Appealing a PCN

[mdglen]

Got back last night to find a PCN on the mat, for driving on the right of a keep left sign. So wondering if I have any grounds for appeal.

The circumstances are that I was driving along an urban street which has a number of traffic calming measures. As I was approaching the traffic island in question, I spotted an unlit cyclist. There wasn't enough time for me to brake before I would be alongside him, and rather than try and manoeuvre round them in the confined space by the traffic island, I went right. And as luck would have it, there was a camera.

My description makes it sound like this was calm and planned, but actually, it was a real brown trouser moment, and at the time I thought I was lucky to avoid hitting the cyclist. Thinking it through, I can't see what I could have done differently. I was driving within the speed limit (20 zone) and I genuinely did not see them until too late.

I've attached the image from the CCTV. I've highlighted the cyclist because he is pretty hard to spot otherwise.



Have I got grounds to appeal, or is it my fault for not expecting the unexpected?

[mdglen]

KevinCamaroSS said:

This. Where were you looking when driving?

I was looking at a car in front of me, which didn't pull out to overtake the cyclist, so it's possible the cyclist pulled in to the gap between the parked cars while being overtook, or had just set off from that gap, but that is speculation on my part.

That was probably why I was caught off guard, because the vehicle in front didn't have to move over to get past the bike.

[mdglen]

tigger1 said:

Good luck with that appeal.

Closing speed of say 10mph at most (20mph for you, 10mph for the cyclist - more likely they were doing 15mph) - and you decided to swerve and overtake rather than swerve and stop? Seems risky.

My instinctive reaction was to swerve, and at that point I was committed to going right. If I had stopped, I would have been on the wrong side of the island, so would have had to reverse into following traffic, whereas the road ahead was clear.

[mdglen]

I've attached another image from the CCTV. This time I haven't highlighted where the cyclist, nor is it against a light coloured background as it was in the original.

See if you can spot the cyclist now.

It also show the preceding car, which, in my opinion didn't move much over to the right when passing the cyclist, which would have been a big hint to the following driver that there was a hazard to avoid, as I would not have direct line of sight.

At this point, I have pulled over to the right to avoid the cyclist. There's not enough space for me and the cyclist to both go through the gap safely, so should I have waited on the wrong side on the road and then pulled in behind the cyclist (no oncoming traffic, but there is a car behind), or do what I did which was pass on the right.

There was absolutely no benefit in passing the cyclist, as just past the camera, was a line of stationary traffic waiting at traffic lights.

I was wearing glasses at the time, and the prescription is correct (last checked in September, and no change in the past 5 years)