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Near Miss of the Day 336: Driver overtakes as another reverses into cycle lane

Our regular feature showing close passes from around the country

Today’s near miss is a fine example of an incident that will be familiar to many a cyclist. You see a driver reversing out of a driveway up ahead and you’re looking to give them a wide berth, but the person behind chooses this moment to overtake.

On this occasion the reversing motorist encroached into the cycle lane and George was left with a decidedly narrow gap to get through.

The incident occurred on the A307 Richmond Road from Kingston Upon Thames to Ham, back in October. George reckons it’s some of the worst cycle lane in Surrey.

“It was purely innocent, I'm sure,” he reflected. “The driver adjacent in the blue Volvo was completely oblivious to the impending pinch point, despite their open window and my polite requests for a little extra room.

“It's amazing how suck-it-in slim you can become when required.”

> 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.

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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70 comments

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nicmason replied to alansmurphy | 4 years ago
1 like

alansmurphy wrote:

ChrisB200SX wrote:

alansmurphy wrote:

Oh dear, here I go though, did the rider ever think of applying the brakes?

Oh dear, driver overtakes incredibly dangerously and you choose to highlight what the cyclist could have differently?!

 

99.9% of these I totally agree with the cyclist and in this case I still think the overtaking driver was wrong as they weren't in a position to complete the move or giving enough room (though slightly blinded by seeing 2 lanes as previously mentioned).

 

However, keeping momentum etc. shouldn't be the cyclists primary concern. They were looking to change lanes due to the reversing car and never seemingly thought of just stopping...

 

One of the issues with the cycle lane then. the driver was not overtaking. the cyclist was a in a different lane and should have given way.

Avatar
StuInNorway replied to alansmurphy | 4 years ago
4 likes

alansmurphy wrote:

Oh dear, here I go though, did the rider ever think of applying the brakes?

Brakes ? Even stopping pedalling for 2 secs would allow him the option to evade behind the passing car.
Should not NEED to do so, but I'll opt for self preservation over "I'm right", although "I'm right" can stretch quite far sometimes.

 

Avatar
Dicklexic replied to StuInNorway | 4 years ago
3 likes

StuInNorway wrote:

alansmurphy wrote:

Oh dear, here I go though, did the rider ever think of applying the brakes?

Brakes ? Even stopping pedalling for 2 secs would allow him the option to evade behind the passing car.
Should not NEED to do so, but I'll opt for self preservation over "I'm right", although "I'm right" can stretch quite far sometimes.

 

To me that looks like that's pretty much what he did. Obviously the rider was keen to maintain momentum, but certainly did slow enough to tuck in (just!) behind the left rear of the passing car.

The party most 'at fault' was the one reversing onto the road. Not actually illeagal to do so, but not advised either.

Highway Code 201
Do not reverse from a side road into a main road. When using a driveway, reverse in and drive out if you can.

Avatar
bikeman01 replied to StuInNorway | 4 years ago
3 likes

StuInNorway wrote:

alansmurphy wrote:

Oh dear, here I go though, did the rider ever think of applying the brakes?

Brakes ? Even stopping pedalling for 2 secs would allow him the option to evade behind the passing car.
Should not NEED to do so, but I'll opt for self preservation over "I'm right", although "I'm right" can stretch quite far sometimes.

Rider then proceeds to try to pass the car on the inside, not a wise move - once a car passes you you are forgotten, don't put yourself back in danger just to keep your speed up - the cyclist equivalent of the car driver's must get in front.

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visionset replied to bikeman01 | 4 years ago
0 likes

bikeman01 wrote:

Rider then proceeds to try to pass the car on the inside, not a wise move - once a car passes you you are forgotten, don't put yourself back in danger just to keep your speed up - the cyclist equivalent of the car driver's must get in front.

We call this filtering, personally I do it on the outside, sod the comedy infra

Avatar
dobbo996 replied to visionset | 4 years ago
1 like

visionset wrote:

bikeman01 wrote:

Rider then proceeds to try to pass the car on the inside, not a wise move - once a car passes you you are forgotten, don't put yourself back in danger just to keep your speed up - the cyclist equivalent of the car driver's must get in front.

We call this filtering, personally I do it on the outside, sod the comedy infra

Me too.

Avatar
bikeman01 replied to dobbo996 | 4 years ago
0 likes

dobbo996 wrote:

visionset wrote:

bikeman01 wrote:

Rider then proceeds to try to pass the car on the inside, not a wise move - once a car passes you you are forgotten, don't put yourself back in danger just to keep your speed up - the cyclist equivalent of the car driver's must get in front.

We call this filtering, personally I do it on the outside, sod the comedy infra

Me too.

You're both wrong.

The traffic was freely moving - he was undertaking.

Avatar
CyclingInBeastMode replied to alansmurphy | 4 years ago
2 likes

alansmurphy wrote:

Oh dear, here I go though, did the rider ever think of applying the brakes?

What about the drivers of both cars obeying the law?

The volvo driver has already broken the law with their initial assault of the cyclist, the driver of the black vehicle also commits a criminal act and all you can come out with is about the cyclist applying their brakes!

For one thing they have multiple things going on at the same time, such that it's not easy to make a decision as to what to do, maybe they could have but these things unfold in a few seconds and with those two threats coming one after another the rider took what in some ways is a simpler if not looking like the less safer option.

There is nothing on the rider at all, both drivers should get NIPs as a minimum.

Avatar
Kendalred | 4 years ago
3 likes

Once again my sarcasm detector is on the blink. The quote "“It was purely innocent, I'm sure,” he reflected. “The driver adjacent in the blue Volvo was completely oblivious to the impending pinch point, despite their open window and my polite requests for a little extra room" was meant ironically wasn't it?

Avatar
alansmurphy | 4 years ago
3 likes

"I'm in my lane so done nothing wrong m'lud"

 

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