Today’s near miss takes place on a Ruette Tranquille on Guernsey. Ruettes Tranquilles are a network of lanes on the island with a recommended speed limit of 15mph on which pedestrians, cyclists and horse riders have priority over motor vehicles.
Alex said: “Despite being over this recommended speed limit myself, the driver clearly had a serious case of MGIF (must get in front) that could only be cured by trying to run me off the road and then threatening me in the street because I’d made him hit the hedge as he tried to squeeze by me. Luckily a guy overheard them and came out of his house and coaxed them away from me.”
The incident occurred in February during Alex’s ride home from work. He said the dooring left him with a broken finger, “but luckily no damage to the bike.”
He said that after being treated at A&E, he went to the police station that evening to make a complaint and provided them with a copy of the video footage.
“After four months, and much chasing, I was informed by the police that they would not be taking any action against the driver as ‘seeing as I had time to hit the car as it passed me, I had time to move out of the way’.
“I immediately made a complaint, and after a further six weeks of chasing, have still to receive anything other than an informal remark that they’re happy with their investigation.”
Alex says that in May a local cycling group launched a ‘Stay Wider of the Rider’ campaign with the support of Guernsey Police, complete with a floor mat showing their recommended overtaking distance.
“I volunteered my time on a Sunday to man the police’s stall at a charity event to promote the initiative and talk to the public about it. And as treasurer of the local cycling group, I even wrote the cheque to pay for the floor mat and associated car bumper stickers. Guess I won’t be doing that again.”
> 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.
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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
42 thoughts on “Near Miss of the Day 165: Close pass followed by dooring and angry exchange because motorist had then driven into hedge”
If “Ruettes Tranquilles are a
If “Ruettes Tranquilles are a network of lanes on the island with a recommended speed limit of 15mph on which pedestrians, cyclists and horse riders have priority over motor vehicles” then someone in the Guernsey police has clearly misunderstood the law…
IMHO the Guernsey police are
IMHO the Guernsey police are drawing their pay under the false pretences – sounds like fraud to me.
Thats awful, Gurnsey police
Thats awful, Gurnsey police should hang their head in shame.
“Ruettes Tranquilles” [sic]
“Ruettes Tranquilles” [sic] — the tranquil wands? shouldn’t it be “Les Routes Tranquilles” (quiet routes/roads) or is Ruettes from a local CI dialect of french (norman).
Re the incident – shocking MGIF attitude.
CygnusX1 wrote:
Yep, it’s Guernésiais.
I should have suspected how the investigation was going to go when the first question I was asked by the police when I went to give my statement was “what were you wearing?”
Capt Caveman wrote:
Is this sexual?
Oh, hang on…
Beecho wrote:
Backstreet Boys?
Hey nice language from the
Hey nice language from the panic’ing daughter – SLUT
bikeman01 wrote:
What has the girl done to deserve being called a SLUT?
That’s simply NOT warranted.
Driver is obviously a muppet though.
It always amazes me how angry
It always amazes me how angry a passenger can get when their co-twats behaviour is questioned.
Also, can Guernsey Police confirm that every time a pedestrian is run over and killed by a speeding driver that they should have got out of the way – if you have time to hit the windscreen with your cranium…
What a pair of chavvy
What a pair of chavvy scumbags. I was under the (false) impressin that Guernsey was posh and genteel and you weren’t likely to meet folk like that.
Shocking driving. And as for their reaction after.
And Guernsey Police should hold their heads in shame. You should escalate your complaint until you get some satisfaction. That guy is not fit to be in charge of a car.
So DAD runs cyclist off road,
So DAD runs cyclist off road, proceeds to hard stop him, hits him with a door and knocks him off and then it’s “leave my DAD alone”
Get a grip!
Cyclist should have got his pimp hand out
Wow, that’s Guernsey off of
Wow, that’s Guernsey off of my list of places to visit. Useless Guernsey Police! If you’ve got time to be hit by a car you’ve got time to get out of the way and crash into the hedge instead.
ChrisB200SX wrote:
lol Summed it up nicely.
If either of my daughters
If either of my daughters turns into a whining bint like that, I swear I’ll kill myself.
vonhelmet wrote:
Clearly it is the parent’s fault, it is the way she has been brought up by arrogant, stupid aggressive dad, so blaming the kid isn’t really fair. Trouble is, when she gets behind the wheel of a car, she’s going to be just as bad.
vonhelmet wrote:
Just watched it again to see the door bending bit, and noticed that the daughter has a large “staff” badge around her neck. I wonder what kind of company would employ someone with quite such exceptional customer relationship skills.
burtthebike wrote:
Just watched it again to see the door bending bit, and noticed that the daughter has a large “staff” badge around her neck. I wonder what kind of company would employ someone with quite such exceptional customer relationship skills.
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Guernsey Police?
I’d be tempted to cut the
I’d be tempted to cut the daughter a bit of slack. Its probably her first car incident and shock makes people say and do silly things, especially if she was in the car as it rolled backward.
The dad has no excuse 100% the cause of the entire incident.
I would have went after his insurance company for the broken finger.
Utterly appalling driving and
Utterly appalling driving and staggering incompetence are not the best mix. I suspect that the driver is a well know celebrity or millionaire, so the police won’t do anything, and would probably let him off killing someone. I’d certainly argue that stopping, apparently without reason, and then opening the door when the cyclist tried to pass was assault.
I agree with previous posters, keep escalating this and take it to the media. Does anyone know how to look up Guernsey reg plates to find out who the owner is?
burtthebike wrote:
He’s pretty tight with old wallet if he’s got millions to spend and he’s driving that crap.
Did the driver get out
Did the driver get out without putting the handbrake on and did the car roll back down the lane, nearly tearing the drivers door off? Oh dear.
Podc wrote:
That’s hilarious. What a knob of a driver.
Quite how the Police think there’s nothing to action is beyond me. Bloody joke.
Hope that repair cost him a bit.
Looks like it, i bet that
Looks like it, i bet that door don’t shut properly and has knackered the hinges on it, serves him right the dick.
The idiot driver’s dashcam
The idiot driver’s dashcam footage of his own face as he walked back to his car and realised the damage would have been priceless.
I think a nice email to the
I think a nice email to the ‘States’ members and the head of the tourist board pointing out a recommending cyclist don’t visit Guernsey because of the lack of compliance with the law might be interesting.
simontm wrote:
I’ve been to Jersey and I had a very positive experience, so I hope this bloke is a rare example.
How it can be brushed under the carpet with multiple offences is worrying, so your idea is a good one.
Second that simontm, I was
Second that simontm, I was thinking it would be a great place for a family Cycling holiday with my nervous new riders in the family, not now. Unless I hear of a change of attitude we won’t bother with the channel islands
Thanks for pointing out that
Thanks for pointing out that the car had rolled backwards and destroyed the drivers door. I was wondering how the cyclist suddenly appeared to be so far ahead in the road as the manchild ranting commenced. Definitely makes this worth another viewing.
I would like to see the next
I would like to see the next few minutes to see how he gets the car out of the hedge and his reaction to the door. Proper entertainment.
Post-incedent behaviour is
Post-incedent behaviour is inexcusable, – but… we don’t know how long he was behind, and there are a couple of opportunities to have let a vehicle pass in the clip…
JohnnyRemo wrote:
100% agree.
don simon wrote:
And the rest is maybe how we stop the inexcusable happening. There were a couple of spaces to have let a vehicle past.
JohnnyRemo wrote:
Or we can just be patient twats.
JohnnyRemo wrote:
Except that the limit on this road is 15mph and the cyclist says he was doing more than that, so why let someone past when they were breaking the speed limit to do so?
burtthebike wrote:
If you’re driving in the outside lane at the speed limit and someone comes up behind you the highway code/best practice is to move over when safe to do so and allow them past.
It would have taken three seconds of free-wheeling to allow the car to pass if timed right.
JohnnyRemo wrote:
It would have taken three seconds of free-wheeling to allow the car to pass if timed right.— JohnnyRemo
Um, yeah, so that’s not what the Highway Code says at all.
The Highway Code says a lot about how to safely overtake and treat cyclists, though.
JohnnyRemo wrote:
I can see you are determined not to understand what one of these greeen lanes is.
JohnnyRemo wrote:
OTOH these lanes give priority to non motorised vehicles so Mr Guernsey SUV can just suck it up
JohnnyRemo wrote:
You’ve completely missed the point that it is a green lane therefore cars have to give way to everyone and not exceed 15 mph.
The cyclist could have gone at 3 mph and still had priority.
Such Green lanes are a selling point of the channel islands for tourist purposes.
JohnnyRemo wrote:
But we DO know how long there wasn’t an opportunity to pass safely, about 15 seconds – if the motorist had been waiting to pass earlier in the video, he would surely have passed unsafely earlier. Or do you think the motorist patiently waited 15 seconds before impatiently passing?
It’s a quiet route to enjoyed
It’s a quiet route to enjoyed by pedestrians as well as wheeled vehicles, not a motorway, so not comparable at all.