jefmcg
Guru
Honestly, I think the penguin stuff was pretty sensible.
Nearly wiped out a whole cycling club
- Thread starter peedee
- Start date
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What a great thread to read on a wet, snowy and very cold day - I know this as I just read it on a wet, snowy and very cold day.
Terrific entertainment - ta very much.
Terrific entertainment - ta very much.
Apollonius
Guru
Difficult to say much about this incident without having seen it, but here goes anyway!
Now, assuming that everyone involved is a reasonable sentient human-being, which is, after all the necessity for our highly developed civilisation to function, I have a couple of speculations to offer.
Given the above, it is unlikely that a ride leader would willingly lead a group of cyclists into the path of a fast moving car on a roundabout. Possible explanation? maybe the way was clear for the leader but not clear by the time the rest of the group were on the roundabout. In that case, I would suggest that following riders should do their own observations and stop if necessary. Maybe the situation on the roundabout changed very quickly. Possible in the circumstances I outline below.
Now, I have noticed an increasing tendency (and I have done this myself), particularly when a major road intersects a lesser one at the roundabout, for drivers to approach the roundabout with the speed they have carried from the main road. They (I) expect to gain instant priority on the roundabout as nothing much joins from the driver's right and they rarely need to stop. Maybe, since cyclists tend to prefer minor roads, this explains the event here. Never experienced it on a bike, but certainly in a car, I have been hooted at and flashed by a car which wasn't even on the roundabout when I pulled out on to it. My feelings tend to be, if you can hoot and flash then you can brake.
Maybe that is the key to the whole thing. Should vehicles be negotiating roundabouts at such a speed that unexpected events can only be dealt with by emergency stops? Possibly not.
So, recommendations.
Cyclists, look for yourself, don't blindly follow a leader.
Drivers, expect to brake if a vulnerable road user appears on a roundabout. In varying circumstances this could be cyclists, pram-pushers, pedestrians, dog-walkers. Remember who is operating the deadly machine, and is responsible for it. There is no such thing as right of way.
Now, assuming that everyone involved is a reasonable sentient human-being, which is, after all the necessity for our highly developed civilisation to function, I have a couple of speculations to offer.
Given the above, it is unlikely that a ride leader would willingly lead a group of cyclists into the path of a fast moving car on a roundabout. Possible explanation? maybe the way was clear for the leader but not clear by the time the rest of the group were on the roundabout. In that case, I would suggest that following riders should do their own observations and stop if necessary. Maybe the situation on the roundabout changed very quickly. Possible in the circumstances I outline below.
Now, I have noticed an increasing tendency (and I have done this myself), particularly when a major road intersects a lesser one at the roundabout, for drivers to approach the roundabout with the speed they have carried from the main road. They (I) expect to gain instant priority on the roundabout as nothing much joins from the driver's right and they rarely need to stop. Maybe, since cyclists tend to prefer minor roads, this explains the event here. Never experienced it on a bike, but certainly in a car, I have been hooted at and flashed by a car which wasn't even on the roundabout when I pulled out on to it. My feelings tend to be, if you can hoot and flash then you can brake.
Maybe that is the key to the whole thing. Should vehicles be negotiating roundabouts at such a speed that unexpected events can only be dealt with by emergency stops? Possibly not.
So, recommendations.
Cyclists, look for yourself, don't blindly follow a leader.
Drivers, expect to brake if a vulnerable road user appears on a roundabout. In varying circumstances this could be cyclists, pram-pushers, pedestrians, dog-walkers. Remember who is operating the deadly machine, and is responsible for it. There is no such thing as right of way.
jefmcg
Guru
According to wikipedia
"A grizzly–polar bear hybrid (also pizzly bear, polizzly, prizzly bear, P-Grizzle, nanulak, Polar-Grizz[citation needed], or grolar bear[1][2])"
P-Grizzle!
winjim
Smash the cistern
Fo' shizzle.
According to wikipedia
"A grizzly–polar bear hybrid (also pizzly bear, polizzly, prizzly bear, P-Grizzle, nanulak, Polar-Grizz[citation needed], or grolar bear[1][2])"
P-Grizzle!
martint235
Dog on a bike
Thinking about this and my commute, my personal bugbear around roundabouts is that everyone stops now. So driver approaching roundabout from my left sees me 10 yards away and stops. Driver coming towards me stops because he doesn't know what driver 1 is doing next. I stop cos driver 2 is indicating to turn right across me. If only driver 1 would recognise he has priority because he is at the roundabout, I'm not. He doesn't have to cede to me even though I'm on his right.
midliferider
Guru
You know, today I cycled 100km along Tallin to Riga main road, full of articulated trucks and oil tanks driving at high speed. There was no specific cycle lane. Many road cyclists went past me and I was not alone.
It was so good to see how they share the road.
When will we ever learn to use the road in harmony...
It was so good to see how they share the road.
When will we ever learn to use the road in harmony...
simongt
Guru
An issue here is that most folk in the driver's position will be thinking / assuming that as he has the legal right of way that anyone approaching the roundabout from the driver's left will do the sensible and legal thing and GIVE WAY TO TRAFFIC ON THE RIGHT.
This causes hesitation / doubt in the driver's mind for a second or so until it's 'kin obvious that said approaching traffic has no intention of giving way to the right, by which time the driver has negotiated several metres of the roundabout and may have to take evasive action to allow for the behavior of said idiots. Let's face it, ALL of us have been in that type of situation occasionally.
Apollonius
Guru
What is this? I can find no mention of it in the Highway Code.
Hilarious. I can just see you taking exactly the same attitude when somebody opens a car door in front of you forcing you to make an emergency stop (or not). Or a car pulling out in front of you on a roundabout forcing you to come to a sudden stop. Or a pedestrian for that matter.
shouldbeinbed
Rollin' along
Feathers McGraw from Wallace & Gromit, The Penguin gang in Madagascar films, The Penguin in Batman, Pingu is a bit of a git, that penguin in the British Gas adverts breaking into peoples houses vandalising their boilers and trying to sneak out disguised as cleaning utensils. They're evil creatures, anything that keeps their numbers down...
In fact I'm off to gratuitously boil the kettle and order some stuff that needs to be shipped from China
uclown2002
Guru
Two or three abreast down the inside of a queue of traffic? Something doesn't add up.
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U
User6179
Guest
Two lanes , queue of traffic in right lane going straight on , club in left lane turning left at first exit !?
mjr
Comfy armchair to one person & a plank to the next
I don't know whether @glenn forger does or not, but I avoid riding close enough to car doors for them to be "forcing" me to stop because that's a very bad road position to be in. Similarly, don't go too close to the outside of roundabouts (despite what the highway code says) or pedestrians who may step out (which the highway code gets correct).
