Help with a difficult right turn

[Platinum]

This is the entrance into my village http://goo.gl/maps/nP0n0
I'm turning right just in front of the white pub into a one way street. The oncoming direction is a blind bend, and the speed limit is just round the corner so cars are frequently going faster than they should. You can see old road markings, but the road has been resurfaced since the photo was taken and only the new lines remain. Some cars take the racing line through the bus stop, others follow the marked lanes, and anything in between, so essentially I have to control two lanes simultaneously with no way of predicting what cars are going to do.

My problem is with the tapering bus stop on the left. If I move out early to the right hand side, then I'll get cars and even 3 ton lorries undertaking on the left, which gives me the heebie-jeebies on the best of days, but the bus stop just tapers away to nothing. Those cars don't stop undertaking, even if I try sticking my left hand out, and they just push me off onto the wrong side of the road, where cars are coming at speed round a blind bend - not ideal..

So my second plan of attack was to stay left. However, staying left just means I get cars overtaking, even though I'm signalling to turn right. Also if I stay left, the lane I'm in tapers away and I have to cross the line into the car's lane. Naturally cars think they can keep going along the marked lanes and that I have to give way to them, and I suppose that's true to a certain degree. Sometimes I just can't make it over to the right in time, but mostly I'm worried about getting sideswiped. I can only go at about 10mph on my old cheap mountain bike and I just don't feel comfortable mixing with traffic. Mostly it means I find it easiest just to pull over, let any cars past and then I can go when it's clear.

Anybody have any ideas? I feel as thought there's something obvious that I'm missing.

 

[Tigerbiten]

What's the grass like ??
If you're not going to leave tyre tracks, As your on a mountain bike what's stopping you from turning early onto the village green and cutting the corner.
Either cycle the wrong way down the first road on the grass or turn across the bus stop onto the grass and then down to the pub.
By law you cannot cross early and ride on the pavement but unless theres a local bylaw stopping you think of any reason why you cannot take to the grass.
That way you have a lot more options of where and when you cross the road.

 

[Globalti]

With there being no speed limit and that being at the end of a long fast straight, my experience of cycling would tell me that insisiting on my right and turning as a car would be inviting disaster. I would swallow my pride and stop on the left until there was a gap in the traffic, then cross. The situation is made even more dangerous by the fact that traffic coming from the same direction as you won't see you until very late as you'll be obscured by the cars in front of them.

Turning earlier and going up the one-way the wrong way is just as dangerous and will just give cyclists a bad name in more people's minds.

 

[BigCam]

How about turning left into the lane opposite your junction, doing a U turn and waiting until it's clear to go straight over?
I think you'll have much better visibility around the blind corner, and you'll be in complete control of the situation.
So, stay left (but out of the bus stop), signal left and turn left. Then turnaround and cross when it's clear.

Or, turn earlier into Malt Row and go around the back. Turning there will give the traffic behind longer to see you (as the road is straight) and the oncoming traffic is more likely to have slowed to the speed limit...

I use one of these -> http://www.indic8or.com/ and have noticed a huge reduction in vehicles overtaking whilst I'm signalling right. I think that when a cyclist sticks their arm out, drivers don't always realise that's indicating. Stick a flashing amber light on the end and then I think there's almost a Pavlovian response.

 

[Platinum]

I think I could try going over the Big Grass, there is a dropped kerb next to the no entry sign, I never even thought of that. What I would be worried about it would be traffic turning out of the one way street, and that it's just an unexpected thing to do, a driver wouldn't be expecting to see anybody turning right anywhere except in front of the pub. I barely see any bikes here at all except for a handful a week during the summer. I wouldn't worry about ruining the grass, tractors frequently put one wheel over it to get past parked cars.

I could also turn onto Malt Row. It's a pretty street but populated by old lady busybodies who object to people, especially "hooligans on bikes" on their turf, actually that's almost an incentive lol. But mostly I just hate adding on extra time at the end of a journey when you just want to get home. I think I'll just keep what I'm doing, stopping then I can turn when it's clear.

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

The highway code makes it clear what you should do.

74 https://www.gov.uk/rules-for-cyclists-59-to-82/road-junctions-72-to-75
On the right. If you are turning right, check the traffic to ensure it is safe, then signal and move to the centre of the road. Wait until there is a safe gap in the oncoming traffic and give a final look before completing the turn. It may be safer to wait on the left until there is a safe gap or to dismount and push your cycle across the road.

My old commute had a similar issue, made more difficult by it being uphill as well, on a busy A road and frequenly my only option was to stop on the left and wait before proceeding to turn right once both lanes were clear. It is 'annoying' but it is better to be safe than sorry...

If it was me, and I knew there was an issue, or cars coming up behind, then I would be looking at the road on the left as a safe place, as suggested 2 posts above by @BigCam.

 

[Supersuperleeds]

Go passed the turn, into the pub car park and spin round?

 

[ShipHill]

How about turning left into the lane opposite your junction, doing a U turn and waiting until it's clear to go straight over?
I think you'll have much better visibility around the blind corner, and you'll be in complete control of the situation.
So, stay left (but out of the bus stop), signal left and turn left. Then turnaround and cross when it's clear.
.

That's exactly what I would do. I have a nasty right turn on my way home here > https://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=e...=8_Dsu4jOU4k77n7Pq75CHA&cbp=12,113.25,,1,4.92

I sometimes don't fancy turning right into Shaw Lane because I've got a big stream of cars that have followed me down the hill and I can hold about 25 mph down there, but there's a big line of cars coming the other way just after 5pm, so I pull over to the left onto the church car park and wait for a gap.

 

[Smurfy]

Write to your local authority, address it to the highways department. You have nothing to lose, and you might find that they are very sympathetic (or fearful of a claim if you are injured after they have been advised and took no action).

 

[Peteaud]

With there being no speed limit and that being at the end of a long fast straight, my experience of cycling would tell me that insisiting on my right and turning as a car would be inviting disaster. I would swallow my pride and stop on the left until there was a gap in the traffic, then cross. The situation is made even more dangerous by the fact that traffic coming from the same direction as you won't see you until very late as you'll be obscured by the cars in front of them.

Turning earlier and going up the one-way the wrong way is just as dangerous and will just give cyclists a bad name in more people's minds.

On one of my regular routes i have a turn very similar, 60 mph limit, blind corners and a right turn. I do the above, pull in to the left and wait, look and listen and then cross.

Might not be "correct" but to me its the safe way.