Near misses...

road rage makes a mysoginist of the best of us...

I hate the bastards who squeeze past you in a tightish single lane, effectively giving you 30 cm tolerance, whilst doing 20+ mph. You then have to brave any pothole which comes your way literally as if your life depended on it.

I'm sure this doesn't even enter into their minds as an unreasonable, and dangerous thing to do, and I just find myself effin and jeffin into the wind as the roll off in their twatmobiles.

road rage makes a mysoginist of the best of us...

speak for yourself!

I hate the bastards who squeeze past you in a tightish single lane, effectively giving you 30 cm tolerance, whilst doing 20+ mph. You then have to brave any pothole which comes your way literally as if your life depended on it.

You should always be riding at least a metre from the curb, at times when the road is potholey & bumpy (such as bus stops) then much more so. Basically to the right of all the road disturbances. Follow this basic rule and you should never have to move your path right suddenly. If any surface hazards come up you can swerve LEFT.

If there is a suggested parking lane on the left of the road but there are no cars in it, still do not enter it. Treat the edge of the traffic lane as the curb because when a parked car does come up youll have to swerve into the road.

If you stand your ground on the road like this cars pay much more attention to you and actually adjust their paths instead of speeding past you very close, which they are much more likely to do if you are curb-hugging.

i agree with mr dfp.

also, i reckon it's best to ride pretty much as fast as you can (as long as traffic is moving), that way drivers have to think about overtaking you, and generally wait until it's safe, rather than just driving past without considering you as another vehicle.

when i'm riding slow with my missus, i feel significantly more vulnerable. perhaps this is one of the reasons it's hard to get new riders interested, and perhaps the reason that women are more vulnerable on their bikes than men.

I try to make a point of riding on the left hand side of the lane, but make sure theres not enough room for a car to overtake me unless they move into the other lane, so they can't pass me when in the same lane at all.

when i'm riding slow...., i feel significantly more vulnerable

agreed. though i don't think its a gender thing, just a fast and slow riders thing. i've been on rides with girls who shred and guys who ride snail pace. speed is relative.

if you're cruising 5mph, everything else is going to seem super fast and scary whereas if you're generally riding say 13mph+ it won't seem so bad, your confidence on the road will grow and i think cars will actually take you more seriously.

DFP makes good points. the worst is when you see high vis jacket rider, helmet, riding halfords bike at 2mph, switching to footpath to avoid traffic but then pulling out back onto the road without looking. scary shit...

What I commonly find is pedestrians blindly stepping out to cross the road in front of you without a care in the world. Maybe they are just relying on their hearing to check for cars and my chain is too well lubed. If it isn't me, it's going to be a car that will hit them. Satisfaction only comes with the frantic jump they give as a slide by them.

I've learnt that dropping the 'C' bomb in Chelsea returns serious gasps.
stupid taxi not checking mirrors before stopping abruptly to pick up a fair.

that happened to me just last night on the moseley road bus lane outside the fried chicken place opposite lidl. as usual, some asshole couldn't contain his/her lust for cheap poultry faces and beaks and had to park outside blocking an entire lane of bus/bike traffic. behind said asshole a family of three was standing in the road waiting to cross.

they see me approaching and move forward. then decide i'm going to fast and move back. then decide it's too late to make the safety of the road and move forward again. cue deft swerve and 'get out of the fucking road you motherfuckers' cry from me.

there are two pedestrian crossings either side of that spot. either use those, or wait on the pavement until there's a gap in traffic! if you do have to dawdle in the middle of traffic, at least have the good grace to behave predictably.

[QUOTE=danwentskiing;1088742] 'get out of the fucking road you motherfuckers' cry....... QUOTE]

I like.
i have recently acquired a huge liking of "WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANKER!" as a war-cry.

i jumps red light
guy shouts: ''red lights are for bikes too you know!?''
me being unreasonable shouts: ''FUCK OFFFFFFF ! !''
guy looks quite worried and refrains from giving anymore advise.

with hindsight, i overreacted.

i loves me a good swear-off.

i am a massive hypocrite though - i just walked to the shops and crossed about 10 metres away from a pedestrian crossing, strolling out into the road (in my defence, traffic was stationary) willy-nilly.

I plan to bash on the window and yell at the driver, making them get out. Once I come to the car, I see it is not some chavvy bloke as I expected but a middle aged indian woman. I bash on the window but then bottle it thinking it mustve just been an accident. And zip off a little confused & flustered.

Bad idea challenging a driver. If they've chosen to yell at you or drive dangerously they are "up for it" and chances are they are either less winded than you, bigger than you or wielding a F*cking car so not something you want to pick a fight over. The most I would do is take a picture of their liscence plate - though they might get out and mug you for your phone.

As for buses, they're supposed to be proffesional drivers, I'd be sure to report bus number, plate and time - be sure to CC the council.

i disagree belgiangoth,

i find cyclists to be pumped full of adrenaline and agressive in the confrontation,

the car driver is usually some ultra-sedate lazy diabetic who feels shielded from the real world inside their car, (feeling that they can swear at people and bib their horns - i mean, when you walk through town and you accidently step out infront of someone, they don't usually stick their fingers up in your face and shout at you, its only being 'in the car' that gives them the confidence to do this - whereas for the cyclist, its all very real and life threatening.)

9 times out of 10 when actually faced down by a cyclist they will bottle it and lock the central locking.

plus you have a huge advantage as they climb out of the car. ;) getting out too fast might give them a headrush.

+1

Had 7 proper near misses on the way to Souths this week, 7!!!

No idea what the fuck was going on that night.

Are you from 'brum' mccarthy, as your avatar would suggest?

I think this time of year is always bad. Its wet & dark, drivers are half asleep in their rush from work and distracted by christmas stress or something.

The most potentially hazardous spot I have to regularly pass is poets corner Ive had a occasional near misses there but only when its wet & non-optimal visibility. Still its no excuse because the roundabout is loaded with 'watch out for cyclist' signs and you shouldnt drive if your unable to see traffic.

The roundabout outside curry's/joseph chamberlain college I have always found impossible to get across safely even is summer. It would think its impossible for cyclists but I knew someone who use to ride it regularly & rather casually too so maybe im doing something wrong.

I also had a car do a long skid nearly right into me on a relatively tiny, friendly roundabout outside swanhurst school. It was very suprising that one, because its so tiny & safe feeling with the best visibility. Approaching traffic from any of the the roads can see each other like 80 metres in advance.

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that roundabout by joseph chamberlains is awful - i've ridden across it a handful of times and never happily. after living in the area though, i can't see many reasons for going near it - i always take route 5 into town through highgate (which is its own can of worms). if i wanted to go to pc world or anything i'd go round the back.

with a little thought, there are loads of routes around town that don't force you onto this massive multi-lane arteries.

Are you from 'brum' mccarthy, as your avatar would suggest?

Nope, Ireland, was just a huge fan of the tv show =P

I got knocked off today on my way from home.
Coming through West Brom, some lady in a fiesta (heading toward me in oncoming flow) pulled into the middle lane to turn right......
Where i was approaching.
She hesistated, or so it seemed, but she was merely waiting for traffic in the road that she was turning into, to move.
I presumed she was waiting for me to cycle past, but no. I past the junction, where she had put her foot down to beat the Mercedes behind me.
She clipped my rear wheel, where the lubricated surface of the wheel meant she just took the bike from under me. Clipped in.
She was hysterical, after realising exactly how illuminated i was (Max Joystick- helmet mounted, Front and rear Knog - Flashing, Front and Rear Cateye - Luggage mounted) as well as the adrenaline kicking in.
As for me - i wanted to fucking volley her into next week. Severely winded - but tip-top otherwise.

ouchies. I was just starting to think that being as highly geared up as you & the other dan must surely be enough of a barrier to prevent this sort of thing. Guess not, but it does give you some moral highground post-crash like you said. Lit up like a christmas tree.

What kind of route are you using from west brom? The main roads that go that way are terrifying. Would prefer to jump on the canal with an mtb.

Sadly, I travel all the way through West Brom on the A41 - up past the East End Food factory, then up towards Wednesbury/Darlaston to get into Wolverhampton.
I hate the journey. My legs love it.

Belgrave Circus (i think its called, by joseph chamberlain college) is a bastard in a car, let alone on a bike. find a new route!
route 5 is good, but the lights just coming into highgate are didge viper.

I got knocked off today on my way from home...

sorry to hear that glad you're ok.

don't know whats wrong with people at this time of year, I got home last night and my housemate had just been knocked off on his way home. Going around that bend by scruffy murphies, a young guy (rude boy) just pulled out and took his bike out,

luckily because of the way it hit (the front wheel and fork), it sent the bike flying, but left my housemate pretty much just stood on his feet exactly where his bike Was, - he escaped with no injuries.

But to add insult, the prick thought he would ignore that any of this had just happened, despite traffic being brought to a halt, and drive off !

What the fuck man, since when was this acceptable.

So my housemate pursued him to the next red lights he got stopped at, and politely asked him to exit his vehicle for a chat, but when the chap declined, my housemate stood and punched his wingmirror until it fell off.

I guess my housemate see's this as justice, but i had a look at the bike and i think the forks are bent, so with hindsight it might have been better to take his reg number and collect some of the (multiple) witnesses details.

Unlikely that anything would come of it though, and he might not have been insured.

yeah there's some shocking statistic like 50% of drivers in Birmingham aren't insured. My girlfriend's mom was driven into in her car, totally not her fault, no bad injuries or damage on both sides but the other woman still left on a stretcher in an ambulance and (as it later transpired) had given a fake name and address to the witnesses because she wasn't insured. Nice.

Sound advice from Nes

What to do if you're in a crash

Just some  words of wisdom from Norman (who has been knocked off his bike twice) 

Put your local police station's phone number on your mobile on speed dial

Know your route so that you can tell the police / ambulance your exact location

If you are injured, phone the police immediately

Note the car registration

Take a photo of the accident showing vehicles in crash positions

Take a photo of the driver (the driver who drove over Norman's front wheel denied he was in the car - said someone stole the car)

Take names and addresses of any witnesses

Contact Cycle Aid 01772 250871 - Norman got around £1200 when he claimed.

Cycle Aid are personal injury solicitors specialising in cycle injury and accident claims. We will act for you on a ‘no win, no fee’ basis giving cutting-edge legal advice to help you make a claim for compensation. We have been involved in many substantial claims involving head injuries, shoulder injuries, spinal injuries, facial injuries, back injuries, knee injuries and other bicycle accident claims

What to do in case of accident