SMIDSYs - mostly avoidable, or a real risk?

[koba]

You're right, standing on the pegs can be a lifesaver, but I assume you saw the car before it hit you? If so, what was it doing, and was it doing something that could have been a predecessor to turning like sitting at an intersection? If it was, did you have an escape route planned and what did you do to maximise the chances of being seen? Or did you just trust that the driver had seen you and expect them to behave accordingly?

This isn't about my crash so comments are generalised.

If someone is waiting to turn where you have right of way you can be aware of it and PLAN to take some kind of action but in the situation described you can only react fast enough to take effective avoiding action if they turn when you are a certain distance away. If they turn when you are already right upon them you are fucked. It is one of the few situations on the road one can do little about short of stopping and pulling over until there is no traffic or something similar.

I'm always nervous in such a position and will often take an alternative route to avoid such a situation but there really is only so much you can do short of catching the train instead.

You could ride around with 6 fluro vests and 142 flashing lights and some drivers with fail to see you. Proven by the guy on my first aid course who managed a place that ran attenuator trucks*; He said on average they get about 6 people a year run up the back of them.

It's a shame the average aptitude of drivers/riders on the road is woefully inadequate.


Attenuator truck : The big flashy sign motorway trucks with the huge flashing lights and crash absorber things on the back.

[rastuscat]

The instructor then told us no matter how small the chance of something happening was, it was still a real risk.

Your situational awareness still didn't allow you to see the patrol bike before pulling that mono across Bealey Ave in '06, did it...................tee hee.............

[onearmedbandit]

Your situational awareness still didn't allow you to see the patrol bike before pulling that mono across Bealey Ave in '06, did it...................tee hee.............

I saw ya, I was laying down a challenge. When you told me to pull over as you didn't want a race, I took one look at your bike and completely understood why.

[rastuscat]

I saw ya, I was laying down a challenge. When you told me to pull over as you didn't want a race, I took one look at your bike and completely understood why.

Nice come back.

I've told lots of folk about how gob smacked I was at the controls on your bike, and how well the mono worked with one hand.

Of course, I have to say (for corporate reasons) that one shouldn't do wheelies in front of a Popo, but good on ya (personally speaking, of course)

Donuts

[oneofsix]

SMIDYS are a real risk that with 20/20 hind sight someone will always be able to tell you it was avoidable.
This morning, riding down Boulcoutt St Wellington, i had just come off The Terrace. Spotted a rubbish truck coming out of a side street. This is well before the near SMIDY but I beleave leads up to it. ! I was now aware I was a lone bike on the st. 2 I knew that the truck driver probably thought the street was empty. The st does a 90 degree. around the corner the truck driver swings across the road, stops blocking the road and THEN puts his hassards on. He didn't recheck the road before so no head movement to spot even if I could have had a clear view of him and with all the car parks down there I was busy enough.

[Katman]

SMIDYS are a real risk that with 20/20 hind sight someone will always be able to tell you it was avoidable.
This morning, riding down Boulcoutt St Wellington, i had just come off The Terrace. Spotted a rubbish truck coming out of a side street. This is well before the near SMIDY but I beleave leads up to it. ! I was now aware I was a lone bike on the st. 2 I knew that the truck driver probably thought the street was empty. The st does a 90 degree. around the corner the truck driver swings across the road, stops blocking the road and THEN puts his hassards on. He didn't recheck the road before so no head movement to spot even if I could have had a clear view of him and with all the car parks down there I was busy enough.

So was there an accident? No? Then you've just proved that with some degree of fore-thought that potential accident was avoidable.

If it had instead resulted in an accident would you have been admonishing yourself for not avoiding it or blaming someone else for causing it?

[oneofsix]

So was there an accident? No? Then you've just proved that with some degree of fore-thought that potential accident was avoidable.

If it had instead resulted in an accident would you have been admonishing yourself for not avoiding it or blaming someone else for causing it?

If there had been an accident the truck driver would have still been the cause. Avoiding it is taking action you shouldn't have to, as in this case crossing the double yellows, again I avoided trouble because I happen to have a habit of checking for opposing traffic on that street by looking around the vehicle in front. This one was avoided because it wasn't wet and I had been in time to see him pull out of the side street, not sure why this made me aware that he would be trouble. Point is we can't always hit the sweet spot, I agree with you that we must try but it don't agree it will always be possible.

[Katman]

This one was avoided because it wasn't wet.....

But if it had been wet you'd have been factoring in a greater safety margin, wouldn't you?

[oneofsix]

But if it had been wet you'd have been factoring in a greater safety margin, wouldn't you?

No because I was already at the safety margin I would have been using in the wet. BTW his brake light were not any help as he didn't hit the brakes until he was across the road. Also with the slope of the road 'slowing' (sometimes still speeding up but foot on brake) and braking are hard to distinguish.