Near Miss of the Day 328: Another VERY close call on a roundabout (includes swearing)

My first cycling accident 2 months after I started commuting was on a similar thing. Two lanes coming onto the island, truck stops in the furthest from me and the car in my nearer one just goes. My front wheel hit is rear wheel arch and flicked it right and I went straight on. Some bruised or cracked ribs and a slightly bent front skewer was the only damage suffered. Even with the noise of me hitting him the driver didn't even brake and carried on and around. Lucky for me, I had just won a go pro which was mounted to my handlebars and caught a good glimpse of his rear number plate when the handlebars were flicked that way. Unfortunately only 6 points and a fine from the Police. 

I suspect that as the road only goes to two lanes at that point, he was caught behind the lorry and was late for work. As soon as he passed the lorry he wasn't stopping as he just need to get in front even though the lorry was going straight and he was going around. The slo mo of he footage even shows his head just looking forward when it appears in sight. 

One plus point is it has made me aware of not making assumptions on other people doing the right thing and has enabled me to miss more serious injuries by being more aware of the hazards. 

The driver here could have caused serious injury or death, but by luck rather than judgement escaped causing harm. As cyclists we shouldn't have to endure the poor driving standards on our roads or the apathy shown by the police with respect to near misses or even collissions. Perhaps a documentary highlighting near misses and injuries sustained by collisons could interest Channel 5 to counterbalance the anti-cycling tosh they put out before. 

'I was wearing…'

Mate, you could have been wearing a traffic cone on your head firing laser beams and they still would not have seen you!

When I don't have a broken collar bone I commute daily and this roundabout features on my route in everyday. For 2 years since I have been going this route I have always said to people that this is a dangerous roundabout and that junction coming onto it in particular is dangerous as cars force they way out from it (at busy times it is really hard to get onto the roundabout). I am extra extra careful going around that roundabout and many a time in the heat of the moment I have cursed and given the odd hand gesture to drivers that haven't been paying attention.

The cyclist in this video is even taking the lane where the driver should be looking, it's even worse in the cycle lane going round the outside, for some reason many drivers just compeltely overlook it!

Another driver sails on to work thinking "I judged that one perfectly, can't believe that guy was riding in the rain..."

Oof, that one made me flinch.