Near Miss of the Day 500: Mercedes driver pulls out on cyclist

There may be 'a lot going on', but the driver has taken, and passed a test to prove they are of a standard to be granted the priviledge of holding a driving license, a priviledge which can be removed, should the need arise. Lots going on, more reason to take extra care.

I agree, but he hasn't caused an accident and there is nothing here that would warrant his licence being revoked. And we can only speculate about the driver's point of view.

gooseflight wrote:

I agree, but he hasn't caused an accident and there is nothing here that would warrant his licence being revoked. And we can only speculate about the driver's point of view.

And I haven't caused WW3.  If you're driving a ton of metal that regularly kills people, you take care or you get off the road.  He approached a junction as if there was no reason to stop, but any sensible driver approaches as if they have to stop, and if they can't see, they stop.  Please tell me you don't drive.

I think the motorist in that case could have stopped and looked and still made the wrong call about it being safe to pull out there, unless you are very aware of how badly the bus stop is blocking your view of whats passing behind it at the moment you start looking, and especially of cyclists/motorcyclists in that situation who are nearer kerbside, then you are just left guessing the road is clear.

just because the motorist appears to be doing that still moving cant see a car coming so it must be ok to go style check instead, doesnt excuse the fact the bus stop placement there is contributing significantly to the risk on that part of road any rider on it faces

The bus stop is the 'van' from #499.

Poor infrastructure.

They probably did 'look', just didn't see the cyclist (as a threat)

I was thinking the same as you don't really notice the car from the cyclists viewpoint until the bus stop is cleared. Still the drivers responsibility to ensure it is clear though so should have stopped and checked.

Personally though I would have been a yard further out in the road in a similar position, not because of the junction specifically, but because of the pedestrians being very close to the edge of the road and the speed I was going. 

Awavey wrote:

its the bus stop isnt it, its set too close to the junction, whilst the Merc seems to be already happily ignoring a pedestrian crossing their road and if theyve looked right at all, theyll have only seen the cyclist with about 1 second to react, because the bus stop acts as effectively a brick wall you cant see through it, and the driver there has done that cant see anything so must be good to go choice and its obviously then not, guaranteed SMIDSY or the cyclist appeared right in front of me excuses had they hit. decent bike handling skills on a wet/greasy road like that though to react and swerve without coming off.

but Id imagine theres more than the occasional near miss there because of that road design.

No.  If visibility is less than optimal, you slow down and take extra care, you don't just pull out because you've done a cursory glance in that direction; you stop and make sure.  Please tell me that you don't drive.

wycombewheeler wrote:

I have to remind myself when I see stuff like this that people often pull out on me in a  similar manner when I am driving. When I had a bright red car way back when was firs driving, I did begin to wonder if people had trouble percieving red.

Had the same thing happen any number of times when I drove a large, yellow minibus, so yes, there are crap drivers on the road, and the driver of the mercedes is one; how do we get them off the road?

I could hardly see the motorvehicle, almost not visible, it was in black with no lights on...

Out on the battlefield of the newspaper comment columns, I occasionally suggest to people who clearly have no insight into what it like riding a bike a visit to this feature.

these are of course people who are very quick to give an opinion about cycling, based on pure prejudice.