On Thu, 10 Apr 2003 11:02:49 +0100, Paul Smith <
[email protected]> wrote:
> On Thu, 10 Apr 2003 09:54:39 +0100, "Mark"
> <
[email protected]> wrote:
>
>>Within the last 2 miles of my mammoth 30 mile cycle into work.
>
>>Narrow, short, straight section of road.
>
>>Lorry comes towards me.
>
>>White van behind lorry sees it as an opportunity to overtake lorry and does so. Of course, to do
>>so, he needs to be on my side of the road, and seems to be completely unconcerned that he missed
>>me by mere inches whilst accelerating to 70 to overtake.
>
> His manoeuver was incredibly dangerous, and all too common. But there's little or nothing in
> basic driver training or the Highway Code to warn him of the special risk. Relevant HC rules
> appear to be 189 and 207, neither of which refer to overtaking in the face of an oncoming
> cyclist. It would be a really good idea to campaign to get this specifically into the next
> edition of the Highway Code.
>
No. There is no need to put something like this into the Highway Code.
Anybody who lacks the intelligence to see that overtaking in this sort of circumstance is reckless
is clearly not someone who should EVER be allowed to drive again. (Or at all which is why the
driving of motorized vehicles on the road is age restricted)
(I would make a distinction between someone who pulled out to overtake and then saw the bike and
stopped, forcing the bike to stop as well to untangle the situation. This is someone making a
misjudgement and then doing everything they can to rectify it. It doesn't excuse the original
fault but I think this could demonstrate the difference between careless and dangerous driving
quite nicely)
Guy got run off the road in this circumstance. Injured, fortunately not seriously it appears, driver
didn't stop. I've had it happen once to me - fortunately the car being overtaken saw the problem,
braked hard and pulled in as close to the kerb as he could which left just enough space for me who
was also braking as hard as I could consistent with ensuring that I kept enough grip on the rear
wheel to keep the bike as straight as possible.
And these are the sorts of accidents where a collision is bound to be serious.
Finally, you should remember that bicycles become less stable as they slow down. And in a real panic
stop to a standstill situation there is a good chance that you will fall off so you have to make a
split second decision whether to keep on going, slowdown but not stop, panic stop, or take a dive.
> Overtaking takes some considerable time, at least 6 or 7 seconds in typical circumstances, and
> cyclists may have time to slow down, pull left or even dismount before the oncoming vehicle
> arrives. Mostly I've
You reckon a cyclist could dismount and get out of the way in less than about 20 seconds? No. If you
need to dismount to avoid a crash in this circumstance then your only hope is to take a dive and
hope that hitting the road/pavement/verge at whatever speed you are doing is less serious than
hitting the car coming the other way.
> seen this happen when the cyclist is fairly far away at the start of the manoeuver; perhaps in
> such circumstances the risk is less obvious to the driver involved.
>
> If you can get well out of the way, then obviously it's very much safer to do so. Some of you will
> probably think I'm "blaming the victim". I am not. But whenever another road user fails to allow
> you sufficient space it makes sense to do whatever you can to reduce the risk.
>
Absolutely. But it's not as simple as you make it. Cyclists ride so that they reduce the risk _IF_
another road user fails to allow sufficient space. This is why cyclists are advised to ride a
minimum of 1.5m from the kerb, and to move well out when approaching a junction when cars are
waiting or approaching.
This has two advantages. 1. The car is more likely to see you and
2. When a car does pull out there is a chance that you don't have a collision - this morning I came
within three inches of hitting my handlebars on the rear offside wing/door of a car. (It happened
so fast and required so much of my concentration and control to avoid a collision that I couldn't
even have said whether the car was 2 or 4 door) I was wearing a bright yellow cape and still the
driver didn't see me (or so she claimed when I caught up with her 100 yards along the road) I was
so close when she pulled out that I find it unbelievable that the didn't see me. I could accept
not noticing me initially but I was so close that I would have thought this bright yellow blob
moving in your peripheral vision would have attracted attention.
>>I was too cold & knackered to be angry at the time, and now I'm just sad.
>
> Angry doesn't really help.
Yes it does - can save 5 minutes on an 8 mile commute when the adrenaline really gets going. This,
of course, relies on the "event" occuring near the start of the journey
Regards,
Tim.
--
God said, "div D = rho, div B = 0, curl E = - @B/@t, curl H = J + @D/@t," and there was light.
http://tjw.hn.org/ http://www.locofungus.btinternet.co.uk/
