I would like to know if more bike accidents are caused by either

a) cars pulling out into you or your path where the driver has not seen you or

b) cars passing you too closely and/or pulling in too quickly.

If you have been knocked off by a car, please post if it was a) or b)

I’ve had both, do I win a prize?

or…

c) cars pulling out into you or your path where the driver has not seen you or cars passing you too closely and/or pulling in too quickly and you not riding in such a way to either prevent the driver from making poor choices or to take a road position that gives you multiple options to avoid the effects of bad car driving.

only knocked off once – a) but had near misses through both.

molgrips:
I would like to know…..

Why would you like to know?

How many of each?

Stoner, this is a poll, please don’t start an argument. I want to know about drivers’ behaviour so whether or not you can avoid it or not is another matter.

Actually, please post on near-misses too.

Why would you like to know?

Because the helmet thread has raised this question and no-one else is reading it any more apart from the usual die-hards 🙂

B) But he didn’t actually hit me*.

*I did hit him when I caught up with him as he pulled into a car park. 👿

a) Yes knocked off (they saw me, but misjudged my speed massively!)
b) Many times, but never knocked off due to preventative action byME!

or how about;

d) running into the side of a car because you weren’t paying attention (it was a very short skirt and she had really nice legs) and then the driver still blames herself for not seeing you…

That’s a category all by itself…

Turned left after passing me, so probably an a) ?

a. for me. I’d gone past the driver at a junction whereupon he forgot I existed and set off driving into the back of me pushing me for a surprisingly long time before the back wheel gave way to the inevitable and I got dumped on the deck.

a) , put me on crutches for 4 months.

Only knocked off once but the answer is a) Although the T**t tried to say that it was me who didn’t see him and I went into him!!. Luckily I had a copper for a witness.

Only B for me.

In the last 8 years of daily commuting, been clipped only once by a car passing too close on a fast left bend, pushed me into the verge, driver did not stop.

I think for me anyway, B is more common out of the two options ( cars pulling in too quickly) I seem to have to avoid more often.

molgrips – where are you going with this poll?

MrSparkle – is that not a B?

A for me. T-Boned on a roundabout, if he’d have looked in the direction he was travelling before punching the go pedal…

Well it stems from the research that suggests that if you are wearing a helmet, drivers give you less room.

I thought that would not make a difference in the case of a) since if you are not seen, it would not matter what you had on your head. Seems to me that a) would be more common but I thought I’d ask.

b) Hit by her wing mirror. she was doing >40 at the time. Against the firmness of my steely buttocks the wing mirror didn’t stand a chance. I did hit my head in a backward somersault motion. I was happy I was wearing my helmet.

🙂

(my left shoulder still aches 2 1/2 years on from this accident as that took the brunt of my landing)

She was distracted by her mobile phone. She didn’t get prosecuted.

Though re-reading your original post, it was more like A, as she didn’t attempt to pass me.

Hmm, although b) and not being seen still would mean that the presence or otherwise of a helmet would not be a factor.

(a) SMIDSY U turner

I did also have a driving instructor overtake me just before a tight 90deg bend with a house right on the apex of the corner. She JUST managed to make it back in without clipping me or crashing into the car that came around the corner.

MARY LANGLEY SCHOOL OF MOTORING, HARROGATE, I AM TALKING ABOUT YOU.

I do wonder if drivers give less space to cyclist that look as if they know what they are doing (waring high-vis, cycle gear etc) than casual cyclist?

s – Member

I do wonder if drivers give less space to cyclist that look as if they know what they are doing (waring high-vis, cycle gear etc) than casual cyclist?

Thats what the bit of research found. Small limited survey but good methodology. He got most room wearing a long blond wig !! (IIRC)

http://www.bath.ac.uk/news/articles/releases/overtaking110906.html

Molgrips – you also need to look at severity as well as incidence

My thought is that if someone sees you they surely must take some kind of step to avoid you. If they see you and pass closely, you have to have some other kind of issue like a bollard/pothole/kerb incident in order to have an accident.

Commuting for 12 years …

a)
1. Driver waiting in road facing me to turn right pulled across into me – helmet didn’t do me any good as I stuck my chin through her windscreen 🙂
2. Driver waiting at junction to turn right pulled out as I entered central ‘turn right’ box. Helmet did me no good as I surfed over his bonnet.
3. Driver pulled U-turn as I was filtering without so much as a glance in the mirror (I always look for that) or a tip of the indicator. As much my fault that one though. Was only a bump. If I hadn’t been able to slow down as much I’d have clouted the dorr pillar with my head though.
4. Dual carriageway, driver shoots round bus following me and pulls in without looking. Good job I was in the middle of the carriageway, I had plenty of room to manouevre. he proceeded without stopping, minus some paintwork. Got pedal striked kerb, luck kept me upright, helmet might have saved me if I did go down, but the bus 2ft behind me would have finished me off.
5. Waiting at roundabout, driver drives into the back of me :tard: Didn’t get thrown far, but a helmet would have been no match for the juggernauts doing 40mph round the roundabout.

b) too many to mention. Anecdotally just as many when I’m not wearing a lid, but that is a much smaller percentage of my trips by bike. I had a good one today, driver turned left at a ‘no left turn’ without so much as a glance or a dab of indicator. I don’t normally filter up the left, but I was on auto-pilot.

I still wear a lid.

Small limited survey but good methodology

Survey of ONE cyclist and flawed methodology imo. But let’s keep that argument to the other thread please, this is meant to be a poll re accidents.

e- saw me didnt give a sh1t pulled out and hit me. No way for me to avoid the lunatic – awaits being old by STW massif how i could have done something to avoid this and how it was still my faultThink a is mor elikely to cause an accident

I do wonder if drivers give less space to cyclist that look as if they know what they are doing (waring high-vis, cycle gear etc) than casual cyclist?

I assume that anyone wearing high-vis gear doesn’t have a clue what they’re doing.

ps. not been knocked off, yet.

I’m Loling at mastiles, I know I shouldn’t but that’s quite funny

4 times both a & b

Never been knocked off (yet!)

‘a’ has probably happened 20 times in 25 years, ‘b’ happens 10 times a day

For b) don’t mean someone being a bit close. I mean actually knocking you off, even if they see you. Not that you can tell if they see you or not mind.

I don’t mean being a bit close either. I mean being close enough to knock me off if I didn’t take evasive action.

a – head on

I’ve had cars hit me from behind, from the side, from driving too close, and deliberately driven into me head on.

Not one accident I’ve had has been my fault.

In answer to the original question, my last one was A.

a/. car accelerated straight at me – hit me hard enough to crack axle in BB and throw me to other lane of dual carriageway and I walked away – shaken
b/.s a few but always managed evasive action that has involved cuts and scrapes and awaits the pundits one near head on with a drive wall that persuaded me to wear a helmet rather than a cap on the road
– a variation on b/is the i’m going to overtake straight at you and expect you to vanish

I’ve only ever had A. And once hit a parked car through distraction and stupidity (was watching the shadows cast by my wheel reflectors!)

Had lots of near-A and a few near-B, I reckon A is the more common from my own experience.

Another A. Driver didn’t look for a cyclist, pulled out a side turning straight into my path – cue a slide over the bonnet, bounce off the windscreen, and a brisk slither off the front of the bonnet to the road in front of the car. Don’t exactly recall what parts of me hit where, but the dr in a&e waved my damaged helmet in front of me and noted that was the reason I was able to go home that night rather than have a long stay curtusy of the nhs.