Scariest part of your commute?

[GrasB]

A 90 degree right hander with a side road coming in from the left about 3/4 of the way round the corne. Most drivers on the side road ignore the fact they have to give way & treat it like a single straight road even when cars are approaching. Very damned if you do damned if you don't junction that.

 

[Lazy-Commuter]

The last half mile or so before work: lots of housing around here, plus a variety of light and heavy industrial units so a good mix of people heading off to work / school run, and some big ole lorries. All funneling through a pair of not especially big but very busy roundabouts.

If I have time in the morning, I detour round via a country park .. I only have to worry about out of control dogs in there. And there's a bridleway out of the park into the end of the road where our offices are. It's slower, but there's lakes and trees and bunnies, instead of carnage.

 

[Inertia]

Have just found this site and only recently started commuting, this seemed a good spot to post what Ive noticed.

The worst part for me is being overtaken, not that cars leave me too little room, but too much. Im grateful they will leave me room but I don't need the whole left side of the road to myself. I cringe as they slowly move back across and almost hit cars coming the other way, making them brake to avoid a collision. I almost feel guilty for being the cause of it, maybe this fades with time?

 

[JamesM]

Probably this bit - busy roundabout that's on a fairly steep up hill section. Not too bad though. Not had any close calls yet touch wood. It would be helpful if people learned to use their indicators properly though...

 

[siadwell]

The worst part for me is being overtaken, not that cars leave me too little room, but too much.

On part of my route, the road is nice and wide with a hatched area in the middle, which is home to all the loose chippings that have been dislodged from the carriageway (cheapskate resurfacing by Surrey CC). Sometimes vehicles go wide into the hatched area, then pull back in too quickly, peppering me with the loose stuff.

I'd much rather they gave me less width but more length. Oo-er.

 

[eldudino]

Usually it's standing at the back door (in winter) and bracing myself for the cold air!

 

[2Loose]

probably about here - shops and turnings on the left, lots of cars parked half in the cycle lane while the occupants fetch their papers, driver car doors opening across the cycle lane while cars are nose to tail in the main lane. Got to watch both sides of you at once.
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[ingenuitylee]

I used to have an issue turning right at a mini roundabout on my commute but I seem to be manageing that ok now.

I have an issue on the way home going downhill on the A57 in Mottram, judging the time to get in the right hand lane to turn right. The queueing traffic are that close to the islands I have to go completely on to the other side of the road at times to filter on the right to the lights. Then the lights change and all hell breaks loose as everyone is stonking up the hill to the motorway and those going downhill wants to get round the corner as quickly as possible so they can queue at the mini roundabout that they will quite willingly force you off the road.

During exceptionally busy times I just ride past and take the next right through some residential streets to avoid it.

 

[garrilla]

I used to have an issue turning right at a mini roundabout on my commute but I seem to be manageing that ok now.

I have an issue on the way home going downhill on the A57 in Mottram, judging the time to get in the right hand lane to turn right. The queueing traffic are that close to the islands I have to go completely on to the other side of the road at times to filter on the right to the lights. Then the lights change and all hell breaks loose as everyone is stonking up the hill to the motorway and those going downhill wants to get round the corner as quickly as possible so they can queue at the mini roundabout that they will quite willingly force you off the road.

During exceptionally busy times I just ride past and take the next right through some residential streets to avoid it.

Is that the turn just before Hollingworth - so stright on for H'worth, right for Glossop?? That's crazy there, its even scary in a car.

 

[Origamist]

It’s interesting to read how cyclists have very different takes on subjective safety and perceived risk when cycling. Stationary objects, motorised vehicles, road design etc are all key parts of the transportation environment, but fundamentally and overarchingly, people scare me. This threat is ever-present when I’m on the roads.

 

[HLaB]

I change my route quite frequently and can't really say one part is particularly scary. I used to think the Crewe Toll multi lane rbt was a bit scary but with diversions I'm forced to go along its approach road and although I can advoid it I choose to go through.

 

[Origamist]

It would be interesting to examine if there was a correlation between areas of perceived cycling risk and areas where there were actual collision clusters involving cyclists.

If cyclists were avoiding areas where they feel subjectively unsafe (and there was an increased risk of collision) this would mean that areas of danger would be harder to identify and study using collision data.

 

[swee'pea99]

Narrow road as it goes over the railway line, 25 yards on, turns 90 degrees to the left, with the straight on into the park. 9 times out of ten, you can just go straight on thru' a gap in the oncoming traffic into the park. 9 times out of ten of the remaining one, there's traffic going both ways, so you can wait reasonably comfortably in the middle of the road for a gap in the oncoming to let you nip across. The nightmare scenario is getting trapped there, in the middle of the road, with traffic oncoming but none on your side of the road, which invited the oncoming traffic to cut the corner...where you just happen to be. Stood there once watching a massive 4WD get closer and closer, totally unable to take any kind of evasive action, thinking disbelievingly 'surely he's seen me', but he hadn't, and clipped my handlebars as he took the bend at 35.

 

[Crash]

For me it's a small stretch of dual carriageway, which i have to get across to get into the lane that turns right

In itself not really that hard but it bends to the left so they come around blind and find me there , plus it's the first time the road opens up from a single carriageway and the steel box looneys seem unable to control themselves and take it as an opportunity to drag race it to the next set of lights.

Prior to that stretch and after that stretch the road , then it's single carriageway and pretty safe (or at least i feel safe )

 

[mearle]

Probably here going south down Green Lanes, Haringey. Left turning vehicles often assume cyclists are also turning left, and think nothing of "overtaking" at this point unless the cyclist makes it clear they are going straight on by keeping well away from the left side. I've had one or two near misses in the past here, but these days I'm well aware of the hazard and it's more scary watching other cyclists negotiate this. This morning I watched as a car overtook a cyclist who was hugging the left side but going straight on. The driver dealt with the situation by slowing down, but not quite stopping and continuing the manoeuvre forcing the cyclist to brake to avoid a low speed collision. Poor road skills by both cyclist and driver.
A little further down the road, there are traffic lights that give very little time to slower moving road users to get across the junction on the tail end of green. I've snuck across on amber a few times in the past at a fair speed, and found myself having to veer to the right to avoid 2 lanes of traffic joining the road. I don't do that anymore.