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Near Miss of the Day 136: Deer Miss of the Day

Our regular feature highlighting close passes caught on camera from around the country

Near Miss of the Day has so far featured trucks, cars, vans, buses, taxis, motorbikes, tractors, a mobile home, a bin lorry and even a police car – but this is our first ruminant.

Nigel recorded the footage while riding to collect his car from the garage after work this week.

Cycling incidents involving animals are not uncommon (we published a video of someone riding with emus as recently as yesterday). Most cyclists have at least one story.

When we reported on a squirrel collision in 2014, a quick straw poll of the road.cc team revealed near-misses or collisions with animals including deer, rabbits, pheasants, a water vole, a badger, a rat, a lizard (in France), a brown snake (in Australia), a peacock, an unidentified low-hovering bird of prey and a chicken at the bottom of a 50mph descent.

> 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 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

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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15 comments

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benborp | 6 years ago
1 like

I was once rolling along in a group of about a dozen cyclists when a similar sized herd of deer burst through the hedgerow. It was an awful lot messier than that motorcycle display team trick but we managed to pull it off. None of the cyclists hit the deck but I can remember watching the hooves of the deer that rolled on its back in front of me flash across at handlebar height - the deer was close enough that I could smell it.

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Stratman | 6 years ago
0 likes

Mine was a fox that dashed out as I was riding back from work in the dark, just far enough in front for me not to hit it

 

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anagallis_arvensis | 6 years ago
0 likes

Great vid

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HowardR | 6 years ago
1 like

On a couple of occasions I've very almost been knocked off by bastard muntjacs attempting kamakazi ambushes  from the hedgerow. A 'miss may be as good as a mile' but it doesn't feel like that at the time. 

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Expatpat | 6 years ago
5 likes

I saw a sign at the side of the road last week offering eight legs of venison for ten pounds.

Was that too dear I wonder?

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Bob's Bikes replied to Expatpat | 6 years ago
3 likes

Expatpat wrote:

I saw a sign at the side of the road last week offering eight legs of venison for ten pounds.

Was that too dear I wonder?

I got stung by a group (swarm) of bees yesterday £3.25 for a jar of honey!

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burtthebike replied to Bob's Bikes | 6 years ago
0 likes

Bob'sbikes wrote:

Expatpat wrote:

I saw a sign at the side of the road last week offering eight legs of venison for ten pounds.

Was that too dear I wonder?

I got stung by a group (swarm) of bees yesterday £3.25 for a jar of honey!

Don't think it was the bees making a profit on that deal.

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PpPete | 6 years ago
2 likes

I've had a couple....

One large cat (black of course) managed to run across road going between my front & rear wheels - and avoid my pedals whilst I was travelling at about 20 mph.

 

Another which just fails to qualify as near miss:

Pigeon sat on road. 

He's going to fly off when I get close. 

I get very close and he still hasn't flown. 

If we both go same way, this could be messy.

I know I'll steer straight at him, then it won't matter which way he g.....

 

700x 25C are very blunt instruments but WILL disect a pigeon.

 

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NorthEastJimmy | 6 years ago
3 likes

The squirrell I came across a couple of years ago wasn't so lucky .  Ran straight through the front wheel and got pretty mangled, poor thing.

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brooksby | 6 years ago
1 like

The nearest animal encounter I've had was on the Bristol to Bath railway path, when a squirrel waited until I was right next to it before running out of the hedge and quite literally bouncing off my foot.

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hawkinspeter | 6 years ago
5 likes

Did someone say squirrel?

You just can't trust those woodland critters.

 

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burtthebike | 6 years ago
3 likes

Probably didn't see him because it was blind, one of those no eye deer.

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HLaB | 6 years ago
0 likes

The nearest animal encounter I've has was on 14% unlit downgrade on a rural road north of Edinburgh.  Two eyes were lit up by my helmet light.  The animal then proceeded to jump out of the ditch straight into the side of my bike (it looked like a cat when more fully illuminated).  Somehow it managed to squeeze between my two wheels and under my bottom bracket (missing the 175mm cranks :-0).  I never felt any bump but I did hear a squeal though :-o As I said it was a steep unlit hill and by the time I retraced my path I could find no trace of the animal so I presume it made it  7

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PRSboy | 6 years ago
1 like

Nearest animal miss I had was a welsh Border collie that presumably thought I was a sheep and ran out of a farmyard at me when I was descending at a good speed.  Luckily it was a bright dog and jumped out of the way again!

Also, after a long, gruelling and hot climb I looked up to see two red kites circling close overhead.  Clearly they didn't think I had long to go...

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kil0ran | 6 years ago
0 likes

Standard around here. Personal favourite to date was a buzzard, flew alongside for a bit and then cut across in front of me. Gorgeous thing. 

For those of you who visit the New Forest be particularly cautious around dusk/dawn - stuff is on the move then and can appear from nowhere - squirrels, rabbits, and deer are the ones you particularly need to watch out for. Ponies, donkeys and cattle are all generally more interested in grass than running about.

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