Cyclists should take responsibility over their own safety on the roads

There has been this nagging thought that has been chewing on me for awhile now.

A week ago I was driving towards a slip road, where I stopped for on-coming cars on the main road to pass. After the last of the cars passed, I proceeded to move off, but jammed on my brakes when I heard someone yell. Suddenly, I realized there was a cyclist right in front of my car (not at the road shoulder but right smack in the middle of the lane). The cyclist was not there earlier when I had stopped my car at the front of the slip road. The cyclist (a Caucasian) continued to yell at me for almost knocking into him. Thankfully, I don’t think I knocked him as he was still on his bike and cycling well.

At first I was really apologetic because I had thought that somehow I missed seeing him come from the main road behind the last car. But later on, recounting the incident, I believe the cyclist probably came from behind me while I waited for cars on the main road to clear.

I guess I was at fault for not checking that there are no other vehicles or persons in front of my car before driving off, but I think cyclists should also take responsibility for their own safety too.

When cycling past a car on a slip road, especially one that is stationary, to get in front of the car, please make sure you know that the driver is aware of your presence. Oftentimes, a driver will be looking back to make sure that there are no more on-coming cars before moving off to the main road. Worst of all is that instead of keeping to the side of the road, the cyclist cycled to the centre of the road, right into the path of my car.

I know some motorcycles also do this to get ahead of the traffic. But I think it is dangerous. At least for motorcycles, when they squeeze into the front, while passing the driver, the noise from their exhaust usually can alert drivers to their presence. But bicycles make no such noise.

Road users should take care of safety of others. As a car driver, I try to give space to cyclists too. But I would like to urge cyclists to please take responsibility for your own safety. This is my own personal experience, but I have also seen and read of other instances where cyclists who do not seem to understand how to ensure their own safety.

When a cyclist is hurt in an accident, the car driver is almost always blamed. It can be unfair. But life is not always fair.

To my cyclists fellow road users, ride well and stay safe.