Taken out by flatbed truck

Commuting, Day rides, Audax, Incidents, etc.
Stradageek
Posts: 1657
Joined: 17 Jan 2011, 1:07pm

Re: Taken out by flatbed truck

Post by Stradageek »

I echo the comments of others in hoping this doesn't put the OP off cycling.

I can probably recall a dozen incidents of this type (in a 50yr cycling career) I've never been knocked off but have ended up with my bike stopped and almost stuck between a vehicle and the curb.

In each of my cases a passing vehicle had misjudged a pass and pulled in too early to avoid oncoming traffic.

The excuses given are more than a little scary, the most common is "but I had to pull in on you, there was a car coming the other way"

In one or two cases, having anticipated an upcoming disaster, I have moved out VERY wide and watched with amusement as two vehicles end up stopped nose to nose or a car ends up parked in front of a traffic island.

The most annoying feature of these 'avoided' incidents is that the oncoming drivers NEVER complain (no shouting, gesticluating, horns or lights) about the stupidity of the badly misjudged passing manoeuver. They always have a look which says, well you HAD to overtake the cyclist didn't you, so it's not your fault.

Anyone found the same?
pwa
Posts: 17371
Joined: 2 Oct 2011, 8:55pm

Re: Taken out by flatbed truck

Post by pwa »

Stradageek wrote:
The most annoying feature of these 'avoided' incidents is that the oncoming drivers NEVER complain (no shouting, gesticluating, horns or lights) about the stupidity of the badly misjudged passing manoeuver. They always have a look which says, well you HAD to overtake the cyclist didn't you, so it's not your fault.

Anyone found the same?

No. My own feeling is that if a driver gets themselves marooned on the wrong side of the road having cocked up an overtake, there is no point in beeping your horn because they are already punished by being embarrassed at how stupid they look. Add to that the fact that if one is stationary and beeps at another stationary driver you don't know whether or not they are a nutter who will get out with a samurai sword.... :lol:

Like yourself I have been cycling on the roads for a long time and I haven't had a significant crash. I was once brought off by a slow moving van that nudged my rear wheel from the side, and I took a tumble. I got an apology and I was not hurt much, bike was okay, and that was it. My history of collisions.
mattheus
Posts: 5044
Joined: 29 Dec 2008, 12:57pm
Location: Western Europe

Re: Taken out by flatbed truck

Post by mattheus »

Stradageek wrote:The most annoying feature of these 'avoided' incidents is that the oncoming drivers NEVER complain (no shouting, gesticluating, horns or lights) about the stupidity of the badly misjudged passing manoeuver. They always have a look which says, well you HAD to overtake the cyclist didn't you, so it's not your fault.

Anyone found the same?

From memory:
- a few flashed lights;
- 1-or-two smiles-n-shrugs;
- occasional horn;
- lots of bemused "oh god, more idiots on the road. still, no one hit me" looks
alexnharvey
Posts: 1923
Joined: 10 Jan 2014, 8:39am

Re: Taken out by flatbed truck

Post by alexnharvey »

pwa wrote:
Stradageek wrote:
The most annoying feature of these 'avoided' incidents is that the oncoming drivers NEVER complain (no shouting, gesticluating, horns or lights) about the stupidity of the badly misjudged passing manoeuver. They always have a look which says, well you HAD to overtake the cyclist didn't you, so it's not your fault.

Anyone found the same?

No. My own feeling is that if a driver gets themselves marooned on the wrong side of the road having cocked up an overtake, there is no point in beeping your horn because they are already punished by being embarrassed at how stupid they look. Add to that the fact that if one is stationary and beeps at another stationary driver you don't know whether or not they are a nutter who will get out with a samurai sword.... :lol:

Like yourself I have been cycling on the roads for a long time and I haven't had a significant crash. I was once brought off by a slow moving van that nudged my rear wheel from the side, and I took a tumble. I got an apology and I was not hurt much, bike was okay, and that was it. My history of collisions.


I strongly disagree. Direct feedback on behaviour is extremely important. You assume that the person is similarly minded to you, which is possible but by no means certain. I am quite sure some people are not embarrassed at all by their poor overtaking and instead blame the cyclist (or pedestrian/slower vehicle) for delaying them, or minimise the incident in their own minds as not so bad.

At one point I had to assess people with dementia and question people on their driving in order to identify the rarer variants where motor co-ordination is affected first and memory is affected last (whereas in the most common variants the progression is the reverse). We asked for both subjective and collateral/objective information on driving. The first is 'Have you noticed any problems with your driving' while the second is 'have you had any accidents, near misses or has anyone complained about your driving'. To the first a person might reply that they think their driving is fine, whilst to the second they might say 'my driving is as good as ever but recently bloody idiots have been beeping their horns at me', or their partner might volunteer that information.

When a person has put other road users at risk I believe you should signal this to them as clearly as you can providing it will not put you at risk or cause confusion. Of course, people may choose not to respond to the feedback in various ways, by attacking the source of the feedback, minimising the deviation from the expected standard etc.
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