https://player.vimeo.com/video/131348053
No real damage to the bike (classic Santa Cruz Blur) but got a bruised arse!

[video]http://vimeo.com/131348053[/video]

🙁 Ow, hope your arse recovers soon OP.

Ow ow ow indeed.

Very restrained. I would have probably let the adrenaline take over and ended up in jail.

Glad you’re relatively uninjured! Please make sure you report it to the police, the driver should have but under exporting of car v cyclist collisions is rife!

Not even proper swearing, very restrained sir.
Glad you’re okay.
Edit:
‘You were just a Blur’

Very calm sir. I would have ruined her and her car in seconds.

“Sorry, I didn’t see you… You’re not a car!”

My wife excuses (or at least explains) drivers who hit bikes with exactly this shite. Spouts all this psychobollocks evidence that people don’t see what they’re not looking for – gorillas walking past during a task etc.

Somewhat missing the point that these **** bloody should be looking for bikes

OP, I’d get your bike checked over properly. That looked like a fair impact

[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ahg6qcgoay4[/video]

Please tell me this is with the police, could have been very much worse.

On the subject of being seen I used to drive a blue LWB Transit, it’s amazing how many people look straight through you regardless of who you are and what you are in/on.

that adverts brilliant. whys it only london it should be everywhere in the middle of corrie.

That advert’s great, yeah – needs a headcam image of a crash or a near miss like that guy and the lorry at a roundabout, just before the “look out for cyclists” bit

The same’s happened to me on a roundabout – with the “sorry I didn’t see you”, which might not be a valid excuse but it is genuine, obviously. That’s why making eye contact with drivers, specially when negotiating rondabouts, is so important. I doubt I would have entered a roundabout at that speed….. once bitten twice shy and all that. Hope you make a full recovery quickly.

Eye contact is balls. Even if the windscreen isn’t simply reflecting the sky or the streetlights, people can still look straight at you and fail to register you. Assume they’ve not seen you, and watch the front wheelarches.

The same’s happened to me on a roundabout – with the “sorry I didn’t see you”, which might not be a valid excuse but it is genuine, obviously.

Saccadic Masking has a lot to answer for at junctions and roundabouts:
http://www.londoncyclist.co.uk/raf-pilot-teach-cyclists/

(plus not being car-shaped)

Hope you’re okay OP. Follow it up with insurance and police as appropriate.

Eye contact is balls. Even if the windscreen isn’t simply reflecting the sky or the streetlights, people can still look straight at you and fail to register you. Assume they’ve not seen you…

Except that if you look into their eyes there is a reasonable chance that they have seen you, while if all you manage to see is the back of their head, for example, then there is a reasonable chance that they haven’t seen you.

Always assuming that you haven’t been seen isn’t useful when entering a roundabout unless of course you are prepared to only enter a roundabout when there are no cars in sight.

For those reasons I will continue attach importance to making eye contact with drivers.

Excellent delivery and insult choice, 9/10, would run down again.

GrahamS – Member

Saccadic Masking has a lot to answer for at junctions and roundabouts

Agree, but wasn’t involved here- the OP was riding across from the side, if the driver didn’t see him it’s because of not looking at all.

My understanding is that is exactly the kind of situation where Saccadic Masking might kick in. The driver approaches the roundabout, but doesn’t want to alter speed much if they can avoid it. They throw a glance to the right but fail to register the non-car-shaped object approaching at steady speed as they only focus on a more distant point (i.e. where a car approaching at speed would be) and rely on peripheral vision to catch closer car-shaped-objects. Like this photo in the article:

They throw a glance to the right but fail to register the non-car-shaped object approaching at steady speed as they only focus on a more distant point

Not just car shaped objects, car/bike/van, unfortunately it’s not rapidly fixable so comes down to the what can I do parts like eye contact, approach speed and be prepared to stop/avoid the thing that can kill you. It’s not ideal but better than having “Died on the moral high ground” on your headstone

Saccadic masking is basically about looking at 2 points and missing things inbetween that you’d think would be obvious. Most commonly seen when someone looks left and right then hits something right in front of them. But in this case, it could only arise if the driver failed to look where they bloody should be looking.

So possibly masking came into it, but only because of dangerously bad observation, it’s a symptom not a cause. I suppose this is a bit semantic but what I’m really saying is, no excuse, this didn’t happen because of some physiological quirk, it happened because of dangerous driving.

Northwind, whilst I agree that it is dangerous driving and it is the drivers responsibility how many people are even aware saccadic masking even exists? More to the point, the driver may well have looked, all the while believing that the area in between had been checked by his glance.

IMO it should be part of the driving theory test, might stop a few people from making mistakes and killing/injuring someone else.

Very aware of it and I see plenty of drivers look straight through me while on a bike, car or van. It happens, unfortunately telling drivers about it is a very small part. Trying not to do victim blaming but it’s something cyclists need to be much more aware of.

Glad you’re OK, arse aside.

Fantastic roll to Buddha position, crossed legs and everything. High marks for that. Points off for un-Buddhist like abuse. More points off that if you are going to abuse, needs stronger swearing than bitch. Which isn’t even STW filtered, therefore not swearing.

Saccadic masking is only a problem when people are looking too fast – trying to do stuff more quickly than their brain can handle. Look properly and saccadic masking is not an issue. I do wish that people would stop looking for physiological excuses for what is simply crap driving.

Dons flame proof jacket- you were riding too quick into that roundabout.

That does NOT make the driver missing you better though. The driver couldn’t process you that quickly whilst also trying to clutch/brake/manage a piece of machinery on top.

Glad you are ok.

Proportionally for our size I have seen cyclists riding too quickly on our roads- especially when you consider all the other factors drivers have to manage/we can blend into street furniture.

Anyway- its a 1,000degree special suit

The driver couldn’t process you that quickly whilst also trying to clutch/brake/manage a piece of machinery on top

SO are you able to get the driver’s license rescinded then Hora, you know, if they’re not up to the job of spotting something going about 20mph maximum ?

Years of motorcycling taught me always to watch the emerging car for wheel movement as it’s dificult to see forward movement from a changing perspective. Also to move across the driver’s field of vision by moving outwards as the sideways movement will attract their attention. Sometimes when a bike is heading stright towards them they simply don’t see it as the peripheral vision is tuned to spot movement.

I’d upgrade if I were you mate:

[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5wNpmo5RCw8[/video]

SO are you able to get the driver’s license rescinded then Hora, you know, if they’re not up to the job of spotting something going about 20mph maximum ?

I had a very close miss a while ago and someone posted up a Fighter Jets perspective/how our eyes and brain take in and process information- our eyes take in a series of snap shots- its not continuous under certain circumstances. Anyone got a link?

*Slaters on suncream*

So, why not cross the roundabout closer to the center [even if you’re taking the first left] so as to be further away from the driver and therefore cross a larger field of their vision.

Also, as mentioned you could try: approaching on the left of the lane, crossing to the primary,entering the bout while looking for eye contact or the turn of the wheels/braking dip, then swing across the ’bout heading left again for the exit.

Source – crashed loads of times, not been hit like that at a roundabout though, despite hours on the road including working as a courier for a while.

Certainly averted a few swipes in that way – either by them seeing me late or because our paths would have crossed further forward so I had room to maneuver when they made a mistake.

Y MAR MV.

My situation was slightly different i.e. the cyclist was already on the roundabout and not pegging it but the mechanics on why I missed the cyclist/slender profile visually. I was firmly in the wrong but it gives you a drivers perspective who is also a cyclist:

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/so-i-had-a-close-miss-last-night-with-a-cyclist

In the OP’s situation I do feel you entered the roundabout too quickly, position and you should have lifted off and been more cautious.

I had a very close miss a while ago and someone posted up a Fighter Jets perspective/how our eyes and brain take in and process information- our eyes take in a series of snap shots- its not continuous under certain circumstances. Anyone got a link?

Those certain circumstances are usually things like fyling fighter jets….

Eye contact is balls.

It’s not, it does help. Clearly as you say there are times it won’t, but there are times it will. Humans seem to be predisposed to notice human faces.

In the spirit of sharing tips rather than criticising the op (glad you are ok ofc) sometimes it does help to put yourself where a motorist will see you, or in other words take the lane.

Re the op’s vid – did you look left? You shouldn’t have to cos it’s your right of way but as cyclists we need to expect not to be seen, and to be prepared for people to do just as they did in the vid.

Re the op’s vid – did you look left? You shouldn’t have to cos it’s your right of way but as cyclists we need to expect not to be seen, and to be prepared for people to do just as they did in the vid.

This not looking left at roundabouts thing is bollocks. Why would you deliberately limit the information you have available when you’re making a decision on which your life might depend? When I taught people to drive I always taught them to look left too. Same as I taught them to check straight ahead at T-junctions.

it goes back to the expect everyone to be trying to kill you from everywhere principle.

Precisely.

The OP should have slowed down – they had ample opportunity to see the car coming from the left,assess its speed, and whether it had seen him or not. Could have avoided landing on his arse if he’d been more careful.

Though it was still technically the fault of the car driver, right?

In the OP’s defense, the wide angle nature of GoPro type cameras makes it look like you are travelling much faster that you really are. He probably wasn’t travelling at too high a speed for the situation. Also you can see the car approaching the junction earlier in the video, and they definitely have plenty of time to see.
It was drilled into me when I was being taught to drive (by my traffic copper father) to look and then REALLY look again at junctions, roundabouts, etc. People are in too much of a rush and cut basic, common sense, safety corners.

This situation is why I have an obnoxiously bright light on the front, in daylight, and assume that everyone else is out to kill me.

Though it was still technically the fault of the car driver, right?

Yes. But technically it wasn’t an accident as both people could have avoided it by being in less of a hurry, being more careful and having better life preserving instincts.