Cars edging out at junctions or to change lanes



S

spindrift

Guest
This happened on London Bridge this morning, middle lane stationary so
a black cabbie edged out into my lane. I can still undertake and do
so, then he squeezes past much too close just to get to the jam up
ahead. Pointless barging and bullying, cars edge out and carry on even
after they've seen you and know a cyclist is there.


You're not supposed to pull out unless the road is clear but this
edging, creeping forward at junctions is getting more common I
reckon. Some of the twonks do that dead-ahead blank stare if you
remonstrate.

"I'm not looking at you, so you can't see me, right!"
 
spindrift <[email protected]> writes:

> You're not supposed to pull out unless the road is clear but this
> edging, creeping forward at junctions

I find it's not so much the way ahead being unclear but red lights and
advance stop lines. It's as if some cars are unable to simply
stop. They keep creeping and you get the feeling if they were
distracted they might flatten you without even knowing. I really think
the plod should come down hard on this.

Jon
 
On Jun 10, 9:25 am, Jonathan Schneider <[email protected]>
wrote:
> spindrift <[email protected]> writes:
> > You're not supposed to pull out unless the road is clear but this
> > edging, creeping forward at junctions
>
> I find it's not so much the way ahead being unclear but red lights and
> advance stop lines. It's as if some cars are unable to simply
> stop. They keep creeping and you get the feeling if they were
> distracted they might flatten you without even knowing. I really think
> the plod should come down hard on this.
>
> Jon

I meant junctions, as you filter you come across a car halfway out of
the junction, blocking the whole lane. This is an offence.
 
On Tue, 10 Jun 2008 01:40:27 -0700 (PDT)
spindrift <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> I meant junctions, as you filter you come across a car halfway out of
> the junction, blocking the whole lane. This is an offence.

But the only way they get out in less than 10 minutes - other drivers
won't let them out so they have to grab any opportunity. If I'm
sitting in a queue I tend to leave junctions clear so other cars can
turn or pull out in front of me, because I'd like it if others did the
same. There's one junction nearby that I regularly end up sitting
partly in the yellow box just because it's the only way to make any sort
of progress. I'd rather not do it - that particular trip is quicker
and easier by bike during peak traffic times, but until I get SWMBO
used to the idea that you can do most supermarket trips by bike (if I
ever do) I just have to live with the guilt.
 
On 10 Jun, 09:14, spindrift <[email protected]> wrote:
> This happened on London Bridge this morning, middle lane stationary so
> a black cabbie edged out into my lane. I can still undertake and do
> so, then he squeezes past much too close just to get to the jam up
> ahead. Pointless barging and bullying, cars edge out and carry on even
> after they've seen you and know a cyclist is there.
>
> You're not supposed to pull out unless the road is clear but this
> edging, creeping forward at junctions is getting more common I
> reckon. Some of the twonks do that dead-ahead blank stare if you
> remonstrate.
>

I totally empathise. Another common one is someone over takes you to
turn left, cutting you up. Stuff like this makes me want to get a
motor scooter (I am considering it).

I think we should all carry aerosol-style fog horns, mounted to the
handle bars. A quick blast from that would let drivers know you're
there. ;)
 
On Tue, 10 Jun 2008 09:25:26 +0100
Jonathan Schneider <[email protected]> wrote:

> spindrift <[email protected]> writes:
>
> > You're not supposed to pull out unless the road is clear but this
> > edging, creeping forward at junctions
>
> I find it's not so much the way ahead being unclear but red lights and
> advance stop lines. It's as if some cars are unable to simply
> stop. They keep creeping and you get the feeling if they were
> distracted they might flatten you without even knowing. I really think
> the plod should come down hard on this.
>
What is it with the creeping thing? There's a "traffic calming" scheme
on one of my regular trips where drivers often creep right up to the
restriction rather than waiting at the give way line, despite the fact
they then have to turn sharply to get around it. But they hang back
when waiting to turn right at lights, so the car behind them can't get
on to the junction until the next cycle. Driving standards are
abysmal, blah blah blah ...
 
"Rob Morley" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:20080610112838.072db898@bluemoon...
| On Tue, 10 Jun 2008 03:09:59 -0700 (PDT)
| bornfree <[email protected]> wrote:
|
| > I think we should all carry aerosol-style fog horns, mounted to the
| > handle bars. A quick blast from that would let drivers know you're
| > there. ;)
|
| http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=20105

Lovely devices, but only really of use in traffic - you can't use them on
off-road cycle paths, unless you're a cyclepath... (okay, old ones aren't
necessarily good ones)...and you sure as hell don't get 50 blasts from them
that are loud enough to register with folk in a steel/glass cage, 10
possibly....

pOB
 
On 10 Jun, 11:15, Rob Morley <[email protected]> wrote:
> On Tue, 10 Jun 2008 09:25:26 +0100
>
> Jonathan Schneider <[email protected]> wrote:
> > spindrift <[email protected]> writes:
>
> > > You're not supposed to pull out unless the road is clear but this
> > > edging, creeping forward at junctions
>
> > I find it's not so much the way ahead being unclear but red lights and
> > advance stop lines. It's as if some cars are unable to simply
> > stop. They keep creeping and you get the feeling if they were
> > distracted they might flatten you without even knowing. I really think
> > the plod should come down hard on this.
>
> What is it with the creeping thing?

It's an impatience thing. And the fact that they don't use their
handbrake, so their foot gets tired on the clutch, hence they lift it
to rest and the car moves forward.
 
On 10 Jun, 11:51, "PoB" <[email protected]> wrote:
> "Rob Morley" <[email protected]> wrote in message
>
> news:20080610112838.072db898@bluemoon...
> | On Tue, 10 Jun 2008 03:09:59 -0700 (PDT)| bornfree <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> |
> | > I think we should all carry aerosol-style fog horns, mounted to the
> | > handle bars. A quick blast from that would let drivers know you're
> | > there. ;)
> |
> |http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=20105
>
> Lovely devices, but only really of use in traffic - you can't use them on
> off-road cycle paths, unless you're a cyclepath...

Can you recommend a really loud bell? I have a compact one, that
doesn't quite do the job properly.
 
"bornfree" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:769e3a8e-6ba3-
|
| Can you recommend a really loud bell? I have a compact one, that
| doesn't quite do the job properly.

Alas, no. I have my little 1.99 pinger for paths and tracks, as a gentle
hint to other folk that I'm there, and my Air Zound for roads - although, I
have to confess to having used it a grand total of once in the four years
I've had it - by the time I've dodged the other road user whom I'd like to
warn of my presence, the time to warn them is long past, and it would only
be a rebuke, so I tend to swear fluently, in about 4 languages, under my
breath, instead, which, again alas, doesn't get the message across.

pOB
 
On Tue, 10 Jun 2008 11:51:07 +0100, "PoB" <[email protected]> wrote:

>
>"Rob Morley" <[email protected]> wrote in message
>news:20080610112838.072db898@bluemoon...
>| On Tue, 10 Jun 2008 03:09:59 -0700 (PDT)
>| bornfree <[email protected]> wrote:
>|
>| > I think we should all carry aerosol-style fog horns, mounted to the
>| > handle bars. A quick blast from that would let drivers know you're
>| > there. ;)
>|
>| http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=20105
>
>Lovely devices, but only really of use in traffic - you can't use them on
>off-road cycle paths, unless you're a cyclepath... (okay, old ones aren't
>necessarily good ones)...and you sure as hell don't get 50 blasts from them
>that are loud enough to register with folk in a steel/glass cage, 10
>possibly....
>
>pOB
>
Oh I don't know. There is a rudimentary volume control, and if you use
it from far enough away it doesn't completely scare the living
daylights out of the peds. A short pip is quite effective. I cycle
quite a lot in Windsor Great Park. I use a slightly longer pip for the
walk-on-one-side-of-the-road-whilst-the-dog-is-on-the-practically-invisible-expanding-lead-on-the-other-side
type of ped though.
Pete
 
On 10/06/2008 11:51, PoB wrote:
> | http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=20105
>
> Lovely devices, but only really of use in traffic - you can't use them on
> off-road cycle paths

So why not fit an AirZound /and/ a bell? Anyway, while you wouldn't
usually want to blast a ped with an AirZound they can still be quite
useful for those who are too oblivious to their surroundings to notice
the sound of a bell (typically groups of teenagers or individuals
listening to loud music).

> and you sure as hell don't get 50 blasts from them
> that are loud enough to register with folk in a steel/glass cage, 10
> possibly....

The chances of needing > 10 blasts in one journey are minuscule, and it
doesn't take long to pump it back up again.

--
Danny Colyer <http://www.redpedals.co.uk>
Reply address is valid, but that on my website is checked more often
"The plural of anecdote is not data" - Frank Kotsonis
 
spindrift wrote:
> This happened on London Bridge this morning, middle lane stationary so
> a black cabbie edged out into my lane. I can still undertake and do
> so, then he squeezes past much too close just to get to the jam up
> ahead. Pointless barging and bullying, cars edge out and carry on even
> after they've seen you and know a cyclist is there.
>
>
> You're not supposed to pull out unless the road is clear but this
> edging, creeping forward at junctions is getting more common I
> reckon. Some of the twonks do that dead-ahead blank stare if you
> remonstrate.
>
> "I'm not looking at you, so you can't see me, right!"

That's London for you.

No-one's bothered, really.
 

>
> I think we should all carry aerosol-style fog horns, mounted to the
> handle bars. A quick blast from that would let drivers know you're
> there. ;)

Well it certainly works when you hit the horn hard as you pass a cyclist.
;>)
 
On Jun 10, 9:14 am, spindrift <[email protected]> wrote:
> This happened on London Bridge this morning, middle lane stationary so
> a black cabbie edged out into my lane. I can still undertake and do
> so, then he squeezes past much too close just to get to the jam up
> ahead. Pointless barging and bullying, cars edge out and carry on even
> after they've seen you and know a cyclist is there.
>
>  You're not supposed to pull out unless the road is clear but this
> edging, creeping forward at junctions is getting more common I
> reckon.  Some of the twonks do that dead-ahead blank stare if you
> remonstrate.
>
> "I'm not looking at you, so you can't see me, right!"

Making more things up are we? I hope you're taking every one of your
different pills each day. They're for your own good (and ours).
 
On Tue, 10 Jun 2008 13:09:24 -0700 (PDT), Nuxx Bar
<[email protected]> said in
<7d1cc8ee-8af6-413f-ba0f-ee39fd87a179@m36g2000hse.googlegroups.com>:

>Making more things up are we?

So you and Spindrift are making things up? I can live with that.
Your fantasies are more delusional than his, though.

Guy
--
May contain traces of irony. Contents liable to settle after posting.
http://www.chapmancentral.co.uk

85% of helmet statistics are made up, 69% of them at CHS, Puget Sound
 
spindrift <[email protected]> wrote:

> On Jun 10, 9:25 am, Jonathan Schneider <[email protected]>
> wrote:
> > spindrift <[email protected]> writes:
> > > You're not supposed to pull out unless the road is clear but this
> > > edging, creeping forward at junctions
> >
> > I find it's not so much the way ahead being unclear but red lights and
> > advance stop lines. It's as if some cars are unable to simply
> > stop. They keep creeping and you get the feeling if they were
> > distracted they might flatten you without even knowing. I really think
> > the plod should come down hard on this.

> I meant junctions, as you filter you come across a car halfway out of
> the junction, blocking the whole lane. This is an offence.

Increasingly, I think we ought to look into giving priority to the left.
As a motorist, I regularly block a lane when turning right out of my
street as the alternative, all too frequently, would be not to go to
work as there are days when the traffic is incessant. Indeed, I often
adopt a similar approach to the right turn out of my street when I'm
cycling.

I also often cede priority to people who are indicating to turn right
out of side roads. I know there are people on here who think this is
foolish and dangerous. I would disagree: I observe what is going on
around me and drive sufficiently cautiously that traffic still flows:
more often than not, within a quarter of a mile or so, I find that I
have caught up with the vehicles ahead.

Cheers,
Luke


--
Red Rose Ramblings, the diary of an Essex boy in
exile in Lancashire <http://www.shrimper.org.uk>
 
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