Mirror checking on side roads

[jim_the_chin]

I nearly smeared some poor guy on a bicycle when opening my car door on Landells Road last night. Being a bit shocked he stopped which allowed me to apologise for not checking my mirrors. He had the kindness to accept and reminded me to check my door mirror before opening the door.

It takes two seconds to do but its a good habit to get into round here with lots of side street parking.

[Salsaboy]

It would help if cyclists could remember to switch on their lights so that they can be seen.

[Earl Aelfheah]

Salsaboy, that comment is ridiculous.

Yes, please don't check your mirrors folks, if you hit a cyclist, they'll probably have deserved it.

[Jeremy]

Good on you for confessing to your mistake, and to warn others.

Rather annoyingly, the wing mirrors of my car cannot fold in after turning the ignition off, so I sometimes have to open the door into the road without the benefit of wing mirrors. A daft design if ever there was one!

[Salsaboy]

Why? It's a fair comment. I do check before I get out of my car but it helps if cyclists make themselves more visible, especially at this time of year.

rahrahrah Wrote:

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> Salsaboy, that comment is ridiculous.

>

[rodneybewes]

Troll boy is back.

[Robert Poste's Child]

Good on you, Jim the Chin; all cyclists will salute your thoughtfulness. When you do cycle training they tell you to allow at least a metre when passing a car for exactly that reason, so arguably he was partly responsible.

[Robert Poste's Child]

And I agree that cyclists should make ourselves visible. Good to do stuff to keep yourself safe, surely? Not sure why the negative responses to Salsaboy's comment.

[Salsaboy]

I'm not sure either. Surely in the interests of road safety cyclists would want to make sure they are visible to other road users?

[Robert Poste's Child]

H&M have some kids PJs in a (very) luminous skeleton print at the moment; much hilarity last weekend watching my small niece dancing in hers in the dark. I'd love something similar for cycling at night.

[Seabag]

rodneybewes Wrote:

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> Troll boy is back.

Hi

Welcome back rodneybewes

[Bluelagoon]

I'm both a cyclist (although mostly former as I don't commute to work by bike these days as I now work from home) and a recently passed driver.

I see it from a whole other perspective now and whilst I'm very careful around cyclists, agree that they should, especially on these dark nights, be as visible as possible. I suppose this doesn't add much to the original post, but I suppose it is a little bit of a case of developing a mutual understanding for one another. Now the nights are drawing in pedestrians crossing the road in random places are much harder to see.

[Loz]

Salsaboy Wrote:

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> I'm not sure either. Surely in the interests of road safety cyclists would want to make sure they

> are visible to other road users?

I think it's the "no one must say anything that even sounds like it criticises cyclists, ever" rule.

[KidKruger]

Although I try to always check my mirrors before opening the car door, there's been a couple of near misses - these are usually when it's raining/the mirror has raindrops on it and the cyclist's light is one of those tiny LED flashing affairs. The sort of lights that even without rain or a mirror you'd do well to see them.

It's inviting danger IMO.

It's a good reminder from the OP, but I do worry for the safety of cyclists who use those weak, blink-and-you'll-miss-it bicycle lights.

[Salsaboy]

Or even no lights at all. *runs for cover*

[ruffers]

Can I also suggest drivers make an effort to park on the correct side of the the road so you/we are not pulling out blind into the road. I've had to swerve round a few cars coming out because of this.

[Jeremy]

Not sure what you mean, ruffers. Agree that parking on the correct side is preferable of course, but not sure why parking on the right hand side involves pulling out blind into the road?

[ruffers]

If a car parks between cars on the right side of the road with the driver are on the pavement side, the driver's view of oncoming traffic may well be obscured by the car in front. As the car pulls out the driver is blind to oncoming bikes / cars /motorbikes.

[Jeremy]

Oh right, see what you mean. Just a matter of indicating and pulling out slowly I guess, so any oncoming traffic has a chance to stop. It's not ideal, but can be hard to find parking spaces on some roads.

[KidKruger]

Yeah that's ideal world stuff.

This is London.

[ruffers]

Yeah, I live in London. Is it that hard to drive round the block to come back facing the right way?

[Jeremy]

Think of the environment.

[KidKruger]

I'll drive around the block to avoid making a 3 point turn on a busy road.

But going round block to park in 'right' direction is a nice-to-have, one that can take considerable time (as drivers will know), a resource I have precious little of most weeks.

[Jeremy]

Really shouldn't be a problem if you pull out slowly.

[JohnL]

I've seen a few where a taxi stops - but doesn't pull in - door opens and wham.