Gavin
25-02-08, 07:40 PM
There’s a crazy set up where the M73 ends up becoming a slip road onto the A80. At the same time it’s also a slip road off the A80 which can take you to Cumbernauld where I was heading. It can be a wee bit like Wacky-Races at this junction, so I’m always on the alert. Anyway, I’m on the A80, left-hand lane indicating my intention to join the slip road when it’s safe and convenient. There’s an HGV on the slip road indicating his intention to come onto the A80. So I decide to let him join the A80 in front of me. There’s a car that’s sped down from the M73 and ends up behind the HGV – I end up level with the car driver’s window.
The car driver isn’t indicating, so I don’t know if he’s staying on the slip road or if he’s going to do something stupid. Next minute the bandit decides to pull out behind the HGV into the space I was in. This all happened in an instant. Anyway, I had began slow down and I moved slightly to the right-hand side of my lane. I just kind of knew something was going to happen. Just as well that I did as he began to move closer and closer to me. He keeps coming out and by this time his back wheel is level with me. That’s when his wheel touched my foot! It was only for an instant, but his wheel definitely touched me, I even heard it rub my foot!
Talk about a close shave! I got away with it, but I was lucky. I will try and see what I contributed to that situation in order to avoid something similar in the future. It would have been so easy target fixate on the car moving closer and closer and not take any action. If I had did that he’d have hit me full on and I would have been off for sure. But it just goes to reinforce what I’ve always known, always expect the unexpected.
The car driver isn’t indicating, so I don’t know if he’s staying on the slip road or if he’s going to do something stupid. Next minute the bandit decides to pull out behind the HGV into the space I was in. This all happened in an instant. Anyway, I had began slow down and I moved slightly to the right-hand side of my lane. I just kind of knew something was going to happen. Just as well that I did as he began to move closer and closer to me. He keeps coming out and by this time his back wheel is level with me. That’s when his wheel touched my foot! It was only for an instant, but his wheel definitely touched me, I even heard it rub my foot!
Talk about a close shave! I got away with it, but I was lucky. I will try and see what I contributed to that situation in order to avoid something similar in the future. It would have been so easy target fixate on the car moving closer and closer and not take any action. If I had did that he’d have hit me full on and I would have been off for sure. But it just goes to reinforce what I’ve always known, always expect the unexpected.