Extremely close near miss with an idiot

[Matthew_T]

No video footage! And not with a motorist!

Today I was commuting home along a shared path. It was covered in a thin layer of sand with lose stones. I had a bit of a headwind so was cycling at about 10mph.
Ahead I noticed two cyclists riding side by side. As I grew closer, I realised that one of them was texting with one hand.
I moved right over to the right of the path (noone else on it) close to the verge of the sandbank riding along a bit of sand.
The cyclist texting had his head down with one hand on the bars riding in a straight line. His friend was still besides him and saw me coming.

As I grew closer, I realised that the cyclist had better lift his head up or we could have a big accident.
When the cyclist got up to me, I shouted "Hey" and gave a blast of my horn. At the last moment, he swerved with the one hand on the bars and went "Woah".
I heard his front wheel loose traction on the sandy surface and his handlebars barely missed mine.

After I had passed him, I looked behind and he was still texting with one hand.

I could not believe how close he was and how stupid he could be to cycle whilst texting. He was a massive tit.

 

[Kies]

A "coming through" shout would have prevented all of that. You could see his mind and gaze was elsewhere (not condoning riding and texting BTW).

 

[HovR]

You probably didn't need 115 decibels worth of horn to alert another cyclist only meters away of your presence.

 

[snorri]

.
I moved right over to the right of the path .

Had I been one of the oncoming cyclists I would have been surprised at your action.
I know there are no rules on joint user paths, but in the situation you describe I would have been cycling on the left hand side of the path, in accordance with on-road convention, and given a hand signal to indicate my intention to stay on the left. If the oncoming cyclists showed no sign of moving over to their left, then it is time for slowing down and calling out.

 

[Matthew_T]

Had I been one of the oncoming cyclists I would have been surprised at your action.
I know there are no rules on joint user paths, but in the situation you describe I would have been cycling on the left hand side of the path, in accordance with on-road convention, and given a hand signal to indicate my intention to stay on the left. If the oncoming cyclists showed no sign of moving over to their left, then it is time for slowing down and calling out.

I understand your point of view but I moved to the right for three reasons: There was less sand, there was a sand dune bank to cushion me if I fell off, and there was more of a gap to pass the cyclist.

If the cyclist hadnt seen me then I would have swerved around him. I left myself enough room to at least do that if all else failed.

 

[Matthew_T]

You probably didn't need 115 decibels worth of horn to alert another cyclist only meters away of your presence.

I wouldnt even say half a metre.

 

[Matthew_T]

[QUOTE 2488763, member: 30090"]Why oh why did you use your horn?
[/quote]
To make him wake up.

A shared path lined with peds and other cyclists is not the place to be engrossed in a conversation with one hand.

 

[HovR]

I wouldnt even say half a metre.

He was a massive tit.

I'm sure he came away from that incident thinking the same thing.

 

[snorri]

I understand your point of view but I moved to the right for three reasons: There was less sand, there was a sand dune bank to cushion me if I fell off, and there was more of a gap to pass the cyclist.

If the cyclist hadnt seen me then I would have swerved around him. I left myself enough room to at least do that if all else failed.

The obstruction was on your side of the path, it would have been safer, and polite, to have slowed down or stoppped until the oncoming cyclists had passed, and only then moved over to the right hand side of the path in order to avoid the sand.

 

[sabian92]

To make him wake up.

A shared path lined with peds and other cyclists is not the place to be engrossed in a conversation with one hand.

It isn't a place to airzound somebody either.

Sorry but that makes you an arse.

 

[MossCommuter]

Matthew, the only arse in this encounter was the one texting when he should have been concentrating

 

[glenn forger]

[QUOTE 2488873, member: 30090"]You miss my point. You're on a shared user path, the very nature of this can lead to people taking an increase risk in what they do because there is no traffic around. [/quote]



Cyclists are traffic. If you want to text, do it off the shared-use path.

 

[snorri]

Quite. You lot are very tough on Matthew sometimes!

It's all done out of kindness, a wish to help young Matthew avoid problems in the future.

 

[AndyRM]

The only horror in this tale is the confession of 10mph into a headwind! Head down, grit teeth, spin out the big ring. Standard.

 

[ManiaMuse]

If you are only going 10mph then you need to up your game. Headwind is only ever an excuse if you are physically being blown off you bike.

Also, well done, you saw the hazard. However next time be a bit more zen about it. An assertive shout of "excuse me please" while slowing down bit and being prepared to stop (though at 10mph you were hardly going fast) would have been more appropriate instead of blasting your horn aggressively.

Speaking of your horn, find a bin and put it in it.