SMIDSY - EK08SDX

Apologise for the bad language, adrenaline rush needed venting.
Lots of traffic during the morning commute, using the cycle lane to pass it. Since a junction is coming up I slow down just in case. Luckily as it turns out, because the driver in the silver Renault blindly follows the car in front requiring me to perform an emergency stop. The driver never slowed down in the side street, so probably wasn't even aware of the accident that was nearly caused by the bad driving. The black tinted windows probably didn't help visibility.
EK08SDX
EK08 SDX
EK08-SDX
"EK08 SDX"
EK 08 SDX
20140401T0843

[@janetgoldman2400]

You were cycling way too fast for those conditions, a car already pulled across in front of you so you should have expected something like that to happen - you would have been visible to the driver of the silver car for about half a second before they crossed your path, how do you expect them to react to that? Calm down.

[@dutchcyclistabroad]

Yep, I was probably going slightly too fast still. I had already slowed down by about 15kph approaching the junction so I would be able to make a stop just in case. Obviously not enough.
It's been pointed out to me that I still have too much faith in driver behaviour in the UK compared to the Netherlands. Back there drivers would always double check on a crossing, never accelerate towards it. In the future I'm slowing down more, but I hope this driver will also pay more attention to potential crossing traffic in the cycling lane.

[@pendulumx]

Dutch Cyclist Abroad You were overtaking (on the inside) cars at speed and at a junction. The Highway Code says: Do not overtake at junctions! If you keep riding as badly as this you will have an accident soon.

[@dutchcyclistabroad]

pendulumx As I mentioned earlier, I will be paying more attention. However, when a cycle lane is available I am pretty sure it is not the intention of the Highway Code to not allow me to use this to pass traffic. It isn't clear if this is considered 'overtaking', 'filtering' or has other terminology. This is splitting hairs though, in the end it is all about safety.
Simpler, better defined rules that are understood by everyone will make for a safer travelling experience.
For example, in NL the rules are a lot clearer about this: any traffic crossing a traffic stream has to give priority to that stream of traffic. This means any car or bicycle turning into a junction has to give way to any traffic that continues on the road that is being departed. Every driver turning into a side road in NL is expecting cyclists to be there, especially when there is any kind of cycle lane. At no point will a driver show the behaviour of the car in this video where they accelerate across without being aware of potentially crossing traffic.
This ingrained behaviour makes both cycling and motoring safer for everyone.