Near miss this morning (was I in the wrong)

alleycat`

Bit of both would be my view.

The Biker has done himself no favours by not anticipating your likely maneuver based on prevailing traffic conditions.

It does sound like you haven't anticipated the parked cars soon enough to put yourself in the correct position (but it is hard to judge).

As to the biker:-

When you are the most vulnerable you should be looking to protect yourself at every opportunity and not relying on someone picking you out.

It is all well and good having the moral high ground but not when you are getting scraped off the back of a car.

It is actually getting worse in my neck of the woods as bikers, more specifically mopeds on "L's", are now using the cycle lanes to cut under traffic whilst having the big bikes overtake you on the other side.

It amazes me the amount of Mopeds that will try undercut lorries.

LittleMax

I had similar happen yesterday evening, but with a push bike. There was a parked car half on the pavement and just enough room for the traffic to get round. However as I came up to the parked car, there was a bus coming in the opposite direction and so not quite enough room for me to get round so I waited until the bus had passed. As I started off again something caught my eye in my periphery vision and I immediately stopped to then take in that it was a guy on a pushbike overtaking me on my right! I realised I hadn't properly checked my mirrors before pulling off and it has taught me a lesson. But he was a complete idiot. However had I hit him, I'm sure it would have been my fault even though he was a d1cx!

Velcro_Hotdog

Judging by the coments it looks like I could have done things better as could the biker (thanks for the feedback) Thankfully in this case no one was hurt.

ILW

artbaron wrote: »

It's always helpful to check your mirrors but in this case there was no requirement, if as you say you didn't cross the white line. And it sounds like you were correct not to indicate. Indicating signifies you're changing course from the default - if you were just making room for a parked car it would have been the wrong thing to do. Stopping behind the parked car would have been bad driving given that you had space to go around it. The biker was 100% in the wrong and a !!!!!! to boot.

Cobblers, mirrors should be checked before and maneuver and when approaching any hazard.

Richard53

^^^ This. (Alleycat's post 12)

This sounds like a classic 50/50 ball. The rider should have anticipated your movement and not placed himself in a position of danger. But you should have checked your mirror and if necessary indicated. A lot of drivers think that as long as they stay in their lane there is no need to look or indicate, but this is wrong. IAM, RoSPA etc would say that if you make any deviation in your course you should check it is safe to do so, and if necessary indicate your intentions. Whether you cross a white line or not is irrelevant.

But a good rider would be aware of all this and make allowances. I ride down the side of traffic queues all the time, but never into oncoming traffic, and I try not to inconvenience anyone else. Panic braking and making cars behind you swerve is bad manners and poor road craft.

Bear in mind that shouting and swearing at other motorists is often the result of an adrenaline rush, and the rider may well be beating himself up later when he calms down.

Hintza

neilmcl wrote: »

You overtook a stationary vehicle without check your mirrors, so yes you were (at least partly) to blame. The rider should share the blame for not reading the road conditions and the time at attempting an overtake in a dangerous position.

I think your wring on this one Neil. The biker was driving (at least) without due care and consideration and possibly worse.

Richard53

Velcro_Hotdog wrote: »

Judging by the coments it looks like I could have done things better as could the biker (thanks for the feedback) Thankfully in this case no one was hurt.

Agree completely. Well done for not assuming you are perfect.

cb1979

At this time of the year there will be lots of motorcycles re-appearing on the roads after the winter so all road uses will have to be a bit more aware of them

Yes you do need to check your mirrors before moving out and indicate but the biker should have read the road better and expected a moving car to pull out to pass a stationary vehicle, and as a biker he should treat all other road users as idiots and ride accordingly
By the way I am a biker who has been riding for 45 years and I give all other vehicles and cyclists a wide berth when overtaking and always expect them to do anything stupid at all times

neilmcl

Hintza wrote: »

I think your wring on this one Neil. The biker was driving (at least) without due care and consideration and possibly worse.

That doesn't mean the driver wasn't partly to blame for not checking his surroundings before making the maneuver.

JimmyTheWig

Did you know where the biker was before you pulled out?
If not, is there anything that you could have done to know where he was? If so, then you were in the wrong as you should have done that. If not, there's nothing different you could have done so not your fault.

If you did know where the biker was, was it clear that he was planning on overtaking you? In which case indicating might have helped. E.g. if he's just overtaken each of the last three cars behind you it's pretty clear he'll want to overtake you. Likewise if he has been behind you for sometime and keeps hovering as if he is going to overtake. But if he's just been behind you for some time quite happily I'd say there was nothing else you could have done.