Near Miss of the Day 274: Turning driver almost hits cyclist riding in bus lane

hawkinspeter wrote:

Argus Tuft wrote:

hawkinspeter wrote:

I'd like to meet one of your taxi drivers, they seem nice.

We've evolved a unique transport system on the Southern Moreton Bay Islands. There are no Vehicle Inspection Facilities,it's an honour system,basically.Ex mainland vehicles are virtually free.Registration is half the normal fee.Inter-Island passenger transport is free.If you're a bit short and need to get to the mainland just turn up at at the vehicle barge and ask a car driver if you can be their "passenger".Even though cars are cheap,bikes are everywhere.Homebrew Ebikes are popular.A mate of mine has a mid drive and a hubmotor on the same bike.The Police use discretion wisely. A local would never drive past anyone who looks like they'd like a lift.It's somewhere between Communism and Anarchy,and it works perfectly. We have taxis,but not as you know them.They're superannuated 12 seater Maxitaxis and more or less meet the ferries,picking up other passengers as required. The fare structure couldn't be simpler-$5 up to 5 ks radius,$10 everywhere else.If you're off for a night out at the RSL or the bowls club (there's nowhere else) you're picked up and taken home gratis. It's cycling heaven-a mix of sealed roads and miles of gravel backroads through the bush,with firetrails and some difficult sections for the adventurous.In most Australian states,riding on the footpath (pavement) is permitted and nobody dies. Sorry to go off topic,but you did mention taxis!

That sounds lovely and quite at odds with a lot of Australian states' attitudes to cyclists (and tailgating being a past-time).

I've eaten some Moreton Bay Bugs when I was visiting a friend in Brisbane - very tasty!

As an Islander,I often despair of Australians myself   

squidgy wrote:

Evidently they were paying attention, far more than the rider. 

No they weren't paying more attention, otherwise they'd have proceeded with more caution. They've pulled up to the van, decided their 10 seconds is more important than someone's life, tried to accelerate across a junction and then been fortunate that their brakes exceed their driving ability.

squidgy wrote:

 My safety is my priority and not anyone else's. Ive found it works quite well.

Really? So no incident could ever happen to you. What about a horse bolting from a field, scaffolding falling from a building, a drunk driver smashing into you from behind? All your fault?

squidgy wrote:

I realise I'm probably going to get some blow back from this but what exactly do you think the driver did wrong? They appear to be attempting a completey legitimate right turn across stationary tragic and stopped when they saw the rider on the inside. If anything, the rider needs to exert some caution aproaching junctions like, not just go barrelling through

Undue care and attention for one, couldn't see into the inside lane clearly and made no attempt to edge out slowly and simlly maintained their speed In the turn.

Define "barrelling through"? You mean travelling at a moderate speed (hence being able to avoid) and expecting another road user to show caution when turning across a lane with limited vision!

This would fail you on a bog std driving test all day long, suggest you get some proper training before driving on the road again.

BehindTheBikesheds wrote:

squidgy wrote:

I realise I'm probably going to get some blow back from this but what exactly do you think the driver did wrong? They appear to be attempting a completey legitimate right turn across stationary tragic and stopped when they saw the rider on the inside. If anything, the rider needs to exert some caution aproaching junctions like, not just go barrelling through

Undue care and attention for one, couldn't see into the inside lane clearly and made no attempt to edge out slowly and simlly maintained their speed In the turn.

Define "barrelling through"? You mean travelling at a moderate speed (hence being able to avoid) and expecting another road user to show caution when turning across a lane with limited vision!

This would fail you on a bog std driving test all day long, suggest you get some proper training before driving on the road again.

I'll define barrelling through as not moderating speed when approaching a potentially hazardardous situation., something that should be obvious to even the less experienced rider. Given the junction ahead and the stationary traffic i wouldn't call their speed moderate.

BehindTheBikesheds wrote:

squidgy wrote:

I realise I'm probably going to get some blow back from this but what exactly do you think the driver did wrong? They appear to be attempting a completey legitimate right turn across stationary tragic and stopped when they saw the rider on the inside. If anything, the rider needs to exert some caution aproaching junctions like, not just go barrelling through

Undue care and attention for one, couldn't see into the inside lane clearly and made no attempt to edge out slowly and simlly maintained their speed In the turn.

Define "barrelling through"? You mean travelling at a moderate speed (hence being able to avoid) and expecting another road user to show caution when turning across a lane with limited vision!

This would fail you on a bog std driving test all day long, suggest you get some proper training before driving on the road again.

Evidently they were paying attention, far more than the rider

squidgy wrote:

I realise I'm probably going to get some blow back from this but what exactly do you think the driver did wrong? They appear to be attempting a completey legitimate right turn across stationary tragic and stopped when they saw the rider on the inside. If anything, the rider needs to exert some caution aproaching junctions like, not just go barrelling through

I think the driver was going slightly too fast and too advantage of the red car making the turn thereby thinking it was safe.

However, I would have been going a bit slower on my bike as it is clearly an upcoming hazard.

I'll add I've avoided a few collisions in my car simply by slowing down at hazardous points eg yesterday, someone came round the bend partly on the wrongside, but at least I was able to stop.