ApologeticMotorist
Regular
Hi everyone, I'm not sure if this is the right place to post and I'm hoping it is ok to put this here.
Yesterday evening, I was driving up a road that is on a fairly steep incline and has cars parked along the entire length. It is a 20mph zone and has cross hatch markings along the length rather than a single broken white line. I was travelling at about 15mph. I spotted a cyclist up ahead so moved out to pass him at a safe distance which meant my wheels were up against the lane separation and slightly into the cross hatch markings.
We were approaching a narrow junction to the left which is obscured by cars since they park right upto it on both sides. I was passing the cyclist, he was at the rear side panel of my car when a car travelling in the opposite direction suddenly and sharply pulled slightly into my side of the road in order to turn into the junction. He didn't need to do this, as there was nobody behind him and he had ample room in his lane to pull up level with the junction without causing an obstruction. This driver may not have seen the cyclist as he was possibly blocked from vision by my car, but he was so close to the parked cars that I had barely enough room to move through and for that reason alone, it was dangerous as it forced me to take evasive action. Because I was overtaking the cyclist and the parked cars, and his sudden manouvre, I was forced to break and swerve into the junction gap to avoid hitting the car turning right in front of me. At that precise moment, another car came to the end of the junction on the left, overshooting it. So what started as a safe manouvre from my perspective, suddenly turned into a potential accident. My gap all of a sudden narrowed to barely a cars width and I had to react quickly, on autopilot as you do in an emergency situation. This all happened so quickly that I didn't even gasp or utter an expletive which is what I normally do when witnessing dangerous driving.
My partner was in the car at the time and he agreed that the driver moving into my lane was at fault and that my actions were unavoidable. I'm not sure how much the cyclist saw, I'm going to presume that he didn't see the actions of the driver trying to turn right because he was next to my car and naturally will have been focused on my car. I didn't hit him, I was aware of him the whole time but I was forced into making a snap decision and I know I will have swerved into his path which must have been absolutely terrifying for him.
The cyclist began banging very hard on the back of my car and I allowed him to pass me. I rolled down my window to apologise and explain what had just happened but he was extremely angry (of course) and was shouting at me saying 'I'm a person too you know', swore and called me a nasty name. My partner tried to tell him also that it was the other drivers fault but he was shouting 'it was your fault'. I was extremely upset and in shock as well but considered pulling over to calmly explain but my partner was also getting angry at the name calling and the cyclist didn't look like he wanted to talk to me so I carried on.
I'm feeling awfully guilty that I gave the cyclist such a fright and upset that he thinks I don't care about cyclists. I am always respectful of cyclists, always give enough room when passing or wait behind if it is not safe to pass at a distance. I regret that I wasn't able to apologise to him. I know he's unlikely to see this message but I wanted to put an apology somewhere and say that not all drivers hate cyclists or have no respect for their right to use the roads too.
Thank you for reading if you got this far.
Yesterday evening, I was driving up a road that is on a fairly steep incline and has cars parked along the entire length. It is a 20mph zone and has cross hatch markings along the length rather than a single broken white line. I was travelling at about 15mph. I spotted a cyclist up ahead so moved out to pass him at a safe distance which meant my wheels were up against the lane separation and slightly into the cross hatch markings.
We were approaching a narrow junction to the left which is obscured by cars since they park right upto it on both sides. I was passing the cyclist, he was at the rear side panel of my car when a car travelling in the opposite direction suddenly and sharply pulled slightly into my side of the road in order to turn into the junction. He didn't need to do this, as there was nobody behind him and he had ample room in his lane to pull up level with the junction without causing an obstruction. This driver may not have seen the cyclist as he was possibly blocked from vision by my car, but he was so close to the parked cars that I had barely enough room to move through and for that reason alone, it was dangerous as it forced me to take evasive action. Because I was overtaking the cyclist and the parked cars, and his sudden manouvre, I was forced to break and swerve into the junction gap to avoid hitting the car turning right in front of me. At that precise moment, another car came to the end of the junction on the left, overshooting it. So what started as a safe manouvre from my perspective, suddenly turned into a potential accident. My gap all of a sudden narrowed to barely a cars width and I had to react quickly, on autopilot as you do in an emergency situation. This all happened so quickly that I didn't even gasp or utter an expletive which is what I normally do when witnessing dangerous driving.
My partner was in the car at the time and he agreed that the driver moving into my lane was at fault and that my actions were unavoidable. I'm not sure how much the cyclist saw, I'm going to presume that he didn't see the actions of the driver trying to turn right because he was next to my car and naturally will have been focused on my car. I didn't hit him, I was aware of him the whole time but I was forced into making a snap decision and I know I will have swerved into his path which must have been absolutely terrifying for him.
The cyclist began banging very hard on the back of my car and I allowed him to pass me. I rolled down my window to apologise and explain what had just happened but he was extremely angry (of course) and was shouting at me saying 'I'm a person too you know', swore and called me a nasty name. My partner tried to tell him also that it was the other drivers fault but he was shouting 'it was your fault'. I was extremely upset and in shock as well but considered pulling over to calmly explain but my partner was also getting angry at the name calling and the cyclist didn't look like he wanted to talk to me so I carried on.
I'm feeling awfully guilty that I gave the cyclist such a fright and upset that he thinks I don't care about cyclists. I am always respectful of cyclists, always give enough room when passing or wait behind if it is not safe to pass at a distance. I regret that I wasn't able to apologise to him. I know he's unlikely to see this message but I wanted to put an apology somewhere and say that not all drivers hate cyclists or have no respect for their right to use the roads too.
Thank you for reading if you got this far.
