Cycling UK Forum

Here we have a clueless driver, bet he doesn't even know what happened.

Most likely he didnt see the bicycle which will have been obscured by the overtaking car.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1EwrLOm ... sp=sharing

nope, plenty of time to see the the bike .
Just smidgaf

There’s a raised T junction a few hundred metres from where I live, and twice people have done that to me on it, stopped, paused, then pulled out direct at me, with no other vehicle present. What it is about it I don’t know, but I suspect something leads drivers to look “too far down the road”, missing things close to them. Lack of attentiveness basically. Either that, or people are thinking “dodge out ahead, otherwise I’ll be stuck behind this old plodder”.

Sometimes I think car drivers are blind to cyclists.

Sometimes I think they see, just pull out anyway thinking they left enough room for the cyclist.

Obviously neither is good.

Jupestar wrote: ↑1 Oct 2023, 10:38pm Sometimes I think car drivers are blind to cyclists.

Sometimes I think they see, just pull out anyway thinking they left enough room for the cyclist.

Obviously neither is good.

You can see that coming - motorists are poor judges of a cyclists speed - I usually slow down in anticipation - the driver may or may not pull out - who knows?
I avoided a left hook yesterday by slowing down to allow a car which was overtaking me to turn left - there was no left signal but the car slowed and I guessed correctly.
We shouldn't have to second guess car drivers but they can't be relied upon to follow the law or the highway code.

I have a theory that a cyclist can be overlooked by the driver if, at the instant the driver looks in their direction, the cyclist is less visually distinct because of being in line with a jumble of other visual objects. Remembering, of course, that the driver may well be giving the quickest of glances before pulling out or whatever. My own way of dealing with this, as a driver, is to always look twice, and I make sure I'm not just looking for motor vehicles. It is a habit with me, but perhaps it isn't with some people.

In cycling mode, my reaction to the situation in the clip (very common) is always to brake / steer clear of danger, but also to let out the loudest, most alarming "Whoaaahhhhh!" I can muster, which is meant to appear to be to help the driver avert disaster but is in fact intended to alarm the driver and make them think about what they have just done. At one time my default shout would have been expletive laden, but I replaced it with something just as effective but less angry sounding to ensure I keep everything on my side of the situation beyond reproach.

It is also because drivers are looking for motor vehicles, so do do see cyclists.
Try this (been posted on here before, so may be familiar with it): -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ahg6qcgoay4

PT1029 wrote: ↑3 Oct 2023, 7:54am It is also because drivers are looking for motor vehicles, so do do see cyclists.
Try this (been posted on here before, so may be familiar with it): -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ahg6qcgoay4

It’s anything but always practical/possible, but I always try to make eye contact with drivers coming out from Ts, and once or twice that’s been decisive, in that they’ve begun moving forward, clearly not having seen me, then ‘anchored down’ very sharply.

There’s a lot of angry/frightened/accusatory language used about people driving on this forum, much of it deserved, but it is worth considering that the task of driving is actually quite cognitively challenging in some circumstances, as per the moonwalking bear video.

Like all drivers, I've very occasionally seen something later than I think I ought to, and slammed the anchors on. Then, after a deep breath, you begin to analyse what went wrong, and why. Humans are fallible, but we progress when we learn from mistakes. Preferably before our mistakes lead to serious consequences.

The incident in the clip is a classic I have lived through, as cyclist, countless times. Experienced cyclists in that situation would have noticed that car sticking its nose out and would have considered the very real possibility of needing to take evasive action. It is a nice clip to show to people new to cycling on roads. This will happen to you at some point, so be ready for it.

On sensory attention in basketball I think I should point out that I have done a considerable amount of work on this project myself.

Back to the Johnny Mathis.

Gerald

There are various factors in play, none of which are an excuse, but the main one seems to be that drivers are programmed to look out for car sized objects and may "see" but not register something smaller such as a cyclist, particularly in an area where cyclists are uncommon. Also the perception is that a bike will be a slow moving object, leading to a tendency to underestimate its speed.

There is the way that we are programmed to detect movement too. An object which gradually grows larger as it comes straight towards us or "looms" is less eye catching than something that moves across or in a diagonal direction relative to the observer. As a long time motorcycle rider there is a manoevre known as a Z -track which is supposed to help in this situation, where you move across the lane and back as you approach a suspicious vehicle waiting at a junction, without actually weaving. This is supposed to maximise the chance of being seen by an inattentive motorist. It can work on a bicycle, but there is the added element of impatient following traffic to take into account. Then again, that dozy motorist wouldn't pull out in the face of oncoming traffic, would he? (I wouldn't count on it).

Re the video, I could have predicted that motorist would probably have done something stupid and slowed down a bit, but you could spend your life thinking for other road users and still sooner or later come a cropper. There are just some drivers who seem to think that because they're bigger, they can bully other road users. Fortunately in this case there was no collision. A miss may be as good as a mile, but the experience can still spoil your day.

I try to stick to the principle that if it comes to the worst, they can't hit you if you're not there.

To be honest, that incident wouldn't have spoilt my day if I were the cyclist. I have cycled through that scenario so many times that a few miles down the road I would be thinking about something else. Probably after having satisfied myself that I did whatever I could to avert the danger presented by the driver's gaff. That particular incident would not have put me in much danger, because I would have managed that situation and avoided collision.

If the driver had started to pull out a second later, when the cyclist was further along the road, a collision would have been much more likely. Probably not a serious one, but enough to send you rolling over the pavement. But in the past I have got drivers doing similar things to stab at their brake by shouting at them, full volume. I think the shock of that makes their brake foot react quickly.

My impression is that the driver may have twigged to their mistake part way through and partly corrected by not going too near the curb, leaving a gap I could have got through. They would have done better to stop, but perhaps the fear of embarrassment got the better of them.

I'm left wondering that as more and more decisions are taken for a driver - wipers switched on and off, lights similarly including dipping of headlamps, brakes which won't skid, a car which steers itself back into lane if allowed to wander and brake hard to avoid hitting something - they perceive themself as less capable of making mistakes, so make more such strange decisions?

Or is it that levels of judgement fall with so much taken care of? Is the brain wandering off into other thoughts whilst driving, perhaps distracted by pings on the phone or satnav, possibly immersed in a (hands free) phone call? As others mention, some drivers struggle to see anything smaller than other cars on the road.

Is there actually any evidence that driving standards have fallen? I know it’s a widely held view that they have, but I can’t find anything to back that with solid facts/numbers.