Closest I've come to dying on a bike

Was out on a group road ride yesterday. Stopped at traffic lights at a T junction. Lights turn green and we set off at a modest pace – car comes past us at 40mph from our right straight through the red light. Had we been 2m further out I wouldn’t be here now. We just saw the car in time to stop. I’ve been riding for 25 yrs – scary.

not nice

“assume all drivers are out there to kill you”

had a close call the other day on a roundabout, the road crossing my direction goes from single to dual and the there is queue of traffic stopped to let me past all except for the looney women who decides it’s an opportunity to queue jump she’s see’s just in time and comes to a halt about a foot from my front wheel. Many Thanks to the guy on the inside who saw her tanking up the outside in his mirror and stood on his horn.

We had several close calls yesterday. Must be something in the air. Glad you are OK. And the kid in the back of the red Audi A3 looked pretty shocked when I tapped on his door at 24 mph.

Something in the air alright…

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/idiots-in-a-honda-civic-in-essexupshire-this-morning

Stopped at a Red light onto a roundabout in the car, and a silver LWB Vito CU09 MWL blows straight through . Its 2 lanes in and round.
Ok its 0530 , but he wasnt stopping and was going about 40 – 50 mph
idiot

The time of day is not relevant. 01:00, 13:00, 0r 18:00 a red is still a red. so it will be green coming the other way and someone could be coming through.

Mark N – Member

The time of day is not relevant. 01:00, 13:00, 0r 18:00 a red is still a red. so it will be green coming the other way and someone could be coming through.

This.

As long as it applies to everyone, cycists included of course.

My memory is that drivers are **** clueless when the hour changes, maybe it’s starting early.

Scary stuff. Closest I’ve come was falling off the side of the trail in the Alps, manages to do it directly above a tree so didn’t slide very far, but if the tree hadn’t been there I’d have fallen a good 250ft into a river… Massive thanks to the two guys in our group that pulled me back up, if they’re not been there I probably would have lost my bike if not myself.

The time of day is not relevant. 01:00, 13:00, 0r 18:00 a red is still a red. so it will be green coming the other way and someone could be coming through.

A few weeks ago I was driving down a nice quiet country lane. About 11pm (not massively late, but this is a quiet road through the day). There was a T-junction coming up on the right, and I could see a van approaching the junction. No concerns at all, given the visibility, he could clearly see me approaching…or could have, had he bothered to look…

I was ready to mount the verge before he hammered on the brakes already half way out into the road.

You have to wonder what goes on in the minds of people who think that’s acceptable. Furthermore, the junction was from a farm track, so I can only assume they live there and do it often.

I reported an erratic driver this morning. S/he took the mini roundabout on the wrong side, messed up braking/ accelerating with every other road user they met. It was a very quiet Sunday AM road and the driver was a real menace, driving in a very unpredictable way. Driving home an hour later I met the police at the end of the lane, on the job looking for the culprit whilst also looking for a ‘youth in a white superdry teeshirt’ (Good luck on that one I’m thinking).

howarthp – Member
Was out on a group road ride yesterday. Stopped at traffic lights at a T junction. Lights turn green and we set off at a modest pace – car comes past us at 40mph from our right straight through the red light.

Conversely, as a driver, lights turn green, pulling out of a junction at a slow pace to turn right – group of bikes come flying through from the left on the red quite fast and scared the crap out of me for fear of hitting them (which I’d probably get the blame for as the driver of a car is always at fault). Beeped them but they were clearly intent on keeping their pace. Noting that I’d been looking their way (not that I should be expecting them) and stopped in plenty of time but they were coming out blind from behind a car that *had* stopped at the red.

sambob – Member
Closest I’ve come was falling off the side of the trail in the Alps, manages to do it directly above a tree so didn’t slide very far, but if the tree hadn’t been there I’d have fallen a good 250ft into a river… Massive thanks to the two guys in our group that pulled me back up, if they’re not been there I probably would have lost my bike if not myself.

I’ve fallen off the side of a trail. Okay that was at Afan, on a climb too! 😳 and it wasn’t a dramatic scary fall really, just a roll down to the trail below feeling stupid. Bike was fine which was the important thing 😀

I’ve had a trail near death experience in a way I suppose, but to be honest I can’t remember it.

the day i got my anthem x2,i was giving it some beans downhill on a country lane.rounding a corner i saw a tractor blocking the road,with it’s front bucket/spiky thing pointing in my direction.a few choice words were utterd,as i slammed on the anchors (first time testing the xt brakes).i skidded to a halt (whilst majestically sliding the bike perpendicular to the downhill 8)

A green light should be treated as “proceed if it is safe to do so” which implies that you’ve checked if the,junction is clear. This is particularly true when pulling away.

Indeed. In my case I did so as best I could and stopped when something shot through from behind a car. Still doesn’t excuse bikes going through on a red, any more than a car doing the same.

Sorry to hear of your close call, hope it’s more a reminder to stay aware rather than a knock to your confidence…

My incident yesterday was similar in that someone shot across in front of me with little warning, but differs in that I was descending a fast singletrack through an open field, and the other ‘traffic’ was a suicidal squirrel – The peril was mostly on his part. And it was MY RIGHT OF WAY!!!!! 🙂

I remember the day I passed my motorcycle test. Passed, returned to the motorcycle school office, gave their bike back and their hi viz best, went across the road and collect my new Suzuki bandit, within one mile I had two malicious cut ups, turned around, went to the local bike shop, got a hi viz vest… And most of the shit driving stopped.

Forgot the vest one day and I hit a car pulling out in the first ten minutes.

It also works on a bicycle.

I wear one of these on my road bike. People give you more space, but it won’t stop the kind of idiots who jump lights… But everything helps. Cyclists who wear all black are just more difficult to see, and you are just not helping yourself.

I always wear a Night Vision T, or Transformer Flouro.