Always watch out for cyclists on roundabouts.

Liana Hunt, an early childhood educator from Buxton in NSW’s Southern Highlands, says she was in her car on Tuesday in nearby Bowral, where she works.

“It was lunchtime and I was driving, thinking about where to buy some lunch, and how much time I had left on my lunch break,” she said.

Driving through a roundabout, the former Bowral High student said as she reached the end of the road and went to turn left, looked in her rear vision mirror and saw a man on a bike waving at her. Thinking she must know the cyclist, Liana did what people in the country do.

“I thought the man must know me and was being friendly by waving, so I waved back with a smile,” she said.

However, when Ms Hunt returned to her parked car some time later, she found a note under her windscreen.

“I quickly worked out it was from that cyclist and it dawned on me then he hadn’t been waving at me; he must have been trying to wave me down.”

Here is what he wrote:

The note left on Liana Hunt’s windscreen.Source:Supplied

Married last year to Rob, a spray-painter who taught her to drive, Ms Hunt said she felt “shocked and gutted that I had ruined someone’s day and nearly killed some guy”.

“I was all the more shocked because I honestly didn’t see him when I was passing through the roundabout, and he was obviously upset and shaken enough to follow me, find my car and leave the note,” she said.

With no contacts details on the note, and relieved the biker hadn’t used abusive language, Ms Hunt said nonetheless his words left her shaken, especially his “you look too nice for prison” quip.

“I think this sort of thing may have happened to this particular cyclist before, and had I been a full licensed driver perhaps he wouldn’t have bothered but because I have Ps maybe he felt the need to teach me. I fully understood his motives; I would have been upset too if some P-plater nearly knocked me over,” she said.

Upset yet thankful she hadn’t caused a terrible accident, Ms Hunt went home and discussed the incident with Rob. With his advice, she decided to post a heartfelt apology on a local Facebook community page.

She wrote: “To my surprise, I found this note left on my car this afternoon in Bowral. To whoever wrote this, I sincerely apologise. In all honesty I did not see you coming … in future I will always check for bike riders. I hope you receive my apology. I feel awful that I nearly killed you. Yours sincerely, P-plater.”

Ms Hunt’s post attracted much local comment, especially on the dos and don’ts of giving way at roundabouts.

Although she has no idea if the cyclist has read her apology, or if he ever will see it, she feels grateful for having had the chance to make it.

“It was important for me to take responsibility for my mistake, and to show everyone that not all P-platers are the same,” Ms Hunt said.

“I was a bit slow getting my Ps so I am actually of age to have my full licence but I am shocked and surprised every day at the audacity of some P-platers, who seem to think they own the road.

“Since this incident I am really aware of cyclists, and in fact I’ve been taking extra care on the roads. It broke my heart knowing I could have killed a man, and it was a big wake-up call to me to slow down, look and focus on the road when I am driving.

“I feel happy I have done all I can in response to a well-meaning note left on my windscreen, and want to thank the person who left it for me.”

The NSW Transport Department of Transport lists roundabout etiquette as number one in its “Top 10 misunderstood road rules in NSW”. The rule is that drivers must give way to any vehicle already in the roundabout, and indicate if they intend to travel left or right out of the roundabout on approach.