Triathlete urges drivers to "think twice" after shocking dashcam footage shows moment bike was catapulted into the air from collision

Awavey wrote:

whilst the driver is totally at fault for this crash, can we take a moment to say what a total cluster f*** mess this particular piece of road design is, two mini roundabouts that are no more than just bits of paint on the road with narrowed exits, fed from another roundabout from the direction the car came from, the way its setup literally creates these types of events by default.

I haven't checked the figures recently, but mini-rbts were a collision hot spot for cyclists, and I can't see why that should have changed.  They are loved by highways engineers because at least one lane of traffic is always flowing, not the case with other types of juction, and they just ignore the fact that cyclists pay the price.

Yes, I felt the same.  And from his hospital bed too.

Unfortunately the victim seems to be stating it wasn't a crime. I don't have an insta account so can't view the main footage, but from the still at the top and the description of "being followed by a colleague", she totally cut across the wrong way on the mini island and should be done for dangerous driving, not just carelessness.

I haven't got Insta either so I can't see it.  Not sure why you'd lock something like this down. Glad he wasn't seriously injured but that's clearly more luck than judgement on the part of the driver. 

I think a direct link to the insta vid would work for us social outcasts, however Insta always locks viewing timeline items behind the sign in.

Here's a reupload 

Ta. He didn't help himself being as middle as he was on the approach. But then I have been knocked off trying to steer behind a car when they didn't stop for me, so he had no bailout either way once she had comitted to only looking left and travelling the wrong way around the island. 

Wow! Totally lack of observation by the driver. Looked like they were going to just carry on driving. Of course they would never admit to being distracted. Desperately needs driving awareness course if they want to continue driving.

Jesus. Can't believe he got off so lightly.
Moron of a driver just ignored the roundabout.
I'd love to think they lose their licence but we know they won't.

You'd have thought that driving the wrong way around a roundabout and hence colliding with another vehicle, hospitalising the other party, would be a serious offence.

On the other hand, it was only a cyclist, so what the hell.

Exactly. I was reading how he was being all understanding and forgiving, everyone makes mistakes, no malice, and then I thought yeah but they *drove the wrong way round a roundabout*! 

And she didn't make an "honest mistake", she broke the law and could have killed this guy because of her actions. The victim is probably on some strong painkillers, so his comments/pinch of salt until they wear off.

Am i seeing this wrong but was the cyclist going the wrong way around the r'about as well as the driver ? Seems it when you look at the direction arrows in the road.

No, he was approaching correctly and going the correct way around it. I have just watched the footage. The still is misleading as when the vehicle collided with him he got taken across the roundabout.

Awful driving, he was visible and had priority. Then driving the wrong side too.

joeegg wrote:

Am i seeing this wrong but was the cyclist going the wrong way around the r'about as well as the driver ? Seems it when you look at the direction arrows in the road.

Yes, you are seeing it the wrong way. The cyclist approaches the roundabout as he should - he even appears to indicate his intention with his right hand - and if he moves further to the right just after that it's perhaps as a perfectly reasonable reaction to the realisation he is about to be run over by the driver of the white car to his left. (The dark car behind the cyclist follows his line through the roundabout.)

joeegg wrote:

Am i seeing this wrong but was the cyclist going the wrong way around the r'about as well as the driver ? Seems it when you look at the direction arrows in the road.

I did think that his position was a bit too far over to the right, but looking at streetview, it's where you'd need to be given the bad road surface and angle of the exit.

You can also see why he swerved in front, rather than behind the car, as the run-out would be straight into a building.

Exactly, I had the same thought originally, but then you see the way the road is setup just on that one mini roundabout there, and there are infact two more feeding into it there, and I'd be surprised if crashes like that werent a regular occurrence.

Also, you do not want to be left hooked if you are going right (or straight on depending how you view it), so you would want to be where he was. Should also help with drivers who pull out and not give way as you are further from them.

Looking at that view, any one coming from the left driving the wrong way round would immediately enter a hatched area which is another clue as to it being a bad idea.

You wonder whether the designers intended for the roundabout to be just white paint. The positioning would suggest that it was designed to slow drivers, from that direction, down. If that's the case this shows a spectacular fail.

The centre island is really weirdly off-set. I thought it was just the camera angles, but the overhead satellite view shows it really is that badly positioned. It almost encourages drivers to cut the corner.

I'm guessing that the road the car emerged from was previously a joining side road. So when they put the roundabout in they put it on the centreline of the 'main' road, because if you don't think much about design beyond 'need to put a roundabout in' that seems like the obvious place to put it.

I couldn't agree more. This picture screams that all uk highways teams and all uk police forces have to urgently address motorised vehicle user behaviour and put safety for all as a priority. The picture paints the truth and the reality, and this pic is impossible to ignore if your job is designing road space and keeping road users safe.