera.
It can be argued that these sort of videos devalue the other ones you have, so it might not be worth posting.

I think the swearing and gesticulation also devalue it. It makes us cyclists look rude and angry.

 

[Origamist]

The lens is 135°

As I said, I got on the brakes early and because of that there was no collision.
So not as dangerous as some, but still dangerous - he couldn't be sure I had seen him, and shouldn't rely on my road awareness to avoid his manoeuvre.

benb, it's the CC commuting, video camera paradox (it's almost up there with the Epimenides paradox). If you avoid a collision (or make a near miss look fairly routine) through good anticipation and defensive cycling, people will often say: "that wasn't close", "doesn't look too bad", MTFU etc. However, if you spot something late, don't have the opportunity to take avoiding action, or are not able to repsond in time, people tend to think you are "playing up to the camera", or that you "should have seen it coming" or are simply - a poor cyclist with limited hazard perception.

 

[BSRU]

I understand, as I often look at the video of things later and think "not much in that" due to the camera making things look further away and the actions I took at the time to prevent anything more serious.
I don't seem to get bad left hooks anymore because as soon as I notice a left turn coming up, a vehicle coming along side, usually indicating to turn left, I ease off to avoid the potential danger and the video of the incident looks very tame.

 

[benb]

Because you saw it coming and anticipated such a manoeuvre it doesn't look so bad on the camera.
It can be argued that these sort of videos devalue the other ones you have, so it might not be worth posting.

I see your point, but I have no interest in only posting near death experiences, or where I only narrowly avoid a collision. I want to paint more of a broad canvas.

I think the swearing and gesticulation also devalue it. It makes us cyclists look rude and angry.

I don't see anything wrong with the gesticulation. The swearing was just an instinctive reaction - 10 seconds later and I'd forgotten the whole thing, so wasn't angry at all. But I will try and bite my tongue in future, or just do a sarcastic "thanks" which is what I usually do.

I would say it's ruder to cut across someone causing them to take evasive action than to gesticulate and swear.

 

[potsy]

That junction reminds me of the crossing the A34 on the A560 Gatley Road - looks pretty similar.

Certainly one to be aware of when going straight across, I'm sure there is a slight delay on one side of the lights, just a second or so can mean the traffic facing you sets off and thinks they can make the turn before you get going.

RAB's and the kind of incident in Ben's video are the two most common dodgy moments on my commute.

 

[SportMonkey]

Certainly one to be aware of when going straight across, I'm sure there is a slight delay on one side of the lights, just a second or so can mean the traffic facing you sets off and thinks they can make the turn before you get going.

RAB's and the kind of incident in Ben's video are the two most common dodgy moments on my commute.

You're right, it does, there's lots of lights are way that do that. I had one recently when we had a clear green almost hit me, would have looked like that video to be fair.

 

[SportMonkey]

I don't see anything wrong with the gesticulation. The swearing was just an instinctive reaction - 10 seconds later and I'd forgotten the whole thing, so wasn't angry at all. But I will try and bite my tongue in future, or just do a sarcastic "thanks" which is what I usually do.

I would say it's ruder to cut across someone causing them to take evasive action than to gesticulate and swear.

You're right, and I like swearing normally, I just don't do it in public anymore after an incident racing kayaks where I yelled the C word and almost got banned from the sport.

 

[benb]

You're right, and I like swearing normally, I just don't do it in public anymore after an incident racing kayaks where I yelled the C word and almost got banned from the sport.

C word? Did you say canoe?

 

[BentMikey]

LMAO! canoe indeed!

 

[GrasB]

It's one of those incidents that's more than rude driving, but not outrageously dangerous. IME it's perceived to be worse at the time than it is on video. I had a couple of close cut-ins by driving instructors/pupils on Sunday, and didn't bother to upload them on video since they didn't look like much. I was distinctly unimpressed at the time though.

I think another thing is that it's hard to work out how fast you're decelerating. Sometimes I review video & go "why did I think it was so bad?" to my self, however when I then take a look at how much & how quickly I scrubbed off speed from the Garmin data file it really puts things in perspective. I was thinking about linking in trip comp data to an incident like that for a video.

 

[gaz]

There are ways to put the data from the garmin onto the video. But it's a lengthy process.

 

[GrasB]

gaz, the lengthy bit is what makes is a thought not a do process

 

[Amanda P]

we react because we are vulnerable, but there's not always a real danger there.

So, when a bullet smacks into the wall half an inch from my ear, it's OK - I should have trusted that the shooter was skillful enough to do that?

No, sorry, doesn't do it for me. I'd rather he wasn't pointing the gun anywhere near my direction in the first place. I feel the same way about motor vehicles.

 

[Black Sheep]

When you look at some of the pull outs that cars do on other cars they are fractions of a second away from each other, but there's never a word or gesture. As much as i hate to saay it i reckon most drivers (except me) are pretty good at judging distances and gaps.
As cyclists i think we react because we are vulnerable, but there's not always a real danger there.

As a car / mini bus driver myself, yes cars do manage to get around leaving quite tight gaps between them, especially on Coventry's ring road!

however, a car does not wobble, it does not need to swerve to avoid a pot hole (although for the mechanical longevity of your car it can be a good idea to avoid them) and if you do get the distances wrong then it's a small nudge and a new head / tail light

not so if you miss-judge the distance between a car and a cyclist, it is not possible, in a nudge, to end up just bumping the other vehicle slightly until you've both stopped, however to do so to a cyclist could have the rider under the vehicle.

as such, cyclists need to be given more space when maneuvering around them - as all of us on here know.

 

[GrasB]

When you look at some of the pull outs that cars do on other cars they are fractions of a second away from each other, but there's never a word or gesture. As much as i hate to saay it i reckon most drivers (except me) are pretty good at judging distances and gaps.

I actually get annoyed by this just the same in a car as I do on a bike, the difference is when driving I'm not putting in a lot of effort & so have elevated hormone levels such as adrenaline. I'm also in a protective cage that while would be damn inconvenient if I made contact isn't going to be a massive potentially life threatening incident. For this reason I'll mutter under my breath "stupid moron" or something like that as I give a jab of the brakes. Also if you look every now & then someone doing that does it to a driver more up tight for some reason, sure you're not supposed to bring that to your driving but you do, so you get a blast of horn & gesticulations.

As cyclists i think we react because we are vulnerable, but there's not always a real danger there.

Not correct, we react because we're aware of the real danger there rather than are oblivious to it. I remember one time when someone miss-judged a turn like that & was very surprised to find my car in front of him, sideways across the road, in a cloud of tyre smoke AFTER he'd completed the turn. Several people mentioned they couldn't work out how I'd got the car into that position without hitting anything, in all honesty I can't work it out either.