Safe Speed Forums

Oh dear, some cyclists are the same the world over.

https://uk.screen.yahoo.com/video/playl ... 35457.html

Watch the second video - the idiot cyclist tailgating an HGV. Brave? No. Stupid? Yes.

Third video - Watch a cyclist get squashed between a bus and a 4x4. His own fault for trying to squeeze through a narrowing gap. Notice how another idiot cyclist pedals through the same gap. Honestly, some people there's no talking to.

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Anyone who tells you that nothing is impossible has never bathed in a saucer of water.

and the first video where a bus driver purposely hassles the cyclist & then drives into the back of them ?
no context as to why the cyclist is dawdling, traffic looks busy so probably not gonna get too far.

ya gonna post on the other user groups for the dumb motorcyclist & driver videos on there too ?

ho hum... takes two to tango.

So which is more likely to result in a KSI: a 2 5ton bus tailgating a cyclist or a 1/10 ton cyclist tailgating a lorry? Answers on a postcard please. At least in the second situation the cyclist is in control whereas in the first he is being intimidated.

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When I see an adult on a bicycle, I do not despair for the future of the human race. H.G. Wells
When I see a youth in a motor car I do d.c.brown

I don't think the weight of the cyclist has any bearing on it. If the cyclist runs into the back of the lorry, when it slams it's airbrakes on at 30MPH, the cyclist is likely to be toast whether he weights one tenth of a tonne or twenty stone.

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My views do not represent Safespeed but those of a driver who has driven for 39 yrs, in all conditions, at all times of the day & night on every type of road and covered well over a million miles, so knows a bit about what makes for safety on the road,what is really dangerous and needs to be observed when driving and quite frankly, the speedo is way down on my list of things to observe to negotiate Britain's roads safely, but I don't expect some fool who sits behind a desk all day to appreciate that.

Tend to agree there... but then you've fallen into the trap of rational thinking
Plus out of the two clips, one ended in a collision the other not.

I drafted a royal mail artic up to about 40mph down a slight incline on tuesday, to get in the slipstream i was maybe only a couple of metres forward of a "comfortable" following distance. Eyeballs were slightly on stalks, the biggest hazard not being the truck suddenly braking but potholes & drain covers appearing from under it with little reaction time.

No greater risk than many drivers take blindly on a regular basis, and possibly less risk than doing ~10mph less than the traffic on a busy stretch of SC with double whites in the center.

The guy in the video is less than 6ft behind the lorry, he wouldn't even realise the lorry had started braking until they were shovelling earth on him.

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My views do not represent Safespeed but those of a driver who has driven for 39 yrs, in all conditions, at all times of the day & night on every type of road and covered well over a million miles, so knows a bit about what makes for safety on the road,what is really dangerous and needs to be observed when driving and quite frankly, the speedo is way down on my list of things to observe to negotiate Britain's roads safely, but I don't expect some fool who sits behind a desk all day to appreciate that.

Not defending the chap just trying to bring some perspective.

Clearly this is not a frequent occurence otherwise the video wouldn't be remarkable. Similar and worse risks are taken every minute of the day by thousands of motorists without even realising it, and i'm pretty sure this guy is very aware of the precarious situation he's chosen to put himself in.

When I was a Physics undergraduate I was also a daredevil cyclist who used to tailgate lorries across the Pennines from Manchester to Leeds for a weekend home. Our mechanics tutor seized on this to demonstrate something which is initially counter intuitive: for an unbraked cycle THE CLOSER YOU TAILGATE THE LESS SEVERE any collision will be.

To demonstrate this consider a frame of reference in which both the lorry and the cycle are stationary (and the road is whipping by at a great rate). Now if the lorry applies his brakes, in that frame he begins to accelerate backwards and the further away the cycle is the longer that acceleration takes place before the collision and thus the slower the collision.

At a distance of zero - cycle in contact the lorry - the collision speed is zero. Or, as seen in the frame of the road, the lorry pushes the cycle to a stop as it would an unbraked trailer.

This assumes of course that the cyclist does not apply his brakes. If he does he also moves backwards in the moving frame and if he does so quickly enough - enough braking force - both will stop before contact occurs.

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When I see an adult on a bicycle, I do not despair for the future of the human race. H.G. Wells
When I see a youth in a motor car I do d.c.brown

Humm it doesn't matter how many time I click on the link but I get :
1) the cyclist and the bus
2) the motorcyclist and the opening door
3) the lorry's load leaning over on a corner to the oncoming traffic

1) the cyclist is deliberating riding slowly for no apparent reason than to delay the bus. Who knows why and what has occurred previously but in any instance and from UK rules he is never to impede others progress. This is a form of 'road rage' that escalated in the cyclists bike being deliberately run into. Both actions are awful.

2) the rider was going far too quickly for the possibly hazards that might easily occur. Unless the door was opened deliberately (unlikely but possible), and frmo what I could see the traffic was still moving slowly so why open any door? If that vehicle was stopped albeit briefly they still failed to check for traffic. But many drivers/riders seem unable to look properly in some foreign shores!

3) The lorry might have had wind cause or assist this lean, but so might a shifting load, as well as the speed might have been too high for the corner and badly loaded goods for it to lean so dangerously. The oncoming car was incredibly lucky that it didn't fall on them!

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Safe Speed for Intelligent Road Safety through proper research, experience & guidance.

Leaving more gap ? That way you can see the hazards with more time to react if I understand you correctly.
DCB none of the 3 situations that I have seen has anyone 'innocent', bar the last clip and the car that the camera is in.

Edited to add :
Ahha found the cyclist tailgating lorry : https://uk.screen.yahoo.com/video/playl ... 00621.html

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Safe Speed for Intelligent Road Safety through proper research, experience & guidance.