Was this my fault?

[Henry Hawthorne]

On the road today for the second time on my fixie. Was riding through Farnham in Surrey (the road from the Six Bells roundabout into central Farnham past the new hospital if anyone knows it). There was a queue of traffic approx. 30 cars long and there was no space on the inside so the options were: to hop onto the path (which I wouldn't do), stop and wait, or overtake on the right.

I started overtaking on the right and (in hindsight) I may have been going a little too fast (but not ridiculously - for argument's sake I'd say I was going 20mph). I continued past about fifteen of the cars. On the right there are side roads. As I approach one of these side roads a lady pulls out of the queue (clearly without looking - but this is somewhat irrelevant) to pull into the sideroad. She isn't precisely in line with the side road but pulls out of the queue before driving about 5m down the road to the side road. I didn't see her indicated but as I say I was travelling quite fast so cannot say for sure if she was or not. Anyway, she pulls out and I need to skid to an (almost) stop to avoid her. She clearly hadn't seen me as she gave a little yelp as I had nearly gone past her.

Now, my question is, was I in the right or wrong? I see no problem with me overtaking on the right but because I was going past a junction perhaps I should have slowed. However, the silly moo should have looked in her mirrors to actually see if anything was coming. Luckily an accident was avoided this time, but next time I may not be so lucky I fear. As I see it, perhaps we are both partially to blame?

[ewenm]

You were technically in the right, but that's a moot point if you end up in hospital. Many drivers fail to use their mirrors when in a queue and we, as vulnerable cyclists, need to be aware of that.

[b2hbm]

I'd think you were legally ok, but going too fast for the road conditions and that would count against you.

Drivers not looking is bad enough but even if they did check their mirror you could be in a blind spot, especially for someone in a lorry or van. The other thing about such queues is a car being let out to turn right from a side road on the left by a courteous motorist ahead - at 20mph (roughly 2 car lengths per second) you won't see them and they won't see you until you're on their bonnet.

Pass stationary traffic by all means (I do myself as we frequently get tourist queues around here) but it's a 5mph game, not a 20mph one. The manoever she did may well be wrong but it's all too common and I'd bet she'd get a lot of sympathy from a judge. And in the spirit of the previous poster - "it doesn't matter who's in the right if it's you in the wooden box"

[LRdriver II]

Moot point as you were riding a fixie and therefore had no brakes..

[Tall_Paul]

LRdriver II said:

Moot point as you were riding a fixie and therefore had no brakes..

Riding a fixed doesn't automatically mean we have no brakes In fact, he has posted pics of his new bike here http://pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&f... and going by these pics, it has brakes. I too ride fixed and have both front and rear brakes, although I rarely (if ever) use the back one as I've learnt to backpedal & skidstop.

To answer the OP, I often cycle down the outside of queues of cars, she was in the wrong. Doesn't matter if you were on a cycle or on a motorbike, she should have checked her mirrors & blindspot before pulling out.

Once you get used to riding in traffic it becomes second nature to spot the little things that you don't notice when driving, like the car turning left out of a side road next to a car waiting to turn right, or drivers in parked cars about to open their door.

Edited by Tall_Paul on Friday 22 May 08:31

[hondafanatic]

You'll soon learn to use the force young padawan.

Seriously though, I filter every morning for about a mile and half worth of standing traffic. You soon sense which cars are going to do what.

If you've got a very clear run with no oncoming traffic or side roads from which traffic could turn into you, then use as much of the opposite side as possible. This allows a greater margin of error and you can see the drivers body positions and faces in their mirrors. It goes along way to help predict movements.

Also, if you do filter back in, always check over your shoulder before filtering back out unlike the chap this morning who wasn't expecting another cyclist coming up the rear (fnarrrh fnarrrh).

Edited by hondafanatic on Friday 22 May 09:41

Edited by hondafanatic on Friday 22 May 09:41

[Henry Hawthorne]

Okay thanks guys, will keep my speed in check next time.

I always check over my shoulder when filtering back in since I'm sometimes more wary of psychlists (haha! just came up with that one myself! ) than car drivers...

Just glad I didn't come off this time.

[gareth h]

It doesn't really matter whose fault it is, it's you who will end up hurt, on a motorcycle I wouldn't overtake on a junction, the same would apply on a bike.