Roads joining from the right

[Ed]

OK so there I was minding my own business riding home from Telford this afternoon along Holyhead Road - nice wide road, 40mph limit, I might have ben doing a little bit more than that :oops: White car in front of me starts to indicate right. I pull in a bit. Plenty of room to get a bus past, let alone a bike. See red old style Mini waiting to turn right out of the road white car is turning into. Me still behind white car on near side. White car decides to stop and let red car out, me thinking 'has that dozy wotsit seen me'. Me slows down as I pass white car on the inside. Answer soon becomes clear - no, she pulls across the road straight into my path and my heart goes to mouth and I start doing an emergency stop when she suddenly sees me and stops dead in the middle of the road no more than 3 feet away. I pass on the inside as I hadn't got the bike stopped in the distance. It all happened so quick.

Quezzie - should I have given it wellie, stopped in anticipation of the dozy cow, or what?

[embee]

I think you more or less answered your question yourself.

The car was waiting to turn out into your road, therefore chances are they're going to do it regardless.

Be very wary of passing to the left of cars "turning right", I've seen several examples when they change their minds and carry straight on, or even decide left would be a better plan. :roll:

Glad you escaped though! :shock: :wink:

[K]

Seconded.

If the road had been totally clear and nothing was waiting to turn onto the road you were on, then personal judgement at the time (and knowing your bikes capabilities) could deem it safe to pass the white car on the inside.
(Wide, empty road, no reason for the car to sudddenly turn left across you n all that jazz.)

But the minute you factor another car into the equation you have a conspiracy my friend. As we all know, the only thing they conspire about is how to get you. :wink:

[Jabba]

Always assume that they haven't seen you, that they will carry-out that unfeasibly stupid manouvre and try to ensure that you have an exit strategy.

Embee is right.......... sometimes it's wise just to wait and see what develops before committing yourself. Over/undertakes at junctions often take an unexpected course of events due to unobservant numpties in cages.

[rwoodcock01]

If there is one thing I have learned very quickly from driving on London and in general is expect the worse. ( I consider that every junction there is some idiot, normally in a 206/BMW out to kill me and I make an effort to keep my wits with me).

I tend to slow/stop when it does not quite look like its needed, but 9 times out of 10 I am glad I have.

Saying that hind sight is a wonderful thing. The important thing is that your in one piece. My father said something to me that I will never forget recently, "I have been driving since I was 15 and I turn 60 soon, and to this day, I can still be amazed at what other road users do sometimes".

At least your ok, and thats the important thing!

Anything can happen out there, just ride safe and keep your wits about you. :wink:

Cheers

Rich

[Spiderman]

all of the above, for what its worth.

I spent years on a mountain bike commuting in london and no end of peeps would get in those situations. I stay well back or make a lot of noise to get their attention and make my intemntions clear. That isnt always possilble tho so hang back if i can is the best bet for me.

[Ed]

She may well not have seen me as when she started pulling out I was just behind the white car (Audi) and on its near side. Car drivers don't think 'what if there's a bike there'. So many don't think at all :evil:

Shoulda slowed right down earlier I spose :roll:

I was bracing for the impact, was sure I was gonna come off, had to stop cos my legs went to jelly

[timwilky]

I
Be very wary of passing to the left of cars "turning right", I've seen several examples when they change their minds and carry straight on, or even decide left would be a better plan. :roll:

Glad you escaped though! :shock: :wink:

A friend of mine ended up having a ride in the air ambulance under these circumstances. Will never ride again as he is missing his left arm

[Warren]

remember - a quick blast of the horn will alert other road users to your pressence. . . but use it wisely :)

[Anonymous]

Although we shouldn't necessarily spread this around, probably most car drivers don't actually purposely TRY to kill bikers....

The fact is that there are around 30 times as many cars as there are bikes, and that means most car drivers are tuned in to avoiding other cars, and not us. That doesn't make it right, and it's not an excuse for driving like a w**ker, but it does mean we need to exercise some primary care of ourselves and not constantly expect to be safe regardless.

If you do a little sketch on a piece of paper, you'll realise that the blind area behind an oncoming car is, for that driver pulling out of a side road to the right, the thick end of twenty feet - and that increases the NEARER you get. Your position relative to that car, AND to the car in front of you, is therefore vital.

With the best will in the world, any driver trying to come quickly from the right into an oncoming stream of traffic can fail to see a biker - particularly if that biker is positioned well into the near side of the car they are following. Add to that, if that car in front hasn't been aware of a biker following, he/she may have flashed the car in the side turning, signalling that it is ok to pull out.

You have to always assume that you are invisible to others, and it's down to you to MAKE yourself visible AND be able to stop/escape if it goes wrong. It's bad enough being in the wrong place but staying rigidly on line can also be a cloak...move around, attract attention. And here is the bottom line: when that opportunistic undertake presents itself, which is the more preferable: a delay of thirty seconds to your journey by NOT taking it, or landing up plastered to the neck and writing e-mails to your pals to say it was the other guy's fault that they didn't see you?

[richwill68]

Just be careful at junctions, Bro'! :wink:

Treat every other road user as a moron and you won't go far wrong. :lol:

In the instance you describe, it would seem it was unwise to pass on the inside of the white car simply due to the fact that the emerging red one was at that time representing a potential hazard to you. This became a real hazard for you and with a little foresight could have been avoided, as it is not an uncommon action for vehicles to allow one another access and egress at junctions. I'm not saying the cars were right, or that you were wrong BUT the incident could have been avoided completely! :wink:

Treat it as a learning curve and remember it next time an opportunity such as this arises!

Ride safe and have fun

Rich

[Carsick]

What they said, you answered the question when you wondered if they'd seen you.
Tick the box marked completed and move onto the next lesson. :wink:

[jonboy]

Although we shouldn't necessarily spread this around, probably most car drivers don't actually purposely TRY to kill bikers....

Whilst this is perfectly true Cami... I mean EB (whoops :lol: ) it often seems that way and for the purpose of self-preservation maybe it would help if we actually thought that?


.

[SteveH]

Ok let me get this right :oops: one lane car infront turning right, you under take the car on the left to get past?
Now I've done this many a time :wink: .....but if (god forbid) you had hit the other car would you be at fault?? I always thought we as a biker would be thats why I never do it when there is another car.
I could be wrong which I'am sure someone will point out if I am

[Carsick]

but if (god forbid) you had hit the other car would you be at fault??
Strictly speaking, passing on the left of cars turning right is entirely acceptable within law and the highway code. It even states that when turning right you should try to leave room for people to do exactly this.
If he had hit the car then I am personally of the opinion that it would have been his fault, purely due to the fact that he was the one in the position to know most about what was happening and do something about it, but in law it was the turning car, since they were the one making the maneuver onto a major road.

Please note, this is just based on my personal experiences and vague knowledge of law and how it is applied.

[svpilot]

Junctions are always dodgy, I try to position myself so I am as conspicuous as possible to the car waiting at the junction. As soon as I clocked the car at the juntion I would probably moved to a position in my lane that made me most visible to the car at the junction, possibly even weave slightly to break my 'motion camouflage' (can you tell I read Bike magazine :lol:) try and make eye contact if poss, this is by no means foolproof but can trigger the car diver into 'seeing' a person. The thing is, even if the car had not flashed or stopped to let the car out, there is a good chance the mini would try to nip out in front of the car anyway. You have to be prepared for this. Don't be to hard on yourself though... you saw what might happen and slowed down.

[Grinch]

I bet you she at home now telling the other half.. or a friend about how this mad speeding biker just came out of nowhere....

[Nekkid]

Glad you avoided an accident.
I find it's sometimes useful to think as though you were driving a car, as this is what most other cagers will be thinking about.
The puller-out simply wasn't expecting you to emerge from the far side of the other car because a car couldn't have made that maneuver (sp).

Does that make any sense??
Anyway, I tend to err on the side of caution, which seems to help!