Originally Posted by JohnBrooking
But he should have seen PC8 as he approached him from behind! He should also have seen him if PC8 started moving first! I don't buy it. I think he just didn't have a good sense of how close he was cutting the corner, and how much room bikes need to be given, and was impatient. Or maybe just the latter.
My basic philosophy is passing should never be done in an intersection, including cars passing bikes, so do your best to not let them do it. And you're more visible closer to the center as well.
I have no problem with anything that you are saying. Taking the lane before the turn is clearly the best thing to do here. And I hope that MyPC8myBrain understands that I am not trying to blame this fall on him as saying it was his fault.
However, I do think that it's beneficial to try to learn from an incideent and I think one thing that can be learned from this incident is that some times it's safer to let a car go even though you have the right of way. It doesn't matter if you have completely blocked the right turn lane in such a way that the driver can not get next to you in that lane. If he gets next to you in the next lane and is looking like he's going to turn right - just let him go. It's the same idea as seeing a car approaching a red light that you don't think is going to stop. You don't pull out in front of them just because you have the green...
Be right, but don't be dead right.