I nearly caused an accident

[largeredwineplease]

Sorry, I’m not sure why I’m posting I’m just really shaken up.

I was just driving home along a 60mph rural road (although it’s not possible to actually go that fast). I pulled out at a T junction to turn right, onto another road, (I checked left and right two times each as it’s another 60mph and there’s corners not too far away each side so vehicles can suddenly appear) and the road has high trees one side so is fairly dark even in the middle of the day. As I pulled out there was suddenly a cyclist by my car that was also on the same side of the road I was (so going in the same direction). I pulled out right by him, I totally didn’t see him. I’m in such a shock and I’m so upset with myself. I’ve been driving 20 years and never done this before.

He was obviously really angry that I pulled out on him, he stayed right in the middle of the road round the corner and once I could overtake when the road straightened out I did, I wound down the window to apologise, which I did, but he just told me to fuck off and look where I’m going and put his middle finger up at me. I was upset at the whole situation so I did end up telling him to get some hi vis. In my defence he was wearing all black, black bike, black trainers, black trousers and black jumper.
My daughter has a pony (and I used to have a horse) so I do understand how vulnerable cyclists are on the roads. However my daughters insurance for her pony would be invalid if she didn’t wear hi vis whilst riding and had an accident

Do you think the cyclist will call the police? Could I be fined/prosecuted for not paying attention whilst driving? Although I didn’t actually hit him. It was a genuine mistake but would they believe me?

"Sounds like shock to me.
I have done exactly the same to the guy who knocked me over when I was stationary at a give way , giving way to him. He cut the corner and drove straight at me. He was turning right. Knocked me over and started shouting ' where are your lights'
It was 11.15am in August in a nice clear day. When I told him they were under his fucking car and I was getting the police to sort it out he soon changed his tune"!

Different situation to OP.

Gosh there a shocking amount of blaming the cyclist here.

I know the OP is feeling shocked and shaken and the reality is these kind of near-misses happen to us all - I have had times when driving when a cyclist ‘appeared out of nowhere’ - the truth is the cyclist was there i just wasn’t looking properly.

It’s the classic ‘looking but not seeing’. The brain filters out what it thinks is irrelevant information. OP may have been looking carefully for cars and the brain was filtering out bicycles.

OP basically said herself she was thinking about cars when she pulled out - talking about it being a fast road etc - the thing she was looking for when she checked twice was a fast moving vehicle.

If she was thinking about bicycles, she might have thought more about it being shadowy and paid extra close attention to the possibility of someone being concealed by them.

I’m not trying to make the OP feel bad - as I say I’ve done the exact same thing.

But the thing here is not to say “never mind, no damage done, forget about it” or to chastise the cyclist for not wearing the right colours. The lesson learned is for all of us to consciously think about cyclists next time we’re driving a car

Oh and you’ve all probably seen this video before but in case you haven’t it’s a great lesson in looking but not seeing:

BobBobBobbin You won’t make me feel any worse than I already do. I understand posters who are cyclists being annoyed with me. I’m annoyed with myself!
There are often many cyclists on that road so I thought I was always aware and that I would check for them automatically. Like you said, I looked without seeing.
I’ve had a situation when walking with my daughter on her pony (in hi viz!) along a very narrow lane when a car was speeding towards us. I was getting very panicky as there was no where for us to go. I started waving my hands and he did slow down in the end, he wound down his window to apologise that he didn’t realise there was a pony there. I completely accepted his apology, I’m sure he didn’t want to hit a big animal with his car. It was a similar road in the although it was a narrow lane it was tree covered and even in the middle of the day it was dark.
People do make silly mistakes, fortunately this time there was no harm done. But I always thought I was a careful driver so this has really shaken me.

Not to worry he wasn't hurt or hit so he won't be going to the police it just something that happened and just be more aware for a next time . Sometimes the sides around your wind screen can obscure your vision to . Last month a car let me out to turn right but a motorcycle decided to overtake them nearly went straight into my door we just looked at each other in shock as it all happened so fast . Defo get a dash cam though it helps.

Really not trying to make you feel worse OP - as I say it’s happened to me a couple of times and I’m a cyclist and like to think I pay attention.

Both times it’s happened to me have been on busy roundabouts and I think my brain has been so focused on what all the other cars are doing that it filtered out the bicycles which should have been visible if I’d been thinking about it.

Every cyclist i have seen here on rural roads, all men, all in lycra, no back pack , just a water bottle , no change of clothes on board for work. Just a load of old fellas clogging up the rural roads...speeding!

So cyclists must be young and only use the roads when commuting?

I think because you are a rider you are more aware of what the outcome could have been
It was a mistake that you have leant from. There is no more to be said so don't beat yourself up

You are beating yourself up for not seeing a completely camouflaged cyclist. Why? Completely not your fault. If you can't see someone you can't see them. Assuming your eyesight has good then it's not your fault that someone has made themselves invisible by dressing all in black in a dark road.

I used to get really wound up if I made an error and a stranger was angry with me, and be so upset that someone was going around with a bad opinion of me and I'd obsess about finding ways to make things right. But I've learned to remind myself I'll never see that person again, I can't do anything about what they think, they know nothing about me and they'll have forgotten the incident after I have.

FWIW, the cyclist only has himself to blame if he had no lights and wasn't wearing anything hi-vis. My husband is a cyclist and often gets annoyed at cars, but he also thinks any cyclist who doesn't make themselves visible is asking for trouble.

OP I hope you don’t worry about this too much. He would have been practically invisible. No harm done, it’s probably just shaken you at the prospect of what could have happened.

I once had an accident with a cyclist, I was leaving a hospital and it was a one way street with a bend, only one lane. I turned the corner and I clipped a cyclist coming in the opposite direction. I hit his bike peddle off. I was absolutely distraught, I have never had an accident before and he was screaming at me. I pointed out that it was a one way street (in between apologising profusely) and he shouldn’t have been cycling on the road the wrong way. He did calm down slightly when he realised his mistake, but equally maybe I shouldn’t have been so close to the right hand side edge whilst turning the corner just incase. I was shaken for weeks over it so completely understand how you feel.

My friends back was broken while cycling to work. She was in high vis, on a straight road. The driver said she came out of no where, he didn't see her.

It actually scares me. That I won't see a cyclist.

I was coming out of my estate yesterday and taking more care than usual because of this thread, there were two youths on bikes, in the dark, dark clothes, no lights, two abreast. I just about saw them but it's because I'd deliberately looked again

It actually scares me. That I won't see a cyclist.

They can be so hard to see & it's really scares me.

@withmycoffee

You are beating yourself up for not seeing a completely camouflaged cyclist. Why? Completely not your fault. If you can't see someone you can't see them. Assuming your eyesight has good then it's not your fault that someone has made themselves invisible by dressing all in black in a dark road.

Oh come on really? I don’t know if you’re trying to make OP feel better or this is your genuine believe.

But it doesn’t work like that. The cyclist may have been hard to see but he wasn’t wearing magical cloak of invisibility. If OP had been looking hard trying to answer the question “could there be a cyclist concealed in the shadows?” no doubt she would have seen him.

The truth is when you’re driving it’s impossible to pay 100% attention to everything 100% of the time. Any of us could have done what the OP did and failed to spot a cyclist in these conditions - I know I’ve done it. But we can all try to our best to be more aware of cyclists, think about conditions where it’s harder to see and look a little harder, drive a little slower, take a little more care.

For what it’s worth when I’m cycling in those conditions I have my lights on because I know tree-lined roads on a sunny day are the absolute worst for camouflaging cyclists. Most cyclist I see don’t though and when I’m driving the big fast metal box I try to remember that.

My Dad has life changing disabilities because of a driver like you. You could have killed the poor cyclist.

I’m really grateful to the supportive messages, and I really do understand the posters that aren’t as supportive. I had to drive again today and had such anxiety the entire time after Monday and then came home and read the last reply which made me feel absolutely awful, so I am going to step away from this thread now. I just wanted to say thanks to everyone who was supportive, you helped me a lot when I was struggling.

Op. I think you should hide the thread.

OP I hope I didn’t make you feel worse - my annoyance was directed to other people who were making it the cyclist’s fault.

You clearly understand the implications of what nearly happened and it’s a good lesson to all of us to remember to how easily accidents can happen, but please don’t beat yourself up about it. No-one was hurt and it helps us all to have the reminder.

Just as another example of ‘looking but not seeing’ - my partner is a very careful driver and avid cyclist who is more considerate of other road users than anyone else I know (we often end up crawling along behind cyclists for miles as he won’t overtake until he can give them oodles of space). We were once driving along a country lane with no pavements and a woman was out running along the road towards us. As we got closer I realised he’d not seen her - I had to scream at him, he swerved at the last minute and the poor woman practically had to throw herself into a hedge. She was perfectly visible but for some reason he just didn’t “see” despite her being right ahead.