SMIDSYd!

"Just zis Guy, you know?" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Riding home tonight across the roundabout at Playhatch, a classic SMIDSY - or "car failed to yield
to cyclist already circulating" as the accident reports have it.

I was proceeding in a South-Easterly direction along the A4155 when someone we will refer to as
Captain Clueless, to rpotect the guilty, joined the roundabout from the Sonning Eye road - and
broadsided me in the process.

Luckily I had my wits about me and a combination of brakes and steering left me with only bruises
and scrapes on my left arm and no damage to the bike.

Apparently he didn't see me. Apparently he wasn't looking that hard. Or maybe he has trouble
seeing all bright yellow objects[1] with orange flags which are positioned bang in the middle of
the carriageway - I'm just guessing here.

<streetmap.co.uknewmap.srfOpen ↗
&st=4&ar=Y&mapp=newmap.srf&searchp=newsearch.srf>

Quoted message said:

[1] the bike is no longer yellow, but my shirt is

Guy
===
** WARNING ** This posting may contain traces of irony. chapmancentral.demon.co.ukchapmancentral.demon.co.ukOpen ↗

As my post says Guy, At least you're still alive. Sad state of affairs I know, but glad to hear
you're still alive and got off with minimum damage..... Last night in local press was a whole page
article on the local business community extolling the virtues of increasing speed limits to help
increase the traffic flow through the region (right, to the back of the next traffic jam!!)...I'm
coming to the conclusion that we may beyond all hope...getting a bit depressing really ;-( Cheers
and well done for surviving, Dave.

"Just zis Guy, you know?" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

.. I was proceeding in a South-Easterly direction along the A4155 when someone we will refer to as
Captain Clueless, to rpotect the guilty, joined the roundabout from the Sonning Eye road - and
broadsided me in the process.

I'm always worried about this type of accident myself. Were there any advance clues like the speed
of his approach that indicated that he was not going to give way? I have before had to almost come
to a halt in these situations where it's pretty clear someone is not going to yeild right of way.

"Just zis Guy, you know?" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

[1] the bike is no longer yellow, but my shirt is

Never mind the shirt, what colour are your underwear! ;-)

Tim

1. Glad you are okay.

2. What colour is your underwear? Brown?

3. Has Plod been informed?

4. Has CTC been informed?

Cheers, helen s

~~~~~~~~~~
This is sent from a redundant email Mail sent to it is dumped My correct one can be gleaned from
h*$el***$$n*$d$ot$**s**i$$m*$m$**on**$s$@*$$a**$*ol*$*.*$$c$om*$ by getting rid of the
overdependence on money and fame
~~~~~~~~~~

In message <[email hidden]>, "Just zis Guy, you know?"
<[email hidden]> writes

Quoted message said:

Riding home tonight across the roundabout at Playhatch, a classic SMIDSY -

Glad to hear yo escaped mostly unscathed.

But I mean, if you will ride a silly bike where no one can see you ...............:-)

I almost got SMIDSY-ed this afternoon, by a car turning right across me from the other carriageway.
I normally seem spot the possible offenders in time - but this one caught me out, probably because
he seemed to have been waiting a little longer than I would have expected. Lucking he wasn't too
close and the rapid application of brakes sufficed - glad I adjusted them last night...........

I had a variation recently, but not so much a SMIDSY, more of a SMIDS-The-Road. Waiting to pull out
onto a main road where the main road turn corner so the side road was at a bit of an angle. Chap on
the main road seemed not to notice this bend until rather to late and cut across onto the side road.
:Luckily he had stopped before he got to me......
--
Chris French, Leeds

you know? said:

Riding home tonight across the roundabout at Playhatch, a classic SMIDSY - or "car failed to
yield to cyclist already circulating" as the accident reports have it.

I think it must have been splat-a-recumbent day - I had two near-misses in about 300 yds.

Number one - I'm in left hand lane of two-lane one-way system. My lane filters off to the left in
due course. People carrier comes up alongside in right hand lane with left indicator on. I ease off
(to about 17mph from 25mph) so it can pull ahead, and pull in. It doesn't do so - it decides to
match my speed. I decide is dozy driver who's forgotten their indicators and is looking at the
funny bike.

Just before the island that starts the filter of my lane - people carrier suddenly veers across at
me. Obviously, I was already mightily suspicious of said vehicle, so was ready for it and heaving on
teh brakes managed to keep us appart.

Dunno what it was up to - I assume it was looking at the funny bike (why else did it slow down when
I did?) and then when finally got around to looking forwards noticed approaching turning so screw
the bike - lets drive over it.

Anyhow, accelerated back up to 15mph or so. Just as I got to that speed something came straight out
of a side road on teh other side of my road straight at me. Again a heaving of teh brakes.

Few hundred yards on I turn into my drive-way, and by that stage was almost expecting something to
try and drive over me when I stopped in teh road to turn right.

regards, Ian SMith
--
|\ /| no .sig
|o o|
|/ \|

chris French said:

I had a variation recently

So did I on the way home tonight. A bus driver looked at me, saw me , pulled out anyway, mounted the
kerb, forced me to stop and then I had to scoot backwards to avoid being run over.

"Ian Smith" <[email hidden]> wrote in message "]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

you know? said:

Riding home tonight across the roundabout at Playhatch, a classic SMIDSY - or "car failed to
yield to cyclist already circulating" as the accident reports have it.

I think it must have been splat-a-recumbent day - I had two near-misses in about 300 yds.

Number one - I'm in left hand lane of two-lane one-way system. My lane filters off to the left in
due course. People carrier comes up alongside in right hand lane with left indicator on. I ease
off (to about 17mph from 25mph) so it can pull ahead, and pull in. It doesn't do so - it decides
to match my speed. I decide is dozy driver who's forgotten their indicators and is looking at the
funny bike.

Just before the island that starts the filter of my lane - people carrier suddenly veers across at
me. Obviously, I was already mightily suspicious of said vehicle, so was ready for it and heaving
on teh brakes managed to keep us appart.

Dunno what it was up to - I assume it was looking at the funny bike (why else did it slow down
when I did?) and then when finally got around to looking forwards noticed approaching turning so
screw the bike - lets drive over it.

Anyhow, accelerated back up to 15mph or so. Just as I got to that speed something came straight
out of a side road on teh other side of my road straight at me. Again a heaving of teh brakes.

Few hundred yards on I turn into my drive-way, and by that stage was almost expecting something to
try and drive over me when I stopped in teh road to turn right.

regards, Ian SMith
--
|\ /| no .sig
|o o|
|/ \|

Ian, slow down a bit, the 'e' comes after the 'h' in the, not before it. I used to do that in my IT
days, but have slowed down since jacking the job in and now my 'e's have returned to their rightful
places ;-) Also think you've got something there about car occupants looking at teh funny bike. I
find exactly the same. Do you also find lesser educated peds just burst out laughing and point
?...almost as if they 'can't compute' and it's their natural reaction to anything they can't
understand ?...i just roll the eyes back and dribble in their general direction whilst making a
suitable 'care in the community' noise.... Dave.

"Adrian Boliston" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

I was proceeding in a South-Easterly direction along the A4155 when someone we will refer to as
Captain Clueless, to rpotect the guilty, joined the roundabout from the Sonning Eye road - and
broadsided me in the process.

Quoted message said:

I'm always worried about this type of accident myself. Were there any advance clues like the speed
of his approach that indicated that he was

not

Quoted message said:

going to give way? I have before had to almost come to a halt in these situations where it's
pretty clear someone is not going to yeild right of way.

When I first saw him he was stationary and looking straight at me. It's happened to me once before -
with rather more serious results. Roundabouts seem to overload the limited cognitive abilities of
some drivers :-/

--
Guy
===

WARNING: may contain traces of irony. Contents may settle after posting.
chapmancentral.comchapmancentral.comOpen ↗

"Just zis Guy, you know?" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

When I first saw him he was stationary and looking straight at me. It's happened to me once before
- with rather more serious results.

Roundabouts

Quoted message said:

seem to overload the limited cognitive abilities of some drivers :-/

Roundabouts, by their nature, 'allow' road users to concern themselves only with stuff coming from
their right -- OK, an overstatement but one with some truth -- the wise road user will be more
careful in their checking.

Some drivers appear to further restrict their looking to where they expect a car to be coming from.
A cyclist may not be seen because he is not in this restricted looking area -- though I have been
nearly Smashed [1] when the pr*to had to look right through me to see what was coming :~( and I
wasn't wearing my Romulus cloaking device at the time.

Roundabouts are the Work of Stan. Russian roulette without the fun element.

Hope you are mending.

T

My spellchecker suggests 'Smashed' for Smidsyed -- how accurate is that :~(

"Tony W" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Roundabouts, by their nature, 'allow' road users to concern themselves

only

Quoted message said:

with stuff coming from their right [...] Some drivers appear to further restrict their looking to
where they expect

a

Quoted message said:

car to be coming from.

Thing is, as you probably know, I am not a novice at this. Not only was I coming from his right, but
I was in the primary riding position - exactly where a car would be expected to be. And I was riding
at 20-25mph, which is the usual speed of the MDGs round that roundabout. The twunt simply wasn't
concentrating.

I suspect the old "bicycle = pedestrian with wheels = stationary object" logical disconnect which
allows cars to start to cut in as soon as you have passed ut of their peripheral vision even though
they've just been following you at 40mph down Span Hill.

--
Guy
===

WARNING: may contain traces of irony. Contents may settle after posting.
chapmancentral.comchapmancentral.comOpen ↗

Ian said:

Quoted message said:

~~~~~~~~~~

Whilst not wanting to type cast a branch of society, I have at times had cause to wonder if bus
drivers pass their test by correspondence course.

With the PO mislaying a few packages?

--
Marc Stickers,decals,membership,cards, T shirts, signs etc for clubs and associations of all types.
jaceeprint.demon.co.ukjaceeprint.demon.co.ukOpen ↗

"Just zis Guy, you know?" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Thing is, as you probably know, I am not a novice at this. Not only was I coming from his right,
but I was in the primary riding position - exactly where a car would be expected to be. And I was
riding at 20-25mph, which

is

Quoted message said:

the usual speed of the MDGs round that roundabout. The twunt simply

wasn't

Quoted message said:

concentrating.

I suspect the old "bicycle = pedestrian with wheels = stationary object" logical disconnect which
allows cars to start to cut in as soon as you

have

Quoted message said:

passed ut of their peripheral vision even though they've just been

following

Quoted message said:

you at 40mph down Span Hill.

As I said, my close encounter with Smidsy was much as you described. The guy looked straight through
me. Likewise, I was not hanging around -- though I was on a proper bike [tm] rather than a mobile
deck chair.

Regardless of confidence & experience roundabouts can be scary -- not least because the combination
of driver's selective vision (aka left the brain switched off) and the cyclists cloak of
invisibility makes them so much fun
:~)

Remember, logic has nothing to do with it. You are the cyclist. Therefore it is your fault. Within
the last hour I have been abused for holding up traffic. Strange, because I passed WVM that did so a
couple of minutes before while he was sitting in one queue and my and his exit was blocked by the
next queue. Motor vehicles were holding us all up and he took umbrage that I didn't accelerate away
(up a hill) fast enough for his liking. He failed to catch me up in the next 2km of cycling (at
which point I turned off) so I guess there were lots of cyclists holding him up :~) I might have
rung the 'how is my driving' number he had displayed on his back door -- but I didn't get a chance
to see his back door again.

There is something very satisfying about being the fastest thing on the road -- and doing it all
perfectly legally on a clunker :~)))))))))))))))))

T

marc must be edykated coz e writed:

Quoted message said:

Ian said:

Quoted message said:

~~~~~~~~~~

Whilst not wanting to type cast a branch of society, I have at times had cause to wonder if bus
drivers pass their test by correspondence course.

With the PO mislaying a few packages?

Only the ones with the brains in.

--
Ian

catrike.co.ukcatrike.co.ukOpen ↗

wafflyDIRTYcatLITTERhcsBOX must be edykated coz e writed:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

So did I on the way home tonight. A bus driver looked at me, saw me , pulled out anyway, mounted
the kerb, forced me to stop and then I had to scoot backwards to avoid being run over.

You have my sympathy. I'm almost sure bus-drivers are actually a separate sub-species of
humanity... slightly bel.ow Neanderthals. :-(

Glad you weren't hurt.

Cheers, helen s

~~~~~~~~~~
This is sent from a redundant email Mail sent to it is dumped My correct one can be gleaned from
h*$el***$$n*$d$ot$**s**i$$m*$m$**on**$s$@*$$a**$*ol*$*.*$$c$om*$ by getting rid of the
overdependence on money and fame
~~~~~~~~~~

Whilst not wanting to type cast a branch of society, I have at times had cause to wonder if bus
drivers pass their test by correspondence course.

--
Ian

catrike.co.ukcatrike.co.ukOpen ↗

Dave said:

"Ian Smith" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Dunno what it was up to - I assume it was looking at the funny bike (why else did it slow down
when I did?)

Also think you've got something there about car occupants looking at teh funny bike. I find
exactly the same. Do you also find lesser educated peds just burst out laughing and point
?...almost as if they 'can't compute' and it's their natural reaction to anything they can't
understand ?

Yes, although if teh group is entirely male there's a reasonable chance they'll jeer instead of
laugh. Anyhow, I think a laugh is a natural reaction to anything surprising or unexpected. It
doesn't bother me significantly.

regards, Ian SMith
--
|\ /| no .sig
|o o|
|/ \|

In article said:

Roundabouts, by their nature, 'allow' road users to concern themselves only with stuff coming from
their right -- OK, an overstatement but one with some truth -- the wise road user will be more
careful in their checking.

Some drivers appear to further restrict their looking to where they expect a car to be coming from.

Yep, I've been hit while driving because of that. I was going round the roundabout, with a road with
two lanes joining it. Mr [censored] in the left hand lane decides he's having none of this giving way
to vehicles on the roundabout and pulls out ahead of me, so I brake. At this point the driver in the
right hand lane sees nothing is coming from her right, assumes my car (which she saw earlier) will
be clear, since she didn't notice the guy to her left pull out or me stop, and drives into my
stationary car (startling me enough that I don't get Mr [censored]'s registration number, and he
drives off probably not even noticing he's caused an accident).

"Just zis Guy, you know?" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Thing is, as you probably know, I am not a novice at this. Not only was I coming from his right,
but I was in the primary riding position - exactly where a car would be expected to be. And I was
riding at 20-25mph, which

is

Quoted message said:

the usual speed of the MDGs round that roundabout. The twunt simply

wasn't

Quoted message said:

concentrating.

Echoes my own experience, and I'm no novice on a bike or in my MDG. I found it unsettling because I
felt I was riding as safely as possible and still fell a victim. Short of dismounting at every
roundabout what can you do? In fact even that isn't a solution as you still have to cross the bl*ody
thing, witness peds attempting to cross!

Anyway, glad to hear you're ok.

Pete

you know? said:

When I first saw him he was stationary and looking straight at me. It's happened to me once before
- with rather more serious results. Roundabouts seem to overload the limited cognitive abilities of
some drivers :-/

Glad to hear you're OK.

I had one of those "sorry, mate, I looked straight through you" moments about a year ago. The driver
pulled up to a side junction - I was on the main road - and stopped. We made eye contact (but she
was out of my league!) then she started off again. A more primitive part of her brain must have been
in action because she slammed on the brakes almost immediately. No harm done apart from to my
fight/flight mechanism.

The silly thing was that she could not have completed her right turn because the traffic on the main
road travelling in the opposite direction to me was being held up by a railway crossing.

I'm almost more wary of drivers with whom I've made eye contact that I am with those who carry on
regardless. Conversely, I lurve those who stop at a goodly distance and acknowlegde my presence.
They receive a big nod and a "Thank you!"

How's the unbike [tm] Guy? Will it need another repair?

James

--
"Sorry mate, I didn't see you" is not a satisfactory excuse.