Is it me? Cyclist v Car at roundabout...

[yellowjack]

For clarity, I'm talking about THIS roundabout.. http://goo.gl/maps/mrnaL ..(that's pretty much the approach view from my car) and I'm in my car, signalling left for the next exit. From the left, I observe a cyclist approaching at speed.

Alarm bells ring, and I ease off the accelerator and cover the brake, despite the fact that I SHOULD have priority. Mad Cyclist scoots down the bus lane, which becomes the left turn (first exit) lane, then onto the roundabout, follows the dotted white line ACROSS MY PATH.. http://goo.gl/maps/09Ddb ..and off to my right, presumably continuing on the A325. He doesn't pause for even a second. No glance into the roundabout, no shoulder check as he leaves the bus lane, no change of grip to cover HIS brakes, hood up, head down, kind of a 'F**k You!' attitude.

Now I'm in a Mondeo. It's no lightweight, as cars go, and I wouldn't fancy MY chances against one if I were on a my road bike. I would regard the distance between us as he crossed my path as unsafe, and, without knowing for sure, I'd bet that if it hadn't been a cyclist driving the car, he would have ended up under it.

So as I leave the roundabout, I sound the horn. Yes, I know it's pointless, as he's no longer in danger, etc, etc, but it wasn't an aggressive BEEEEEEEEEEEEP!!!! but more of a friendly 'toot' to let him know there are other vehicles on the road with him. At this, he straightens up, and looks over his left shoulder, glowering at me like I'm in the wrong.

Sooooo. Was I? In the wrong, that is? I thought it was 'give way to traffic on the roundabout' not the other way around. How would he feel if (when?) some tit of a driver fails to give way to HIM when he's the one on the roundabout. There's only one set of rules for the road, and as I understand it, they apply to everyone.

This is the view he WOULD have had, if he'd bothered to look up when approaching the roundabout.. http://goo.gl/maps/NJ3nz .. so he couldn't really excuse himself due to an obstructed view on approach.


I don't want folk to think I'm angry about it, I'm not. I'm just saddened that, when we've had recent media coverage of the sad demise of Dr Katharine Giles in London, there are still people who are happy to dump responsibility for THEIR OWN safety into the hands of anyone but themselves.

This is by no means the only recent incident of "Silly Cycling" that I've witnessed, but it was the closest I have personally come to doing another rider some damage. One of the wife's colleagues reported a VERY close call this morning with a car, while riding in to work, so it goes both ways. Why, oh why, doesn't everyone just take a little more care, and have a little more patience when we're all SHARING THE ROADS.

[Mr Will]

Being very kind here, he was possibly confused by the stupid dotty lines: https://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=Farnborough&h...

If you miss the give lines, it looks almost like you have your own filter lane that comes on to the roundabout and off again.

[Johnnytheboy]

I have noticed an increase in cyclists of the 'I take this seriously' variety treating roundabouts as slip lanes recently. One in Winchester did this to me last year and we ended up very close to each other as we used the same narrow exit. He probably went on a forum saying some van tried to squeeze past him by a traffic island and left him no room, but he really left me no choice.

Though as Swerni says, there are morons of every hue - a people carrier did this to me on a small roundabout on Monday and I ended up driving alongside him as we exited onto a SC, which was a trifle odd.

[yellowjack]

Mr Will said:

Being very kind here, he was possibly confused by the stupid dotty lines: https://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=Farnborough&h...

If you miss the give lines, it looks almost like you have your own filter lane that comes on to the roundabout and off again.

Thing is, the left lane is clearly marked for first exit (left turn) only. You only have to 'look behind' on your link { https://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=Farnborough&h... } to see that the end of the bus lane is clearly defined, and the 'left only' arrows are VERY obvious. Crazy Cyclist was going straight ahead, but remained in the left turn 'filter' lane until after he'd crossed the mouth of the exit. Poor road positioning IMHO.

When I ride that route, if I want 'straight ahead' I'll not use the bus lane on that stretch - there are two lanes for straight ahead anyway, so you don't really hold anyone up too much, and it's a relatively short section to the roundabout from a set of 4-way signals, with a PeLiCon crossing in between, and a regularly policed 30mph limit, so traffic speed is never what I would describe as 'high'.

As can be seen in this view { https://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=Farnborough&h... } the bus lane is quite short, starting within sight of the roundabout, and looking at the sign, it is not intended for use by cyclists anyway, probably because there is a 'shared use' cyclepath on the opposite side of the road, with an underpass and traffic free route around the car park in the middle of the roundabout, although, much like Crazy Cyclist, I probably wouldn't use it either, as it is very slow, and despite being 'segregated' by painted lines through the subways, it's like 'pedestrian pinball'. It also takes you well out of your way to get across the roundabout and back onto the road, and as we all know, it's never a joy when the cycle path runs out, dumping you onto a heavily trafficked section of road. I'm not entirely without sympathy with his situation, I just hope it was a momentary lapse on his part, and that he rides in a safer manner the rest of the time.

Point taken about the dotted lines though - they do seem to give approaching traffic a false sense of entitlement. It's indicative of the really quite staggering levels of stupidity on our roads that we need to paint so many dotted lines on roundabouts to guide drivers around them. It's sadder still that there are people who wilfully and regularly ignore this guidance so to take the 'shortest' route around a given roundabout, cutting across the front of other traffic that stays 'in the lines'.

Ho, hum. Like I said, I'm not 'spitting nails' mad about this, I just wondered what the general consensus was among other cyclists. Ultimately I'd clocked him well enough ahead to realise what he intended to do (proceed, regardless) and I made sure that I would not come into physical conflict with him, but my main concern is for next time, when he might misjudge the approach speed of a less 'bike aware' driver than me, and potentially end up under the wheels of something less deformable than a human body. If this is the way in which he regularly conducts himself on the roads, it can only end badly for him.