watch the traffic for ques..

[bugjuice]

tonight on the stroll home I witnessed a real close brown-pant moment, a near crash which would have hurt a little.

The road is a 3 lane road, lane 1 was stopped, cos of the traffic waiting to turn left. The other two lanes were flowing free and pretty empty. A car was waiting to turn from a drive way and go right, so having to cross the 3 lanes. A kind van driver stopped in the left lane, after the rest of the traffic had moved on, to let the car out. Unfortunately cos it was a van, it made seeing other traffic hard. So s/he had to nose out, which they did. A bike didn't see this till the last minute, of which, the cars bonnet was almost across his lane. On go the anchors, and of course, the biker gets abusive. Don't know if he learnt anything from it, but hopefully they did, cos it wasn't anyone's fault.

So, how to avoid this? and possibly more...?

The key to the future of what's going to happen, is simply to look ahead. If the rider had spent a second scanning the traffic, they would have realised that the left lane had stopped half way down the que, while the rest had moved on.. Which would indicate to most, that someone could be pulling out. It could also be other hazards, such as animals in the road, or people, or a 'fender-bender', which would mean traffic behind would be pulling out and people getting out of cars.. Also, if a right lane is stopped, it could be someone letting traffic cross the road, so mind for that when you're filtering.

Some other things to watch for are high vehicles. You can't see in general, what's in front of them. And people use this as a great place to cross the road. The worst is often buses, as they've possibly just dropped off people, and they cross in front. Really slow down passing buses. Toot if you really need to - I do, since I've scared the crap out of plenty of people..

Most of this is to be observed during heavy traffic. Most of the time, everything else should be more obvious. But just think and look ahead - it could save you a trip over a car hood..

[SixPackBack]

Thanx for that Buggy.......my first rule on the road is invisibility. I have had senile purple rinse lady look deep into my eyes for a good few seconds.......and then pull out cage drivers leave there single functioning brain neuron in the gin cabinet before hitting the road

[Hitcher]

Queues is what you mean?

Americans call them lines, to save themselves the spelling grief...

[sAsLEX]

Queues is what you mean?

Americans call them lines, to save themselves the spelling grief...

and asians have no clue about them so "line" jump to the front or where ever


*angry after going to banks today

[justsomeguy]

As long as you remember that they are all out to get you, you will be fine.

[Hooks]

Queues is what you mean?

Americans call them lines, to save themselves the spelling grief...

No I think he was looking for "cues" as it was the billiards effect he was describing !! Cannoning all over the place by the sounds of it !!

[Motu]

We get several of these a week in Carr Rd - the inside lane is left turn only and usualy free,the right lane is often grid locked.So ''kind'' people in the right hand lane make a gap for those turning right into my,or other peoples businesses....they turn right and WHAM!!,slam into someone coming down the left lane.Dumb on everyones part....even catches me out often,and it's my patch.

[JohnBoy]

only thing i can think of to keep you self safe in similar situations is to keep along side bigger vehicles cause if the driver cant see a bus/ truck then they are never going to see us!

[Gremlin]

Of course those blasted cars aren't going to see us...

Couple of days ago feeding onto the motorway the car in front was on their mobile. The feeder lanes merged so I thought I would be nice and let the car on my left in (like a zip), plus I hate cars&mobiles. They scare me. As it pulls in front I look in the wing mirror and its eating... you can't win.

Cheers BJ, for the little reminder...

[Lou Girardin]

Anyone who barrels down a lane with stationary traffic next to them is a sitting target.
Especially bus lanes, slow and eyes skinned is the rule.

[Devil]

Its the 12 second rule man. Pity its not rammed into peoples heads while they're learning.
You need to KNOW thats happening 12 seconds up the road. Its not that far, try it the next time your on the bike or in the car.

[John]

Its the 12 second rule man. Pity its not rammed into peoples heads while they're learning.
You need to KNOW thats happening 12 seconds up the road. Its not that far, try it the next time your on the bike or in the car.

I do the 12 second rule, if they are 12seconds behind them I dont have to worry about them...

[justsomeguy]

Anyone who barrels down a lane with stationary traffic next to them is a sitting target.
Especially bus lanes, slow and eyes skinned is the rule.

Yup, slow and eyes skinned IS THE ONLY the rule. 12 seconds and all loo good on paper, but a lot can change in 12 seconds. We can rarely see 12 seconds ahead....

[Zapf]

well... to think from the cage point of view.. the van althou being nice... shouldn't have stopped... that is usually when most accidents occure. e.g someone giving way when they are not expected to and other drivers / riders are not aware of the fact...

I have been in the van driver's position once to only have a car rear ending me (in a cage) cause they were day dreaming....

[username]

Dare I ask .Isn't that an issue with driver rather than rider training?
Don't we have as much right to the road as any single occupant vehicle?
I do apreciate that I would be the one that would be dead but shouldn't the driver be being educated?