Out on todays rooad club ride and I got left hooked. Not been out for 4 months for various reasons and therefore struggled in a group I am usually comfortable in.
Got split by traffic at a junction and was putting in abit of effort to catch up with the others through a village.
Car came out of side road to my front right hand side. He immediatly catches the riders in front and sits 4ft to the outside of the lane as there was oncoming traffic.
With zero warning , he jams on brakes and swung in to the left into a small car park in front of a Co-op.

I hit his rear quarter panel and came to sudden stop. Left hand lever rotated on bar , saddle twisted and chain off so no damage at all. wheels still round and no apparent damage to me or anywhere on the frame or forks.

An elderly couple walking up the pavement confirmed he just swung in with no indication, at speed into the car park. He didnt even know he hit me till we told him. He was apologetic and we left on reasonable terms.

Cant really figure out what I did wrong , apart from maybe riding with full stopping distance to the car in front but thats not really practical on a club ride. Was it my fault though , I did hit him though and effectively hit him from behind ?

So – you can really figure out what you did wrong?

Of course, the driver should have indicated before turning but that’s no excuse for hitting his car. Bloody roadies – just obey the rules of the road like everyone else!!!

So you weren’t hooked, you rode into the back of a car.

nope, rear quarter panel.

Hit car. My fault?

Yes..

My fault?

Yes.
You effectively rear-ended them. You should have assumed and expected numpty driving.
It is harsh, but that is the way it is.

But but but it isnt practicable to keep a safe distance when he’s on a club road ride.

From what you say . Your fault.

Side story Bro in law rear ended a car and it was the cars fault. It overtook him, saw a car oncoming hit the brakes and turned in on him at the same time,

Straight through the back window.

A left hook is when a car overtakes you and then immediately turns left, failing to allow for the fact that, because you are continuing to move forward, you now occupy the space into which it is turning. It doesn’t sound like you were left hooked so I’m not sure why you have used that description.

maybe riding with full stopping distance to the car in front but thats not really practical on a club ride

The driver sounds like an idiot but he’s not part of your club run. Leave a safe stopping distance between you and any cars/bikes/peds/horses that aren’t part of your group.

I think it comes down to the distance/time between:

Car came out of side road to my front right hand side

[quote]With zero warning , he jams on brakes and swung in to the left into a small car park in front of a Co-op[/quote]

Was it my fault though

You’re asking STW. Of course it’s your **** fault. 🙄

A couple of weeks ago a car driver overtook me, immediately turned left (at speed) into a side road, then slammed on his brakes to stop from hitting a pedestrian who was crossing said side road (I assume he hadn’t seen them until the last second) and left the back of his car sticking out across the cycle lane I was in. I thought it was an unmarked police car doing a “police, camera, action”-style manoeuvre to stop me so they could nick me.

Now that’s a left hook.

Sounds like a dodgy driving manoeuvre to me andt also, from your description that he put himself in front of you beforehand (rather than wait until you were past?)

Either way, from your description it sounds like he drove with poor skill but that you hadn’t allowed for that..

Personally I assume for 100% of drivers at the moment that they’ll do the stupidest thing possible (whether I’m riding or driving) and I move accordingly ie: keep my distance, drive at a steady speed to give myself time to stop/avoid as necessary.

Sounds to me like you were going full chat to catch up with the group, he made a daft move and you’d given yourself no allowance to go anywhere as and when he pulled the inevitable daft move

yeah, it does sound like you just rear-ended him although he was driving like a d*ck. A proper left hook is as described up there.

But don’t beat yourself up about it, you weren’t hurt and you both learned a lesson today.

STW sometimes struggles with the idea that more than one person can be at fault. You were definitely too close, he definitely failed to indicate. Both at fault, no accident without both factors.

I reckon it’s not so important whose fault it mostly is or isn’t- in this situation, you can either take more control of your own safety or entrust it to others and though you should be able to do the latter you have to be kind of a lunatic to do so imo…

You are on road. Car joins road from side road. Car brakes suddenly and turns across your path with no signalling. You hit car. Their fault. They can’t have fully checked mirrors before initiating manoeuvre which caused accident.

If it was as above but the car did not turn – that would be your fault. You would have failed to leave sufficient braking distance or paid attention to other road users.

I reckon it’s not so important whose fault it mostly is or isn’t- in this situation, you can either take more control of your own safety or entrust it to others and though you should be able to do the latter you have to be kind of a lunatic to do so imo…

Do agree with this from Northwind though… Be safe first – more important than being right!

If he took your stopping distance by overtaking/pulling into it and immediately slammed on before you could ease off, his fault.

If you had time to adjust by increasing the gap, but decided not to, your fault.

Although lack of indication would probably make it a bit more 50/50.

Mirror, signal, maneovre

You would have had more chance with more distance behind him, more time to react if he’d signalled. He should have mirror checked and seen you (and should have been aware that you were there as he should have seen you when turning into the road).

I don’t quite get your road position – are you in primary, middle of lane, directly mbehind him or in a secondary position in a lane wide enough for traffic to safely pass within the lane?

You won’t get much sympathy from most on here but personally I’d think the greater responsibility with the users of the dangerous vehicle. Maybe 50/50 fault from m what you’ve said.

full stopping distance to the car in front but thats not really practical on a club ride

This is rot.

Everyone who uses the roads has a moral (let alone any legal) duty to do so safely. The fact some do not do so is irrelevant it merely reinforces the need to drive or ride to compensate for the idiots.

The roads are primarily there for transport (of all vehicles,horses and pedestrians). Therefore the requirements of a leisure use / training are secondary to using them safely. This is not intended to imply a lesser right to use them merely that it should be safety first.

If a car had to emergency stop you would slam in the back causing damage to someone else’s property and potentially endangering the occupants.

The example of someone going through a rear window above is a great one. The glass from that window then ends up in the back of the car where there may passengers including children.

Fwiw I think shocking lack of skills from the driver in the OP but there’s a lesson for both parties here.

I can see this thread going the same route as the OP’s previous one on “Firing Staff”. Maybe the OP should stay away from the keyboard for a few weeks.

My theory is the sweet thief from the OP’s previous thread was driving the car and tried to kill him in revenge. No way was the OP at fault even if he should have been looking where he was going and making sure he had safe braking distance instead of drafting the car to make up for his lack of fitness.

If a car had to emergency stop you would slam in the back causing damage to someone else’s property and potentially endangering the occupants.

The example of someone going through a rear window above is a great one. The glass from that window then ends up in the back of the car where there may passengers including children.

The driver caused the damage to the brother in laws bike…. the car can get to ****.

The driver caused the damage to the brother in laws bike…. the car can get to ****.

I was picking up (or at least meant to) on the fact it’s possible to smash through the rear of the car not the specific circumstances that caused the incident.

I’d edit my post to clarify but too late.

It’s rarely 100% either parties fault.

I was knocked off in a similar manner, the legal engineers assessment was that it was 80% the drivers fault.

Cycle lane or not: the safe thing to do as the driver of a vehicle is to yield to cyclists approaching on your inside and the safe thing to do as a cyclist is to move out into the flow of traffic at a junction to avoid this situation.