Originally Posted by genec
Uh, HH there is one little flaw in the analysis concerning the decision making process by the driver... I believe that the lead cyclist had started to execute a left turn... so therefore was already moving out and in the path of the motorist. Why would she then chose to move around the cyclists because as a group they were now spreading out?
Is it possible that she made a hasty decision and underestimated the speed of the cyclists and accelerated to try to "make the gap" before the next cycist moved out, at which time that cyclist also decided to move out. Perhaps she was motivated by the notion that she had to get ahead of the cyclists...
A situation like this is similar to two motorists trying to occupy the same lane and moving over at the same time from either side of an empty lane space... suddenly meeting in the middle... but the cyclist in this case does not have the speed to quickly react and pull away as motorists might do...
Do you know if the first cyclist made the turn, and, how far the 2nd cyclist was behind him?
In any case, if she did gun it, they were turning, she was going straight. If there was no double yellow legal technicality in play here, the onus on yielding the ROW would be clearly on the cyclists. The fact that she was illegally passing muddies the legal waters, but in terms of general principles and best practices, the left turners should have looked back and made sure it was clear and safe to turn before proceeding.
Given the likely speeds involved, I'm fairly certain (
speculation alert!) that she must have initiated and was committed to passing several seconds before they provided any clue as to their intention to turn left, and no sudden acceleration was required. I continue to believe that the 3rd cyclist's admission of a total lack of awareness of her even being behind them until she hit the cyclist in front of him speaks volumes about the level of attention (and lack thereof) these left-turners were placing to the situation behind them.
It's also entirely conceivable that the 2nd cyclist, who was the one who was hit, was several seconds behind the first cyclist, that the first cyclist made it safely across, and the driver assumed the other cyclists would yield to her until she passed them. How could she be held responsible to foresee or be blamed for the 2nd cyclist drifting into her path while he was looking back?