So here is the situation. Car turning right, car behind that can squeeze through the gap in front, just. Behind all this stationary traffic is me, slowly filtering up the side.
The second car decides she can fit past the car turning right, so swings left without checking her left mirror first, and without indicating. This manoeuvre would have crushed anyone unfortunate enough to be on her left, against some street posts by the kerb.
I was fortunate to be watching this simple but dangerous error, from behind. My defensive approach meant I anticipated this COULD happen, so hung back cautiously, avoiding any impact.
Had the driver checked her mirror, she would have seen a queue of cyclists trying to filter past.
To awaken the driver and encourage her to be more aware, she was the 1st ever person to receive a toot on my air horn.
The air supply was running low, because work colleagues have had great fun shocking each other with a blast of my 115db bicycle air horn. So the blast wasn't particularly loud, but it had a very positive effect - mirrors finally were checked, and an amply wide space was generously created, for cyclists to continue passing.
So does this mean that there have been NO cycle incidents from 18th March 06 until now?
No. Far from it. The reality is when drivers have done something thoughtless, given the millisecond timescale involved, I'm primarily interested in grinding my brake discs, to avoid the crash. Plus I've been used to riding without the horn previously, perhaps I'll use it more, I'm not fussed.
I'm currently awaiting the art commissions to start flooding in, demanding my fantastic paint.exe skills. Lol!
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