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news
Near Miss of the Day 282: "This HGV driver is going to kill someone" says cyclist almost taken out by trailer
The latest video in our Near Miss of the Day series led the road.cc reader who experienced it to make the observation, "This HGV driver is going to kill someone."
> What to do if you capture a near miss or close pass (or worse) on camera while cycling
> What to do next if you’ve been involved in a road traffic collision
It's perhaps one of the most frightening types of close pass a driver can make on a cyclist - when a long vehicle pulls in after overtaking but before the rear of the vehicle is clear, leaving the rider wondering whether they are going to be knocked off.
In fact, it's very reminiscent of an incident last year in which "Britain's most hated cyclist" - the helmetcam user Dave Sherry - was knocked off his bike. The driver subsequently fled the country rather than face justice.
It was filmed in Bournemouth by road.cc reader Graha, who provides a detailed text analysis of the incident on his video - including why the driver was wrong in assuming there was an off-carriageway cycle path (there isn't, but a shared use path had terminated shortly before where the overtake was made).
Graham told us: "The comment he made about the little blue sign ... surely he should know what it ACTUALLY means? Bloody lunatic. Theres not even a shared path there!!!
"I hate that shared path logo, it seems to encourages dumbasses to try and dictate what we do ... and as stated, yes i do drive large vehicles like that, as well as riding motorbikes and sometimes driving a car.
"Worrying times," he added.
> 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 [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.
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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17 comments
The lorry driver did see him. The lorry driver put him in the "blind spot". The lorry driver started to pull back over before the lorry had completed the pass, in a very dangerous manner. Either the "highly trained professional" did not know that he had failed to completely pass the cyclist or decided deliberately to intimidate the cyclist by threatening the cyclist with death or serious injury. Both of these scenarios lead me to believe that this idiot should not be in charge of such a large and dangerous vehicle.
But going by the further comments from the "highly trained professional" I believe it was a deliberate and conscious act.
I hope the police are aware of this incident and do something about it.
The video could have been a bit better, and the comments could have been on the screen for longer, but I did manage to read them using various video features. I did like his later riding of the cycle route, concentrating on the signs and where the route went.
Seconded, with emphasis.
All of the stickers on the back of HGVs and PSVs saying "Cyclists keep out of the blind spot" don't make a darned bit of difference if the driver of said HGV or PSV drives their vehicle in such a way as to put a cyclist in that fabled blind spot!
Lorries do have huge blind spots. Good reason IMO to ride in primary. Give all road users maximum chance to see you. Better than pissing about with yellow bibs and the like. Then they have no excuse, until they start moaning about cyclists being in the way... We should be teaching everyone to take the lane and ride further out. It's strange how incidents quickly end up with telling cyclists to wear yellow crap to make themselves more visable and never talk about road positioning, yet with motorcyclists one of the first things you learn is how to make yourself visable and not to ride in the gutter.
Not here to comment on the video - typical bad driving by a 'professional driver' who will kill someone oneday and just get a slap on the wrist.
Just here to say, this has got to be one of the most frustrating videos I've ever watched. I am sure you have lots of worthwhile comments to make and I would have liked to read them but they were so briefly displayed I gave up.
Youtube clip will be full of anti cyclist rhetoric by the end of today.
Combined with the camera that seems attached to a bungee chord,it was near unwatchable, to the point im just watching and thinking yeah so what,lorries always overtake you like that
Just to be accurate here there is no speed limit on a shared use path. There is no law that says if you're travelling at over 18 mph (30kph) you should be on the road. If irc that was a recommendation from British Cycling and isn't enforceable. Of course you still have to have consideration for other path users, hence the recomendation.
Its actually some old guidance from the Department for Transport:
"Annex D: Code of Conduct Notice for Cyclists
Ride at a sensible speed for the situation and ensure you can stop in time. As a general rule, if you want to cycle quickly, say in excess of 18 mph/30 kph, then you should be riding on the road."
https://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/+/http://www.dft.gov.uk/consu...
That's my point, it's advice, ".... as a general rule....", not law. I thought it was the government bit that was responsible for cycling pre - Cameron, but it looks like I misremembered that.
I would be keen to know how Dorset Police handled your complaint for this driver, if you contacted them. I have more than 300 video snippets of close passes on my cycling in this area over the last year (yep, I get one on almost every outing) but have not reported a single driver because I think I would be wasting my time. Dorset police have not signed up to any system that makes it easy to report and don't appear to have taken close passes as a serious problem affecting the take-up of cycling. I hope you could prove me wrong, and unfair in my observation.
put the clips on youtube including the drivers' registration plates and the date/time? It might help encourage a change in the way they're driving.
It's not good driving by the truck driver.
I live locally and I know that road to be fast (40mph at that point), narrow and very, very busy. However, just 20 yards to your left is a wide, empty service road that runs parallel with Wallisdown Road. Much safer route to cycle ... even if it does add 40yds to your journey. You can then cross over the road onto residential roads that also run parallel to the main road for the best part of another mile.
I know you have the right to cycle on Wallidown Rd, and be treated with courtesy by other road users, but personally I wouldn't choose to when there are much safer options available.
Had a look at that post.
Wow, found it a bit difficult not to comment directly on it as I wonder where the driver would need to be looking not to see the folks standing directly in front of the cab or immediately outside the drivers side window.
I haven’t watched the vid - it’s late and I find these things stop me sleeping. I did flick over to their Twitter and found this from May ‘17, complete with picture showing an awful lot of yellow striped areas. It said:
“To all who don't drive trucks , if you were sat in the drivers [sic] seat of this truck you would not see any of the people in the yellow stripes.”
my response: ok, and whose problem, as in who is making a problem, is this?
As a Class 1 driver and a keen club cyclist I am only too aware of this issue, even cars have blind spots, Articulated Lorries have even more, most car drivers don't even use the 3 they have, I have 13 mirrors on my cab, it is impossible to use them all and still keep and eye on the road, I know how diffiuclt it is to drive them, I never mess with a lorry or artic, we can complain all we like about the suitability of them being on the road, but right now they are, so just don't mess with them and stay clear, this is how I ride mu bike... however in this video... the driver should lose his job, it isn't just about bad driving, he has a bad attitude, hope he gets fired.
In the modern age of proximity sensors, 360°cameras and AI, the "blind spot" just isn't an acceptable excuse anymore. It baffles me that these vehicles are allowed on the road with what in any other product of engineering would be considered a critical defect, yet in cars and trucks it's just accepted as normal.
https://mobile.twitter.com/dlhaulage?lang=en
if you want to tweet!
So basically he's admitting it's a punishment pass for not being a proper, subserviant little cyclist and having the audacity to ride on his road.