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news
Near Miss of the Day 654: Punishment pass by aggressive lorry driver after tailgating cyclist through roadworks (includes swearing)
Our Near Miss of the Day feature today highlights an aggressive lorry driver who taligated a cyclist ahead of them, sounding their horn and gesturing at the rider to get out of the way as they went through roadworks in Essex, and then making a punishment so close that the rider describes it as “the worst incident I think I have ever experienced.”
The clip was filmed by road.cc reader Tony, who told us: “I’ve submitted several videos to yourselves over the years but none have come as close this incident!
“This happened last Tuesday, 26 October in Thurrock, Essex. I was at the start of my commute to work cycling along a stretch of road currently undergoing some roadworks that also sees the shared use path closed off with the speed limit being lowered from 50 to 30mph.
“I’m amongst the roadworks, cones both sides of me when the driver behind starts sounding their horn at me, I look over my shoulder and see the driver gesturing at me to get out of their way.
“I continue on, unfortunately knowing what is about to come, and sure enough, as soon as the road open up a bit the driver performs a punishment pass – passing so close that I actually thought I might end up under their rear wheels as the vehicle had to pull across to make it through the approaching pinch point.
“This was the worst incident I think I have ever experienced, made worse by the rain and wet roads,” Tony said.
“I reported the incident to Essex Police who have updated saying the driver has been given the choice of a conditional offer [ie points and fine] or driver awareness course,” 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.
> What to do if you capture a near miss or close pass (or worse) on camera while cycling
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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40 comments
How about starting a "Caring pass of the day." thread. I was out today in some dreadful conditions and I can honestly say that the care and consideration shown by the majority of motorists was outstanding. Those drivers should be praised and thanked.
Yeah, in school parlance, WAGOLL (what a good one looks like). We could have a WAGOLLOTD feature. In all seriousness, showing that, yes, it can be done and most other drivers do do it, would be good. Maybe, with the positive spin, road.cc could get GoPro to thrown in some sponsorship?
I'll (not so) humbly submit one of my own.
https://youtu.be/qBg1aD3XEQo
Perhaps there is an alternative:
“A person is guilty of an offence if he uses threatening . . behaviour. . . . within the hearing or sight of a person likely to be caused harassment, alarm or distress thereby.“
(to paraphrase section 5 of the Public Order Act, 1986).
Seems like repeated hooting and such intimidatory driving, and using a very large vehicle to threaten the cyclist, is therefore a criminal offence, not just a road traffic offence!
Anyone want to explain why section 5 would not apply and why incidents like this could not also be reported as a criminal offence? [That would also sort out the "you are only a witness so we're not telling you the outcome" problem, because MoJ Victims Code of Practice applies for criminal offences!].
whilst i apprecaite the following wouldnt really serve any real purpose in this sort of situation i'd love to be able to find out who the driver was, where they live etc, then follow them on foot one day really really close, (with an air horn behind my back) and should they not speed up blast it right in their ear. then explain to them why, and illustrate how it feels to be hounded in this way. then ask them how it feels. a cohort of 6'8"+ bouncers accompanying me so should they get lairy they also feel even more intimidated by my presence rght up their chuff - which of course is totally unecessary as all it takes is a little patience!
Tailgating a cyclist in a lorry in the rain!? Absolutely crazy. There is nowhere for the cyclist to go anyway, just have little patience. The more of these videos I watch i see the consistent theme is a driver not being willing to wait a few seconds, 30 at most, they would rather risk killing or seriously injuring someone. Madness.
Don't feed the troll.
Absolutely. Don't feed it. If it can't have love it'll take hate as a secondary gain.
Well done for surviving this, reporting it and getting the reg. Well done Essex police for taking action, it's a pity it's not more punitive but something is better than nothing and the driver may think twice about their drivng in future.
It's such a shame the driver wasn't more courteous, especially considering the conditions but I suppose we can't expect drivers to follow the same high standards as us cyclists.
Was actually surprised Essex police did anything, thought as the licence plate isn't visible in the video they would use that as an excuse to not do anything.
My thoughts exactly and may be the reason for limited action. Once again I'm glad you are OK and I hope it hasn't put you off cycling.
Yeah, that was my thought as well.
I'm fully committed to cycling for as long as I can, yes this was bad, but just got to keep on going.
By not calling it out, it allows the driving to continue and the next person might not be so lucky, it has to be reported.
So you are a camera user, but did you consider https://passpixi.com/
Apparently drivers who are aware that they are being recorded may give more space.
Professional drivers should be more pursuaded by that having their livelihood to protect.
No sale nor agent relationship.
for £10 its worth trying IMO, but Im not yet convinced of its efficacy in practice, as I believe it still relies on the driver to notice the sign, and then process what its telling them, and I dont think drivers are that observant. Plus how do you prove if someone gives you more space they were influenced solely by the sign ?
I've had a PP for about ten weeks and it absolutely has made a significant difference in the amount of space drivers are giving me on passes, it's been very noticeable that far more people are moving right to the other side of the road in textbook fashion. Also I do think it's only fair, as I do have a camera and will report close passes, to provide a warning. Ordering another one for Mrs H, it definitely works for me.
yes Im certainly prepared to give it go and try it on my commute rides to see what difference it might make. I just feel skeptical because I often ride the same routes regularly and some days it can be like every pass is a close pass, and other days everyones treating me like a gigantic roundabout, and Ive never really understood why theres the difference, as Im not riding any differently.
Sometimes I think its just something as random as kit choice, Ive got a vibrant pink breast cancer charity top, never been close passed once wearing it, people literally drive on the other side of the road to pass.
So are people responding to the colour being more in line with their its what Im supposed to wear as a cyclist to be more visible instead of the navy/black tops I usually prefer as I often note on commutes riders in luminous colours are treated better than the more sportier attired ones, or are they reacting to it because its a charity cause that they empathise with, or whats their deal with it, I dont know, which just makes evaluating the pass pixi trickier imo.
Oh really? Would be rather difficult turning round and making eye contact in the pishing rain at night with a lorry driver up your ass. The only unsavoury behaviour I see in this video is the aggression from the lorry driver, but then knowing your attitude on these forums I wouldn't expect anything less, and so far as your jersey design goes, do you really think that lorry driver would have read it, or even cared?
with respect I think you may suffer from low IQ and / or low emotional intelligence if you can't understand the flight or fight response when someone is being threatened by a 30-40 tonne metal hammer on wheels in the pouring rain.
Sociopath maybe, I mean afterall he deliberately goes out of his way to antagonise others by blaming accidents and deaths on victims so doesn't seem to have too much emotions. From his description of himself and the way he wasn't loved by his parents (father gave him a bike and said ride it now, mother sends her cyclist son anti-cyclist propaganda) I expect someone showing the same "human" responses as Zuckerberg if we ever saw boo.
This is hilarious! So in your mind someone swearing at you means you get to endanger their life, good to know.
Unfortunately I wasn't surprised at all by the drivers actions as it was clear from the start that they were angered by the fact that I was using the road. Nothing I did or didn't do, short of somehow miraculously dematerializing, was going to prevent their reckless endangerment of my life.
Hmm, who started the agression I wonder, the 40 Tonne lorry deciding that doing 20-25 in a 30mph zone because of "cyclist" so blasted his horn and indicated to cyclist to get off the road. Or cyclist shouting a profanity that lorry driver would not have heard anyway.
Don't worry, that poster will say anything in an attempt to provoke a reaction.
Any other forum they would have been banned multiple times.
Retaliation? For what? Do you have evidence this driver had some previous beef with this cyclist or had awareness of him from his online efforts, and maybe had been stalking him for some days then? Then this case is much worse than I though and I'm sure the police would be interested in your information.
(As for the link you provide - he sounds like a sweary geezer. If that offends you I would suggest not watching any more of those videos, joining an anti-swearing campaign and good luck with that! Doesn't seem to be causing any particular fear or alarm. The only controversy seems to be with people who are fairly convinced that doing anything for cycling / cyclists is a bad idea).
If you mean "karma" instead of retaliation, then given the driver was the one endangering life I feel your offering would be entirely appropriate for them to read on the back of someone. If you can't stand the effronterty of these cycling types then you could have proposed the following for the sweary cyclist (who the driver is quite unlikely to have heard shouting at him):
Unfortunately I do have a tendency to swear a lot. It's something I'm trying to stop myself doing, especially in light of some of the articles I've seen about police saying they may prosecute the person for their swearing.
Don't worry, Nige had a go at someone the other day for shouting "Oi!"
But yep, apparently just looking like you might look at someone a bit funny in response to their horrendous driving is justification in some people's minds for you to be run over as some sort of life lesson in manners.
TBH, the one linked that Boo (NG who by the way has been banned for racist behaviour, AND is quite happy to call people fat to their faces), without any evidence, stated there was a victim who was shocked, without thinking the victim was the cyclist forced out of a safer lane into faster traffic AND who was then almost car doored at the same time.
Edit: I see you are such a prolific swearer that Boo had to look through several videos before he could put one up in defence of "you swore at a driver so deserve to be killed". Of course he never once commented on the driving shown in the other cases including a car zooming through a red light minutes after it had changed. Or any of the other close passes given to you when you have not said a word.
As mentioned before, Boo has stated categorically that he would have been happy for a cyclist to be punched by an ex professional boxer, agreed with another poster that a cyclist entering a property should have actually been struck with a blade and seemed to indicate that Andrew Gilligan deserved to be knocked down because he supported LTNs. So he definitely doesn't seem to grasp the "Sticks and Stones would break my bones but words would never hurt me" and instead seems to be totally in favour of "Swear in fear for your life, and driver is then allowed to make a widow of your wife" .
I think that is a bit OTT. Maybe something like.
"Do you have Children, old parents, partener to look after in your life? So do I"
Maybe. Not punchy though. I mean, it's a rallying cry, a slogan for me and other cyclists really. Drivers? The careless won't read it because they won't see you anyway, and the dangerous don't care one way or the other so irrelevant for them. Nutters might attack you for it but then they might just bite you for being on a bike in front of them anyway...
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