Another near miss...could have been a bad one

Going around a huge roundabout. It's a strange one as the left and middle lane go to the right and the right hand lane goes back around the roundabout.

I'm in the middle lane, guy in front moves cross into the right lane as the lights change. Going around and just at the point where the 2 left lanes go left and peel off onto the dual carriageway when this clown decides he's going to miss his turn so he cuts sharply straight across the chevrons and rams his way in between me and the Armco!!! Luckily I'm just in the middle of changing from a right bank to left so I was upright enough to be able to brake. Then the idiot notices what he's done, spots me and hits the brakes !!!

****, I was very nearly under his back wheel.

Absolutely shocking driving. Another case of the driver too busy watching and listing to his Tom Tom rather than looking where he was going.

I pulled alongside and gave him some verbal but he wouldn't even look at me met let alone a wave of apology. I slowed down so I could get behind him and follow him and get his plate and be was down to 15mph, would not come past me.

Absolute ****. I was fuming for hours afterwards.

[utopia]

Its a problem, be it sat-nav induced or just panic in a strange town.
Unfortunately, the subconcious mindset of most car drivers is that its a dented wing at worst, so their attitude is lacking. Its surprisingly easy to drift into the car driver mindset. I did it myself to a small extent during my decade on four wheels.
It sounds like your guy was embarassed though, so hopefully he's learn't something.
There will always be another one though. All we can do is learn how better to avoid them. Glad you managed it on this occaision.

I did once hear that an Indian minister, when asked to state what the rules of the road actually were in India, replied that the general rule was that if you had an accident you'd be in the sh1t, so they should be avoided, by all means possible.......

[jerry]

seems a lot of this problem recently, i have had several near misses caused by idiots over the last few days could it be the sun affecting them?

[singletrack]

It happens too often doesn't it phatty. I always expect anyone at a roundabout to cut me up.

My 22 year old daughter had a near accident in her car yesterday. It was her fault, but a genuine mistake. The other guy opened his window, shouted some VERY obscene words at her and acted very threatening towards her.
She panicked, pulled over when he had gone and sat in a lay-by crying for half an hour until I could calm her down by phone. She was upset at the mistake she had made but frightened and more upset about his behaviour.
Now I am finding it difficult to get her to drive her car. She even struggled to be able to drive home.

Sometimes we just have to agree the other person is an idiot and move on! Everyone can make a mistake (I am sure we have all done something stupid at some time).
You were fuming for ages afterwards. He was probably scared stiff about the scary motorbike rider who had been stalking him after a near miss.

Time to move on?

It's how I got my collar bone broke.
I don't understand why they just don't keep going round the roundabout and come off the second time round. It's what the bloody thing is for ...

I took my wife to the theatre last night on the bike, when we arrived she said "that thing is bloody noisy, it's given me a headache??" Anyway on the way home she realised the benifets of a noise bike.

Plonkers everywhere, this guy was on the phone going very slowly, wasn't sure what he was doing, then I go to overtake accelerating to about a whopping 20mph, when he tried to performs a U turn, no warning, i was watching him very closely, as i could see he was on the phone, I saw his front wheels start to turn, when i revved the engine and he hit the brakes hard and stopped and another car behind almost hit him. I cruised on by and he actually dropped his phone as i think I scared him with the noise,

I must agree with Singletrack, sometimes people do make an honest mistakes and unfortunately we are on the end of it, safe riding.

[gary tompkins]

I think mobile phones are still the biggest cause of RTA's and near misses. They even have done tests which prove using a hands free mobile is just as dangerous. I must see at least 1/2 a dozen people on phones every day driving to work. The law on phones hasn't been enforced properly by the police since day one... they blaim budget cuts and a lack of resources. It's funny how they still find time to nick bikers for loud exhausts, small numberplates, dark visors.. etc

We have a roundabout close to us where there are two lanes. As the dual carriageway is reached then those in the inside lane go into the outside lane of the dual carriageway and those on the left go into the inside lane.

However, you can guarantee that someone in the left will decide they want to go right around the roundabout and then end up in collision with those crossing from the right.

I always tell my mate to stay in the left, but he always ignores me and goes in the right....Followed by ****###$$$ he does it time and time again, so I have stopped explaining it to him, for some reason he just doesn't learn.

When I took my test in 94 or 3 I had to do it in Colchester.
It was the first time I had encountered a roundabout with traffic lights round it ie go a quarter way round and stop and so on ..... I thought it was dumb.

Now the trend here on roundabouts is to stick ped crossings right on the exit and traffic lights.
Basically you come round the roundabout go to exit off and wallop everyone has to brake and stop ... then the roundabout becomes congested chain reaction of people braking.

On a bike you get into that flow of round and off and wallop red light.
I thought a roundabout was to keep traffic free flowing.

The first one they did here caused Chaos and they removed it.
Now someone has been rolling it out over loads of our roundabouts.
They are literally as your about to turn off so you can't even turn off not a little bit along.

Im glad I no longer live by the Magic Roundabout in Swindon!

No that trend is up here in Nottingham as well and is just as stupid / dangerous.

Strangely being in a car is worse in traffic I find as it's harder to get out of the way of ****heads, and even when I was in my hilux I still got cut up!!

This one is strange because its so huge it doesn't feel like a roundabout, and there no straight on option. I you're on it you're generally going off at the right exit or back around.

I kind of had that sixth sense thing when I saw him go into the right lane and thought to myself why would he be going back where he's just come from. For that reason alone I held back a little bit so I could still see him. Sure enough he didnt know where we was going an did that reckless manouvre.

If I'd ignored him and gone a bit first alongside it'd have been a different story.

Gutted he wouldn't come past so I could get his reg. can't wait for a visit from the police when he's reported me for road rage. I know there's cameras on that roundabout :-)

[floyd]

i ride with the assumption that everyone around me is a twat! at every junction left or right of me i assume there pulling out i slow down move just my side of the centre line be ready to swerve,brake,accelerate whatever i think best at that second. on roundabouts when im about to leave if there is a car on my inside i hang back till his past my exit, these couple of things have saved me a few times, but you cant defend against everything.

I tend to ride like floyd always asume that they have'nt seen you and the same at roundabouts. Had a t**t on tuesday, 3 cars in front slowed down to about 20-30 mph for about 1/2 a mile around some bends so i could'nt overtake, i got to a straight dropped it dow past 2 and the one in front floored it and i had to pull back in behind else i would have gone around a left corner on the outside of him. He had a bunch of young lads in the car who were waving at me through the back window absolute knobs.