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On my way to band rehearsal Monday night I had two near misses that made me think a little about road behaviour.

The first was as I turned right onto a main road from a side road. Because it's far too easy to miss a gap while craning one's neck in all directions, when I expect it to be quiet I do what the Americans call a “rolling stop” a metre before the give way line, to give me enough time for a quick glance either way before deciding whether to make a break for it or stop properly. This time, a quick glance proved insufficient.

When I was halfway across the road, I noticed that I was about three metres away from running into a cyclist travelling along the road in the direction and lane I wanted to head in. He must have been training, for he was on a proper road bike, with pedals with cleats, and clad neck-to-ankle in black lycra. Now, I pride myself on having a ridiculously overpowered headlight. It's bright enough to noticeably illuminate retro-reflective road signs from about 200m away. I have it angled to cast a bright white spot on the road about 6m in front of me, visible even under street lighting—not just so I can scan for potholes, but also to make me visible round corners. I can usually see even unlit cyclists from a way off, because their front or rear reflectors, and their yellow pedal reflectors, and maybe their cycle clips or other retro-reflective patches on clothing, reflect my headlamp effectively. But this chap lacked pedal reflectors, because he had pedals with cleats; as he was side-on to me I couldn't see either of his lights nor his front or rear reflectors; as he was dressed in black I had no chance of picking out the shape of a cyclist without a long examination.

Of course, even if I hadn't been able to stop there would have been little chance of serious injury. Collisions between cyclists rarely end with more than a few bruises, maybe a bump on the noggin, and very occasionally a broken arm. But I could have been a two or three tonne lump of steel. Again, this is a relatively low-speed collision—because I was just pulling out from a side road—but even at low speeds there is a good chance with cars, especially given the direction I was turning, of catching your head or ribs on the solid parts at the side of the bonnet, or on the nearside pillar, both of which often result in serious injury.

This should be a two-fold reminder: first, to people operating dangerous machinery like motor cars, that cyclists are not that visible from the side, so you should take extra care at night and not assume that other road users are lit up like Christmas trees; second, to cyclists, to remember how easy it is for other road users not to see you, especially at night, so you should make it as hard as possible for them to make this driving mistake, and to be prepared in case it does happen. I too am duly warned to take more care when attempting this manoeuvre.

On the other hand, I am fairly sure that if the situations had been reversed, I would have been very visible. Apart from my aforementioned headlamp, I have more retro-reflective stickers on my bike, particularly on the sides of the frame, than the back of a Sainsbury's van. Even the feeblest lights turn me into a glowing white, yellow, and red blur looking like Tron on disco night.

Onto the second near miss. Again, a right turn, but this time onto a side-road, from Mill Road. Local readers will know that Mill Road is far too narrow for the traffic it carries: it's two narrow to fit, say, two Hummers side-by-side. Rule 74 of the Highway Code says the following about turning right:

On the right. If you are turning right, check the traffic to ensure it is safe, then signal and move to the centre of the road. Wait until there is a safe gap in the oncoming traffic and give a final look before completing the turn. It may be safer to wait on the left until there is a safe gap or to dismount and push your cycle across the road.

I'm afraid I have to recommend disregarding that last sentence. It's never safer to wait to turn right on the left of the carriageway, because doing so means you have to cross all the lanes in one go rather than one at a time. For similar reasons, pretty much the only time it's safer to dismount and cross on foot is at a light-controlled junction with pedestrian crossings, and only then on multi-lane junctions. (In particular, if you do this, dismount well before the junction, to ensure that your signal to pull in is not misinterpreted as turning left, which could cause someone a nasty surprise when you stop.) Remember that pedestrians have more accidents per unit distance travelled than cyclists, and their accidents are usually worse (because being higher up on a bike makes you more likely to go onto the bonnet and less likely to get squished underneath or whacked with bull-bars), so it's almost always safer to stay on your bike.

Anyway, back to the story. I checked traffic: behind me there was a Land Rover towing a trailer. Because of his width and the presence of oncoming traffic, the driver was making no attempt to overtake me, so I signalled clearly and moved to a position about half a metre to the left of the white line. I remember at this point feeling sorry for the driver of the Land Rover because he was going to have to wait for the oncoming traffic, because there wasn't enough room for him to pass on the inside. I came to a gradual halt to wait for the oncoming traffic (which was about three cars). As I stopped, I (of course) put my left foot down, which caused my body to move maybe 15cm to the left. As I was doing this, I felt a presence. No, I wasn't having a religious experience; on looking to my left I saw the Land Rover driver come to a sudden stop with his offside wing mirror mere inches behind my left shoulder. He had obviously thought he could just about squash through to my left, ignorant of the basic fact that cyclists move to the left slightly when they stop.

Like the earlier incident, this would have been a low-speed collision, probably resulting in just a bump on the shoulder and maybe a damaged wing mirror. But the roads were getting icy, so it's plausible that even a slight impact could unbalance me enough to send me into the path of the oncoming traffic.

Now, I tell you these two stories not to try to make you believe that cycling is dangerous, or to hint that this happens very often. It's rare enough that I have one near miss like this, let alone two on one journey, and even then, in both cases the risk of injury was small. But as the wise man learns from his mistakes, so I hope that you will be wiser yet and learn from my mistakes in addition to your own. I know that in future I will be changing my behaviour. I might go back to stopping completely at the junction where the first event happened, as I did when I first moved to this area, and just think patience when this causes me to miss a gap. And, just as I move out to the right on narrow roads to discourage wide vehicles like cars from attempting to overtake me, so when turning right will I stay well to the left of the white line.

If this story does have a moral, it's that even experienced road users still have more to learn about their behaviour and how it affects the behaviour of those around them.