Worst youtube clip i've seen...

[richardyorkshire]

Magnatom's line through the roundabout is not one that I'd have taken nor is it a line that's recommended by the Highway Code. .

His line looked fine to me. Does the Highway Code actually recommend a line to take through a roundabout? From the video it looks to me like Magnatom took a perfectly normal approach onto the roundabout, became aware that this truck was coming out onto the roundabout and so he braked and swerved into the centre of the roundabout to avoid a collision. Thus preserving his life. It suggests road awareness and fast reactions.

[eltonioni]

If magnatom didn't see that truck coming to the junction at that speed then he needs something testing. His line was aggressive and he often seems to wilfully put himself in a position where he's confronting the driver to slow down or avoid him. The driver didn't and many others don't.

One day he'll end up under the wheels if he keeps riding like that and nobody can hear the point your making from inside a box.

[matt2matt2002]

Comments getting interesting now

Has anyone ever met a motorist - or cyclist - who has ever admitted to being a bad driver?

I thought not

[hubgearfreak]

yep. my 90 year old next door neighbour was a self confessed crap driver. wasn't really tall enough to see over the top of her metro steering wheel. couldn't turn around. had trouble with her vision. lovely little old lady mind you

i used to say a little prayer when i saw her leaving the house at school start or end times

but i get your point matt. 86% of motorists claim to be better than average

[Gearoidmuar]

Dreadful driving, but I would've been looking for the lorry. You have to be totally defensive on a bike. I was actually hit by a car 18 months ago but I could not have foreseen it. We were in the act of passing a parked car near a bend on a country road. We'd seen no-one in it, when it took off at speed doing an illegal U-turn (on a continuous white line 15 yards from a bend). I got a badly smashed hand from it. I was nervous for about a year afterwards.

You HAVE to assume that they're all bad drivers.

[kwackers]

There's not enough information in that clip to make any claims about the cycling I reckon.

There's no doubt the driver was in the wrong, but as a cyclist I reckon a lot depends on what that tanker was doing as I entered the roundabout. Was it braking? Can't tell - but if it was and then came off the brakes and entered the roundabout then short of never entering a roundabout that had other traffic coming on to it there's probably not much he could have done.

If it wasn't braking - then he should have been much more watchful of it.

Seems to me that the driver was very much in the wrong, there's no doubt he'd be up to his neck in it if the cyclist had been hit.
What the cyclist could have done depends on the circumstances and the video doesn't provide enough information for anything other than conjecture on our part.

There's only so much we can do to keep ourselves safe, ultimately we rely on other people to drive with their eyes open and this video is evidence that they don't.

All imo of course.

[mark a.]

I can't see what's the problem with his line on the roundabout. I would have done the same whether driving or cycling. Perhaps if on the bike I would have stayed slightly more to the left just to prevent anyone from trying to do a sneaky undertake, but perhaps that was his intention before having to take avoiding action for the lorry.

Judging by the number of times he glances left he seems to be fully aware of the lorry too. To me it looks like the lorry just came off the brakes and ploughed straight on.

[Chris_C]

Magnatom's line through the roundabout is not one that I'd have taken nor is it a line that's recommended by the Highway Code.

I too would have taken pretty much that same line across the roundabout. I wasn't aware that the Highway Code gave any advice on the line for cyclists to take across roundabouts, but Cyclecraft's advice seems pretty sound in this respect. Put it this way: if Magnatom had been going round the outside of the roundabout, he would have found it much more difficult to get out of the way.

[EdinburghFixed]

Annoyingly I can't see YouTube videos at work, so I will reserve comment until later.

However, just as a point of information to add to the discussion, the Highway Code *does* have something to say about cycling around roundabouts, I quote part of #77:

If you decide to ride round keeping to the left-hand lane you should

* be aware that drivers may not easily see you
* take extra care when cycling across exits. You may need to signal right to show you are not leaving the roundabout
* watch out for vehicles crossing your path to leave or join the roundabout

So rightly, the HC warns cyclists of the extra hazards going around the left presents, compared with taking the 'vehicular line'. Reading between the lines here, it seems some are wrongly suggesting it's safer to go around the gutter (but I can't see the video, so could be wrong).

I used to ride a motorway gyratory on my old commute, by doing it just as I would in a car (with some success - no incidents in 2 1/2 years). The thought of sticking to the left makes me shudder!

[Langley]

The fact Magnatron was cycling straight across the round about why was he in the right hand lane? Perhaps his view from the camera is obscurred but he should have been on the left hand side and perhaps actually slowed for the roundabout.

I agree with others that he seems to find all bad drivers where ever he goes, we all have had times where it is a little iffy but i hope we are at the very least adhering to the highway code.

[EdinburghFixed]

The fact Magnatron was cycling straight across the round about why was he in the right hand lane? Perhaps his view from the camera is obscurred but he should have been on the left hand side and perhaps actually slowed for the roundabout.

Again, I can't see the video. If he had been turning right, using the right hand lane, would the truck driver have been correct or would it still have been a dead cyclist moment?

I agree with others that he seems to find all bad drivers where ever he goes, we all have had times where it is a little iffy but i hope we are at the very least adhering to the highway code.

As posted above, the Highway Code recommends against riding in the left hand lane of a roundabout (although presumably not if you are turning left!). So again, it's not clear who is in the wrong other than a driver who doesn't yield at a give way line?

Often I think the best way to understand such situations, is to replace the bike with a car and see who you'd now consider to be at fault, often it then becomes obvious that victim blaming the cyclist is inappropriate.

[hubgearfreak]

Often I think the best way to understand such situations, is to replace the bike with a car and see who you'd now consider to be at fault, often it then becomes obvious that victim blaming the cyclist is inappropriate.

the trucker's at fault, without a shadow of doubt.
but the cyclist with the camera can't have missed observing a 40tonne truck failing to give way, and consequntly has two choices.
1. stop a safe distance away and stay well out of danger's way
2. get to within a foot of going under the lorry for a theatrical and melodramatic moment for the benifit of his youtube audience.

[EdinburghFixed]

Well, until I see the clip, I won't try to defend that one way or another.

However, I have watched a few magnatom videos before (he is the original head-cammer) and I never considered him to be riding with enough skill/guts to actually manufacture videos. If you multiply the amount of exposure by the number of years of cycling, it would require some great skill to create problems for youtube without getting caught out and nailed. You'd also have to be insanely brave to risk going under an hgv, surely!

[Tom Richardson]

but the cyclist with the camera can't have missed observing a 40tonne truck failing to give way, and consequntly has two choices.
1. stop a safe distance away and stay well out of danger's way

I've had similar experiences with left hand junctions both on roundabouts and ordinary roads. I know from experience that motorists entering from the left often won't stop for a bicycle and will sometimes even deliberately bully me like the truck in the video, but I still have an expectation that they will stop and don't automatically give way to vehicles entering from the left. I would have expected the truck to stop rather than for me to have to.

[EdinburghFixed]

Both in the car and on the bike, I rely on people following the basic rules of the road, like driving on the left, not going through red lights and so on (including not pulling onto roundabouts and crashing into traffic going round).

There are enough roundabouts and T-junctions that if I had to stop at each one despite having priority, it would take so long to get to work that I'd drive instead.

Nobody has mentioned the risk that if you haul the anchors at every approach road to a roundabout, you're risking the car behind you going into the back (they won't be expecting you to brake for every side road)?

Grrr... I wish we had Youtube at the office.