Was actually a motorist cursing a cyclist this morning :(

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Plague

New Member
Location
Lancaster
Sorry, but this really got on my wick yesterday morning. (and if you're the cyclist involved you nearly got both barrels from me!)

To anyone who knows Lancaster, they will know what a complete pain in the backside it is to drive (and cycle) round. In any case, I catch a very early train in the morning and was driving to the station when I was approaching a set of lights - I had slowed down as they had only just changed to green and I was anticipating them still being on red when I got there. I was due to turn left at those lights and was indicating to do so though I had noticed a cyclist coming down the main road at a fairly decent speed. I decided as I was already almost stationary and as it was 5 in the morning with nothing behind me, id let him carry on and then make my turn rather than forcing him to stop - you know, do the decent thing. I had turned over my shoulder so he could see that I had spotted him and I waved him through, he however slowed down - he must have thought I was still going to turn left. He came to an almost stop at the back of my car, saw that I was still letting him through and then looked through the window and mouthed some abuse, before cycling off down the main road waving his hands in the process. Now I was calm at that point but I was seconds away from aborting the turn, carrying on down the hill after him, doing a swerving stop in front of him and giving him a proper dressing down for being an inconsiderate, bad mannered tw@ and if he wanted to be rude, he could do it with me out of the car in front of him. The fact that I was just about on time for my train saved him from this.

Perhaps next time, il just carry on making my turn and he can then complain on here that another a$$ motorist took a left turn knowing a cyclist was behind him. Or am I wrong in this one?

I think good manners are just what they are. I'm a careful, considerate driver and I respect the rules and all other road users when I'm on my bike. I just wish everyone else could do the same!
 

Dan B

Disengaged member
Right ... you forced him to lose all the momentum he'd gained on the downhill and come to a stop behind you for no reason, then you wonder why he's upset?

I wouldn't undertake a vehicle indicating left no matter what hand gestures the driver was making. It's not worth the risk
 

Simba

Specialized Allez 24 Rider
coruskate said:
Right ... you forced him to lose all the momentum he'd gained on the downhill and come to a stop behind you for no reason, then you wonder why he's upset?

I wouldn't undertake a vehicle indicating left no matter what hand gestures the driver was making. It's not worth the risk

+1 and I agree with the undertaking a left turner. I dont even go up the inside of HGV's/Busses/Big things at the lights.
 

Arch

Married to Night Train
Location
Salford, UK
I think this is just a case of two people knowing what they were thinking, and expecting the other person to know as well. So, he was a bit arsey, but generally it's a very good rule not to trust a random other road user's judgement or apparent actions.

You thought you were doing him a favour, he thought you were dithering - after all, you were indicating left, so it was fair to expect you to do so. On the other hand it would be suicide to expect a driver to give way when they had priority - even when they wave at you. Maybe he misinterpreted your wave as impatience?

Also, lights don't just change to green from red - the amber phase should give you some clue about what's going on...

I'd write it off to experience.
 

snorri

Legendary Member
Plague said:
I think good manners are just what they are. I'm a careful, considerate driver and I respect the rules and all other road users when I'm on my bike. I just wish everyone else could do the same!

I would have been very confused if I had been that cyclist.
Good manners are usually appreciated but on the road it avoids confusion if we just to stick to the rules.:biggrin:
 

monkeypony

Active Member
Sounds like a tw@ to me.

Slow moving/stationary car in front indicating left. Why not just overtake it???

Some people really do look for any excuse to feel hard done by when on a bike.
 

thomas

the tank engine
Location
Woking/Norwich
coruskate said:
Right ... you forced him to lose all the momentum he'd gained on the downhill and come to a stop behind you for no reason, then you wonder why he's upset?

I wouldn't undertake a vehicle indicating left no matter what hand gestures the driver was making. It's not worth the risk

+1. Possibly the cyclist could of reacted differently, but I certainly would not have undertaken.

Obviously, if it looked like you were going to left hook the cyclist (either, you overtook them too late, or they were undertaking you...neither of which count in this case) then stopping to either let the cyclist through, or check if you'll left hook them is sensible...otherwise, it sometimes pays to do what is more expected.

No good deed goes unpunished :biggrin:

Yesterday, when for a club ride someone had just turned right onto the main road and stopped to let us in front of him before carrying on. A nice gesture from his POV.

None of us were really sure if he was letting us through, as he was starting to indicate left, into the junction we were going. We also all waited as there was a massive HGV baring down on him, who did not look to be slowing down.

Now, the HGV driver should of anticipated better and started to slow before, but probably thought the driver was turning left and therefore wouldn't need to (rather than waiting to let us across). In the end, the lorry driver slammed the brakes on, held the horn down and had to swerve the front of the cab into the central reservation (painted hatchings, rather than grass, etc).

The HGV driver wasn't too impressed.

I think this is a bit like what happened in your case. You tried to do something nice, but it was misinterpreted because it was out of the norm and therefore the outcome wasn't that pleasant.

Though the hgv driver could possibly have anticipated better, I don't blame him for his reaction. The car driver was trying to be polite and considerate, but could just have easily have ended being shunted down the road (or into us).
 

kendalcottages

New Member
Knowing Lancaster pretty well, I think know the lights the OP is referring to. Just near Waterstones?

monkeypony said:
Sounds like a tw@ to me.

Slow moving/stationary car in front indicating left. Why not just overtake it???

Some people really do look for any excuse to feel hard done by when on a bike.

I did wonder why the cyclist couldn't overtake, particularly if it was early and quiet. That would be the obvious thing to do as a cyclist IMHO. I can also understand there being confusion but I don't think there's any cause to hurl abuse at someone trying to be considerate, even if the actions were misunderstood. At the end of the day, the cyclist lost 10 seconds of time on his journey... it's really no big deal.

"mr_cellophane" said:
You should have made the turn whatever. You pay Road Tax to drive that car, he pays nothing so you had right of way.

I hope you don't use that line of thinking whenever you're behind the wheel.
 
The thing that struck me the most was your assertion that you considered doing a swerving stop in front of him. Please, never do, or even consider doing this. This is downright dangerous!! :biggrin:
 

Dan B

Disengaged member
monkeypony said:
Slow moving/stationary car in front indicating left. Why not just overtake it???
Is what I would usually do, agreed, but I don't know the road or the circumstances - there could be oncoming traffic or not enough space or ...
 
I must agree that if a car ahead was indicating left, then there would be no way I would go on the inside. What if you were waiting for a vehicle turning across you, what if...so many what if's that he was defending himself from..

Nice that you were considerate and if he had been a less savvy rider then perhaps you would have got your good deed for the day, but in this case he wisely didn't take you up on it. We can't always bank on considerate drivers, so self defense is the way to go.
 

GrumpyGregry

Here for rides.
coruskate said:
I wouldn't undertake a vehicle indicating left no matter what hand gestures the driver was making. It's not worth the risk

+1. I'm not telepathic, whilst the driver might just be psychopathic.

I also stoically ignore people flashing their headlights as a 'come on'.

Let's all just stick to the HC and cyclecraft/roadcraft and we will all get along famously.
 
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