Roundabouts and car drivers

chasm

Hi Guys,
Am just back from a trip down town and am seriously p*ssed off :mad:

Was driving across the roundabout and had just passed the junction before my own and indicated left, there are 2 lanes coming onto the roundabout at the entrance before my exit, the guy in the r/hand lane pulled out and the woman in the l/hand, obviously assuming that as he was going it would be safe for her to do so, pulled out too.
Tbh i probably could have sped up and nipped past the guy in the r/hand lane but unlike him i was watching the lane beside him and watched her, much to my amazement, pull straight out without even looking, so speeding up would have just led me straight into the side of her car.

I am seriously getting fed up with this ignorance at roundabouts, and i'd safely say that the fact that i don't race through roundabouts just because i have right of way has saved my skin a few times.

I have calmed down now but i was fit to kill at the time lol.Lets just say that it's probably just as well that there is no megaphone in my helmet as the language was less than ladylike:) Ok that probably seems OTT but i am only back on the road a few months after 14 months off due to another drivers carelessness and lack of concentration on the road(rearended) and i know that despite the injuries i received it could have been a lot worse, but i am just getting seriously cheesed off with motorists deciding that it's ok to pull out in front of me because it's only a motorbike!

So, short of fixing an Uzi or a massive sharp spike to the front of the bike what can i do to stop this carry-on?

Id just like to add that i even invested in a distinctive, noticable, bright coloured helmet as recommended in lots of safety leaflets i've read over the years.......hasn't made the slightest bit of difference!

Dirk Gently

chasm wrote: »

Id just like to add that i even invested in a distinctive, noticable, bright coloured helmet as recommended in lots of safety leaflets i've read over the years.......hasn't made the slightest bit of difference!

Irish Rules of the road: If it's bigger than me, give way. If it's smaller than me, ignore.

When on a bike you nearly have to make eye contact with drivers and watch them stop or wave you on at junctions and roundabouts before making a move. You can't just rely on right of ways because the rule above overrules the official rules of the road. All the high viz in the world wont protect you against a car driver who doesn't register a bike as a threat to their car. People are only cautious around what they perceive to be a threat to themselves.

Dorsanty

Yep you need to reach the level of acceptance that there are people on the road in cars with full licenses who don't have a clue about the rules.

Once there you'll accept that you should always go into a roundabout cautious and almost giveway within reason.

My biggest pet hate in roundabout's is people turning 2 lane roundabouts into 1 lane. Mainly for people who are intending to go straight through the junction. They enter in the left lane, cut straight to the right lane for the apex and exit in the left lane a-la 'the racing line'. In the mean time I can out pace them by staying in the left lane and then get cut up by them on the exit. I've just come to accept the behavior at this stage, unless I know I can get in front of them and shine them on to the rules.

Also I can no longer count the number of times I had the choice of hold back or apply the power, where holding back was the better choice. This has been demonstrated to me by being able to know where I'd of been on the road in a few seconds time of hitting the power and then seeing that car or var that broke the red or some other obstacle which would have left me face down on the road. Weirdly the same sense has worked to save me from multiple speed check points.

chasm

clown bag wrote: »

You can't just rely on right of ways because the rule above overrules the official rules of the road.

Dorsanty wrote: »

Once there you'll accept that you should always go into a roundabout cautious and almost giveway within reason.

Yep 10 years on the bike have taught me the same, hence the reason i'm not sitting in A&E or worse tonight. When i first got my bike my dad told me just to assume every other road user is an idiot, and to never ever trust someones indicator, how right he was!

I still like the idea of welding a big spike on the front of my bike tho

Dorsanty

chasm wrote: »

I still like the idea of welding a big spike on the front of my bike tho

Well just make sure you learn from bees, and have it break off under a certain load so you can still get away

TechnoPool

give the door a good boot;)

Cuddlesworth

I know most of you are going to fo pa this suggestion, but......

Buy a big bright yellow bike or spray your bike bright yellow.

I drive one of these and I have had maybe two incidents where somebody looked straight through me. I'm pretty sure both were deliberate too.

Its a psychological thing, yellow is a bright attractive colour and people will take notice and even stop to think when they see you coming towards them.

Xios

Full beams on 24/7 and a big heefty high vis jack with long sleeves. Also, an exhaust loud enough to shatter granite, should make people aware of ya.

arybvtcw0eolkf

Xios wrote: »

Full beams on 24/7 and a big heefty high vis jack with long sleeves. Also, an exhaust loud enough to shatter granite, should make people aware of ya.

Its very hard for a drive to estimate a bikers speed & distance when you run with your hi-beams on. It takes away the diminishing backwarded needed to estimate such things.

Dipped beams are all thats required.

Jackasaurus rex

Anyone see the ad on the telly now where they actually show the way to use a roundabout? Just saw it last night, one of the best road safety ads iv ever seen. It just shows the correct way to drive on it. None of this over the top crash and guilty face driver messing. Just the facts please

cantdecide

If I had a quid for every time I saw someone entering a roundabout in the LH lane with a RH indicator on, I'd be a rich bloke.

My main safety rules for roundabouts is don't a) be alongside anyone and b) blink.

Wossack

nout you can do but be aware, and make allowances imo!

Karmafaerie

As a new owner of my first bike it's always nice to hear these tales of drivers efforts to make the roads safe for bikers!:D

Xios

Alicia Wrong Developer wrote: »

Its very hard for a drive to estimate a bikers speed & distance when you run with your hi-beams on. It takes away the diminishing backwarded needed to estimate such things.

Dipped beams are all thats required.

Was aiming to point out extremes
But thanks for the fact check, i didn't know that, although i don't use hi-beams tbh

cantdecide

Xios wrote: »

i don't use hi-beams tbh

I have a xenon headlamp on my BB. I swear by them.

Silent Shrill

Car drivers have been creating havoc ever since the car first came out. There had to be a man that walked in front of the car waving a flag to let people know what was coming..........he was knocked over!
There is no answer for the stupidity of some drivers.....they still use the phone while driving, some texting. No signals at r/abouts or junctions.
Us bikers should be allowed to drag them from the car, ram their car into something big and heavy, throw away the keys, and leave the driver at the roadside, (after breaking their phone). That might just make them think twice next time!:cool:

mikemac

Maybe there is some subconcious reasoning going on that a car driver sees a biker approaching and figures smaller then me equals no danger.
Maybe a project for some college student here

I've driven my bike, made eye contact with the driver, they see me approaching and still pull out right in front of me!!

I guarantee if I were driving an large articulated lorry at the same speed at the same junction and made eye contact with the car driver they wouldn't pull out

chasm

feelingstressed wrote: »

Maybe there is some subconcious reasoning going on that a car driver sees a biker approaching and figures smaller then me equals no danger.
Maybe a project for some college student here

I've driven my bike, made eye contact with the driver, they see me approaching and still pull out right in front of me!!

I guarantee if I were driving an large articulated lorry at the same speed at the same junction and made eye contact with the car driver they wouldn't pull out

I agree 100%. Today just took the biscuit for me, At a roundabout again, had stopped to give way to traffic already on it and a car just about to enter on the junction before my own, once it was clear i was just about to pull onto the roundabout, a quick lifesaver glance to my left, and there's an idiot squeezing up beside me trying to cut in front of me. Now i accept that i probably was a bit to the right of a rather wide lane BUT it is still only 1 lane and i did have my indicator on.

Motorists need to learn that they can't make their own rules of the road just because it suits them, yes a road may be wide enough for two lanes but if it has one lane then it only has one lane, if they want it to be two lanes let them write to the council or the nra, not just cut other users up:mad:

I bought one of those mini key cams that were posted on the bargain alerts thread a while back, beginning to think i should have it on the bike at all times!

Del2005

feelingstressed wrote: »

I guarantee if I were driving an large articulated lorry at the same speed at the same junction and made eye contact with the car driver they wouldn't pull out

You would think that, but they still pull out as they don't want to be behind a big slow vehicle. Not realising that they could very easily be under the same big slow vehicle.

It's even more fun when there are L plates on the HGV, some of the worst driving I've ever seen by car drivers to not be behind the learner.

chasm

Del2005 wrote: »

.. some of the worst driving I've ever seen by car drivers to not be behind the learner.

That reminded me of something i saw the other day, there was a learner driver (in tuition car) in left hand lane at a roundabout in town, with a few cars behind her. I approached in the right lane, when just as i got almost level with the rear of the car behind the learner he shot out in to my lane then veered over in front of the learner, and off out the road, So, just because she was taking longer than he felt she should to pull onto the roundabout that gave him every right to cut me up!!

I genuinely believe that most motorcyclists are more observant than other road users, and tend to read the road a lot better, probably because we don't have a tonne of metal or airbags around us. I reckon all drivers should be made to ride a motorcycle for a week, they might learn a bit of courtesy and manners on the road!!
rant over;)

Asok

I had a few close shaves with muppets on the road but luckily as long as you operate under the assumption that every single other person here is out to kill you then you end up taking the correct precautions.

goldie fish

Drive as if everyone is trying to run you over. Be sure at least one of them will try to.