Message to all motorists

PCPhoto

Hope people dont mind me posting this .... but my GF had this on her facebook status this morning and I thought it is worth sharing:

LOOK TWICE-SAVE A LIFE, MOTORCYCLES ARE EVERYWHERE!! Repost this to your status to remind all of your family/friends that it is motorcycle season, and taking a few extra seconds to take a second look will save lives of our loved ones. Give them their fair share of the roadway! PLEASE REPOST, EVEN IF YOU AREN'T A RIDER- BUT YOU KNOW SOMEONE WHO IS.


She is a biker (I'm a cager....car driver) .... plenty of motorists are not "Bike aware" and hopefully this message will save someone's life.

also - things to look out for in the event you pull aside to allow a motorbike through traffic .... a leg out or a hand raised...or a head nod .....these are all "thank you"

KamiKazi

Nice post.

Motorcycles don't just come out of nowhere, you just didn't look properly.

af_thefragile

As I'm a wannabe biker (just can't afford one right now), I do look out for motorbikes all the time. Though a lot of times they just come out of nowhere when you're stuck in slow moving traffic but then i realised if you stick to your lane and drive straight, you won't be coming in the way of any motorists trying to pass you...

Cyclists on the other hand, who cycle in the middle of the road in a way you just cannot pass them and have to drive the next 2 miles stuck behind them....

mb1725

Watch out especially for this guy - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMiyYZS87o0

bryaner

I've a bike and car so you'd imagine bike aware, one day turning right at a junction in the car I didn't look twice and nearly knocked a bloke of his bike, so yes this is a great message to all on the road..

MrDerp

I always look for motorcyclists, but more for my own safety than theirs.

Was driving Cork to Dublin last summer. I'm in the overtaking lane passing some cars at about 135 and a convoy of motorcycles on a run comes up behind me. The proceed to pass through the middle of the two lanes in a steady stream and I'm glued to a now narrowed lane as I have to stick close to the inside line. Then, bizarrely, at a point where the concrete divider is a bit further from the driving lane, one guy in a yellow riding suit crosses the inside line and passes me between the lane and the concrete divider.

They eventually all pass, and I can relax. This was obviously a riding club, who are probably very vocal about watching out for them and looking after their poor vulnerable asses on the road.

No offense to your partner OP, and I'll continue to be aware of all other road users and look after their safety (I wish it was reciprocal), but I won't be sticking that up as my facebook status.

alfa beta

I use both a car and a bike to get around (not at the same time mind you) and so I'd always have considered myself pretty good when it comes to being aware of bikes on the road.

However, during the past year on two occasions when driving I've very nearly pulled out in front of a motorbike coming from the right on a roundabout - both occasions were at nighttime and both gave me a bit of a shock.

Thinking about it I realised I'm automatically looking for patterns in the nighttime traffic being made by two headlamps as opposed to one - having copped onto this fact I'm now a good bit less 'autopilot' on the run up to roundabouts and I tend to slow down more than i used to even all looks clear at first glance.

not sure why I'm posting this as it just makes me look like a crap driver! - guess I thought it's a experience worth sharing as others may have had similar occurences.

Vertakill

KamiKazi wrote: »

Nice post.

Motorcycles don't just come out of nowhere, you just didn't look properly.

While that may be true in some cases... bikers have to be aware that they're much, much smaller objects than a car in peoples peripheral vision/mirrors, so should act accordingly.
Instead, you see them making very unpredictable maneuvers and getting themselves into unncessary accidents.

If all bikers acted a little less aggressively and with more care, we could all be safe on the roads.

Unfortunately, for every sensible biker out there, there's one complete eejit.

But with that being said, I do agree that car drivers need to pay more attention for bikers.
But I think there should be a facebook status day for all bikers to take it easy sometimes..

bryaner wrote: »

I've a bike and car so you'd imagine bike aware, one day turning right at a junction in the car I didn't look twice and nearly knocked a bloke of his bike, so yes this is a great message to all on the road..

Why was he passing you on your right when you were turning right at a junction? He should've been passing you on your left surely?

PCPhoto

PCPhoto wrote: »

She is a biker (I'm a cager....car driver) .... plenty of motorists are not "Bike aware" and hopefully this message will save someone's life.

Plenty of motorcyclists are not very bike aware either.

KamiKazi

Vertakill wrote: »

But I think there should be a facebook status day for all bikers to take it easy sometimes..

Don't know how to do easy, sorry :pac:

fricatus

alfa beta wrote: »

Thinking about it I realised I'm automatically looking for patterns in the nighttime traffic being made by two headlamps as opposed to one - having copped onto this fact I'm now a good bit less 'autopilot' on the run up to roundabouts and I tend to slow down more than i used to even all looks clear at first glance.

I read a good book called "Traffic" by a guy called Tom Vanderbilt which mentioned this very thing. Humans mostly don't look at whatever is moving along a road. They're looking for something that fits the pattern of "car" and discarding all other visible information (e.g. flashing neon signs, traffic lights, etc.)

This is the reason why there are so many motorbike accidents where the car driver pulls out without having "seen" the biker. It's not so much that they didn't see the biker, but that they didn't register their presence as a moving vehicle. (I nearly did this myself yesterday, in broad daylight!)

Unfortunately for the bikers, they're the ones that always come off worse in any collision, so I think the best solution is for bikers always to be prepared for a car to pull out, and not tear along roads, bomb through roundabouts, etc. It's no use being in the right when you're dead!

af_thefragile

fricatus wrote: »

I read a good book called "Traffic" by a guy called Tom Vanderbilt which mentioned this very thing. Humans mostly don't look at whatever is moving along a road. They're looking for something that fits the pattern of "car" and discarding all other visible information (e.g. flashing neon signs, traffic lights, etc.)

This is the reason why there are so many motorbike accidents where the car driver pulls out without having "seen" the biker. It's not so much that they didn't see the biker, but that they didn't register their presence as a moving vehicle. (I nearly did this myself yesterday, in broad daylight!)

Unfortunately for the bikers, they're the ones that always come off worse in any collision, so I think the best solution is for bikers always to be prepared for a car to pull out, and not tear along roads, bomb through roundabouts, etc. It's no use being in the right when you're dead!

This is so true!

Just a couple of months ago I ended up hitting a cyclist because of a stupid person on a moped. Thankfully the cyclist wasn't injured badly...

I was trying to pass a van that had its nose stuck out over half the lane. Just as I moved out towards the right to pass the van, this stupid person on a moped decided to fly past me on the right hand side. To avoid crashing into the stupid moped person, I had to squeeze back towards left inadvertently sandwiching the cyclist between my car and the van with its nose stuck out on the road.

If it wasn't for the stupid person on the moped, I could have had easily passed the van with enough room for the cyclist to not get sandwiched between. And if the stupid person on the moped could have used his braincells to decide not to pass a car which is overtaking a obstacle, on the right side in a fairly narrow and busy two lane road...


So this goes out to bikers as well. Its not easy to spot ye if ye're barrelling down roads trying to pass us at 3 times the speed of sound! Maybe we could spot ye if ye were riding something the size of a raging bull with xenon flashlights stuck onto its head. But unfortunately most of ye get dissolved into the background noise and it doesn't help when you're going so fast that one moment you're not there and next moment you're inches from the side mirror...

^^^^^^^^^

You didn't spot the moped 'till it was too late and you never spotted the cyclist. Your fault If you did know the cyclist was there it was disgraceful driving on your part.

Cookie_Monster

RoverJames wrote: »

^^^^^^^^^

You didn't spot the moped 'till it was too late and you never spotted the cyclist.

where does he say that.

sounds like he saw the moped but assumed that he wasn't a stupid retard who would try and overtake in such a situation...

KamiKazi

KamiKazi wrote: »

Motorcycles don't just come out of nowhere, you just didn't look properly.

KamiKazi wrote: »

Don't know how to do easy, sorry :pac:

I think this is an appropriate time for this guy ==> :rolleyes:

Muckie

Good post OP.

Father in law was nearly killed last year after a woman didn't wait for the green arrow at a signaled junction.

He was knocked out of he's boots, flew over the roof and landed in a heap on the road. Luckly only broke and tore up he's upper leg(bike handle bar cut into him).

He didn't black out, worsed pain of he's life. The first thing the young woman said to him was " I'm so sorry, i didn't see you!"

Stay safe follks!

Cookie_Monster

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

where does he say that.

sounds like he saw the moped but assumed that he wasn't a stupid retard who would try and overtake in such a situation...

Ah, power slide man :pac:
I used my powers of deduction......

af_thefragile wrote: »

Its not easy to spot ye if ye're barrelling down roads trying to pass us at 3 times the speed of sound! Maybe we could spot ye if ye were riding something the size of a raging bull with xenon flashlights stuck onto its head. But unfortunately most of ye get dissolved into the background noise and it doesn't help when you're going so fast that one moment you're not there and next moment you're inches from the side mirror...

I suppose you reckon he saw the cyclist too

metzengerstein

always let bikes pass me safely as possible and very aware of them .

but there are alot who abuse the fact they are on a bike and just expect to get passed everything and speed by cars frightning the crap out of drivers,tail gating ,weaving in and out of traffic and not making themselves known to other traffic sometimes.they make a bad rep for the rest of the bikers

KamiKazi

Deleted User wrote: »

I think this is an appropriate time for this guy ==> :rolleyes:

Right back at ya with this guy :cool:

Except maybe just clear lens, your eyesight is bad enough as it is.

Owen

The problem with these FB statuses is that people repost them, subconsciously think 'I did my bit', and then forget the message they were supposed to convey.

At least this is a genuine one, and not one of the constant barrage of 'This week is cancer/autism/ugly awareness week (Which it never, ever is), most won't repost, will you?????????'. Thank god I've my FB set to block repost, re-post, youtube, awareness, causes and loads of other keywords like that.

KamiKazi

KamiKazi wrote: »

Right back at ya with this guy :cool:

Except maybe just clear lens, your eyesight is bad enough as it is.

Well I may have agreed with your first post. But then you devalidated (is that even a word?) it with your second and gave people who generalise about motorcyclists a reason for doing so.

KamiKazi

Deleted User wrote: »

Well I may have agreed with your first post. But then you devalidated (is that even a word?) it with your second and gave people who generalise about motorcyclists a reason for doing so.

You just need to learn how to tell the difference between and a serious post and a not so serious post :pac:

Cuddlesworth

af_thefragile wrote: »

This is so true!

Just a couple of months ago I ended up hitting a cyclist because of a stupid person on a moped. Thankfully the cyclist wasn't injured badly...

I was trying to pass a van that had its nose stuck out over half the lane. Just as I moved out towards the right to pass the van, this stupid person on a moped decided to fly past me on the right hand side. To avoid crashing into the stupid moped person, I had to squeeze back towards left inadvertently sandwiching the cyclist between my car and the van with its nose stuck out on the road.

If it wasn't for the stupid person on the moped, I could have had easily passed the van with enough room for the cyclist to not get sandwiched between. And if the stupid person on the moped could have used his braincells to decide not to pass a car which is overtaking a obstacle, on the right side in a fairly narrow and busy two lane road...


So this goes out to bikers as well. Its not easy to spot ye if ye're barrelling down roads trying to pass us at 3 times the speed of sound! Maybe we could spot ye if ye were riding something the size of a raging bull with xenon flashlights stuck onto its head. But unfortunately most of ye get dissolved into the background noise and it doesn't help when you're going so fast that one moment you're not there and next moment you're inches from the side mirror...

You didn't indicate to inform other road users of your change of road position, you didn't check your mirror to see if the way was clear and you failed to check your blind spot. If the moped had not crossed a continuous white line then the fault would have been yours in terms of insurance.

And if you are unable to accept the above then you will never become a good road driver.

Cookie_Monster

Cuddlesworth wrote: »

You didn't indicate to inform other road users of your change of road position, you didn't check your mirror to see if the way was clear and you failed to check your blind spot. If the moped had not crossed a continuous white line then the fault would have been yours in terms of insurance.

And if you are unable to accept the above then you will never become a good road driver.

you don't need to indicate to change your road position within a lane so why would you, he never mention crossing a line into another lane so until it's clarified you're jumping the gun there IMO.

Cuddlesworth

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

you don't need to indicate to change your road position within a lane so why would you, he never mention crossing a line into another lane so until it's clarified you're jumping the gun there IMO.

You should indicate if you need to change position to avoid a obstacle. Not only to warn bikes that may be on the outside but also for the car behind. Just because he may have remained in his lane doesn't mean that he didn't change his road position.

Cookie_Monster

Cuddlesworth wrote: »

You should indicate if you need to change position to avoid a obstacle. Not only to warn bikes that may be on the outside but also for the car behind. Just because he may have remained in his lane doesn't mean that he didn't change his road position.

so you should indicate for every pothole or piece a rubbish on the road then?

Cuddlesworth

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

so you should indicate for every pothole or piece a rubbish on the road then?

You shouldn't be swerving to avoid every pothole and piece of rubbish on the road. Anything worthy of a swerve is worth indicating to others on what you intent to do.

Cookie_Monster

Cuddlesworth wrote: »

You shouldn't be swerving to avoid every pothole and piece of rubbish on the road. Anything worthy of a swerve is worth indicating to others on what you intent to do.

where did swerving come into it, we were talking about changing position within a lane. The original poster said nothing about swerving around the van, merely moving right in advance of it to clear it...

KamiKazi

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

where did swerving come into it, we were talking about changing position within a lane. The original poster said nothing about swerving around the van, merely moving right in advance of it to clear it...

He moved without checking that the space he was moving into was clear.

Cuddlesworth

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

where did swerving come into it, we were talking about changing position within a lane. The original poster said nothing about swerving around the van, merely moving right in advance of it to clear it...

Deviating from the line of the road to avoid a obstacle is a swerve. Warning others of this and being fully aware of the repercussions of doing so is good manners and roadcraft. Neither of which Af_fragile did.

Had he hit the moped on the right in a shared roadspace he would be to blame for the reasons outlined above.

Do you have anything to add to this besides desperately trying to come up with factors not within the original text? Here it is, please point out to me the parts of it where he checked his right hand side prior to performing the maneuverer. Or warned others of his intent to do so.

This is so true!

Just a couple of months ago I ended up hitting a cyclist because of a stupid person on a moped. Thankfully the cyclist wasn't injured badly...

I was trying to pass a van that had its nose stuck out over half the lane. Just as I moved out towards the right to pass the van, this stupid person on a moped decided to fly past me on the right hand side. To avoid crashing into the stupid moped person, I had to squeeze back towards left inadvertently sandwiching the cyclist between my car and the van with its nose stuck out on the road.

If it wasn't for the stupid person on the moped, I could have had easily passed the van with enough room for the cyclist to not get sandwiched between. And if the stupid person on the moped could have used his braincells to decide not to pass a car which is overtaking a obstacle, on the right side in a fairly narrow and busy two lane road...


So this goes out to bikers as well. Its not easy to spot ye if ye're barrelling down roads trying to pass us at 3 times the speed of sound! Maybe we could spot ye if ye were riding something the size of a raging bull with xenon flashlights stuck onto its head. But unfortunately most of ye get dissolved into the background noise and it doesn't help when you're going so fast that one moment you're not there and next moment you're inches from the side mirror...

Wossack

a message to the fair weather bikers - take it easy! I know you've been trapped in a car for the last x months, but tis better then being stuck in a pine box / wheelchair for the rest of your lives

Max_Damage

Organ donors.

mikemac

Seen it before on my little scooter.

A driver about to pull out of a side road, they see me and I see them, in fact we make eye contact and they still pull out in front of me!

And then gave a wave of apology.
It's like they saw me but didn't register me in their brain.
Maybe on some subconcious level small bike equals no danger.

I guarantee if I were driving an articulated lorry and made eye contact with the driver they would not have pulled out

Cookie_Monster

Max_Damage wrote: »

Organ donors.

no no, that's the crazy dangerous cyclists
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056198859

It's a fun read

-Chris-

Max_Damage wrote: »

Organ donors.

Please don't troll

af_thefragile

RoverJames wrote: »

^^^^^^^^^

You didn't spot the moped 'till it was too late and you never spotted the cyclist. Your fault If you did know the cyclist was there it was disgraceful driving on your part.

No seriously, you would have done the same thing if you were there as well.

Firstly I knew the cyclist was there and I had overtaken the cyclist before I was about to overtake the van.

Second thing I could only spot the moped when I just started overtaking the van. It wasn't like the moped was besides me all along that I knew it was there. The person on the moped was just speeding on the right side of the lane, overtaking all the slow moving cars on the left. So there was no possible way I could have had spotted the moped before I started overtaking the van.

Point to note, I wasn't going very fast here (as if I was, the accident would have been much worse!). It was slow moving traffic and as the van wasn't going anywhere soon, I had to overtake it. Now any person on a moped with two braincells would realise hey, the car in front of me is pulling out to the right to overtake that van so maybe I should slow down and not try to overtake a car that's trying to overtake a van...

Next thing, I'm overtaking this van, I spot the moped coming speeding towards me. I had to make a choice. Either stay on my path and hit the moped sending him into oncoming traffic in the other lane and killing him. Or squeeze back left to give the moped enough room to pass me safely and now kill himself.

So I squeeze back in and its already slow moving traffic and you must know how usually in slow moving traffic cyclists end up going faster than cars. Hence in the mean time the cyclist had caught up with me. The cyclist tried to squeeze in between me and the van. I slowed down even further to let the cyclist go ahead while at the same time moving back left to prevent the person on the moped trying to overtake me from crashing into me.

Hence it was inevitable. The cyclist got squished between me and the van and ended up hitting my car. Fortunately the cyclist wasn't too badly injured. I still had to drop him off to where he had to go... Bot the cyclist and his cycle...


So you see, there was no possible way of avoiding this accident. And it was all because of a stupid person on a moped who couldn't use his intelligence to realise it's not a good thing to try to overtake a car that's already overtaking an obstacle...

af_thefragile

RoverJames wrote: »

Ah, power slide man :pac:
I used my powers of deduction......


I suppose you reckon he saw the cyclist too

That was a general quote. Which is why I usually stick to my lane and drive straight in case if someone is trying to pass me on either side... Because a lot of times you don't spot speeding motorbikes in slow moving traffic.

But as I just explained what happened in the situation before, I was aware of the person on the moped and the cyclist too. I just had to make the choice of either staying on my path and the person on the moped crashes into me or squeeze back left and hope the cyclist somehow manages to get through unharmed.

The van was creating a bottle neck which was slowing cars down. Cyclists due to their size, don't seem to be affected by bottle necks and cycle at constant speeds hence why I had passed the cyclist before but when I had to slow down at the bottle neck, the cyclist caught up with me and tried to squeeze between my car and the van...

af_thefragile

af_thefragile wrote: »

Second thing I could only spot the moped when I just started overtaking the van. It wasn't like the moped was besides me all along that I knew it was there. The person on the moped was just speeding on the right side of the lane, overtaking all the slow moving cars on the left. So there was no possible way I could have had spotted the moped before I started overtaking the van.

Does your Puma not have mirrors?

af_thefragile

Cuddlesworth wrote: »

You didn't indicate to inform other road users of your change of road position, you didn't check your mirror to see if the way was clear and you failed to check your blind spot. If the moped had not crossed a continuous white line then the fault would have been yours in terms of insurance.

And if you are unable to accept the above then you will never become a good road driver.

I did indicate (i think, I usually do) I did check my mirrors, as I always do. First time when I looked, it was clear for me to pass. So I proceeded to overtake. Then I glanced in the mirror again (as I usually check multiple times when overtaking in such situations) there was a moped heading right towards me.

I don't think he was over the white line, though very very close to it. If he had hit me, he would have gone straight into the oncoming traffic. Which is why I had to squeeze in to avoid hitting him.

And this is what I meant by motorcyclists riding too fast that one moment they are not there and next moment they are dangerously close to you... Its also not very easy to spot a tiny moped far away in the little rear view mirrors of my Puma, among all the other things you're looking for. Like you don't have the time to stare at the mirror for a few seconds to scan every millimetre of it before you make your move. You just do a quick glance and see if everything looks fine and go for the move...

af_thefragile

RoverJames wrote: »

Does your Puma not have mirrors?

They're tiny and even then when I first looked the moped wasn't there or maybe it was but because he was fairly far back I couldn't spot/register him.

Again, I was travelling at around 10kmph while the moped man was speeding at around 40-50kmph as they usually do everywhere... Hence there was around a 30kmph difference between me and him. That's enough speed for him to not be there in your mirrors at one moment and then be dangerously close behind to you the next moment...

The moment I saw the moped in my mirrors, I squeezed left to avoid him crashing into me.


Well, I've said enough here.
It was inevitable what happened there.

My point is people on motorbikes sometime ride too fast like they're immune to all the things that could go wrong when you're riding that fast on two wheels dangerously close to cars squeezing between any small gaps you can see...

Here's a good example:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dH-zUbH4R74

^^^^^^^^^^^ I can't believe I'm reading this. Do you have a full license?

Alanstrainor

af_thefragile wrote: »

They're tiny and even then when I first looked the moped wasn't there or maybe it was but because he was fairly far back I couldn't spot/register him.

Again, I was travelling at around 10kmph while the moped man was speeding at around 40-50kmph as they usually do everywhere... Hence there was around a 30kmph difference between me and him. That's enough speed for him to not be there in your mirrors at one moment and then be dangerously close behind to you the next moment...

The moment I saw the moped in my mirrors, I squeezed left to avoid him crashing into me.


Well, I've said enough here.
It was inevitable what happened there.

My point is people on motorbikes sometime ride too fast like they're immune to all the things that could go wrong when you're riding that fast on two wheels dangerously close to cars squeezing between any small gaps you can see...

Here's a good example:

I don't know what that youtube vid is about. But you made a mistake. You learned from it. Success.

We've all done some seriously dumb stuff, whether thats driving or cycling.

af_thefragile

RoverJames wrote: »

^^^^^^^^^^^ I can't believe I'm reading this. Do you have a full license?

I'ld like to see what you would have done there... Stop acting like you've never gotten close to having an accident ever. No one has 360deg radar vision to be able to look for cyclists on the left side and speeding mopeds on the right side at the same time among all the other things you're scanning for when you glance in your mirrors before making any turns.

I feel I made a very sensible decision in choosing to move out of the mopeds way and avoiding a collision which would have had much worse consequences than what happened.

You hit a cyclist because you hadn't observed a moped approaching, you're going on about the moped speeding, your mirrors being small and the oped not being in them or maybe he was but very small You're trying to blame the moped lad for your lack of observation.

I'm driving nearly 12 years and have clocked up over 200,000 miles (at a rough estimate), we're all only one trip away from an accident but trying to justify slapping into a cyclist in the manner you are doing is a disgrace.

af_thefragile

Alanstrainor wrote: »

I don't know what that youtube vid is about. But you made a mistake. You learned from it. Success.

We've all done some seriously dumb stuff, whether thats driving or cycling.

How did I make a mistake?!

Seriously. What else am I supposed to do? Drive at 5kmph everywhere checking my mirrors every 2secs picking out cyclists and people on mopeds all the time??

Usually when you drive, you only really check your mirrors when you're making any turns, changing lanes, overtaking and the lot. I checked my mirrors. On the first occasion the moped wasn't visible because he was far obscured behind cars. So I proceeded to make my move cautiously. I checked my mirrors again and there was a moped trying to overtake me. I moved back in to give room to the moped to not crash into me. Unfortunately I couldn't avoid hitting the cyclist trying to squeeze in through between me and the obstacle I was overtaking.

What else was I supposed to do?!

Firstly the mistake was of the person on the moped who decided to overtake a vehicle which was already overtaking an obstacle.

Secondly the mistake was of the cyclist who decided it would be a good idea to squeeze through the narrow gap between my car and the van.

Either one was gonna get hit. I preferred the cyclist getting squeezed in as opposed to the moped as it'ld be safer.

If I wasn't careful and was going fast, the incident would have been much worse with serious injuries. Fortunately the cyclist was only bruised a bit... He didn't even fall off his bike. It was that light.

You should be constantly checking your mirrors.

af_thefragile

RoverJames wrote: »

You should be constantly checking your mirrors.

I do. Or else the guy on the moped would have been dead.

Again, as I said, it could had been much worse if I didn't do what I did.


Here's a scenario.
You're driving on a busy road when suddenly a van pulls out from a side lane and sticks out its nose almost halfway out on the lane. There are cyclists on the left side on the lane. And there is a motorcyclist far back on the right side overtaking the slow moving traffic, you can't see him in your mirrors yet because the motorcyclist is overtaking cars riding close to the white line (you will need to pull out to the right a bit to be able to spot him)*. What would you do?

I could draw a diagram for you on how this happens.

Alanstrainor

I'm honestly a bit confused as to what the scenario is tbh! I can't see how it wasn't your fault. But as i said, i might not have this clear in my head.

af_thefragile

Ok, here I drew a quick picture of what it was like on paint. Its very crude but should give you an idea and can show you how it is very easy for mopeds and motorcycles to get obscured behind traffic in your mirrors till a point when they're pretty close to you...



You can see how because of the field of view from the mirror getting blocked by the cars behind, you can't see mopeds and other motorcycles in your mirrors till you move out right and by that stage its a wee bit late because by then they've moved in pretty close to you.

To note the image is not to proportion. I'm not good at drawing on paint!!

af_thefragile

af_thefragile wrote: »

Here's a scenario.
You're driving on a busy road when suddenly a van pulls out from a side lane and sticks out its nose almost halfway out on the lane. There are cyclists on the left side on the lane. And there is a motorcyclist far back on the right side overtaking the slow moving traffic, you can't see him in your mirrors yet because the motorcyclist is overtaking cars riding close to the white line (you will need to pull out to the right a bit to be able to spot him)*. What would you do?

I could draw a diagram for you on how this happens.

My way is impeded by the van, slow down and stop and let the van pull out if he is almost half way across my lane. It's not rocket science. Common sense and some courtesy goes a long way on the roads.

af_thefragile

RoverJames wrote: »

My way is impeded by the van, slow down and stop and let the van pull out if he is almost half way across my lane. It's not rocket science. Common sense and some courtesy goes a long way on the roads.

Yeah, its not that simple at times. Especially when you have a trail of cars behind you and the van isn't really impeding your way that much. Its just at the point where you can get away with going around it quite safely on most occasions rather than having to stop to let the van out, hoping you stop in time and not annoy people in the cars behind you.

Do you always stop to let motorists pull out in front of you into the lane? I do that often but usually when I don't have a trail of cars behind me and when I'm not in a hurry to get to anywhere.

Also I don't remember if the van actually was looking to turn left into my lane or turn right into the lane with the oncoming traffic. Again, van driver at fault for sticking his nose too far out into oncoming traffic.

Most people would do just what I did. That is go around the van and get past it. That's what all other motorists were doing anyway. I just got unlucky.


And this was like 2 months ago so I really don't remember all the little details. I just remember the big things that happened which led to what happened.