Yesterday morning I left home at 6 am driving my car to where I swim. This involves about 5 km on the freeway. At the end of the freeway is this big roundabout. When I got to the roundabout there is this car slowing down in the lane beside me but I couldn't see any reason. It was just before sunrise but light enough to see. I slowed down trying to see why the car beside me was slowing down. Could not see any lights or cars, but I didn't think of a bicycle did I. Eventually the dude beside me stopped and I strained my eyes but kept going slowly. Turned out the cyclist was completely out of sight behind the car beside me. I couldn't see his light either, if he had one. By the time I saw him I was in front of him but he wasn't demanding anything. He just waited until he knew he could cross safely.
This has made me come to a decision. From now on I'm not going past any cars near an intersection unless I can see it's clear with my own eyes. Even if it's a situation where the light turns green and there are others stopped, I will slow down totally and move with the pack rather than barrel through the gap. I guess I'll need to see if this is practical because some folks tend to get on the horn if they can't see a reason you are holding them up. Anyway I thought I'd share this situation and see if anyone calls me a troll or a yeti or maybe even a bunyip.
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Most of the folks here wouldn't know a bunyip from a drop bear or even a bandicoot (and none of them would know what a Leadbeater was a variety of).
Multi lane roundabouts can be a problem if there is another car blocking your view. More reasons for cyclists (especially commuters at night) to have a light on their helmet - more easily seen over the top of cars.
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Most of the folks here wouldn't know a bunyip from a drop bear or even a bandicoot (and none of them would know what a Leadbeater was a variety of).
A bunyip is like a gobbledock, but won't necessarily be after your chippies..... a drop bear is a totally different beast altogether and one to be very wary of when you go bush.
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What is your opinion of multilane roundabouts with regard to pedestrian and bicyclist safety? We have a growing number of tight-radius, low-speed single lane traffic circles here in San Diego County, USA, and I have no problem with these, but large-radius high-speed multilaners scare me.
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Was this a crosswalk?
Crosswalks across multiple same-direction lanes without any stop sign or red light are bad news; vehicles block other drivers' views of pedestrians about to enter the second lane. Your instict to not pass the stopping vehicle is good; many drivers do not, resulting in a high number of what traffic safety experts call "multiple threat" pedestrian collisions.
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I won't call you a bunyip in case you are one!
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What is your opinion of multilane roundabouts with regard to pedestrian and bicyclist safety? We have a growing number of tight-radius, low-speed single lane traffic circles here in San Diego County, USA, and I have no problem with these, but large-radius high-speed multilaners scare me.
The multi lane ones require people to be on the ball with regard to lane selection and signaling. You've got to be in the correct lane for left/right/straight and giving correct (and timely) signals lets the rest of the world know when to attempt to enter the fray.
Luckily there are very few big ones. Most of the suburban two lane ones are really only one lane - in the same way that most '4 lane' roads are actually only one lane each way with one lane of parked cars on either side.
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the only multi-lane traffic circle I've been in recently has a traffic light at every intersection, so to go straight requires you to go through 3 traffic lights. It would be hilarious if it wasn't such an annoyance to get through. Just looked at it on google maps, it also has orange construction cones to force the outer lane to exit at each intersection.
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Yesterday morning I left home at 6 am driving my car
I notice that all your threads in this cycling forum, involve you driving your car.
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