Got one at last !
Well, not me, thankfully, but our regional engineer.
He collected me at a re-boot I was sorting on one of the Fiestas, intending to drop me at another car I wanted to take for service, before finishing his few jobs, leaving his car in town, and getting the train home.
We came off the elevated section of the inner ring road down to the roundabout. He checked to see if the road was clear to the right and started across. Only problem was, it wasn't and a cyclist rode square on into the side of the Prius we were in. I was looking the other way until I became aware of a mass of legs, arms and steel tubing in front of the car.
The young guy picked himself up before we'd stopped and seemed OK. He was actually quite friendly...hazards of city biking, sadly, I suppose. He was happy for us to take him and his bike to a cycle repair shop half a mile away. A new front wheel was needed and the firm was happy to pay for it. The Prius wasn't marked, I think the guy was going faster than we were !
Just goes to show...you can look, see the distance is clear and miss the thing nearest to you.
A situation not unlike coming up to a T junction, looking right and left and missing the car that's passing in front. I don't go now until I've scanned the road thoroughly.
I just thank the Lord he wasn't hurt.
Ted
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Im glad he (and you) are fine.
Did he have any light's on ?
I only ask as the front side of a bike or a motorbike has a very small cross section so your more unlikely to see them.
If they have light's on then there is more chance of seeing them.
No guarantee of course but as a supermarket store says 'every little helps'
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As I grow older I am aware my ability to pick out objects has slowed and I need to take more care.
As a result, when running I always wear a fluorescent vest/jacket so elderly mimsers and buffers drivers like me will see me.
I am amazed most cyclists do not follow suit: many wear dark blues. May be fashionable but useless for vision.
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I don't know about lights, as I said, I was looking elsewhere. I agree totally with Mad's first sentence...caution exercised here most of the time.
After I collected the car I was picking up, there was a cyclist in front of me on the main road out of town.....he was weaving around without a glance behind but he had a back light on which was as powerful as a car brake light.
That kept him in my view all the time 'til he turned off.
Ted
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You didn`t see him because he was hiding behind the road-sign, with an already buckled wheel, just waiting for his next victim! - He runs a stall at the local car-boot on a Sunday morning, selling new, cheap, bike wheels!
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devonite, maybe he was unintentionally hiding behind numerous street furniture, I mean road signs that have been put up at the road side.
I swear some roads are littered with it just to confuse drivers.
Has anyone else noticed the shear amount of road signs in existence now ?
Are 'some' drivers that dumb ?
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>> Has anyone else noticed the shear amount of road signs in existence now ?
>> Are 'some' drivers that dumb ?
>>
Not the drivers who put them up. It;s the councils what done it.
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>> Im glad he (and you) are fine.
>>
>> Did he have any light's on ?
There's not much you can put on a bike, short of the gel-cell lights used by night time MTB riders that will show up in daylight.
Flashing LEDs like on London's 'Boris' bikes catch attention but make judging distance and rate of approach more difficult. Get a sea of them together and it's the devil's own job to triangulate the differing speeds, angles of approach etc.
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This is where we collided.....he came from the right as we pulled out to go in the direction that the white van was taking.
tinyurl.com/c96ler8
He admitted he was close in against the kerb, where he didn't normally ride, perhaps he was hidden to some extent by the lamp-post, which, in spite of the distorted picture, is actually not in the carriageway.
Ted
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>> He admitted he was close in against the kerb, where he didn't normally ride, perhaps
>> he was hidden to some extent by the lamp-post,
And therein lies the trap for the 'vulnerable ones' who try and keep out of the way of the cars.
Too close to the kerb and cars emerging struggle to see you; pedestrians look through you; passing vehicles forget you as soon as you're behind their A pillar, and; you're vulnerable to gutter clutter including rubbish, damaged carriageway shoulders, storm grids and slippery thermoplastic paint.
Ride Primary, Ride Safe.
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If he didn't see Ted's milk float, he certainly wouldn't have heard it.
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Cyclist down ! - diddy1234
