White van driver knocks cyclist off, blames cyclist

[Jody]

The cyclists camera picks the vans manouver up at three seconds and he hits the van just before 6 seconds. Rider seems more focused on riding at the Golf to prove a point than paying attention to everything else that is going on. No point putting yourself in hospital to prove a point or save having to ease off.

The roads are full of interactions like this. The driver isn't in the right but it doesnt mean you you just carry on regardless. Both are at fault but if he slowed down a touch he wouldn't be on the floor.

 

[Markymark]

Van driver at fault. I don't cycle anywhere near as badly as that cyclist who ploughed through assuming his way was clear. Two idiots. One in a vehicle that can seriously harm others.

 

[winjim]

Er. No. That was bullying by the motorists, might is right, not give and take. I hope I would've stopped but I would probably have at them because the obstruction was on their side, so they really ought to have given way, especially the WVM.

Ought to have, but didn't. Had I been driving I would have held back to let the driver parking complete their manoeuvre. So yes I think the van driver was a twit, even more so than the driver in front, who he blindly followed through. However, looking at the situation purely from a cyclist's point of view and in the interests of self preservation, the van driver's actions were predictable and the collision avoidable, which does make me wonder about the cyclist's motivation.

 

[winjim]

[QUOTE 4862054, member: 45"]I think there's a balance somewhere between being submissive on the road and riding as we're entitled to. I'll control the space around me, which includes riding further out times to prevent overtakes. In this scenario, if there were cars looking to overtake the parker, I'd have picked a line which completely prevented them from trying the overtake. I think the cyclist had this mindset, which is OK, but was applying it too late as the car had already committed.[/QUOTE]
Yes, I think the cyclist was close enough to the parker that the overtakers should have held back, but too far away to effectively control the space himself.

 

[User6179]

It is immiterial who had the right of way

Nobody has "the right of way" on a road .

 

[glasgowcyclist]

Nobody has "the right of way" on a road .

No, but the Highway Code does say you should give way in these circumstances.

[Edited to add photo which had failed to upload earlier]

 

[mjr]

However, looking at the situation purely from a cyclist's point of view and in the interests of self preservation, the van driver's actions were predictable and the collision avoidable, which does make me wonder about the cyclist's motivation.

Not sure there was really time for a detailed consideration of "what's my motivation here" and we don't know how badly they wanted to get where they were going quickly (of course, being knocked to the floor and abused wasn't quicker, but hindsight is always clearer).

I agree it would have been better to wait, but in that exact situation, would you really have waved cheerily at those motorists? At best, I would probably have waved sarcastically.

 

[User6179]

No, but the Highway Code does say you should give way in these circumstances.

Yes you should give way regardless of who is right or wrong, whatever is safest, hundreds of clips online where the camera user ploughs on regardless because they think they are in the right.

 

[flake99please]

would you really have waved cheerily at those motorists? At best, I would probably have waved sarcastically.

I would have slowed down & waved. I may have called them something that sounds like banker in the process.

 

[Col5632]

Always expect others to be stupid and if you were following that advice you would hold back and wait to see what others were going to do, car v bike the car will always win so what's the point?

 

[winjim]

I agree it would have been better to wait, but in that exact situation, would you really have waved cheerily at those motorists? At best, I would probably have waved sarcastically.

Difficult to say in truth. I feel that a cheery wave and a smile might sometimes help to defuse a bad situation even when you've been wronged, or might help put somebody in a better mood so that they're less likely to act aggressively towards the next cyclist they encounter.

But that might just be wishful thinking and of course everybody acts differently in these sorts of situations.

 

[SAB]

Nobody could argue that that manoeuvre by the van driver was unplanned and dangerously executed - for a start, in any situation of a 'correct' manoeuvre he'd have been slow enough and aware enough to at least brake before recklessly passing the car and knocking the cyclist like that.

Totally no way to justify it.

I'm a big fan of Fiat and small Italian cars, so I love the fact he has a Fiat badged van... makes him even less hard looking to his own type {ignorant white-van driver} - vermin of the motorist world - even to us drivers. I think it's something to do with the fact the van isn't normally their own nor is it easy for us to track them down.

Hope the cyclist got justice. Though it totally wasn't racism. That card has to end. He'd have hit the cyclist in the first place regardless of who it was - white, black etc.. This breed of tw*t does not discriminate by race but by their own superiority on the road to everyone around them, sadly.

 

[Electric_Andy]

Van driver was an idiot and should have yielded to the oncoming cyclist, but we all know people very often break the rules and plough through regardless.
The screen shot also shows that there was ample room to take evasive action (ride on the double yellows or even onto the totally dropped pavement). If you look at the van's back wheel, that was the closest point to the pavement. The cyclist basically chose to stand his ground and massively increase the chances of him being hit.

Cyclist did show good restraint though, I'll give him that. Many would have escalated this into fisticuffs.

 

[jarlrmai]

It's bullying plain and simple, It happens so often to me that I've got tired of it and if it's clear they've seen me but proceeded anyway I will now just wait in the middle of my lane until they reverse out of my way, unless it's clear that they are a psychopath like this guy and are not slowing down in which case I wing it over to the side.

 

[Andy_R]

Nobody has "the right of way" on a road .

Ermmm...if it's a public highway, then everyone has the right of way. Perhaps you're confusing it with priority?