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news
Near Miss of the Day 85: Cyclist squeezed by lorry changing lanes
Roads with multiple lanes are often the most unnerving for cyclists. The man who shot today’s video says that with hindsight he wishes he’d hung back at the lights after he then found himself riding alongside an HGV.
The incident took place on October 16 at about 5.30pm on Manchester’s A56, at the junction with Chester Road.
James said that he initially only uploaded the video to show friends because he felt stupid he didn’t see the incident coming.
“I feel I made a mistake following the bus. It was super tight and I was really lucky I got on the brakes when I did.”
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 [at] 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.
Alex has written for more cricket publications than the rest of the road.cc team combined. Despite the apparent evidence of this picture, he doesn't especially like cake.
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21 comments
Response from them in regards to the manouver...
"We have received your wisely driven complaint.
All complaints are taken very seriously which we fully investigate, on this occasion we have found the following outcomes.
Viewing the footage, the bus has obscured the drivers vision out of his passenger mirror.
When the bus has undertook the wagon this brings the cyclist into the drivers blind spot.
The driver was indicating his intention to come over into the inside lane in plenty of time for the cyclist to see, our driver has seen a cyclist who was in his sights and clearly waits for him to go past before moving."
1. On viewing the video, the driver had (I estimate here) around 3 - 4 seconds (from ca. 00:14 - 00:17 or so) to see the cyclist along side. This isn't a very long time, but then again, as the driver of a bloody great big HGV, he should have been hyper aware of what was going on up his LHS.
2. Again, I don't think this is the busses fault - the bus didn't undertake - he filtered past an HGV who was (for some reason) going slowly in the right lane.
It is a combination of factors. The driver should have been hyper aware of what was going on to his left, if he was merging left. This is one factor. The other is that this HGV has blind spots the size of Old Trafford. It is not fit for use on public roads.
3. The driver did nothing to indicate his intention to pull across to theleft lane, so the cyclist had no way of knowing he was about to get squeezed out.
4. The other cyclist is irrelevant to this case.
This is a piss poor answer - the one from the wiselydriven arsehole. Not me. My answer is boss as fuck.
Methinks someone needs to go to Specsavers.
Three things here. Firstly, the design of HGV's that are used our urban roads is shocking, for if we give the benefit of the doubt to the driver, he can't have seen the cyclist, and it beggars belief that they are allowed on the roads with such obvious and potentially fatal flaws.
Secondly, why the hell didn't he indicate - there was no reason for the cyclist to believe he was going to swing left into his path. Had he indicated at least the cyclist could have taken evasive action sooner.
Lastly - how crap was that overtake by the bus on the first cyclist? Not nearly enough room. He indicated to pull over to the right, and moved about 1 metre, if that. Why not use the whole right-hand lane, or most of it?
And the fact we have the cyclist questioning himself after doing absolutely nothing wrong just sums up the state of things - we're even victim blaming ourselves!
This.
This is the route I cycle daily. It is a motorway everything but in name, sadly it is also the main route to get to trafford park and media city. It's hugely wide with two lanes and a 40mph limit.
There are no footpaths or cycle routes just a big dual carriageway with wide lumps of grass either side.
Pedestrians walk on the grass, it is sad to see no real infrastructure around here since its very busy with cycling traffic.
Would be nice to see some real infrastructure here, or even just a footpath...
Seriously, take the left at the mini/bmw garage, you can peel off to trafford park at a couple of points. It'll add a minute or two to your journey but will be a hundred times more pleasent.
The only time I ride that road is when its closed for the great manchester ride
I agree, Talbot Road is much, much nicer to cycle on, the surface is pretty good now and the cycle path (implemented by Trafford Cycle Forum) is pretty wide. There's also the Bridgewater Canal, which now has a useable surface (although is a nuisance around the Throstles Nest bridge).
I know people used to cycle through Pomona, but I don't know if that's clear or not. Last time I looked, it was blocked off.
I remember when that Bridgewater Way (the bit where the truck almost hits him in the video) was built in the early 1990s. It used to be a railway. It's amazing that it was built with nothing else in mind but motorists - there aren't even any pavements. And yet, if you look at the eastbound carriageway, there's a very well worn path showing that pedestrians do need to use that route. That road should have a lane removed, and proper facilities installed. It isn't even a particularly busy road, it doesn't need to be that wide.
not point being right when you are dead, would have been easier to ease off the gas and then slip in the behind the trailer for a tow
However, why anyone would ride that road in rush hour traffic is beyond me!
Much nicer if you take the left before the mini garage and there is single lane route (talbot road) with large cycle lane (aka painted bit of road) all the way up to the otherside of gorsehill.
I've ridden up this road and other dual carriageways around Manchester. They are everywhere and hard to get anywhere without using one for part of your journey. Quite often I have been passed by HGVs/Royal Mail Vans/Tankers etc. all zooming in and out of the city. The question has to be why are they so besotted with being in the left hand lane? They crawl past you having to move half way into the other lane only to cross back and then having to stop again for another cyclist/traffic light/bus in a bus stop/car turning off. Given that most of these trucks are heading straight out of town miles to some depot off a motorway I have to wonder why they always need to be on the left where they are causing a hazard to cyclists. The right lane will be faster, and they shouldn't worry about holding up cars, the other motorist shouldn't be going faster anyway (Princess Parkway is supposed to be a 30mph limit now but is totally unenforced.)
Why go left?
1. You are taught to drive in the left most lane regardless of vehicle type. Many drivers and cyclists take that to the extremes so swing in and out when they should stay in one lane.
2. If you are a slower vehicle like a HGV you go in the left most lane so faster vehicles can overtake you particularly coming to and after lights where you brake and accelerate slower than other vehicles. With how Royal Mail drivers drive their HGVs and vans this isn't always true.
3 If the road goes down to one lane people think it is easier for you to filter if you are in the left lane especially if you are a larger vehicle. It actually isn't
A driver being a pain? Fuck that, he's in a mahoosive fucking lorry.
And if the lorry driver was checking, he'd have seen the bike, he's come from the rear all the way through to level with the wing mirror. If he can't see another road user down the entire length of his vehicle then it shouldn't be on the road!
the cyclist could of helped him self. he was in the drivers blind spot way too long. Get infront or stay behind. I can drive these and you have so much to watch out for it would is so easy too miss a bike in a blind spot. and if you have a car driver on the other side being a pain he whill have even less time to look out for a cyclist.
The blind spots on a truck are horrendous, I feel that the cyclist was probably dab bang in a blind spot, and the truck driver would have been oblivious to his presence. It's one good reason I never go anywhere near an HGV / large odd shaped vehicle, if I spot them on my routes.
Their wisely driven contact...
wisely.driven [at] muller.co.uk
I'd have sat in behind that other bike and let things calm down for a second.
He knows following the bus was a mistake.
I know that stretch of road & don't touch it even thoug its on my way to/from work. There is a traffic-free route parallel through Pamona.
Foook, that was tight!
Did the truck driver not check their mirrors properly, or is the vehicle not fit for the road? You can't just change lanes when there is a vehicle alongside you.
Anythingother than a cyclist and that's a nasty accident and insurance claim at best. But, as it's a cyclist, get out of the way or die
If I was in car i’d have let the lorry in since they were indicating way back rather than dash up the inside; so i’d so the same on my bike. Still no excuse for the lorry driver though, once the cyclist wasn’t letting him in, he should have waited.
I'd suggest you watch the video again. On a first view with the camera movement the side orange running lights may appear to flicker and flash, but they are steady. At NO POINT do I see the truck indicate. As the cyclist brakes and the truck passed while getting closer and closer, there are no indicators on the rear of the tractor unit flashing. Cyclist was in a clear lane and truck driver needs to check better, especially having just overtaken one cyclist, had he checked his mirrors properly to see if he was fully clear, he should have spotted there were in fact 2 bikes there.
Any other road user would expect to be able to continue in a straight line in their own lane. Had Mr Yorkie Muncher indicated, the cyclists would have been able to better prepare for a closing gap.
I agree. I can’t see the lorry indicating at all, just amber running lights. The lorry driver either didn’t look, which people often don’t as they assume that multi lane roads all comply with the same rules as motorways with regards to overtaking on the left, or he decided that the cyclists would have to give way, which lorry drivers often do with anything smaller than them.
Having said this I wouldn’t have done that, and only partly because I’m not that fast
I bet that lorry had a "blind spots - stay back!" sticker, but I think most people read those stickers in relation to the "squeezing up the side of a lorry in the same lane" manoeuvre. I don't imagine that most people interpret those stickers as "don't even go up my left hand side if I'm in a completely separate traffic lane"...