This morning's near death experience…

when said by driver to a cyclist “middle of the road” is anywhere other than 1″ from the kerb.

Fair point. But he could also have been factually correct. E.g. The middle of the road (split into 3 lanes) could be the middle lane.

Anybody know how I paste an image from Google maps streetview on here?

Click the share link and you’ll get a URL you can share. Otherwise, take a screenshot and upload it to photobucket/flickr etc

Aracer: No, it wasn’t aimed at you, just a general observation. Like I said, it’s sensible given that we all want to avoid being squashed, so the conversation will always be: “the driver might be 100% wrong, but you could have done X to avoid it”.

Fair point. But he could also have been factually correct. E.g. The middle of the road (split into 3 lanes) could be the middle lane.

So what? the driver would STILL have been overtaking a right-signalling cyclist through a roundabout! So he could have been factually correct in his statement, but his driving was STILL illegal!

Edit: thinking about it, I would guess (yes, just an unsubstantiated guess!) that the driver thought the only reason he hit the cyclist was because the cyclist was too far to the right, i.e. “in the middle of the road”. The driver thinks that the cyclist should have been on the far left, he thinks that if the cyclist had have been there, depsite wanting to go right, he would have had room to overtake.

“You were in the middle of the road” rarely means:

“You were in the middle of the road, but you should have been further over to the right, to reinforce your right arm signal”. It pretty much always means “You were in my way, you should be against the kerb, that’s where cyclists are supposed to be.”

I’ve never tried embedded an image but I have posted links, go to streetview find what you want then on the left pane there should be 4 buttons, get directions, my places, printer icon and chain icon. Click the chain icon and a little popout appears with 2 text boxes, top one has a URL bottom has html, copy the URL and use the link button on stw, paste the url in there.

Scene of the crime.

So did you enter the roundabout where that white astra is, whilst indicating right? Or were you in the right hand lane?

So did you enter the roundabout where that white astra is, whilst indicating right?

Yes. He clipped me about where the right hand rear light of that red car is on the roundabout itself…

hmm, now I know some are going to say you should have been in the right hand lane as per this pic but to those people I’d say try that on some roundabouts near me and someone from the road at the 12 o’clock position will see and empty bit of road infront/left of you and use it to turn left which will put a downer on your morning.

on first viewing I’d probably try the text book (middle of the) right hand lane, hug the island then exit, but as a local you will know more about that junction and how drivers normally behave on it than me.

Oh yeah and presumably if he was going straight on he shouldn’t have been in the right hand lane so he’s in the wrong there before consideration of dodgy overtakes on the roundabout.

The road in the roundabout is not marked into lanes. I was in fact ALMOST on what would have been the central line, aiming at the third exit…

Ah. So you were in the left lane wanting to turn right?

As it’s a two lane entrance to the roundabout (not 3 as I thought), then the driver could quite reasonably pass you to go straight on – assuming he really did not see you as he stated. If he saw you and chanced a quick overtake, he is a nobber and you had a lucky escape.

In the future, if I were you, I’d make sure I was planted in the middle of the right lane when turning right – leaving no room for a car to squeeze through.

Glad no-one got hurt.

The road in the roundabout is not marked into lanes. I was in fact ALMOST on what would have been the central line…

Correct. But the entrance to the roundabout is split into two lanes. Given your road position one would assume you were either turning left or going straight on if no arm signal/indication was spotted.

I’d have been in the middle of the right hand lane there tbh.

Although he should have seen your signal, and the highway code does say cyclists can stick to the left hand lane all the way around the RAB if they want to.

RABs like that are not the place to be overtaking though.

I’d have been in the middle of the right hand lane there tbh.

That’s my plan moving forward (which, fortunately, I can still do)… 😉

Mind you, I’ve then got to signal quickly to get off at the third exit with traffic maybe coming behind from the first exit in a really short space.

Hmmm. Tricky.

Think maybe I’ll just get off and walk across. 😐

To protest from the CTC who wanted that bit removed entirely. It’s certainly not recommended practice, and by far the most dangerous thing to do IMHO.

far the most dangerous thing to do IMHO

But do they have any actual evidence for that? Oh, wait…

https://www.gov.uk/rules-for-cyclists-59-to-82/roundabouts-76-to-78

sticking to the left certainly doesn’t appear to be recommended

Couldn’t continue past this as I felt physically sick…

I see in my rear-view mirror