whose at fault really?

T

twinkiex

Guest
I was riding down the bike lane last night. Suddenly a youngster on a road bike almost pulled in front of me turning right at a green light. I screamed and he stopped just before hitting me. He yelled at me to get the heck out of the bike lane, in whice I responded I cant go up to 20 in the bike lane. (I was doing 17) He said he almost hit me because he thought I was in the street and he had never seen a moterized bike before in a bike lane.
Then he cussed me out.
If he would have hit me whose fault would it have been legally? He estimated I was going much faster but I have a speedometer.
Near accidents always scare me.
 
twinkiex,

I don't know the law concerning bike lanes in your area but you've seen first hand something I also have noticed. That is that many bicyclist have little or no use for those of us that use motor assisted bicycles. I really am at a loss to understand this antagonism, as I consider myself a bicyclist. Most in the road biking community, in my experience, know very little about us or our hobby and could care less.
 
Cussed you out eh. What a pudd. I haven't had any trouble from anyone. I guess, it pays to be a large man.
 
I noticed the roadies we saw on mt lemon at the deathrace last year didn't look to kindly in our direction
but, he was in the wrong, and did the old 'let's yell at the victim to deflect my guilt' trip
(my 2 + 4 yr old granddaughters try it with grandpa all the time :LOL:)
 
I would have kept going but that's just me.
That guy is an #$^%#. I mean where does he expect you to ride? On the middle of the street in front of cars?
He needs to get a life.
You would win in court worst case senario just with that argument.
 
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Having spent a lot of time on road bikes and motorized bikes, I can tell you that the hard core spandex clad road bikers do not consider motorized bikes to be "real bikes" or their riders "real cyclists". People tend to put down what they don't understand. I believe most cyclists would be subject to the Whizzer motto "ride one and you'll buy one"....if you can get them to try an MB.
 
I've been in the bike lanes here going 20-25 mph into a strong headwind and have had several cyclist pull in behind me and ride in my draft.
Your can't turn right in a car when you are to the left of another so i doubt you can turn right on a bike when you are on the left.
 
To my way of thinking it's up to the youngster to make sure he's clear of any rear traffic before executing a turn.
You said it was at night so either he didn't see u,or he did see you and under-estimated your speed....who knows,kids being kids just "do" and don't think.
Lights are really important on bikes cos were more vurnerable...i use the "white wire" electrical system so i keep my lights on all the time.Also EVERYONE tends to under-estimate our speed...they quickly see a bicycle and log-it-in as a bicycle only.
Were on bicycles but we go consistantly faster than bicycles so WE need to be more defensive...like Ronald Reagan said "trust everyone but verify everything"
 
it wasnt dark yet, but i did have on a flashing bright strobe headlight and I have bright led spoke lights on both tires and of coarse a flashing red light on the rear. I dont think it was that he didnt see me, he just honestly thought I was a motercycle in traffic so he just came around the corner and turned right into the bike lane.
i let the hardcore spandex guys pass me. never had a problem with them or anyone else.
just feel it was sorta my fault and if we would have collided he didnt have a helmet.
 
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pedal-a-muppet

*sigh*

The thing that gets me about these muppets is the fact that usually they have no lights or tools on a bike that looks like it hasnt seen oil/tyres/clean water in months...

either that or they ride down the middle of the road on a kiddies BMX because for some unknown reason they think its the ultimate trip to get plastered over the front of the nearest 4x4... someone pass me the windowlene...

Personally I think in that situation I would have told him where to go, and just left him to his whinging... It wasnt your fault - I usually go flat out on the roads I know and may or may not keep to the cycle lanes (usually full of broken glass/road 'furniture' delete as applicable anyways) but I almost had one woman because she could see me coming and stood in the middle of the cycle lane gassing to the person who just dropped her off - how I missed her I will never know...

The worst of all of it is you can guarantee when said Idiot is hit by a car or even one of us and badly hurt/killed because the driver/rider couldnt see a black bike in a black night with no lights... it'll be the car drivers or MB'riders fault and him/her who gets hassle from the police and sued (depending on country concerned).. when it reality its the fault of the kid on the bike who thinks lights are either too expensive or too much trouble...

rant over..

Jemma xx
 
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