Is it me or the cyclist?

[bettyfreddy]

I've just had an incident with a cyclist who was very angry and is going with his footage to the police. I'm quite shaken by it and it was honestly an accident. I was driving.

So I overtook the cyclist along with maybe 2 other cars in front of me. Carried on driving for around 300 yards and slowed down for the queue at the roundabout ahead.

As I began to move forward slowly - it wasn't my turn to leave the round about, there was a car in front of me - the cyclist shot by me on the left hand side of the car. I honestly didn't see him. He was absolutely cycling at quite a speed. I stopped as soon as I saw him (car in front had gone) and he went in front of my car and started swearing at me.

I didn't move the car, let him go round the roundabout.

I was dropping my son off at pre school which is just round the roundabout so he clearly saw where I was going so came to 'speak' to me. He called me a dangerous driver and he was going to show his footage from his cycling helmet to the police and to expect them to call round.

I apologised and said I genuinely didn't see him. I moved my car forwards at about 3mph probably, he just shot by me. Granted I should of checked my wing mirrors but it wasn't my turn to leave the round about so I was just slowing cruising along.

I can take it if I'm at fault and I really did apologise to him.

Cyclists are cars are a very emotive subject. Jeremy Vine had a topic on this morning whereby dad of 5 year old livid with car driver who didn't stop for his son who was cycling ahead of him past parked cars...

You quite sure about that?

The Highway Code says no such thing though and it's generally a terrible idea for right-turning cyclists to position themselves to the left of other road users. Any cyclist who routinely does this is going to end up getting side-swiped or squashed.

It's not quite the same as on roundabouts, but the whole point of advanced stop lines at junctions is so cyclists can position themselves where they are most visible and therefore safest - i.e. centrally in front. Not off to the left.

It sounds like the issue was that the OP slowly moved forward with the queue of waiting cars and the cyclist came down the inside with the idea of crossing to the outside, between the OP and the car in front of her. That's a pretty risky / stupid manoeuvre on his part, he would have been better off overtaking on the right if that's where he wanted to be. How was she supposed to know he was intending to use the gap - are you supposed to just not move if there is a cyclist about, in case they want to swerve in front of you?

(I am a cyclist and would not do this btw - if I wanted to be on the right at the roundabout, I would either overtake on the right, or take my place in the queue with the cars. Or if I wasn't concentrating and found myself undertaking, I would go up to the roundabout, get off the bike and walk across the road to wherever I wanted to be.)

Until you see any dashcam/video footage, you cannot comment on the speed of the cyclist. If you can say he was travelling too fast, you saw him and should have waited to see what he was doing. The car behind you saw this (unless it was only after he reviewed the dash cam footage that he formulated this view?) so why didn’t you? If he was cycling that fast it would only have been a second of two before he reached your car. What if it was a pedestrian who had stepped out to cross this seemingly busy RAB? You would never have seen them as you hadn’t looked.

@hoooops @MaybeSmaller You're both wrong. Clue is in the word NEW
Cyclists should stay in the left lane and cars give them priority on the roundabout and not overtake them and drive slower. Google it!!

And

I think this is what pissed off the cyclist. OP clearly unaware. Like many other posters

Well I'm not wrong, I didn't say he wasn't entitled to use the left lane, but that if he wanted to be on the right, he would have been better off being on the right from the beginning instead of expecting to cut across the queuing traffic.

I see that the information you posted says that they can stay in the left hand lane to use the roundabout which presumably would have worked for him. (I wonder why he didn't just do this, perhaps he doesn't know the regulations.) It doesn't seem to mention swerving between two moving cars to get from the inside lane to the outside, is that also in there?

I’m a daily cyclist and I couldn’t get excited about this. I do undertake/filter at traffic lights if the lights are red and I know there’s a bike box at the front. I wouldn’t undertake at a roundabout because movement of the traffic is too unpredictable and therefore risky. Every cyclist knows that drivers don’t tend to look in their left wing mirror in such a situation. I do agree though if you’d recently overtaken him it should have been in the back of your mind to wonder where he was and check your mirror.

however he’s on another planet if he thinks the police are going to give a shit, they certainly won’t visit if it’s As described.

@hoooops The op says nothing about swerving in between 2 moving cars but that's not the issue. If he was it was poor cycling. The point is he was on the left and pedalled off in front of ops car to go round the roundabout. She let him go. Perfectly correct. I don't make the rules.

The new rules also say pedestrians can walk out regardless to cross the road at minor road junctions. Cars have to stop. I've never seen a pedestrian do this as it's dangerous. Some rules are daft and need common sense.

Panorama - cars vs bikes. Available on iPlayer. Maybe worth a watch to see real incidents.

The op says nothing about swerving in between 2 moving cars but that's not the issue. If he was it was poor cycling.

Apart from this, you mean? Best read the thread before you say that other people are wrong.

The cyclist, like me, was also turning right and said he was trying to cut in front of me (which is what he did)

Assume primary position would be what I'd have thought he was attempting.

OP didn't see the cyclist, because she didn't look, so OP doesn't really have a clue about what he was doing at the time it was occurring

He was upset because you didn't see him, and you didn't see him because you didn't look.
Granted I should of checked my wing mirrors

However you're giving it too much headspace. Drivers nearly kill cyclists all the time by not paying attention to the road around them, it's not just you - don't take it personally.

@hoooops Op says nothing about swerving between cars in the opening post. And changes of story don't interest me. The cyclist was on the left and pulled in front of her to navigate the roundabout. From the left position. Maybe she didn't realise he can do this.

@hoooops She says he went in front of her car. Which is what he should do. She has to give him priority and let her go in front of her

It's not a change of story, she didn't know this when she wrote the OP, only since the social media post. I think it's fair enough to update? Or does new information not interest you either?

Sugarplum, that's a terrible way to drive, maKe space for cyclists, don't block them in

And to quote the text you posted:

Cyclists may stay in the left-hand lane when they intend to continue across or around the roundabout.

(He did not stay in the left-hand lane)

Drivers should take extra care when entering a roundabout to ensure that they do not cut across a cyclist in the left-hand lane.

(She did not cut across a cyclist in the left-hand lane on the roundabout, because it was before the roundabout and he didn't stay in the left-hand lane. So not sure of the relevance.)

And: You should give priority to cyclists on the roundabout.

(He wasn't on the roundabout)

They will be travelling more slowly than motorised traffic.

(He wasn't travelling more slowly than motorised traffic)

Give them plenty of room and do not attempt to overtake them within their lane.

(The OP did not attempt to overtake him within his lane.)

If he was on the left of the road what lane do you think he was in?

Do you mean after he cut across in front of the OP to the right? The right-hand lane.

Mavis - cities are busy places, one should always check to see if a cyclist is coming through the traffic when you are crossing the road, it takes a second, no big deal. And as a cyclist, filtering down the left of the traffic to get to what is hopefully a cycle box at the front, is often the safest thing to do.

There's no mention of going into the right hand lane you just have that up. There's no mention of that in the update our the original post. Just that he moved off the kerb, IE assumed primary.

Tbf the cyclist could have been sat next to the driver stationary at the junction waggling his winky and OP wouldn't have known because as she says at the very start she didn't bother looking for the approaching cyclist she had overtaken a few seconds earlier