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Near miss

by megaman
Thu, Jun 23, 2016 18:14
8

While driving I recently had a near miss with a cyclist.

I attempted to overtake him and as I was doing so he turned right and I had to slam on the breaks. This was a very sudden movement, he literally turned sharply to the right just as I was alongside him.

- This happened in a residential area in a 30 limit with a wide clear road.
- I did not exceed the speed limit to overtake.
- The road was clear for a very long distance in front and nothing was coming the other way.
- I moved all the way over into the opposite lane for the overtake.
- The cyclist did not signal.
- The cyclist did not do anything else to hint that he was about to turn (did not look behind, did not look to the right or where he intended to turn to, did not start to move further to the right ect)
- There was no junction or turning on the left (or anywhere else particually close for that matter).

There was a second cyclist nearby and he was rideing just behind this one and further out into the road. I obsered them for long enough to know that he was not overtaking.

The google street view link bellow shows where my car stopped. I estemate that this is the point at which the front of my car would have been in front of the both cyclists had i not needed to break.

If I had hit him am i likely to have been held at fault?

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place/Sutton+Courtenay,+Abingdon,+Oxfordsh...@51.6299302,-1.2793583,3a,60y,195.54h,83.62t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sxzNafF6jm4DSE0LghrFJHw!2e0!7i13312!8i6656!4m5!3m4!1s0x4876b8e39ff6787b:0xe5d9d8c2112f56c!8m2!3d51.6408739!4d-1.277537!6m1!1e1

If you're new please join in and if you have questions pop them below and the forum regulars will answer as best we can.

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8 comments

Avatar
megaman | 8 years ago
0 likes

It seams the GSV link is not working properly

Avatar
megaman | 8 years ago
0 likes

There seams to be some confusion here.

several people have commented on the right turn.

There was no right turn, The only right junction (or any junction for that mattter) in the area is BEHIND the point i posted.

Avatar
Billj | 8 years ago
0 likes

Yep, you'd be liable (although insurance might argue for reduced liability due to lack of signal) 

 

Highway code rule 167

DO NOT overtake where you might come into conflict with other road users.

For example:

approaching or at a road junction on either side of the road

Avatar
megaman replied to Billj | 8 years ago
0 likes

Billj wrote:

Yep, you'd be liable (although insurance might argue for reduced liability due to lack of signal) 

 

Highway code rule 167

DO NOT overtake where you might come into conflict with other road users.

For example:

approaching or at a road junction on either side of the road

I weas not approaching a junction on ether side of the road!

Avatar
Jimmy Ray Will | 8 years ago
0 likes

In answer to your question... yes, at least partially. 

Overtaking past junctions is a no, no, probably for exactly this reason.

However, the cyclist who failed to signal would have to share a proportion of blame for not signalling. 

If there was no junction adn the cyclist just decided to do a right turn, then no, it wouldn't be your fault.

 

Avatar
megaman replied to Jimmy Ray Will | 8 years ago
0 likes

Jimmy Ray Will wrote:

In answer to your question... yes, at least partially. 

Overtaking past junctions is a no, no, probably for exactly this reason.

However, the cyclist who failed to signal would have to share a proportion of blame for not signalling. 

If there was no junction adn the cyclist just decided to do a right turn, then no, it wouldn't be your fault.

 

 

I did not overtake while passing a junction

Avatar
tritecommentbot | 8 years ago
0 likes

You can use it as mitigation.

 

Play devil's advocate with yourself and you'll get an idea of how it could play out in court.

Eg.

Why didn't you wait until after a possible turn off to overtake, the road was clear after all, as you said? 

 

And things to consider..

 

Many cyclists are scared of traffic and scared of taking their hands off the bars to indicate. Especially common with new cyclists. My missus had that issue with hand signals (didn't matter really, I'm always with her signaling and controlling traffic, protecting her). Also not all cyclists have the same awareness, some are deaf, for example. Did you account for this when seeing the turn off to the right and give enough space so that a vulnerable road user might need to use it? Perhaps they realised at the last moment they needed to make the turn and made the move without awareness that you were there.

 

Just throwing some things out there that you may have heard in court if things didn't turn out fine, which they did.

 

Don't beat yourself up about it either. People make mistakes, on bikes, cars whatever. You were driving safe enough so that even when they acted erratically, you still missed them and had time to react. I would leave it at that and be satisfied.

Avatar
cqexbesd | 8 years ago
0 likes

Quote:

If I had hit him am i likely to have been held at fault?

No, you were driving so have immunity when it comes to hitting cyclists.

On a more serious note - without being there and hearing from all the witnesses no one can possibly say who was at fault. Cyclists can't do a 90 degree turn though, as a rule, so there may well have been some early indication the cyclist was chnging direction. No matter who was in the right, keep an eye out for this so no one ends up dead.

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