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Path: number1.nntp.dca.giganews.com!border2.nntp.dca.giganews.com!nntp.giganews.com!postnews.google.com!news4.google.com!feeder.news-service.com!69.16.177.246.MISMATCH!cyclone03.ams2.highwinds-media.com!news.highwinds-media.com!npeersf01.ams.highwinds-media.com!newsfe11.ams2.POSTED!7564ea0f!not-for-mail Message-ID:  From: _  Newsgroups: uk.rec.cycling Subject: Re: Cars pulling out of junctions Date: Thu, 19 Feb 2009 23:21:46 +0000 References:  <1i0exl19dmo30$.zax26vx739a3.dlg@40tude.net>  <8NydnUCPzo1MIwDUnZ2dnUVZ8j2WnZ2d@bt.com>   Lines: 50 User-Agent: Thunderbird 2.0.0.19 (Windows/20081209) MIME-Version: 1.0 In-Reply-To:  Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit NNTP-Posting-Host: 82.23.23.138 X-Complaints-To: http://netreport.virginmedia.com X-Trace: newsfe11.ams2 1235085723 82.23.23.138 (Thu, 19 Feb 2009 23:22:03 UTC) NNTP-Posting-Date: Thu, 19 Feb 2009 23:22:03 UTC Organization: virginmedia.com Bytes: 4132 Xref: perfectly-safe.chapmancentral.co.uk uk.rec.cycling:686442

Jolly Polly wrote: > _ wrote: >> Marc wrote: >>> _ wrote: >>>> _ wrote: >>>>> On Thu, 19 Feb 2009 18:20:59 GMT, Brown Cat wrote: >>>>> >>>>>> Twice in as many as two days I've joined a roundabout and the cars >>>>>> before the junction before has jolted forward forcing me to brake >>>>>> to avoid a collision. But they stop before reaching a point where >>>>>> they would have hit me. Today after it happened I looked at the >>>>>> driver and he was just looking straight ahead so he must have seen me. >>>>>> It just feels like some motorists like playing this game where they >>>>>> try to spook the cyclist. Anyone else find this sometimes happens? >>>>> Hanlon's razor applies. >>>> Coming away from Alton Towers this afternoon I passed a Give Way >>>> junction on the right where a queue of vehicles was waiting. First >>>> car had a cyclist alongside him, nearest the curb. 40mph limit, and >>>> as I approached the cyclist pulled out to turn right into my path, >>>> was wobbling as he built up momentum from a standstill, and left me >>>> no room to pass him without crossing the centre line - couldn't do >>>> that as traffic was coming the other way. Only thing to do was stamp >>>> on middle pedal. >>>> The point I was making was, if the car driver (with an acceleration >>>> ability several orders of magnitude more than a bike) thought there >>>> was insufficient room to pull out in front of me, why did the >>>> cretinous cyclist think he'd be okay? If he'd been right in the >>>> gutter that might have worked, with me having room to pass him still >>>> in my lane, but by not doing that he left me with no alternative but >>>> to jam the brakes on to avoid him. >>> I hope it didn't delay your arriving at the next braking point by too >>> many seconds? >> About the response I expected... comme d'habitude, URC is quick to >> condemn motorists at even the slightest whiff of wrongdoing, but fail to >> criticise their own for anything. Be daft to expect anything else, really. > > A little thinking ahead and appreciation of the needs of road users by > that idiot on the cycle is what is required. He'd be the first the whine > if you knocked him off. He's probably just as selfish when driving a > car/van/truck - it's not the bicycles fault is it

Well no, of course not. I only posted it in relation to the OP in this thread - to suggest that selfish and/or dangerous activity is not the sole preserve of car drivers. A bunch of cretins in a Honda Civic overtook me near a bend they couldn't see round only a minute or so later - if that Honda had been the car he rode out in front of, he'd be a stain on the bonnet. And saying the Honda was going too fast isn't going to help him, is it? Incidentally, he looked like a 'professional' cyclist, too. Nice helmet and clothes, very attractive bike all in matt black.