This is a terrifying addition to our Near Miss of the Day Series with a lorry driver overtaking a cyclist at the point where the road narrows from two lanes to one due to roadworks.
Gary, the road.cc reader who filmed the heart-stopping footage, told us: “This happened leaving Liverpool City centre back in May.
“Due to roadworks the road was down to a single lane. The HGV driver decided that the single coned off lane was wide enough for both me and and him. It wasn’t.
“I uploaded the footage to Merseyside Police, who this week informed me that the company that owned the vehicle had been fined £1000 plus court costs.
“I’ve had several near misses, but this was far and away the most frightening.”
> 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@road.cc">info@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.
> What to do if you capture a near miss or close pass (or worse) on camera while cycling
44 thoughts on “Near Miss of the Day 486: Lorry driver cuts across cyclist at roadworks in “terrifying” overtake”
I saw the first lorry go past
I saw the first lorry go past and thought ‘Meh’. Then the second one………………….
Anyone else think “that wasn
Anyone else think “that wasn’t so bad”… Then the second lorry came!!!
alansmurphy wrote:
Yes, that was me. That’s as bad as it gets before it becomes an RTI or worse.
alansmurphy wrote:
I was already braced for the “Call that a near miss?” complaints 🙂
Good result from the police though.
Yep! Thought it was one of
Yep! Thought it was one of those ‘the lens doesn’t show how near it is ‘ passes.
alansmurphy wrote:
Yep, same here – Driver was an absolute cluster-twat
So once they realised their
So once they realised their miscalculation and space was running out, the lorry driver preferred the option of running over the cyclist to flattening a few cones. With reflexes like that the driver needs to have to reapply for an HGV licence, after extensive re-education.
And then limited to only
And then limited to only ‘driving’ a cargo bike.
Company was fined £1000 makes
Company was fined £1000 makes me think they didn’t supply driver name to the Police.
AlsoSomniloquism wrote:
shouldn’t be possible with HGVs every driver has their own tacograph charts. Firm must know exactly who was driving at all times.
wycombewheeler wrote:
Maybe they knew but refused to disclose. £1,000 + costs is right in line with a prosecution for failing to provide the driver information,so looks like that is a good call.
Click here …
Jetmans Dad wrote:
So basically a driver, maybe taking some advice, realises he is bang to rights on a more serious charge so agrees to cut his losses by hiding behind his employers at a fixed cost of £1000 and nothing to show for it? If true then that’s crap and needs fixing.
According to that “Limited
According to that “Limited companies cannot be given penalty points or driving disqualifications from driving.” So failure to nominate a driver can basically be wrapped up in running costs. According thetruckexpert.co.uk, the running cost of an articulated lorry is somewhere between £100k-£135k p.a. – so yes, a £1000 fine = 1/2 week running cost, essentially irrelevant.
Perhaps insurers could be persuaded to look at the relationship between no. of “failure to nominate” offences a company racks up and their claims history – if it had a potential impact on insurance premium for the whole fleet then that might make them think twice about pulling this trick.
Or .. just amend “failure to
Or .. just amend “failure to nominate” fines for companies to be based on turnover rather than a fixed amount that has presumably been determined on the basis of what is reasonable to fine an individual.
If that were the case I would
If that were the case I would like to think the traffic commisioner would also be very interested in both their driving standards and their record keeping
what happens if a driver
what happens if a driver leaves the company though ? I assume some might literally only drive the one time on a job for them
As I understand it the
As I understand it the company (their transport manager) are required as a condition of their operators licence to keep adequate records and if they cannot name the driver then that is a significant black mark against them. The traffic commsioners (VOSA ?) are not scared to suspend (or even remove) operators licences if required.
Absolutely horrendous driving
Absolutely horrendous driving by the truck driver.
I’ve had a couple of these near passes in my time, my strategy now is line up centre for the single lane, in advance to stop drivers trying to squeeze passed.
I watched that and though,
I watched that and thought, “That wasn’t so bad”… And then the second HGV came into view
(Edited) sorry, alansmurphy – I didn’t read down all the comments before posting!
Me too! Saw the truck and
Me too! Saw the truck and thought ‘I’ve seen worse’ and then the second one lurched into view.
I initially thought that was
I initially thought that was a good result, £1000 fine for the company, but what about the driver? That company probably won’t use that driver again, but unless there is something substantial on his driving record, he can just move on to another company and do the same again, not necessarily with the same result.
How about asking the police Gary?
eburtthebike wrote:
Spot on. The company will soak that up without it touching the sides. eg How much is their weekly tyre wear bill?
The driver was the one who drove the bloody thing – why is he protected?
Absolutely frightening, I don
Absolutely frightening, I don’t know how the cyclist stayed upright.
It’s possible that the cyclist was obscured by the first lorry and only “popped” into the field of view of the second driver after he had been overtaken, the driver could have been looking at the row of cones to his right, there is also a blind spot to the front and left of the cab. He made no attempt to do an emergency brake or swerve.
A simple case of “I never saw the cyclist M’Lud”
Whilst I understand a bit of
Whilst I understand a bit of lets look at it another way rather then drivers being psycho, however your “possibility” doesn’t explain why the lorry was in the other lane initially if he didn’t know a cyclist was there. It wasn’t a SMIDSY, more of a MGIF with added not caring if he has to clean his trailer off afterwards.
and any restriction to the
and any restriction to the drivers view is mainly because he is to close to the first truck, thats what creates his blind spot.
its bad enough seeing them really close on Motorways, where there houldn’t be vulnerable road users, bu on a more urban road i is madness
Spot on
Spot on
I was giving a possible
I was giving a possible explanation, not justifying the driver’s behaviour. I think the first driver may have been doing a MGIF, his brake lights came on just after he had overtaken the cyclist and the second driver was just following MUCH too closely.
There’s 4-5 seconds between
There’s 4-5 seconds between the rear of the first lorry and the front of the second. That’s plenty of time. Also, both were in the outside lane – presumably because they were overtaking the cyclist they could see in the inside lane. No excuse at all.
Regardles of when he
Regardles of when he identified the cyclist, a clear case of where the driver would have been better to strike the cones than risk actually killing someone if he felt he couldn’t slow in time.
But that would mean acknowledging that you’d been driving badly, so better to risk someone’s life, and hope that you get away with it
Says something when a cyclist
Says something when a cyclist’s life is worth less to a driver than a road cone.
No roadworks going on either.
It’s possible that the
(“It’s possible that the cyclist was obscured by the first lorry and only “popped” into the field of view of the second driver after he had been overtaken, the driver could have been looking at the row of cones to his right, there is also a blind spot to the front and left of the cab. He made no attempt to do an emergency brake or swerve. A simple case of “I never saw the cyclist M’Lud”)
Does the lorry driver have a permanent “BLIND SPOT?”
And, is his focus only required on traffic cones and neglect everthing smaller than his lorry or NOT in cars and vulnerable?
This is the point I was
This is the point I was making.
It is reasonable to assume that the driver was looking at the row of cones accross his lane which then reduced the road to a single carriageway as he approached them (too fast).
Clinically speaking our central (foveal) vision occupies a field area of 2 degrees about 4x the diameter of the full moon, although for practical reasons this is often expanded to 8-10 degrees. However you look at it central vision only covers a very small area. Outside this area we a into increasasingly low quality peripheral vision.
So the cycllist would appear on the driver’s left in his peripheral vision and rapidly move into the vehicles blind spot. There is also a phenomenon called “Windscreen Zoning” which means that drivers are often reluctant to use the bit of windscreen closest to the edges. This has the effect of making the blind spots larger than they are.
As someone said the driver had some time to see the cyclist, but not if he was looking in another direction.
All this is only a theory, but it is distinctly possble. Four seconds is also about the length of time kit takes to answer a mobile phone. We will never know what happened inside that cab. Any way the driver is an incmpetent ****.
In answer to your point “Does the driver have a permanent blind spot” the answer is YES we all have two, one in each retina. Sorry I’m not having a go at you, just being a pedant.
What was the name of the
What was the name of the company? Publicise it! They are guilty of covering up very dangerous driving.
JWT Commercial Ltd. 3 miles
JWT Commercial Ltd. 3 miles up that road…
Holy **** that is terrifying
Holy **** that is terrifying
That was frightening, but the
That was frightening, but the rider could have taken a much more prominent position.
I would have ridden central down the inner carriageway.
This has several advantages, it indicates to those behind you are controlling your lane. Makes you more visible (especially if wearing bright colours and bright rear light). You have a much greater escape zone to the left, like 1.5yds.
Take control of your space.
Says somethin when a cyclist
Says something when a cyclist’s life is worth less to a driver than a road cone.
No roadworks going on either.
One thing I’ve noticed during
One thing I’ve noticed during the current run of “protected bike lanes” with wands or cones. I’m not convinced that they particularly help cyclists, but they certainly illustrate how cr@p a lot of drivers are! How hard can it be to not hit a big orange reflective plastic stick? If you do use one of those lanes – at least, in my neck of the urban woods – you have to be prepared to dodge fallen wands/cones all the time…
Well as shown in Brighton,
Well as shown in Brighton, they might have been deliberately targetted rather then accidently hit.
I know the ones that popped
I know the ones that popped up in my neck of the woods ,drivers,particularly in lorries, target them,or pay little attention to not hitting them,after all its barely going to leave a scratch on a tipper truck.
FWIW they do benefit you cycling in them, as you just get that physical separation and guaranteed space gap,I know less confident cyclists like them alot,and even us been there seen that got the scars from it cyclists appreciate them too
All the ones in Bristol city
All the ones in Bristol city centre are barely wider than my hybrid’s handlebars and go right over loads of sunken trenches, manhole covers, etc. Very claustrophobic to ride in, but if you don’t ride in them then you’re seen as fair game, I think…
No – I think that a lot of
No – I think that a lot of drivers just can’t cope with keeping their line!
Horrendous maniac and a
Horrendous maniac and a lethal abuser behind the wheel, and a potential killer of innocent road users (including children) NOT in a car or truck.
This nutter needs to be named and shamed – i wonder if he would be ok if his family member was abused in the same way?
Disgraceful that there was no
Disgraceful that there was no driver sanction. The fact that the company got fined implies that they refused to disclose who was driving.