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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Who’s in the right?!

213 replies

wonderwoman26 · 23/02/2022 08:07

I will try and explain as clear as I can

To get into my car park for work you have to turn right off a main road and straight into the opening for the car park. There is a path/cycle Lane either side of the opening.

For the second time this morning, the same cyclist has not stopped to see if the coast is clear to cycle across the turning, meaning I have had to slam my brakes on/he’s swerved to miss me. This means I’ve had to stop dead in the middle of the other side of the road to ensure I don’t hit him.

Am I right in thinking cars have the right of way turning in and cyclists should wait on the path until it’s clear?

Tempted not to bloody stop next time. Grrrrr

OP posts:
BitOutOfPractice · 23/02/2022 09:21

What you’re really saying OP is that for the last two mornings you have failed to check for traffic (including cyclists and pedestrians) before you have made a manoeuvre.

Smidgy · 23/02/2022 09:23

Yes the OP is wrong and the cyclist has right of way over the turning car.

However, the responses to this post are utterly ludicrous. So much drama for so early in the morning. There are a lot of people on this thread who obviously need an early bed time 🧐😂

Momicrone · 23/02/2022 09:24

Yes the op being one of them

EricScrantona · 23/02/2022 09:25

@luxxlisbon oops. I read this

"No there is no cycle Lane to cross to get into the car park - the paths completely stop to open for the turning as it’s into an industrial park"

Justcallmebebes · 23/02/2022 09:27

EricScrantona Wed 23-Feb-22 08:12:06
Why do you hate cyclists?

How long have you got??

Momicrone · 23/02/2022 09:30

Justcallmebebebs, A couple of hours, go on, unburden yourself

vivainsomnia · 23/02/2022 09:31

And obviously cyclists are everywhere here as its a massive hobby in France
And oh so much more respected there. We love cycling in France for this reason, so much less stressful and dangerous for cyclists.

yossell · 23/02/2022 09:33

Take a look in the mirror. You and drivers like you are the problem.

Momicrone · 23/02/2022 09:34

Driving's a massive hobby all over the world

Beautiful3 · 23/02/2022 09:37

Cyclists and pedestrians have right of way. You're the one in a vehicle that can injure them, so you have to ensure its safe to turn and enter a new road.

FairyCakeWings · 23/02/2022 09:42

Although you are technically wrong OP, it we take common sense into the conversation, you really aren’t.

This new Highway Code rule does not make cyclists safer in the situation you describe. Assuming you were indicating, the cyclist coming up behind you would have far more chance of seeing that you’re about to make a turn than you would of seeing them coming up too fast behind you on the opposite side of the road.

But apparently we can’t expect cyclists to take any responsibility for themselves and they are always right, even when they’re not.

Woahthehorsey · 23/02/2022 09:56

@wonderwoman26

This is my best diagram lol!
Then the cyclist as well as all other road users have right of way.

Pretend the bike is a car- would you have started your turn if a car were to reach you before you'd completed it? Because the car and bike both have same rights in this situation and had before the law change too.

CailleachGranda · 23/02/2022 10:00

You're getting a right kicking here OP, so much anger and rudeness.

The cyclist is on the pavement and is not stopping at an entrance. That's how I'm reading it

So by the new Highway Code rules, you need to give way to the cyclist. The one who is bit on the road but is whizzing down a pavement and not stopping to check it's clear to cross

You are in the wrong but the cyclist is the real twat here.

fuckoffImcounting · 23/02/2022 10:03

Cyclists and pedestrians have always had right of way when they have begun crossing - if a motor vehicle is turning from a major road into a minor road. I know many motorists did not understand this and so would put other road users at risk. This is why the code has been made more explicit - to protect more vulnerable people.

EveryAvenue · 23/02/2022 10:07

I think we need a better diagram of where the cyclist was before you were about to turn in?

Personally I wouldn’t keep going with my turn if I knew a cyclist could be about to cross it (and that was before the code changed!). If a pedestrian was ten feet away from crossing a junction I wouldn’t make the turn and if I did it would only be to slowly position my car and if they crossed I wouldn’t be having to slam my breaks on. A cyclist travels much faster than a pedestrian so really I would be stopping much sooner than him being a few feet away.

Unless he was literally all the way down the other side of the road, which I doubt he could travel that fast on a bike, and given the fact you had to slam on you were obviously going a considerable speed yourself, I think he was much closer than you’re making out.

yossell · 23/02/2022 10:07

@CailleachGranda

You're getting a right kicking here OP, so much anger and rudeness.

The cyclist is on the pavement and is not stopping at an entrance. That's how I'm reading it

So by the new Highway Code rules, you need to give way to the cyclist. The one who is bit on the road but is whizzing down a pavement and not stopping to check it's clear to cross

You are in the wrong but the cyclist is the real twat here.

The op wrote that she hated cyclists; the op wrote that she was tempted not to stop next time. And you somehow agree that, although the cyclist is technically in the right, s/he is the 'real twat here.'

And you wonder at some of the responses?

OrinoccoFlew · 23/02/2022 10:08

@wonderwoman26

To be clear - I am not some maniac that is driving 100mph and turning into oncoming traffic.

I am obviously waiting for the coast to be clear in which it is when I initiate my turn, both times he has been nowhere near when I started my turn but because of the speed he’s flying down the path he reaches me very quickly.
I am going a suitable speed as there is a speed bump to cross also, and I obviously stop in time to not kill him

As a driver, you should be able to judge that speed, just as you would with anything else coming towards you from the opposite direction. He has right of way.
inheritancetrack · 23/02/2022 10:15

Of course he has the right of way. Are you really so arrogant as to think he should stop. A cycle path on the opposite side of the road is the same as a car in the opposite carriageway. A cycle paths isn't the pavement and regardless you stop. Seriously are you annoyed at having to wait a minute for him to pass. It doesn't matter if you are turning. Are you actually saying you don't look at oncoming vehicles or pedestrians

Onlyforcake · 23/02/2022 10:21

You do realise you would always have been responsible if you deliberately hit a cyclist with your car?! That if there was a hazard you failed to stop for that the driver has always been responsible for their car?!
Perhaps you should stop using your car, get out and use a road on foot or on a bike in order to develop your awareness of other road users, and that stopping for hazards is very much in you, as a driver? Road. Not a race track.

MostlyNormalSometimesOdd · 23/02/2022 10:53

The cyclist has right of way and you have to wait until they've passed before you execute the manoeuvre in the same way you'd have to wait for a car to pass.

Escargooooooo · 23/02/2022 11:06

Ok, so I have no idea about right of way, but I do clearly understand the set up, so maybe if I explain it more clearly than OP, someone can say who has the right of way?....

OP is making a right hand turn, into her car park, which is via the opening of a junction into an industrial estate. On that side of the road is a cycle lane (on the road, not on the pavement). However, the lane is not continuous. It stops at one side of the mouth of the junction, and the reinstates the other side. So the junction bit OP drives through/into doesn't have a lane.

Should the cyclist be stopping as his lane terminates to allow traffic to pass into the junction, or is his right of way inherent, lane or not?

Genuinely no idea myself, although, I would assume that the car does not have right of way.

Also, noting from OPs diagram, the direction of the cyclist...is he riding the wrong way up the cycle lane? Surely if he's going the same initial direction as OP, he should be on the same side of the road as she is? I think that makes a difference, I wouldn't be looking behind me for traffic going the wrong way up a road.

Onlyforcake · 23/02/2022 11:38

Cycle lanes are generally not on both sides of the road. Where they are cyclists use the same side as cars. Where they are only on one side they are two directional unless it says otherwise.

sunshinesupermum · 23/02/2022 11:41

Cyclist has right of way as would a pedestrian.

zxcvzxcvz · 23/02/2022 11:52

Irrespective of the new rules the person going straight has right of way. The person turning ie crossing into the path must give way.

NorthSouthcatlady · 23/02/2022 11:59

The cyclist has right of way. Especially as they are going straight and you’re cutting across their path in effect. Why would you have right of way, whether they were on the pavement/ cycle path / pavement?!