We’ve probably all experienced that moment when a motorist overtakes just ahead of a left-hand turn, then immediately turns off into it, forcing a swift application of the brakes to avoid getting left-hooked.
That’s what happened to road.cc reader Andy Muza on Marton Road in Middlesbrough last Tuesday as he returned home from a ride when the driver of a Fiat Punto cut across him. He sent us a link to the video on YouTube in an email headed, “Close encounter of the bum nipping kind.”
In the description of the video, he said: “I was partially overtaken by a female driver who then turned left across my path onto Broughton Avenue.
“Thankfully when riding through towns and cities I am always ready on the brakes. I managed to slow down enough to prevent a collision.
“I dread to think what may have happened if I had collided with her due to the barriers on the left, I may have been crushed.”
Andy continued: “What was she thinking? She had obviously seen me otherwise she wouldn’t have overtaken me in the outer lane.
“This is the first time I have posted a bad driver video while cycling. It is something I said I wouldn’t do as this sort of thing happens all the time but, this was seriously close.
“I know you car drivers hate us cyclists because we make your journey a few seconds longer but us cyclists put up with drivers and moments like this every couple of miles in towns and cities.
“This driver could have made my 2 kids fatherless just to save a couple of seconds,” he added.
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 into 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, Near Miss of the Day will keep rolling on.
If you’ve caught on camera a close encounter of the uncomfortable kind with another road user that you’d like to share with the wider cycling community please send it to us at info@road.cc or contact us via the road.cc Facebook page.
13 thoughts on “Near Miss of the Day 20: “Close encounter of the bum nipping kind””
Well at least it’s a Fiat
Well at least it’s a Fiat this time. Maybe instead of the purely numerical series we can have it broken into car makes? At least by the end of the year we’ll have a better idea about this whole Audi thing?
Yorkshire wallet wrote:
I assume white vans get a section of their own 😉
So annoying when this happens
So annoying when this happens, luckily it hasn’t happened too often with me
Scoob_84 wrote:
“Annoying”?
Yeah, that’s right – being left hooked by someone like that is definitely annoying. Personally, though, I’d describe it as “scary” and “f-ing dangerous” and suggest that the driver of the Fiat goes and takes some more driving lessons…
Scoob_84 wrote:
Fixed that for you.
she wasn’t indicating either,
she wasn’t indicating either, by the looks of it!
KINGHORN wrote:
(I know you’re joing but…) Even if she had been indicating, in context it should only have meant that she was pulling back into the left lane after the overtake.
Which is to say that what the driver actually did was insanely dangerous, and no amount of forewarning or indeed anything else can excuse it.
I know from previous comments that this series of articles is not universally popular, with allegations it’s just to get page views. With that in mind, I think there needs to be a more of an effort with them rather than just presenting the video and a couple of comments.
So, was this reported to police? If so, which force, what action was taken, etc…
Yh that one’s pretty bad
Yh that one’s pretty bad
Inexcusable. I’m not sure how
Inexcusable. I’m not sure how there was no impact.
Must have used his spidey sense.
Please tell me it was
Please tell me it was reported to the police?
I’m finding it worse this
I’m finding it worse this year for some reason! I normally get about 1 near miss a month worth making a video off and about 1 I report to the police every other year. this year I have done 2 or 3 a month and reported 2 to the police and 1 to the council. (since the manchester bomb I have had another couple I did not repot which I would normaly do as they would of been very bussy as a lot of the kids were from round here).
FYI
1 drivers mother talked to and she was not happy
1 driver hard getting hold of still no more info but manchester bomb happend
1 council contacted school bus company and driver recived advise. (With hinsight not happy with this one. I had no feed back from the bus company, and council was just in the middle).
If reporting to the Police
If reporting to the Police via Roadsafe for example:
– Report immediately. For some reason the Police say that they only can send out a notice of intended prosecution within 10 days of the incident. Why oh why is this? It doesn’t become less of a crime just because time has passed.
– Include the link to the video at the time. Don’t send it later even if this option is offered The Police will delay following up and then the time will have run out.
– Make sure you identify the registration. The police won’t bother if the video is a bit blurry. You can check it on the DVLA website and you’ll get a bit more info from car parts websites such as this.
– Tick the box to say that you are willing to show up in court, otherwise they’ll most likely ignore your report.
Pub bike wrote:
Snipped down to just the bit I’m replying to – the reason the police say this is that it’s the law of the land; see http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1988/53/section/1 (Road Traffic Offenders Act 1988 section 1).
Basically, they must either be told at the time of the offence that the police believe an offence was committed, or they must be served notice within 14 calendar days of the offence. Take off 4 days for postal delays, and you get 10 days.
The concept is that your bad driving or cycling can’t hang over you until plod fancies hurting you – instead, you know that if you’ve not had a notice after 14 days, you’ve been let off this time. It works in our favour, too; if the driver you report claims you were cycling dangerously or carelessly, then plod can’t act on the report (true or otherwise), as it’s too late to serve you your notice.