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Near Miss of the Day 755: Cyclists have to brake as lorry driver pulls out on them

Our regular series featuring close passes from around the country - today it's Oxfordshire...

The latest video in our Near Miss of the Day series shows the moment a lorry driver pulled out on a group of cyclists, who luckily anticipated the dangerous manoeuvre and were able to scrub off some speed to avoid a crash.

It was filmed by road.cc reader Paul on Milton Common in Oxfordshire close to junction 7 of the M40.

Paul submitted the footage, which was shot at the start of March, to Thames Valley Police but six weeks on has heard nothing back from them.

He said that the lorry driver “pulled out with little consideration for our presence, despite the initial pause.

“Incidentally, it happened shortly after the unfortunate fatal incident with another HGV in Oxford days earlier,” Paul said, referring to the crash at the city’s Plain roundabout in which Dr Ling Felce lost her life.

He added that the “company was not searchable online for their comment,” (although the Didcot-based business does appear to have an Instagram account.

> 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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17 comments

Avatar
TriTaxMan | 2 years ago
5 likes

It gets worse..... I'm also being told that wait for it....

If a vehicle A pulls out of a junction in front of  vehicle B and vehicle B is unable to avoid crashing into the back of vehicle A...... that because vehicle B crashed into the back of vehicle A, vehicle B is at fault for rear ending vehicle A.....

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nosferatu1001 replied to TriTaxMan | 2 years ago
2 likes

Wow, that's a "driving instructor" that really doesn't know anything!

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chrisonabike replied to TriTaxMan | 2 years ago
4 likes

Correct.  Vehicle B was not driving to the conditions.

...which in the UK involve being aware that many other people drive like nerveless clowns with minimal awareness of the outside of their vehicle.

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Karlt | 2 years ago
2 likes

The comments on the FB share are absolutely shocking. The people commenting are the idiots we have to share the road with.

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TriTaxMan | 2 years ago
3 likes

Well now the standard of some driving in the UK becomes apparent, as I am having a discussion on Facebook with a (thankfully former) driving instructor who seems to think that

a- the Lorry driver did nothing wrong by pulling out in front of the cyclists AND

b- that the cyclists should have contined on without braking because the actions of the Lorry Driver were such that he pulled out and left them enough room to go past before he got onto the lane in front of the cyclists because lorries can't accelerate as fast as cars and he was just building up speed before he joined the lane. 

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brooksby replied to TriTaxMan | 2 years ago
4 likes

Which is all ludicrous.  Especially given the pinch point ahead, the only reason that the lorry driver didn't put the cyclists in harm's way was that they anctipated him (probably a him) being a complete twunt and let him go ahead.

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TriTaxMan replied to brooksby | 2 years ago
4 likes

brooksby wrote:

Which is all ludicrous.  Especially given the pinch point ahead, the only reason that the lorry driver didn't put the cyclists in harm's way was that they anctipated him (probably a him) being a complete twunt and let him go ahead.

Indeed.  For want of a better expression I am going to bitch slap the former driving instructor into the middle of next week with the actual law that the lorry driver broke.

"172
The approach to a junction may have a ‘Give Way’ sign or a triangle marked on the road. You MUST give way to traffic on the main road when emerging from a junction with broken white lines across the road.
Laws RTA 1988 sect 36 & TSRGD regs 10(1),16(1) & 25

Now for your ease here is what the Reg 25 says
Road marking shown in diagram 1003: give way
25.—(1) The requirements conveyed to vehicular traffic on roads by the road marking consisting of the transverse lines shown in diagram 1003 shall be as follows
(2) Except as provided by paragraphs (3) to (6), the requirement conveyed by the transverse lines shown in diagram 1003, whether or not they are placed in conjunction with the sign shown in diagram 602 or 1023, shall be that no vehicle shall proceed past such one of those lines as is nearer the major road into that road in a manner or at a time likely to endanger the driver of or any passenger in a vehicle on the major road or to cause the driver of such a vehicle to change its speed or course in order to avoid an accident."

My emphasis added

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HoarseMann | 2 years ago
0 likes

With a website like this, http://www.pjmurphygroup.co.uk, they look like a one man band to me.

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PRSboy | 2 years ago
5 likes

To be honest I'd rather have a twunt like that in front of me rather than behind. I can only imagine how dangerously he might overtake. 

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AlsoSomniloquism replied to PRSboy | 2 years ago
2 likes

Especially if you look at the narrowness of the next section he would have been accelerating into. However the initial move was inherently dangerous still and the TVP police are twats for not actioning it. 

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Bungle_52 | 2 years ago
0 likes

Why did the lorry driver wait and then pull out just as the cyclists arrive? Inconsiderate at best and intimidatory at worst. How is that no further action?

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Hirsute replied to Bungle_52 | 2 years ago
0 likes

Clueless about their speed?

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brooksby replied to Hirsute | 2 years ago
1 like

and then thought, "There's more than one of them!  I'll be waiting ages! Sod this for a game of soldiers..."

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open_roads replied to Bungle_52 | 2 years ago
0 likes

Probably too busy fiddling with his phone to bother looking - based on the behaviour of other tipper truck drivers.

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Hirsute | 2 years ago
3 likes

All dressed in black so invisible !

Sun was in his eyes.

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chrisonabike replied to Hirsute | 2 years ago
3 likes

Cyclist was clearly countershaded to prevent detection from below or above.  But from the side a white bike and black lycra should have been as visible as a zebra on a cricket pitch.

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Tommytrucker | 2 years ago
2 likes

Prick. Zero fucks given.

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