Near Miss of the Day 902: “I can’t believe I wasn’t hit”

maybe so, but its clumsy as hell bit of driving, an oncoming car literally has to stop to enable them to complete their overtake without causing another crash, and the outcome of all that for them is they turned left at the roundabout anyway.

had they waited just for another 10secs to see how the situation in front of them had developed, it would have saved everyone the bother of having to deal with them.

Yes, to avoid the speed hump. Nothing to do with taking primary. If a car did this to a bike there would, rightly, be uproar. Don't dilute the message of cyclists' rights to be on the road by trying to excuse this self-entitled behaviour.

The driver did do this to a bike, and outside of this website, no fecks appear to be given, let alone an "uproar".

But it says "When you approach these features reduce your speed. Allow cyclists and motorcyclists room to pass through them." Surely the cyclist is entitled to pick their line?
It then goes on "You should not overtake other moving road users while in these areas." So the driver is NOT entitled to overtake. It really can't be clearer.

but thats the problem its should not, not must not. and drivers will always claim theyre allowed to overtake you.

That's my point. It's not the failure to adhere to one 'should not' but a series of failures (I'm not going to list them all as they have all been mentioned elsewhere) to comply with the HC that some forces will see as careless and inconsiderate. Also it's not just about the cyclists. The overtaking driver is also massively inconsiderate of the oncoming driver.

FrankH wrote:

The SsangYong Rexton is 1.995m wide. Looking at the video, it looks to me as if the driver was intending to give Richard at least the recommend 1.5m clcearance by going all the way into the opposite lane. It only became a close pass because Richard made it a close pass by moving  into the middlde of the road.

So much driver ignorance, they must have relaxed the driver training qualifications over the last 20yrs. This is a straightforward failure to adhere to rule 153 'do not overtake in a traffic calmed area and give time for cyclists to pass through it'.  Yet the arrogance of some drivers (yourself included) is that if they decide to overtake, it is the person being overtaken that has responsibility to make it a safe overtake? Yield peasant!! I am coming through wether you like it or not, get out of my way!   

There could have been a pot hole you couldn't see, or as is often the case the edge of the hump is so close to the kerb side that it's safer to pass through the middle. Also, how do you know he didn't shoulder check? Maybe he did and the vehicle was travelling too fast to change course? Either way, the driver was in the wrong and caused that situation.

Given both cameras are mounted on the bike, not the rider, you have absolutely no way of knowing whether the rider shoulder checked or not.

As for passing to the left of the speed bump being safer, that leaves you no room for manoeuvre as it places you firmly against the kerb, it also invites drivers to pass and to assume you are turning left at the roundabout based on your road positioning and to left hook you. Personally I would have moved out a bit earlier and signalled right to make my intention 100% clear if I were going straight across that mini roundabout.

because youd like to think if youve shoulder checked and saw a vehicle like that whose commited to the overtake fairly early on, you wouldnt then keep moving towards it, thats where the danger is, plus knowing the vehicle must then cut back across you quickly to make the roundabout, thats why it feels like theres no shoulder check.

also hard to tell from the video, but those speed bumps dont look unrideable, the bumping of the cars passing over them seems more to do with the speed they hit, than the height of them.

Id keep in prime, just ride the bump,  the centre line isnt a good spot to be in even without the overtake.

I can see your argument but unless I am familiar with the speed bumps or left absolutely no choice by traffic then I won't risk "riding" them as they vary in dimensions and quality of construction so much. I have ridden over a few and regretted it in my time when they turned out to be more like a kerb than a gentle speed cushion. The layout of the road gives cyclists 3 not ideal options - ride in the gutter and pass to left of the speed bump, ride over a speed bump or ride in the middle and pass between the two humps.

That was my thinking. I assumed a shoulder check hadn't been done because it's too risky to go into that position with a car closing in behind. If they did do one early enough to not see what was happening, it'd have to be 5 seconds before they got to the part of the road they'd done the check for, which in my opinion is too long to know it's still clear. 

Agree I move out well in advance of a roundabout or if I am turning right. I run 2 cameras, one bar mounted, other helmet. Mainly to prove I have indicated and shoulder checked because the police need little excuse to NFA anything. I pretty much take the lane anyway or ride an aggressive secondary position.

If you actually read the article you'll see exactly why he didn't go to the left of the speed bump. When he did, he got close passed by other drivers (links to other NMOTDs are in the article). Perhaps the problem isn't the cyclist's positioning, and is in fact all down to aggressive and impatient drivers.

Can't see if he makes a lifesaver or if mirror is fitted. The area to the left of the bump is too narrow and could have poor surface or glass and that position would still encourage the motorist to pass closer to avoid the oncoming vehicle as they would have continued due to their lane being clear. Personally I also would have gone to the right. All in all. Shoddy road craft from the motorist. Passing within traffic calming measures, passing closely, forcing another road user to take evasive action, passing too closely to a junction.