Close calls?

[rkelsen]

Had one this morning. A bus driver passed me within centimetres. Made me zheet myself. Apparently he absolutely had to get past the car on his right because the left hand lane was closing a few metres down the road. Guess where his next stop was?

Dunno if he actually saw me or not. Surely, no sane driver would pass that close? My bike and helmet are both brightly coloured, my blinking taillight was on, but this one has me thinking I might need to buy a fluoro/reflective vest.

[not4resale]

Geez mate that would've scared the sheiza out of me!

Was the area where it happened well lit?

It amazes me how people can miss things sitting right in front of their faces!

[webman]

Had one this morning. A bus driver passed me within centimetres. Made me zheet myself. Apparently he absolutely had to get past the car on his right because the left hand lane was closing a few metres down the road. Guess where his next stop was?

Dunno if he actually saw me or not. Surely, no sane driver would pass that close? My bike and helmet are both brightly coloured, my blinking taillight was on, but this one has me thinking I might need to buy a fluoro/reflective vest.

How do people feel about using a spare hand to bang on the offending vehicle? I mean, they aren't likely to hear a bell, nor a shout, but sounds seem to travel exceptionally well inside the vehicle when you make some solid contact on the outside?

The main problem is they might be close enough to scare, but not quite close enough to whack...

[rkelsen]

Was the area where it happened well lit?

Yeah, it was about 7:20am. It was a bit overcast, but not dark.

[kiso]

How do people feel about using a spare hand to bang on the offending vehicle?...

I've done this a couple of times as a pedestrian, but not on the bike. I'm usually too busy staying out of trouble if they've passed that close!

...this one has me thinking I might need to buy a fluoro/reflective vest.

I found a reflective vest made a huge difference, even though I was already using 2 tail lights and 2 head lights. Not nearly so many close passes when riding at night.

[m@]

Bus drivers No offense to any present...

I've had a bus pass me with mm to spare, then pull sharply left toward the kerb - because of the distance between the front and rear wheels, the side of the bus pivots toward the kerb. Just managed to avoid being hit by squeezing against the gutter... my mistake in that instance was riding too far to the left, inviting the driver to squeeze around me in my lane when there really wasn't room. I caught him at the next red light and he clearly knew he'd almost hit me - and just as clearly didn't remotely care. Still a bit angry about that one... can you tell?

[nafe1982]

Had one this morning. A bus driver passed me within centimetres. Made me zheet myself. Apparently he absolutely had to get past the car on his right because the left hand lane was closing a few metres down the road. Guess where his next stop was?

Dunno if he actually saw me or not. Surely, no sane driver would pass that close? My bike and helmet are both brightly coloured, my blinking taillight was on, but this one has me thinking I might need to buy a fluoro/reflective vest.

How do people feel about using a spare hand to bang on the offending vehicle? I mean, they aren't likely to hear a bell, nor a shout, but sounds seem to travel exceptionally well inside the vehicle when you make some solid contact on the outside?

The main problem is they might be close enough to scare, but not quite close enough to whack...

Funny you mention that.

Don't hold this story against me but its just a true story about banging a car that came "too close"

Well it was quite a few years ago and i was in the car with my old man (my old man was driving).

Anyway we were just exiting a roundabout and i mentioned to my old man "mind the cyclist" and then "BANG", the cicylist punched the side of the car. Scared the S%*tter out of me and i turned around to see Say What Happened and the old man slowed, then a second punch of the car, then off the bike he fell, luckilly not under the rear wheel.

From my recolection the old man went a touch close to the cicylist but not close enough to clip him or anything but after he hit the car the old man when he looked to see the noise the car drifted over closer to the curb too, which put the cicylist in a more dangerous position.

I understood why he hit the car, i feel like doing it alot on my commutes, but i don't think it is worth the risk of the driver swerving closer to you or falling under their wheel.

[m@]

Had one this morning. A bus driver passed me within centimetres. Made me zheet myself. Apparently he absolutely had to get past the car on his right because the left hand lane was closing a few metres down the road. Guess where his next stop was?

Dunno if he actually saw me or not. Surely, no sane driver would pass that close? My bike and helmet are both brightly coloured, my blinking taillight was on, but this one has me thinking I might need to buy a fluoro/reflective vest.

How do people feel about using a spare hand to bang on the offending vehicle? I mean, they aren't likely to hear a bell, nor a shout, but sounds seem to travel exceptionally well inside the vehicle when you make some solid contact on the outside?

The main problem is they might be close enough to scare, but not quite close enough to whack...

Funny you mention that.

Don't hold this story against me but its just a true story about banging a car that came "too close"

Well it was quite a few years ago and i was in the car with my old man (my old man was driving).

Anyway we were just exiting a roundabout and i mentioned to my old man "mind the cyclist" and then "BANG", the cicylist punched the side of the car. Scared the S%*tter out of me and i turned around to see Say What Happened and the old man slowed, then a second punch of the car, then off the bike he fell, luckilly not under the rear wheel.

From my recolection the old man went a touch close to the cicylist but not close enough to clip him or anything but after he hit the car the old man when he looked to see the noise the car drifted over closer to the curb too, which put the cicylist in a more dangerous position.

I understood why he hit the car, i feel like doing it alot on my commutes, but i don't think it is worth the risk of the driver swerving closer to you or falling under their wheel.

No disrespect to your dad - but who, on hearing something strike the LHS of their car, veers to the left???!!!

I agree hitting cars isn't a great idea, and only something I'd do as an absolute last resort - hoping the driver had the common sense to veer away from me

[webman]

No disrespect to your dad - but who, on hearing something strike the LHS of their car, veers to the left???!!!

Well, I would have thought so also... Of course, the safest option would be to stop... generally as long as you stop, the other vehicle won't get you (unless they are turning a corner and you are in front of the rear wheels....)

Anyway, I would expect most people to either stop if they had hit something, or at least veer away from what they hit! But you do hear of people who "panic" and hit the accelerator, or I assume veer into the direction of the sound. Anyway, just thought it might be another weapon in the kit for those times it might be needed (ie, if they can't see you, they might hear you).

[Dial]

It was probably an honest mistake but I’ve found bus driver’s attitudes are related to the company they work for. On Sydney’s North Shore, in general, Shoreline drivers are shockers but Forest drivers are good.

[ad91on]

I would never hit someones car.

As far as i'm concerned, it's vehicular assualt

If you're having close calls, try changing your route; i used to take the main roads and was so much more stressed out than the byways i take now, and it only takes about two minutes longer a round trip!!!

However, while there is less traffic, there is more chance of people pulling out on you as there are more corners/side streets etc etc.

[webman]

I would never hit someones car.

As far as i'm concerned, it's vehicular assualt

Not sure how serious you are being, but I wasn't suggesting hitting it hard enough to cause damage, just a knock to draw attention to the fact you are there... ie, for those people who don't have a bell/siren loud enough for someone to hear from inside their car....

If you're having close calls, try changing your route; i used to take the main roads and was so much more stressed out than the byways i take now, and it only takes about two minutes longer a round trip!!!

However, while there is less traffic, there is more chance of people pulling out on you as there are more corners/side streets etc etc.

Also, in my case, the actual bike path (ie, painted pictures on the road) on the nice quiet side street is full of speed bumps which is much more annoying. I rode that street until I decided breaking so many spokes just wasn't worth it. It's not like these things happen daily, or even weekly.... but the once or twice it has happened it is really annoying.

The only time I've actually 'hit' a car was when they did something terribly dangerous/stupid, so when I caught up to them about 10m down the road at the traffic light I knocked on the drivers window on the way past...

PS, yes, causing damage to another vehicle is definitely not the right course of action, unless you believe it is the only way to avoid injury to yourself or another person.... which I doubt is very likely.

[Dial]

I would never hit someones car.

As far as i'm concerned, it's vehicular assualt

If you're having close calls, try changing your route; i used to take the main roads and was so much more stressed out than the byways i take now, and it only takes about two minutes longer a round trip!!!

However, while there is less traffic, there is more chance of people pulling out on you as there are more corners/side streets etc etc.

Well that’s great that you have byways as an option. The rest of us don’t. We have to mix it with traffic and any sign of weakness is treated as acceptance that it’s all right to “mow you down”. Vehicular assault is when a motorist kills you. Slapping a car is a friendly way of saying “Hello”.

To equate slapping a car as “vehicular assault” is ludicrous.

[ad91on]

Well that’s great that you have byways as an option. The rest of us don’t. We have to mix it with traffic and any sign of weakness is treated as acceptance that it’s all right to “mow you down”. Vehicular assault is when a motorist kills you. Slapping a car is a friendly way of saying “Hello”.

To equate slapping a car as “vehicular assault” is ludicrous.

No need to talk to me like i've never had a run in with a motorist or never used a road let alone a main one.

Just if i were to hit a car, i'd probably try and do it hard enough to make the airbags pop out and concuss the driver!

Of course the easiest way to make a car behave is to behave like a car. Had that attitude from day 1 and I've only had one shouting match with a motorist and zero accidents. Road position, indicating and yielding to the left when the road is wide enough/conditions permit will get you a long way. There's no need to sit in the middle of the road if a car can safely pass you on your right.

But yes; that said i'd still rather not hit someones car if i could avoid it.

[Dial]

Sorry, I didn’t quite appreciate the finer details of airbags and the affect it would cause the passenger in the circumstance that a cyclist should force there presence on one’s self. My humble apologies.

[Aushiker]

Hi

[mod hat] Gee whiz. Is there something in the water this week? Lets play nice people. Please read the guidelines before posting in here again. Fair warning, that the next off-post will find poster going for a ride while they sit out a ban.

This is not the only thread where people seem to be getting touchy at the moment, so lets chill out please.[/mod hat]

Regards
Andrew

[waynohh]

Close calls?

Too many to recount.

Surely, no sane driver would pass that close?

They do and they will.

I've had someone pass me that close ON THE LEFT, let alone on the right. As far as I'm concerned, that could be nothing less than intentional. Probably most people don't really know how wide their stupid SUV things are and where the left side of your vehicle really is, but there's no excuse to not know where your damn drivers mirror is when it's right in front of you! I was in the middle of the far right lane, turning right ahead. I'm sure that person driving the vehicle considers themselves sane. Pity no camera that day.

[Loneranger]

I had a close call this afternoon nearly had a head-on with another cyclist and my wife nearly rear-ended me when I hit the skids to avoid her.

Basically we were riding single file under the Mt Henry bridge with 3 pedestrians walking towards us. The one on the outside was rather large and obscurred the view behind them. Just as we came up to them a female cyclist swung out from behind them right into my path. She didn't use her bell, or call out or anything and when she swung out she was completely blind... and people complain about motorists.

I haven't had any near misses with cars this week, they've actually been quite good.