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news
Near Miss of the Day 344: Van driver tries to join main road through cyclist
The big question about today’s near miss is whether it was actually a miss at all or whether there was in fact a bit of contact.
Adrian was riding home along the A38 near Aztec West, Bristol, shortly after 5pm on December 18, when a van joined from a slip lane.
“At first the van appeared to be slowing down to pull in behind me, so I adjusted my speed, at which point – even though he was looking at me – he accelerated hard towards me.
“I pretty much braced myself for impact and then he (and 
swerved at the last second.
“After the junction, I pulled left and slowed down. He then overtook me, avoided eye contact and drove off.
“I was wearing a hi-vis jacket and had two rear lights, two front lights and also some frame LEDs (it was nearly Christmas after all), yet even looking right at me, he still seemed to fail to see me.”
The movement when both cyclist and driver swerve seems quite sharp in the video and Adrian thinks there may even have been contact.
“It was so close. I was watching them over my shoulder and thought, there is no way I can avoid this. The video sounds like there was contact too, I wonder now if there was some contact because my wheel is now misaligned and I had cleaned and checked the bike a few days earlier.”
> What to do next if you’ve been involved in a road traffic collision
> 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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8 comments
Don't assume because they have looked in your direction they have seen you either !
I think you 2 are misunderstanding the post given its deliberate construction.
Dark, raining. Could have happened to any driver...
a bit pissed at Christmas.
i expect the window frame and overlarge wing mirror acted as a bit of a blind spot....... plus bad driving.
There are no 'blind' spots, this is a fallacy promoted by wrong uns, the police and the justice system to excuse piss poor driving, basically those who can't be arsed to look/turn their head a few degrees
You obviously have not driven a panel van.
The piss poor driving comes from not accounting for that basic design flaw when operating one. But other road users should also be aware of the shortcomings to driver visibility in different vehicle types to avoid nasty surprises. It comes down to the golden rule about making eye contact. No eye contact then assume they have not seen you.
Unless you are aware of blind spots you can't know to look around them. Lack of knowledge of them in vehicles that depend on mirror coverage is very dangerous. Quite why we still allow inadequate mirrors and other rear facing tech on motor vehicles is a mystery to me, but until that changes, I try to be careful of positioning when behind traffic.
Can't see what the cyclist here could have done differently - that road is terrifying in the dark and wet, and whilst I acknowledge the right to use it, I don't think my skills and cojones would be sufficient...
A vehicle blind spot is never an acceptable excuse. Whether it's a fat C pillar on a hatchback, or a big mirror on a coach, the driver needs to recognise the problem, and drive accordingly.