Just a little insight.

[Slick]

So, making my way to the station in Warrington, I was almost taken out by a motorist. The rights and wrongs of it are pretty irrelevant to this thread as I knew immediately there were things I should have done differently but she did pull out on me.

The bit that really got me was that I made eye contact with her, and she still kept coming, absolutely no intention of stopping, and as I grabbed as much brake as I could, I even did that thing you do as a kid and use your feet for a brake and even then I thought she was going to hit me until I actually lifted the front end of my bike out her path.

She then just looked at me like she had stepped in something, which actually made me laugh out loud. She then reversed back into the junction she came from but never taking her eyes of me and muttering away to herself and giving me the death stare.

I would dearly love to sit down with someone like that and watch cctv footage and go over what was it they were feeling and thinking when she saw a cyclist coming down the road?

I realise you only have one version to go by, but believe me, if looks could kill, I'd be long gone.

 

[DRM]

Because they look, but they do not see, just out of interest was there a car/van/lorry a short distance behind you, as they see that, but not you who just happens to be closer, I'd put money on it if the driver had looked away for a split second then back you would have been noticed

 

[Slick]

Because they look, but they do not see, just out of interest was there a car/van/lorry a short distance behind you, as they see that, but not you who just happens to be closer, I'd put money on it if the driver had looked away for a split second then back you would have been noticed

I Don't think so.

It was a short but very wide downhill section and she was coming out what looked to me like a carpark. Parked Cars may have been obstructing her view a bit, which was why I was particularly aware of her and looking at her, but initially felt in no danger.

She had to come out a very long way to get me, and even the angle she came out couldn't have been worse as she would have been in my lane for much longer than would have been necessary had she just went straight across to her own side of the road.

 

[Gwylan]

Have had similar. And wondered what I'd eaten to become invisible. High Vis jacket and helmet, lights too sometimes.

I shouted at on coming driver who bore down on me at speed. He told me, with invective, I that he hadn't seen me and I was blocking his path.

There seems an assumption that when the available road is narrow then the cyclist should be able to shrink, vanish, evaporate and allow the unimpeded progress of the larger, more important vehicle.

 

[Drago]

That's why I don't give any credence to the old 'eye contact' malarkey. It's failed me far to many times for there to be any truth in it.

 

[Pat "5mph"]

Because they look, but they do not see

This.
The most dangerous part of my commute is coming out of the work's car park on my bike.
Even the car park attendant has noticed how many drivers "don't see" me!
I put hi-viz on when leaving in daylight purely because of this. Sometimes, I just walk the bike out to the road.
I have noticed that when on a bike often I become invisible to pedestrians too: how many times they step out on the road, see me coming but still proceed.

 

[DRM]

This.
The most dangerous part of my commute is coming out of the work's car park on my bike.
Even the car park attendant has noticed how many drivers "don't see" me!
I put hi-viz on when leaving in daylight purely because of this. Sometimes, I just walk the bike out to the road.
I have noticed that when on a bike often I become invisible to pedestrians too: how many times they step out on the road, see me coming but still proceed.

They see something else, but don't see the smaller vehicle, they focus on the larger one, but miss the smaller one be it a bicycle or motor bike, there's a name for it, but fighter pilots are made to keep looking all over so that they pick up everything in view.
Edit It's called Visual Scanning, constantly looking around, then coming back to where they looked the pilot notes more things around them

 

[Cycleops]

She made eye contact with you but the problem was there was nothing behind the eyes.

 

[Slick]

They see something else, but don't see the smaller vehicle, they focus on the larger one, but miss the smaller one be it a bicycle or motor bike, there's a name for it, but fighter pilots are made to keep looking all over so that they pick up everything in view.
Edit It's called Visual Scanning, constantly looking around, then coming back to where they looked the pilot notes more things around them

Whilst I'm sure you are correct, I don't think it was true in this case. Obviously i could be wrong, but it just felt like she saw me and expected me to yeild, then got all indignant when i didn't. There will be some who would say i should have, but i don't think so.

 

[Slick]

In other news, I got to the station and am now in that there London town. Cycled out to Stratford and the only hassle was those damn cyclists.

 

[ColinJ]

I experienced the look but don't see OR look and see but don't think thing on a local ride yesterday...

A man was walking his very large dog along the pavement ahead of me on my left, in the same direction as me. The dog heard me coming, turned, then stepped out into the road just in front of me. The man turned to to see what the dog was looking at, 'made eye contact' (or didn't really!), then followed his dog out into the road.

I shouted at him (and the dog!), swerved violently, and passed within cm of the snout of the dog. The dog had stopped dead but the owner had carried on and almost tripped over it. At no point did he show any sign of realising what the hell was going on!

Maybe he was just skunked out of his brains? If not, I don't know what his excuse would be...

 

[Gwylan]

I experienced the look but don't see OR look and see but don't think thing on a local ride yesterday...

A man was walking his very large dog along the pavement ahead of me on my left, in the same direction as me. The dog heard me coming, turned, then stepped out into the road just in front of me. The man turned to to see what the dog was looking at, 'made eye contact' (or didn't really!), then followed his dog out into the road.

I shouted at him (and the dog!), swerved violently, and passed within cm of the snout of the dog. The dog had stopped dead but the owner had carried on and almost tripped over it. At no point did he show any sign of realising what the hell was going on!

Maybe he was just skunked out of his brains? If not, I don't know what his excuse would be...

Did he have headphones on? The man, not the dog
Or busy texting, again the man.
The dog leaves wee mail.

 

[rogerzilla]

Some drivers regard cyclists as near-stationary objects. Some people are quite poor at judging speed and distance, too.

 

[gcogger]

That's why I don't give any credence to the old 'eye contact' malarkey. It's failed me far to many times for there to be any truth in it.

I don't think it's black and white. I find making eye contact usually helps even if it's not 100% effective.

 

[Slick]

Some drivers regard cyclists as near-stationary objects. Some people are quite poor at judging speed and distance, too.

I get that, and am now of an age where I accept that. I was prepared for some kind of acknowledgement that she was sorry she didn't see me, to which I would have replied with a wave and a smile, no harm no foul. What prompted the thread was the fact that she was incensed that I was somehow blocking her path. You probably had to see the look of disdain to fully appreciate her annoyance, which in turn left me flabbergasted.