Cycling UK Forum

Langley wrote: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.

As far as I can tell from the grainy video, there are two lefts, a straight on (the main exit) and maybe a right turn. So he needs the 3rd exit out of 4. In a car, at that roundabout, I would probably choose the right hand lane - left hand for the first two, the right hand lane for 3rd and 4th. In a bike I would almost certainly choose the right hand lane for the reasons that EdinburghFixed has pointed out - to stop cars pulling across you when leaving at an earlier exit.

By the way, do those people who think that magnatom is deliberately out for a fight also think the same for EdinburghFixed? His YouTube channel is also full of crazy car drivers and near misses.

It's something I've wondered about, since having a camera could persuade you to get into more of a fight in order to make a more impressive video and more incriminating evidence against the driver. EF, do you think that might be the case? If so, how do you avoid it?

I think having a camera makes you much less likely to get into a confrontation, because you know everything you do is being recorded (as well as the drivers). There is no point being less than squeaky clean if you are criticising others' behaviour - although of course there is a big difference between shouting at someone, say, and running over their head. Most people who fit a camera seem to agree it makes you very calm and collected.

But in fact, probably the most dramatic difference since getting my camera, has been to my own riding, which is clearly more effective than before - now I ride through the centre of Edinburgh at rush hour and basically don't have any problems with close overtaking, pulling out, hooks, and so on (obviously I sometimes do, but I guess there are one or two incidents a month where I feel uncomfortable, instead of one or two per journey).

I think it's a total positive. If all drivers and cyclists had cameras fitted, I'd like it just fine. In fact it's a great pity more drivers don't video, because we could then benefit from their perspective on what cyclists are doing wrong (which we might consider to be best practice!)

Magnatom posts on Cyclechat and has started a thread on this incident here.

In the OP he says

This morning I was entering a roundabout at about 15 mph. Nothing else was on the roundabout at the time. I am going straight on. On the next entrance to the roundabout a HGV (oil tanker) is approaching. We make eye contact and he starts slowing. The next thing I know he is entering the roundabout and he is turning right (cutting straight across me).

Later on he says

It is still there, but that is absolutely no excuse. I eyeballed him before he reached that point, and I am certain he eyeballed me

So it seems the driver came off the brakes. Ho hum. Take a read of the Cyclechat thread before passing judgement.

Cheers EF. Very interesting. The complete opposite to what I had imagined.

mark a. wrote:

Langley wrote: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.

As far as I can tell from the grainy video, there are two lefts, a straight on (the main exit) and maybe a right turn. So he needs the 3rd exit out of 4. In a car, at that roundabout, I would probably choose the right hand lane - left hand for the first two, the right hand lane for 3rd and 4th. In a bike I would almost certainly choose the right hand lane for the reasons that EdinburghFixed has pointed out - to stop cars pulling across you when leaving at an earlier exit.

Yeah, as far as i'm aware it's this roundabout:

Magnatom comes from the B8030 to take the 3rd exit. He took the same position i'd have taken if I was driving, I mean this is a single lane roundabout - he can ride wherever he likes round it, but even without that I think if you rode round on the left you might encourage people to pull out on you as they'd think you were turning left.

It's worth noting that in the Youtube comments he posts that he believes he made eye contact with the driver, meaning he thought the guy had seen him, and wouldn't pull out.

Hi Guys,

I'm rarely on here, but stumbled across this.

Ah to be able to sit and analyse my cycling from an armchair! Some of the comments are hilarious! Especially the poster who suggested that I manufactured this incident. Did you hear my squeals? Yes I'm not proud of that, but it certainly indicated how scared I was. Listen closely to the video. Just before I come to a halt, you can hear my back tyre skidding. Oh yes, I am skillful enough to ride to within inches of a tanker whilst skidding!

As others have pointed out, it is a single lane roundabout. I take the road position that cars take going the same way as me. It prevents under/overtakes. Had I been in the left lane, I would have had less time to react and I would be dead. Simple as that. Thank God I took the line that I did.

With regards to the number of incidents, look carefully at my videos. A lot of them aren't incidents at all, and most that are, are relatively minor, the sort you might just forget after 10 minutes or so... I've roughly calculated that I have an incident, of any sort, on about 3% of my commutes. Not bad in Glasgow in Rush hour traffic both ways I think.

And yes, I can confirm that I thought the tanker was easing off. So I continued. Normally I will do 20mph if I'm entirely happy. On this occasion I reckon I was doing about 15mph. Thank goodness I was.

Did I miss anything?

I'm used to this scrutiny now. In fact, I reckon I am probably the most scruitinised cyclist, if not in the world, certainly in the UK. How would your riding hold up to scrutiny, honestly? How would you feel having nearly be killed (through no fault of your own) to have your every pedal stroke questioned? Luckily for me, it's water and ducks backs....

iamanidiot wrote:Yeah, as far as i'm aware it's this roundabout:

Magnatom comes from the B8030 to take the 3rd exit. He took the same position i'd have taken if I was driving, I mean this is a single lane roundabout - he can ride wherever he likes round it, but even without that I think if you rode round on the left you might encourage people to pull out on you as they'd think you were turning left.

Interestingly, the in-laws live just a few minutes from this roundabout in Milngavie - small world eh?

Take a look at the satellite image with the overlay turned off. You can clearly see that the "inner lane" is completely swept clear of debris by car wheels, while the "outer lane" is covered in debris.

While at the best of times going around the outside of a roundabout is very bad practice, to do so here would be nothing short of madness. Possibly the single most important lesson for cyclists is, on a roundabout, ride as a car.

Watching the video, I's say that it looks to me like the tanker did slow down, and then pick up speed again.

There is no excuse whatsoever for the tanker pulling out, the visibility in all respects looked as good as it gets, good light, hardly any traffic...

Nor can I see anything wrong with the path taken by the cyclist. As it happens, if he'd been further out, as has been said above, he'd have had even less chance of avoiding the collision.
Creep round the edge of a roundabout and you get 'I thought you were turning off as you were in the left lane' if the person pulls out in front of you leaving nowhere to go.

My grandparents and aunt live in Milngavie that's why I recognised the roundabout

iamanidiot wrote:My grandparents and aunt live in Milngavie that's why I recognised the roundabout

You'll know how to pronounce it then!

Yup!

Have you found it on trucknet too? (google the clip URL)

magnatom wrote:Hi Guys,

I'm rarely on here, but stumbled across this.

Ah to be able to sit and analyse my cycling from an armchair! Some of the comments are hilarious! Especially the poster who suggested that I manufactured this incident. Did you hear my squeals? Yes I'm not proud of that, but it certainly indicated how scared I was. Listen closely to the video. Just before I come to a halt, you can hear my back tyre skidding. Oh yes, I am skillful enough to ride to within inches of a tanker whilst skidding!

As others have pointed out, it is a single lane roundabout. I take the road position that cars take going the same way as me. It prevents under/overtakes. Had I been in the left lane, I would have had less time to react and I would be dead. Simple as that. Thank God I took the line that I did.

With regards to the number of incidents, look carefully at my videos. A lot of them aren't incidents at all, and most that are, are relatively minor, the sort you might just forget after 10 minutes or so... I've roughly calculated that I have an incident, of any sort, on about 3% of my commutes. Not bad in Glasgow in Rush hour traffic both ways I think.

And yes, I can confirm that I thought the tanker was easing off. So I continued. Normally I will do 20mph if I'm entirely happy. On this occasion I reckon I was doing about 15mph. Thank goodness I was.

Did I miss anything?

I'm used to this scrutiny now. In fact, I reckon I am probably the most scruitinised cyclist, if not in the world, certainly in the UK. How would your riding hold up to scrutiny, honestly? How would you feel having nearly be killed (through no fault of your own) to have your every pedal stroke questioned? Luckily for me, it's water and ducks backs....

Coffee wrote:Have you found it on trucknet too? (google the clip URL)

I thought it was scary the amount of blame being aportioned to magnatom on this forum...

...
It's worth noting that in the Youtube comments he posts that he believes he made eye contact with the driver, meaning he thought the guy had seen him, and wouldn't pull out.
...

In some cases drivers misunderstand eye contact. My dad pulled out in front of a cyclist on a roundabout because he thought that gaining eye contact meant that the cyclist was giving him priority !!?! Fortunately didn't result in a collision...