There are accidents where the cyclist intends to turn left to cross to the other side of the road. The motor vehicle following behind then collides with this bike. In a more detailed assessment of these accidents, their cause can be seen to be a combination of “blind spot” and “misinterpretation of the situation”. The driver of the motor vehicle misinterprets an apparently clear traffic situation, whilst the cyclist at the same time overlooks the motor vehicle. The cyclist looks back over the shoulder, but cannot see the vehicle, which is in his blind spot. The driver of the car sees the cyclist looking over their shoulder and assumes that the cyclist has seen him based on the bike’s line of movement. He starts to overtake. This misunderstanding then leads to a crash. Road users, experts and lawyers should be made aware of such situations and gain more detailed knowledge about the framework conditions leading to this type of collision, which appears quite unnecessary. The situation described above does not occur very often on the road. But it does show that a close look at the individual circumstances and a mutual understanding of sequences of movements and of where potential limits of information intake are could help defuse acritical traffic situation.

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