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Near Miss of the Day 2: Taxi driver turns into path of cyclist

Rider says her leg was trapped between cab and her bike and that incident left her shaken

A cyclist riding to work in Leicester says her leg got caught between the bumper of a cab and her bike when the taxi driver  made a right turn into her path - even though she had right of way.

The Leicester Mercury has footage of the incident, which happened at the junction of London Road and De Montfort Street last Wednesday.

Cyclist Andree Maclean had shared it on Facebook after been encouraged to do so by colleagues at work who showed her that day's edition of the newspaper in which Jeff Boulton, whose son was killed cycling to work in Leicester last year, was calling on cyclists to share footage of near misses with police.

She said: "I tweeted Leicestershire Police, but they said they didn't have a system in place for reporting near misses. I'm not blaming them, they have enough to do as it is with incidents which actually happen, rather than almost happening."

However, as we reported last month, Leicestershire Police is currently working on introducing a system that would allow cyclists to submit such footage, in common with other forces, and it has also introduced a close pass initiative.

> Leicestershire Police may invite cyclists to send in video of dangerous driving

 Referring to the incident she filmed, she added: "I asked him 'didn't you see me?' and he replied 'I thought you were going to stop'!!!"

 "I asked him why he thought I would stop there. I was wearing bright colours and I have reflective straps on my bag.

 "My leg was trapped between my bike and his bumper. I wasn't seriously hurt. He reversed slightly, easing the pressure, freeing my leg.

 "When I got to the refuge with the bollard in the middle of De Montfort Street my legs just turned to jelly and I had a bit of a wobble about what had just happened.

 "It just hit me all of a sudden and you think about what just happened, it was quite scary. It takes a big effort to get back on your bike.

 "At least the driver was apologetic and came over to check that I was okay." 

Over the years road.cc has reported on literally hundreds of close passes and near misses involving badly driven vehicles from every corner of the country so many in fact that we’ve decided to turn the phenomenon in to a regular feature on the site. One day hopefully we will run out of close passes and near misses to report on, but until that happy day arrives Close Pass of the Day will keep rolling on.

If you’ve caught on camera a close encounter of the uncomfortable kind with another road that you’d like to share with the wider cycling community please send it us at info [at] road.cc (subject: Near%20Miss%20of%20the%20Day)  or contact us via the road.cc Facebook page.

Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.

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24 comments

Avatar
ironmancole | 6 years ago
1 like

I think as cyclists we pretty much deserve what is thrown at us day in, day out. 

Why?  We all come on here to have a whinge, look at who's been killed, post emoticons when people fall off their training rollers and hope Chris Boardman is going to create some kind of cycling nirvana for us all whilst standing around in our lycra scratching our balls.

Given there are so many of us it baffles me as to why we take the sort of abuse and prejudice levelled at us and can't organise a piss up in a brewery to get together, in whatever form that may be, to fight for our basic rights, both lawful and moral, so we can simply go from A to B without living in constant fear.

We should be up in arms about this stuff but all we seem to do is cross our fingers and hope the next idiot in their golden chariot hits someone else and not us.  Anyone else out there actually pissed off or is it just me?

Avatar
andsaw | 6 years ago
0 likes

I hope at the very least he will get a fine for stopping in a yellow box zone, i had one the other day in a transit, had i arrive 5 seconds earlier he would of had me off as he massively cut the line at a junction, managed to fire of knobhead as he passed and still had the cheek to beep me, i hate them where i live, they have different laws for themselves.

Avatar
ironmancole | 6 years ago
1 like

If you read the campaign you'll see in more detail so yes I am serious.  Sure a terrorist isn't going to give a shit about a licence, I get that.

What isn't right, and is the focus of the campaign, is that such people can come out of prison and apply for their licence when they've used a vehicle to kill and maim, they are categorically unfit to drive and should be prevented from doing so to the full extent of the law irrespective of whether they heed that later in life or not.

Not having a licence won't stop many people from driving as we see day in and day out, the issue is not making it easy for them by handing it back when it suits them. 

We might as well have a whip round to send the little shites to Disneyland if we're all happy to give them equal and lawful right to the roads.

Am I the only one that thinks it's cool for an ex attacker to join Londons roads as a bus driver or worst still, an Addison Lee driver?  When that guy who drove into worshippers at the mosque the other day comes out do we really want him driving about with our families because the courts don't give a damn about the rest of us?

 

Avatar
don simon fbpe replied to ironmancole | 6 years ago
0 likes

ironmancole wrote:

If you read the campaign you'll see in more detail so yes I am serious.  Sure a terrorist isn't going to give a shit about a licence, I get that.

What isn't right, and is the focus of the campaign, is that such people can come out of prison and apply for their licence when they've used a vehicle to kill and maim, they are categorically unfit to drive and should be prevented from doing so to the full extent of the law irrespective of whether they heed that later in life or not.

Not having a licence won't stop many people from driving as we see day in and day out, the issue is not making it easy for them by handing it back when it suits them. 

We might as well have a whip round to send the little shites to Disneyland if we're all happy to give them equal and lawful right to the roads.

 

Your assumption being that I asked the question without reading, but do go on...

Avatar
ironmancole | 6 years ago
1 like

Don't want to hijack this in any way but in the interests of trying to do something I've started a change.org campaign. 

https://www.change.org/p/department-no-driving-licence-privileges-for-te...

We all know motorists (of which I am one) are reluctant to do anything that in any way jeopardises anything motoring related even where death is involved but I am hoping to some extent to appeal to their better selves.

Supporting a campaign to prevent convicted terrorists from holding a driving licence once they've served a custodial period could, in time, lead to the definition of a terror offence and a dangerous driver causing terror to another individual becoming ever closer to each other. 

We all know that the courts are useless when it comes to revoking driving licences, however, if we can get a law passed on the back of rising intolerance and anger towards terrorists using vehicles we may in time be able to morph that to a more everyday level of legal protection that we'd all benefit from.

Long shot?  Possibly, worst case it's ignored, best case enough people agree such people shouldn't be legally entitled to drive again and we give them the mighty middle finger...it's not right at any level that such offences are only met with brief bans and an extended retest anyway. 

Read the campaign, if you agree please do take a few seconds to support it.  Terrorists in motor vehicles irrespective of excuses given is not a good mix, we shouldn't make it easy for them at any level.

Cheers.

Avatar
ooldbaker replied to ironmancole | 6 years ago
3 likes

ironmancole wrote:

...

Read the campaign, if you agree please do take a few seconds to support it.  Terrorists in motor vehicles irrespective of excuses given is not a good mix, we shouldn't make it easy for them at any level.

Cheers.

Most terrorists, convicted or not, are not going to be too worried about driving without a license.

Avatar
jh27 replied to ooldbaker | 6 years ago
0 likes
ooldbaker wrote:

ironmancole wrote:

...

Read the campaign, if you agree please do take a few seconds to support it.  Terrorists in motor vehicles irrespective of excuses given is not a good mix, we shouldn't make it easy for them at any level.

Cheers.

Most terrorists, convicted or not, are not going to be too worried about driving without a license.

True, but not having a licence does make it a lot harder to hire and slightly harder to buy a vehicle. ANPR makes it very easy to flag stolen vehicles.

Makes more sense than trying to outlaw encryption, or putting barriers on busy cycle routes that only allow one cyclist through at a time.

That said, it is very easy to get a driving licence from certain foreign countries, a lot of places you can probably buy a licence for less than the cost of applying for a UK licence.

Avatar
don simon fbpe replied to ironmancole | 6 years ago
0 likes

ironmancole wrote:

Don't want to hijack this in any way but in the interests of trying to do something I've started a change.org campaign. 

https://www.change.org/p/department-no-driving-licence-privileges-for-te...

We all know motorists (of which I am one) are reluctant to do anything that in any way jeopardises anything motoring related even where death is involved but I am hoping to some extent to appeal to their better selves.

Supporting a campaign to prevent convicted terrorists from holding a driving licence once they've served a custodial period could, in time, lead to the definition of a terror offence and a dangerous driver causing terror to another individual becoming ever closer to each other. 

We all know that the courts are useless when it comes to revoking driving licences, however, if we can get a law passed on the back of rising intolerance and anger towards terrorists using vehicles we may in time be able to morph that to a more everyday level of legal protection that we'd all benefit from.

Long shot?  Possibly, worst case it's ignored, best case enough people agree such people shouldn't be legally entitled to drive again and we give them the mighty middle finger...it's not right at any level that such offences are only met with brief bans and an extended retest anyway. 

Read the campaign, if you agree please do take a few seconds to support it.  Terrorists in motor vehicles irrespective of excuses given is not a good mix, we shouldn't make it easy for them at any level.

Cheers.

You're actually serious, aren't you?

Avatar
don simon fbpe | 6 years ago
0 likes

Oh come on! It's a taxi driver.

Avatar
bsknight replied to don simon fbpe | 6 years ago
0 likes

don simon wrote:

Oh come on! It's a taxi driver.

That was (depressingly) my first reaction on watching the footage. This would not be seen as anything unusual in Bristol.

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zanf | 6 years ago
2 likes

No such thing as "right of way". There is "right of access" and "priority".

She had both.

She also rode very close to the kerb despite having quite a pace on her.

Avatar
Wolfsbane2k | 6 years ago
4 likes

Well, i'm glad you didn't start this on "BikeWeek". Way to put people off cycling to work because it's too "scary".

And this, this isn't a "near miss", It's  a collision. "Not seriously hurt", means an injury, and needs to be reported to the police for due care and attention as well as the council as it's a taxi so points against the taxi licence.

 

Unless you are trying to add to the weight of evidence of a social media justice, this isn't going to get the message to anyone who isn't already a cyclist. Now, getting it onto "motoring site" - that "might" help.

 

But please, heed Zermattjohn above and go talk to Chris Boardman et all about how you can lend your weight to increase the safety of cyclists on our roads, not the clickbait trap you've chosen.

Avatar
Zermattjohn | 6 years ago
11 likes

"Over the years road.cc has reported on literally hundreds of close passes and near misses involving badly driven vehicles from every corner of the country so many in fact that we’ve decided to turn the phenomenon in to a regular feature on the site. One day hopefully we will run out of close passes and near misses to report on, but until that happy day arrives Close Pass of the Day will keep rolling on."

Really? You going to keep up this clickbait for ever? Because you'll never run out of near-misses to report.

What is the purpose? If you're trying to make a point about road safety, why not do it constructively - go to British Cycling, ask to speak to Chris Boardman about how you, as a well-read website can help, plenty of options - rather than just posting this up on a website dedicated to cycling?

Shouting about how bad something is in a room full of people who'll just agree will do nowt.

Avatar
jh27 replied to Zermattjohn | 6 years ago
0 likes
Zermattjohn wrote:

Shouting about how bad something is in a room full of people who'll just agree will do nowt.

I can see where you are coming from, but if they link to the story elsewhere, you can go to that site and help drown out the comments about "road tax" and red light jumping.

Unless the other site is the daily mail, in which case it probably isn't worth bothering.

Avatar
kitsunegari replied to Zermattjohn | 6 years ago
0 likes

Zermattjohn wrote:

Really? You going to keep up this clickbait for ever? Because you'll never run out of near-misses to report.

What is the purpose? If you're trying to make a point about road safety, why not do it constructively - go to British Cycling, ask to speak to Chris Boardman about how you, as a well-read website can help, plenty of options - rather than just posting this up on a website dedicated to cycling?

Couldn't agree more.

Road.CC - use your position for good rather than just advertising revenue. Get on board with Chris (pardon the pun), and if there's anyway to get your readers involved with helping get the message out, ask us. I'm sure you'd get plenty of volunteers.

Avatar
twinklydave | 6 years ago
9 likes

"My leg was trapped between my bike and his bumper. I wasn't seriously hurt. He reversed slightly, easing the pressure, freeing my leg."

That's not a near miss, that's a collision. Back to the police (wth a reprimand for not noticing that themselves!)

Avatar
shay cycles | 6 years ago
11 likes

How is it a "near miss" if there was contact?

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noizebox replied to shay cycles | 6 years ago
15 likes

shay cycles wrote:

How is it a "near miss" if there was contact?

 

I think, these days, a "near miss" means she didn't die.

Avatar
brooksby replied to noizebox | 6 years ago
1 like

noizebox wrote:

shay cycles wrote:

How is it a "near miss" if there was contact?

 

I think, these days, a "near miss" means she didn't die.

Scary; depressing; also, I'm afraid, very true    2

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oldmixte | 6 years ago
0 likes

A YouTube channel dedicated to near misses would be useful to see them all in one place, volunteers anyone?

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flathunt | 6 years ago
2 likes

So the Sun had page 3 and we've got this. It's a toss-up as to which is the more tawdry.

Avatar
STATO replied to flathunt | 6 years ago
10 likes

flathunt wrote:

So the Sun had page 3 and we've got this. It's a toss-up as to which is the more tawdry.

your comment?

 

Avatar
ThatBritishBloke replied to flathunt | 6 years ago
2 likes

flathunt wrote:

So the Sun had page 3 and we've got this. It's a toss-up as to which is the more tawdry.

 

I fail to see your point. 

 

Avatar
David9694 replied to flathunt | 6 years ago
0 likes

flathunt wrote:

So the Sun had page 3 and we've got this. It's a toss-up as to which is the more tawdry.

 I think this is his view on the new feature, rather than this particular episode. I've got mixed feelings about it too. Maybe I'd be safer taking up tennis or golf - even rugby sounds comparatively attractive on the bodily harm front. 

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