As cyclists we all know at least a few roundabouts that can be dangerous at the best of times, especially if someone decides to come flying past on the inside.
road.cc reader Lyndon was holding position on the right-hand lane as he was not leaving at the first two exits.
“I was turning right at the roundabout to head home after work when a driver coming off the slip road drove straight through,” he recalled.
“I saw they were approaching with speed so I slowed down, and lucky I did. I had less than a metre from the vehicle as it barrelled through, not that it bothered the driver. They continued racing through the 20mph zone on their way to whatever business was worth killing me.”
The clip has been uploaded to Thames Valley Police, but Lyndon does not hold high hopes of hearing a positive outcome since the registration plate cannot clearly be seen in the footage.
Anyway, he said: “In my experience TVPD wouldn’t do much as there was no injury, so no incident.”
> Near Miss of the Day turns 100 – Why do we do the feature and what have we learnt from it?
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 send us a message via the road.cc Facebook page.
If the video is on YouTube, please send us a link, if not we can add any footage you supply to our YouTube channel as an unlisted video (so it won’t show up on searches).
Please also let us know whether you contacted the police and if so what their reaction was, as well as the reaction of the vehicle operator if it was a bus, lorry or van with company markings etc.
> What to do if you capture a near miss or close pass (or worse) on camera while cycling
40 thoughts on “Near Miss of the Day 699: Roundabout close pass from driver speeding off slip road”
Sun must have been in their
Sun must have been in their eyes……
Agree, I doubt the driver
Agree, I doubt the driver even saw him until the very last millisecond
Which makes it an awful,
Which makes it an awful, reckless and dangerous bit of driving, doesn’t it Nigel?
That would have been the
That would have been the excuse used definitely even though it should not be allowed, especially at the speeds he was travelling.
My first thought – which
My first thought – which makes it even worse…….
Dangerous roundabouts; I
Dangerous roundabouts; I thought we’d discussed this?
I am not sure about this one.
I am not sure about this one. When I cycled in the UK, on scary WTF no marking roundabouts like that one, I used to stay far far left (about a foot way from verge) the whole way around, until i needed to skip an exit, would then check I was clear – trusting no-one, and then continue till leaving my exit.
Seems alot of taking primary there with very little assuredness that phluckers like that wont rip past you. Risky.
The trouble with that
The trouble with that approach, is you end up getting vehicles assuming you are taking an exit and overtaking you as you are going around. So you now have an additional danger from vehicles behind you, which are a lot harder to keep an eye on.
At least with the approach Lyndon took, the danger is mainly reduced to vehicles entering the roundabout ahead of you, which are a lot easier to see coming.
You can’t just go around the
You can’t just go around the outside lane or drivers will legitimately expect you to leave at the next junction and if you don’t you stand a good chance of getting hit broadside.
I just gave way to them.
I just gave way to them. Better to wait than to be minced on an inside lane… I dont think you two understand.
Wait where? If you stop on
Wait where? If you stop on the edge of a roundabout, you’re a sitting duck for a turning HGV. Often at commuting times, there’s not much of a gap in traffic, so you’d be waiting a very long time in a dangerous position.
Cyclist was in the correct
Cyclist was in the correct position for their exit and to deal with other traffic.
If you cycle too close to the left, there is little room for escape when someone pulls out. This is even worse for you where driver in L1 with no view due to vehicle in L2 pulls out anyway.
Also if you are too far to the left, you can effectively get left hooked despite rule 187 which hardly anyone has even read.
joe9090 wrote:
might as well just get off and walk every time you come to a roundabout, perhaps you can even doff your cap and bow to the important drivers as you get out of their way.
Ride On wrote:
They may assume it, but not legitimately. If they were familiar with the Highway Code they would know that they should
Thanks @mdavidford and others
Thanks @mdavidford and others for educating me wasnt aware of that, neither are I expect most drivers, so please take the word “legitimately” out of my previous post.
In my experience going around the outside is very dangerous even if you intend to give way to cars exiting across the front of you.
Not something I would do or recomend.
It depends where you are in
It depends where you are in the lane. You can be in L2 in the wrong part of it and then be subject to traffic entering from the left and cutting across you or making your exit risky or impossible.
I often use L1 to take a third exit but I am close to the lane divider line, then I only have to worry about drivers in the lane outside me potentially cutting across me.
mdavidford wrote:
At your funeral, we’ll be
At your funeral, we’ll be sure to say ‘but they should have followed the Highway Code’.
Hope that makes you feel better (and safer).
Except that I wouldn’t ride
Except that I wouldn’t ride there (or advise anyone else to ride there), so I’m not sure what your point is supposed to be.
Ride On wrote:
Yes you can, and drivers would not have a legitimate expectation otherwise:
Rule 187
In all cases watch out for and give plenty of room to
Can’t remember the exact rule
Can’t remember the exact rule number but the NMOTD the other week where the Plod gave the submittee the wrong advice actually applies here doesn’t it.
Cyclists can around in the left lane to go exit right, however they need to be aware and make allowances for cars entering and exiting at each lane.
AlsoSomniloquism wrote:
Of course, but you need to be aware of vehicles joining or leaving wherever you are.
Just to be clear, I was not suggesting that is definitely the correct action in all circumstances, but pointing out the HWC is clear that drivers need to expect people on bikes to do that.
Yep, the HWC covers the
Yep, the HWC covers the cyclist doing it, but also for them to look out for drivers and drivers to be aware the cyclist is there. The trouble on islands is there is so many rules for both parties (whatever the vehicle) that actual faults in driving is hard to prosecute as neither are then classed as in the wrong.
Highway Code literally says
Highway Code literally says to ride in the outside lane if you feel it’s safer.
Yes but theres what the
Yes but theres what the highway code says and theres heres what bitter experience has taught me, and it will be a very cold day in hell before I choose to ride around a roundabout like that in the very outside lane past exits/entries I’m not taking
Awavey wrote:
Well I can’t speak for anyone else, but my boiler’s being replaced as we speak, and I can only describe the cold as hellish…..
Shouldn’t you have dragged a
Shouldn’t you have dragged a job lot of dry bracken and grass down into your sett last autumn?
Mungecrundle wrote:
I smoked the last of the grass back in November. Can’t remember what happened to the bracken….. whatevs….
Fursty Ferret wrote:
HC says you can, but if you do ride round the outside watch out for vehicles crossing your path, not clear if this means you should yield to them, but 187 says they should yield to you
“77 You may feel safer walking your cycle round on the pavement or verge. If you decide to ride round keeping to the left-hand lane you should
be aware that drivers may not easily see you
take extra care when cycling across exits. You may need to signal right to show you are not leaving the roundabout
watch out for vehicles crossing your path to leave or join the roundabout.”
however the previous clause 76 directs to the normal rules for roundabouts, this would be considered the default and in my opion the safest way to manage a roundabout.
The roundabout in THIS clip is a single lane roundabout anyway, so by moving to the edge you are inviting drivers to overtake you within the lane at a junction. why would anyone do that? make them wait and pass after the junction they may not even be taking the same exit.
wycombewheeler wrote:
It’s not clear to me whether it’s meant to be one lane or two – it looks like one of those horrible ones that has two lanes worth of width, but with no clear lane division. I’m not sure there is a safe position to ride around ones like that – wherever you put yourself you’re liable to get someone doing something stupid to try to get past you, or assuming you’re going somewhere you’re not.
No, no, no! Take the correct
No, no, no! Take the correct lane for the exit you want and behave like regular traffic.
If you are on the inside track as it were, nearest the island in the middle then you are further away from the dangers of traffic joining the roundabout* and if it all goes a bit wonky when time to exit with respect to tangling with other vehicles then you have the option of aborting and just going round again.
*As demonstrated in this NMOTD where the cyclist was able to avoid a collision due to creating a larger margin of safety.
There isnt assurdness for
There isnt assurdness for sure, wide roundabouts like this always pose some risk for cyclists so it becomes hobsons choice.
But I know of at least one cyclist who was hit and killed almost in exactly this setup by a lorry coming in from a left/front entry,whilst they rode around far far left and it was because the bit of the road the driver assumed anything to come into conflict with them was empty, they didnt look to the verge for anything where the cyclist was.
And I’ve had similar experiences where being in prime probably saved me the side impact as the driver saw me last second and applied enough braking to stop in the extra gap there was, even if I then got chopped across close passed by the impatient so and so’s following me through on the exit.
joe9090 wrote:
This is a shockingly dangerous approach, as drivers behind will justifiably assume you are taking the next exit and you will get left hooked.
Position within the lane makes no difference, in the case of a driver who completely fails to give way to a road user already on the roundabout, the same evasive reaction would be required.
Wrong on several counts.
Wrong on several counts.
joe9090 wrote:
It’s not wrong; it’s just not what you chose to do.
Whether a cyclist takes the left lane all the way round or rides as a vehicle, there are risks. It should not be assumed that keeping out of the way is safer, because there is no ‘out of the way’. If the roundabout includes spiral lane markings, non-vehicular cycling is probably less compatible with survival. Equally, I can think of some large, rural roundabouts on routes I take to Scotland and Wales where I would probably cycle to the left because the roundabouts are so large they don’t really perform like roundabouts.
In each case, a cyclist wishing to survive would be well-advised to spend half their time emphatically looking behind them (body twisted to demonstrate you’re watching them). In each case, signalling right until you’re passing the exit before yours and then signal left (never mind you don’t have to signal right if you’re exiting before 12 o’clock).
But whichever approach you take on your position, drivers behind or joining must give way… you just have to be ready for the ones who DGAS across you.
Driver didn’t appear to slow
Driver didn’t appear to slow down enough to look, never saw him. Very very dangerous.
Low sun mate.
Low sun mate.
After consulting the Nick Freeman advice to all road users web site
You don’t have leg to stand on – totally your own fault.
After posting my cynical
After posting my cynical comments above I had a look at Nick Freema’s Website.
It comes as near to saying, “I can get you off even if you are guilty as hell” as it is legally possible to do.
One good thing It looks like he hates E Scooters even more than cyclists!
Re E-Scooters. Of course he
Re E-Scooters. Of course he would. Using a mode of transport that mean less chance of killing someone means less road rules so less chance his services would be called upon.
The driver’s a bit of a berk
The driver’s a bit of a berk