Nearly knocked some bloke off his bike at a roundabout this evening on the way home from work. Entirely my fault - first rule is to not drive where you haven't looked.

But still, he didn't do himself any favours. Bottom of the A5 past MK, dual carriageway, I'm in the right lane, indicating right, waiting for my turn to go. The two cars infront of me went, there's now nothing infront of me, eyes glued to the right looking for the next gap (typical big roundabout in rush hour, you're looking for a gap, not a written invitation), there's my gap, go to boot it and swing left onto the roundabout and there's the bike sat infront of my left corner having just crept up the inside. JUST managed to avoid contact but was bloody close, he caught up with me at the next roundabout and we had a bit of a set to.

Like I said at the start, it was (or would have been) my fault, but I fail to see the value in having "it wasn't MY fault" or "I was *technically* correct" written on a headstone, surely he should be a bit more pragmatic and not creep up and then park on the inside of a car that's guaranteed to launch away and left at any second and where the driver is definitely looking to his right? I get how lorry drivers feel about people undertaking or hanging around in their blind spots.

/half rant

I don't see how it is your fault. You arrived at the junction first and he undertook cars to get to the front. Just because a bike can slip between traffic due to it's size, doesn't make it legal for them to do it.

The vast majority of bikers I see on the roads all appear to want to die, so don't worry about it!

Once saw a motorcyclist taken clean off his bike as he overtook a car waiting to turn right. And yes, the car moved off. You could say well the driver should have looked in his mirror and blindspot first. But then again it's pretty stupid to overtake a car waiting to turn right.

fully agree with all the above most bikers (motorized or not) seem to be very good a getting in the wrong place they blaming the motorist when they get hit.

My pet hate are the ones that weave up between two lines of slow traffic.

Once saw a motorcyclist taken clean off his bike as he overtook a car waiting to turn right. And yes, the car moved off. You could say well the driver should have looked in his mirror and blindspot first. But then again it's pretty stupid to overtake a car waiting to turn right.

Just like that advert on the telly a while back, now you see him, now you don't, now you see him, now you see him. How come its the drivers fault when a bike overtakes when waiting to turn right with your indicator on??

I have the same pet hate with bikes, powered or otherwise: I always try to overtake bikes as if they're cars, so when I'm stationary and a bike scrapes its way up alongside the kerb I know that when we move away I'm not giving it the space it needs.. and that's NOT MY FAULT! I try to 'Think Bike' all the time and will move & wave bikers past on country roads if I know they can get going faster than I can, but it would help if bikers would 'Think Common-bloody-sense' once in a while..

It doesn't help when muppets like that minister in charge of alternative transport thinks all car drivers should automatically be at fault if they collide with a bike because 'bikers don't set out to have accidents'. Cue the wave of compensation seeking scumbags buying scrappers for a tenner and launching themselves out at junctions..

I don't see how it is your fault. You arrived at the junction first and he undertook cars to get to the front. Just because a bike can slip between traffic due to it's size, doesn't make it legal for them to do it.

Filtering is not illegal.

I have to say that I agree with the OP almost entirely: Yes, would have been your fault, but a real pet hate of mine is bikers hiding in the blind spots. I'm fine with bikes filtering, but some need to be more careful about it.

Stuff

I personally wouldn't have done what this biker did.. from what you have said I would have assessed the situation differently and perhaps tucked in behind you and infront of the car one behind you, which would put me in the middle of your lane rather than into a position where it's likely that I wouldn't be seen.

It is a pretty stupid thing to have done really, but many bikers out there have a deathwish and it's a shame you met one of them as it gives the safer riders a bad name.

Sounds as if the biker put himself in a dangerous position. There are good and bad bike riders, just as there are good and bad car drivers, the door swings both ways.

Wow you all seem to be Anti biker ,try riding one ,then you will see some bad driving !

Wow you all seem to be Anti biker

Give it time. This threads only been going a few hours

Wow you all seem to be Anti biker ,try riding one ,then you will see some bad driving !

Yep I'd never want to ride a bike And if I did I'd be doing my best not to end up underneath cars.

Sounds as though he was trying to be a bit too ambitious and should of filtered in behind...

I'm very anti-biker at the moment since a biker threw himself into the teg. :( I'm running around in a 1.6 Astra atm whilst it's being repaired.

man, this reminds me of a time i was travelling down the M4, pulled into the 3rd lane to overtake. That was uneventful, looked into my mirror and indicated to pull back into the 3nd lane and................mmmmeeeooowwwwmmmmmm. Motorbike undertook me and he must have been doing 140+

THis scared the living sh@t out of me because if he had gone into the back of the car, there would have been nothing left.

I don't see how it is your fault. You arrived at the junction first and he undertook cars to get to the front. Just because a bike can slip between traffic due to it's size, doesn't make it legal for them to do it.

It does not make it illegal either, filtering is perfectly legit. I get annoyed at seeing dog poop on the street, just because it falls out of their butt does not mean the owner can't pick it up

Edited 17 April, 200917 yr by Fluffmeister

I have to say that I agree with the OP almost entirely: Yes, would have been your fault, but a real pet hate of mine is bikers hiding in the blind spots. I'm fine with bikes filtering, but some need to be more careful about it.

How do we know where a cars blind spots are, with cars sporting ever thicker A pillars, B pillars, tints, stereos kicking out bangin choonz, drivers on the phone hands free or otherwise.

Some car drivers seem to have an inability to turn their head and look, mirrors don't always show you full picture of whats going on around.

Sounds as though he was trying to be a bit too ambitious and should of filtered in behind...

I'm very anti-biker at the moment since a biker threw himself into the teg. :( I'm running around in a 1.6 Astra atm whilst it's being repaired.

Any more info .... any blame on your part, diesel on the road, oil spill, cold tyres, or did the biker just get up one morning, see a spanky white japanese car and think .... "**** it, I think I will go ram into that .................Banzai!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Wow you all seem to be Anti biker ,try riding one ,then you will see some bad driving !

I can assure you I am very pro biker. I give them the same room as a car, and always try to position my car so they know I have seen them when they are setting up for an overtake. I look for bikes at every junction and roundabout. I get lots of thank you waves from bikers, but, as with any other road user, there are some really bad bikers on the roads.

I can assure you I am very pro biker. I give them the same room as a car, and always try to position my car so they know I have seen them when they are setting up for an overtake. I look for bikes at every junction and roundabout. I get lots of thank you waves from bikers, but, as with any other road user, there are some really bad bikers on the roads.

I agree 100% with your last comment, but this thread will degenerate pretty quickly, a lot of car drivers here appear to be driving gods, quick to point a finger, after all there are no bad car drivers .... not even the white 106 rallye that overtook me at 70 +mph in the right hand gutter of the A49 tonight as I had already pulled out into the overtaking lane after signalling to overtake the truck in front. He crossed double whites and forced what looked like an Octy heading southbound to just slam on as he had nowhere to go.........

but it would help if bikers would 'Think Common-bloody-sense' once in a while..

.

We are not all the same mate, are all car drivers perfect? you could browse certain parts of briskoda and find examples of pretty stupid car driving as well. There are idiot's on both sides of the equation.

I agree 100% with your last comment, but this thread will degenerate pretty quickly, a lot of car drivers here appear to be driving gods, quick to point a finger, after all there are no bad car drivers .... not even the white 106 rallye that overtook me at 70 +mph in the right hand gutter of the A49 tonight as I had already pulled out into the overtaking lane after signalling to overtake the truck in front. He crossed double whites and forced what looked like an Octy heading southbound to just slam on as he had nowhere to go.........

I would say like for like, there are more bad car drivers than bad bikers. I used to make in car road safety videos with a CCTV equipped car. On a bad day, I would guess only 20% of car drivers were on the ball and using 100% attention. Thats' what makes a bike so dangerous to ride these days. Car usually wins when something goes wrong. One thing I cannot stand, is car drivers who try to block bikers from filtering through slow moving or stationary traffic. That's just plain mean, and very bad manners.

I would say like for like, there are more bad car drivers than bad bikers. I used to make in car road safety videos with a CCTV equipped car. On a bad day, I would guess only 20% of car drivers were on the ball and using 100% attention. Thats' what makes a bike so dangerous to ride these days. Car usually wins when something goes wrong. One thing I cannot stand, is car drivers who try to block bikers from filtering through slow moving or stationary traffic. That's just plain mean, and very bad manners.

There are probably more bad car drivers because there are simply more car drivers on the road. The car test is simpler to pass than the bike test, from my side of the "community" my pet hate is "born again bikers" that passed their test in the 70's, last road an old Bonneville and now they have more cash, come back to biking for the buzz and splash out on a GSXR1000. They have no idea just how quick 170kg's of bike is when it has close to 170bhp. I saw a few guys that met the description over in Llangollen last weekend, they were a liability, almost out of control on the straights and wobbling 2 degree's off the vertical round corners.

Any more info .... any blame on your part, diesel on the road, oil spill, cold tyres, or did the biker just get up one morning, see a spanky white japanese car and think .... "**** it, I think I will go ram into that .................Banzai!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

No blame on my part, I was stationary in a queue of traffic, conditions were good, he was just riding too fast, low sided and skidded into me.

I think this explains it, I'm X and the line is the bikers path...