Pedestrian Collision

[DanH]

Feeling bad for knocking down a pedestrian on my commute home last night. But I'm wondering if there was really anything I could have done to avoid it.
Hopefully my crude sketch is helpful!

Basically the road traffic was stationary in a long line.
I was using the cycling lane on the inside (travelling at 19mph according to my GPS).
Pedestrians crossed directly in front of a stationary HGV and walked into the cycle path at the exact moment I was coming through.
Surely there was no way I could anticipate this? Maybe I shouldn't be using the cycle lane when the traffic is stationary? I don't know. It's put lots of doubt in my mind... Whaddya think?

 

[Scotchlovingcylist]

If I were a pedestrian I would not cross the road in front of a lorry onto a cycle path. In my opinion you did nothing wrong, just one of those unfortunate accidents.

 

[matiz]

I get this a lot on Weymouth seafront the only thing I tend to do is keep the speed down a bit when passing stationary traffic

 

[Rooster1]

As a pedestrian, when crossing between stationary cars, I always hesitate and look to check for bikes and motorbikes when I get to the other side of the vehicle - a quick peep to check.
Just because all the cards, lorries and buses are not moving, that it is safe.
I learnt this from a visit to London when I nearly got taken out by a courier motorbike as I crossed a traffic island - I assumed all the traffic was at a standstill - common sense I guess.

I would not consider this to be your fault.
I hope the pedestrian is OK.

 

[Markymark]

You shoukd always proceed very slowly alongside stationary traffic. Especially lorries as you can't see through or over them.

Pedestrian should have looked but you shoukd have been going at a speed appropriate and as such if you did hit something that came in front it would be minor.

EDIT. Just noticed the 19mph bit. That is too fast alongside stationery vehicles.

 

[ianrauk]

Not your fault. Unfortunately these things happen.
Wayward peds can be a problem. Even if you were going at a slower speed it won't stop a non paying attention wayward ped walking into you from between stationary traffic and knocking you off the bike..

 

[si_c]

Pedestrians can be stupid. Had more than one step out into my path from between high sided vehicles.

Doesn't sound like your fault, I remember it being drilled into my head as a kid not to step into the road from between cars as it was dangerous. Sounds like this one never had this lesson.

 

[Shut Up Legs]

Pedestrians can be stupid. Had more than one step out into my path from between high sided vehicles.

Doesn't sound like your fault, I remember it being drilled into my head as a kid not to step into the road from between cars as it was dangerous. Sounds like this one never had this lesson.

Until now.

 

[mustang1]

You done nothing wrong.

The pedestrian takes care when crossing in front of motor vehicles but not cyclists?

Having said that, I keep my speed quite low when in a bike lane going past stationary by tactic and slow right down next to larger vehicles coz pedestrians I find to be mainly dumb. You ever played lemmings?

Its not a good feeling when you have a collision, but don't blame yourself for it.

 

[w00hoo_kent]

[QUOTE 3586560, member: 45"]The correct reply is that you should always anticipate and prepare for a pedestrian appearing from a gap in front of a truck as happened with you.

The reality is that this would mean you riding at 3mph all the way down the line.[/QUOTE]
Sorry, learnt from motorbike days (although then on the right, not the left) you ride to your sight lines and vans and lorries completely obscure what you can see so the only safe way is to slow and look. I'd not be passing the inside of the lorry at 19mph and I'd be covering the brakes and doing everything I could to check that the space in front of the lorry didn't contain a danger be that a ped, bicycle or errant pizza delivery scooter. Of course, my slowing down probably means one day I'll get a fast moving bicycle straight up my jacksie so it's hardly perfect :-)

You only need to slow for the bits that you can't see so unless it was a line of lorries and vans you'd not be crawling along the whole length.

A common enough incident, I'd put the majority of the fault with the ped, they should have looked especially with a cycle lane in front of them, but if you want to stop it happening again it is possible to do things on your part.

 

[Drago]

I don't think it's your fault per se. I dislike the painted on cycle lanes that share the tarmac with the rest if the traffic, as it little more than officially sanctioned filtering, and that can be a risky pastime.

 

[PK99]

[QUOTE 3586560, member: 45"]The correct reply is that you should always anticipate and prepare for a pedestrian appearing from a gap in front of a truck as happened with you.

The reality is that this would mean you riding at 3mph all the way down the line.[/QUOTE]

not 3mph, but 19 mph with view blocked by the lorry, is not what i would want to do.
rule 160 (for motorcyclists) says keep speed low whan filtering

 

[Stephen C]

As much as I agree that it is the pedestrians fault, I would say that 19mph is certainly too fast with restricted visibility. If you have to cycle at 5mph to stay safe, so be it. As well as being extra vigilant with vehicles that you can't see over (lorries, buses etc), watch out for gaps in the queue of traffic around junctions, they could be letting a car through.

Unfortunately, I've learnt most of this through experience...

 

[vickster]

Agreed, going much too fast for the traffic conditions in a cycle lane, as tempting as it may be

If you don't have 3rd party indemnity insurance already, it might be worth investing (through British Cycling or CTC)

 

[glenn forger]

No filtering, there's a lane, you've even got a picture to explain to you, sheesh.