very near miss tonight - considering calling it a day !

[steveindenmark]

There is something in the original post which suggests excess speed. It sounds like the op is going down a hill with cars parked. Other things could appear from between the cars that he may also couldnt see. Children, animals. It makes me wonder why you would get down on the drops on a steep hill if you didnt have a clear view ahead.

 

[Lonestar]

Its not the lack of an apology as such - more that she was totally oblivious to the whole incident - even with a cyclist within millimetres of her window.

I will get back on the bike at the weekend and see how I feel

That's the problem out there and it's never going to change it just gets worse...Have you noticed a lot can't even be bothered too signal or a lot of cars seem to be running round with faulty lights? Apart from the mobile phone problem and lack of concentration or read ahead.

It means you and me have to get better at reading the situations/read ahead to avoid near misses like this.

A good point in the previous post and what I get a lot down the backstreets is people walking out from parked cars without looking or pedestrians at night who are dressed in black or invisible...Joggers are also another problem now on some of my new routes.

 

[Drago]

Faulty lights are annoying, particularly as most cars are now CANBUS or similar and actually tell the driver when a bulb goes pop, and still they don't bother to replace them.

 

[kingrollo]

There is something in the original post which suggests excess speed. It sounds like the op is going down a hill with cars parked. Other things could appear from between the cars that he may also couldnt see. Children, animals. It makes me wonder why you would get down on the drops on a steep hill if you didnt have a clear view ahead.

Really ? - Where does the excess speed 'theory' come from ? (apart from the fact most if not all us go a little more quickly down hill - probably yourself included)
I checked behind - clear - checked ahead clear, was about to go down on the drops - for some reason I didn't. A parked car just pulled out into the centre of the road. all the parked cars were on one side of the road (the other side) - so I had a good view of anyone about to step out.

 

[steveindenmark]

Well how far away could you see this car parked? If there are people sitting in it what are they doing? There is a good chance that they are either going to get out or move off. Either way I would be a bit cautious about what may happen and would be getting past them before going down on the drops. I would call it reading the road ahead.

The excess speed comes in because you did not think about the above scenario and started your acceleration a bit too early.

Having said that. They should also have seen you coming before they started their manouvre. we all share the road and have to do our bit. It sounds like you didnt do your bit and they didnt do theirs either.

 

[Drago]

Parked cars, driveways, side road junctions are all hazards that should be accounted for, yet virtually every helmet cam champion shows films of them furiously pedalling past them, staring steadfastly straight ahead, maintaining station on the left and thus close to these hazards as they pass. Yet these unskilled, often dangerous riders have the cheek to complain about the antics of other road users.

If someone dies and contributed towards the situation with their own behaviour, they're still dead.

Moral outrage after the event is all well and good, but they're still dead.

Arguments about victim blaming are wonderful intellectual exercises, but they're still dead.

Survival trumps abstract concepts such as blame or morality every single time.

 

[Lonestar]

It's difficult though...Lat year a car pulled blindly out of a turning (from the left to cross in front of me) in front of me without stopping till he saw me...I was doing 15mph and panicked...I was on the fixie and was so sure I was going to collide with his bonnet...I had nowhere to go...it was wet...My concentration was great though even though it was 7am and there was nothing about except parked cars and stuff blocking the view to this turning...I shouted something but somehow managed to stop short with a pretty controlled stop.Looked at the driver and he laughed in my face...I was so ferking angry with his reaction even with his mates in the car I swore at the ferkers.

 

[Drago]

A stream of parked cars obstructing human, vehicular, or road hazards? Slow down a little and take station further out.

Try and take something positive from such experiences and learn a lesson.

 

[Lonestar]

A stream of parked cars obstructing human, vehicular, or road hazards? Slow down a little and take station further out.

Try and take something positive from such experiences and learn a lesson.

I can't agree with you on this one...Perhaps I should ride at 10mph all the way to work then......Did it on the Brompton and it was no fun and probably put me at more risk because I didn't have the power or speed to get past some tithead and dodgy road situations which were unfolding either in front or behind me.

How about the reckless driving which was involved where he should have GIVEN WAY? With the standard of driving down there,there would have been a collision.I've seen cars whiz down there recklessly...Not out of turning like that but just up and down the road at speed.say 30/40mph?

I'm damn sure I do and would in every circumstance.Given way that is and if I was at fault I would be mortified but I'd never come blindly out of a turning like that on a car/bike or as a pedestrian.No way ever.

Is that on a thread @User13710? the@Ianrauk thing I mean?

 

[Drago]

Show me the figures to support that position Tiny?

I'm all for screwing wrongdoers hard. Very hard where there endanger life.

However, above every single other consideration, I'm all for staying alive.

Teaching riders to survive - and as a very highly qualified cycle trainer that's actually what I do - is very important. Punishing idiots is also very important, incredibly so. However, tutting and shaking heads doesn't bring people back to life, so if I can save a life from the clutches of a murderous idiots then I've succeeded.

Being alive is more important that being right, every single time, without exception.

And please, no capital letters Lonestar. Apart from being patronising, I'm dyslexic and it makes it harder for those with that disability to read and comprehend the text, the exact opposite of that which you probably intended.

 

[Dogtrousers]

I have to say that when I read it, it did seem to me that a more central road position and less speed might have made the situation a bit less hairy. But I wasn't there, and maybe I just constructed the wrong image of the situation in my head.

 

[steveindenmark]

Lonestar. How about his reckless driving? Whatever you say about what he did is not going to keep you alive. Its what you do that is important. There is no point in laying on the floor dying and blaming some idiot driver for what he did or did not do. What they do is really not important. They are in a metal box and dont need to anticipate what we do.

 

[Lonestar]

And please, no capital letters Lonestar. Apart from being patronising, I'm dyslexic and it makes it harder for those with that disability to read and comprehend the text, the exact opposite of that which you probably intended.

I wasn't to know this anymore than I know that someone is going to come blindly out of a turning while not stopping...I could have been right on that turning doing 5mph and been hit...What do you suggest now?

Catch the bloody tube?

Central position...Cars/Vans parked on both sides door zones and I was on the most central position I could be in with the speed bumps also.Only room for one car due to all the parked one.

I never actually knew that capital letters were patronizing where all I was trying to do was put a point across.(sorry)

No point in (arguing) more I said my bit...I don't agree with some but I see where you are coming from..........

(Edited)

 

[Milkfloat]

I need a new rim on my commuter - I keep hoping for someone to pull out to I can hit them and get them to pay, but it seems like the buggers around here are being too careful at the moment. Knowing my luck, I will get hit front behind, that wheel is fine.

 

[kingrollo]

Well how far away could you see this car parked? If there are people sitting in it what are they doing? There is a good chance that they are either going to get out or move off. Either way I would be a bit cautious about what may happen and would be getting past them before going down on the drops. I would call it reading the road ahead.

The excess speed comes in because you did not think about the above scenario and started your acceleration a bit too early.

Having said that. They should also have seen you coming before they started their manouvre. we all share the road and have to do our bit. It sounds like you didnt do your bit and they didnt do theirs either.

I actually think I did do my bit. I saw the danger early enough to stop. Granted it was a close call.
I don't really think i accelerated at all to be honest. If I had been going at 4 mph and car pulls out directly in front there is going to be an issue. I took that descent they way most cyclists would - covering the brakes, eyes everywhere - that saved me. Im quite a pragmatic bloke, but can't really see what else I could have done.

Mrs KR has offered to buy me a cyclecam - and I wish had footage to post here, but then again someone watching the vid a few times, would say 'ahhh' he should have done x - not done y. Being on the bike you don't have time to replay the scenario - split second decisions, hunches.

I would say this - but stopping within the distance I did, in the time given, and staying on the bike - was pretty damm good cycling - not bad.

Enough
Any good webcams for under £100 anyone ?