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news
Near Miss of the Day 206: Cyclist gets Halloween fright
The latest video in our Near Miss of the Day series gave the rider involved a Halloween fright yesterday as he was riding down a country lane in Alveston, South Gloucestershire yesterday - and encountered a horse box coming the other way with the driver neither slowing down nor giving him space, forcing the cyclist onto the verge.
It happened to road.cc reader James, who told us: "This was my Halloween morning brush with a horseman of the apocalypse. There was not much verge to jump onto.
"Sorry for the bad language as the rear of the truck gets too close for comfort. He appeared to make no effort to slow down or get over. Out of the way or be crushed."
James added: "Once more unto the hedge, dear friends, once more, or close this road up with the cycling dead."
> 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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30 comments
I notice that the Bristol Post has picked up on this story, which is usually a bad sign
Apparently at best its equal fault between the cyclist and the horsebox and at worst the cyclist was clearly speeding...
Its amazing how often the 'i didn't have any option to avoid, provide more room etc.' when the effective solution was there all along... just slow the feck down.
I've seen many rants from people saying they can't realistically be expected to go slower than say 20mph round country bends... these people are incredulous that their progress should be halted for the pursuit of safety.
It blows my mind.
Round here a few years back, a car wipes out a cyclist on a country road around a corner that is notoriously tight with limtied visibiity.
The driver was accepted to be traveling at (if I remember rightly) in the region of 16mph around the bend. This speed, when taking into account the 30mph speed limit of the road, was used to demonstrate due care and attention. However, I would challenge anyone to drive around that tight, narrow, blind bend at 16mph and find it appropriate.
We need to accept the limits of the road, or if these are not acceptable, lobby local authorities to improve the infrastructure. We should not be accepting of the crossing fingers and rely on the laws of probability.
Tim K talking bollox!
Totally get that horse box drivers have to consider their unsteady load and thus would try to avoid braking and swerving whenever possible, but as others have already said , what if the cyclist had been a horse/car/lorry? The horsebox would need to have stopped then wouldn't they?! The driver was taking a huge gamble that they would not encounter oncoming traffic, and theres no way they could see the road was clear with such high hedges on that narrow road. If they really had their own horses comfort in mind then they should've been travelling much slower anyway, and if the box was unloaded, then they could and SHOULD have made more room for the cyclist by quickly moving over, or at least making an attempt to do so!
Glad to see it ended well for you. I’d be inclined to mark that bit if the road as ‘risk of arseholes in horse boxes driving too quickly and not paying attention’ if I was doing a risk assessment for that route
Thank you for the update and for proving Tim K very wrong.
The Police concluded that the video shows the lorry travelling too fast for the conditions and getting too close to me, so have issued a NIP with the option to go on a course. If I had been cycling in the middle of the lane, I don't believe I could have got out of the way in time. If I'd been leading a horse there'd have been even less room, but hey, I'm only a cyclist so I can take my chances.
Thank you for the supportive comments. I understand that it might have appeared that the driver had few options but I do think he could have been driving more slowly or got over a fair bit more.
I've ridden along here more than 400 times without this sort of thing happening.
I think some of you may be better on the daily mail website (from what I've heard about it).
Watch the vidio with an unbiased mind and actually think about it. I'm not going to lower myself to insults.
I'm pretty damn sure the police won't be doing anything about it. Hopefully it dosn't put them off investigating real bad driving. Not that they need an excuse for that.
My last words on this.
I'm saying the lorry was travelling at about 20mph. Not too bad a speed for the road. And they were as far over as they could get. And the fact they had a decent road position before the bend also helped the situation. Although I do think the driver could have stopped afterwards to check the cyclist was ok.
I'd have ridden a bit further out in the road to see anything comming and so they could see me sooner so more time to react.
I'm very happy to moan at drivers but watch the vidio properly and think about it.
Sounds like the porche driver passed too close to the bend to me if what you said is correct.
When I saw the still of the vidio I thought "what the f***", but after watching the vidio a few times thought differently.
I'm glad I don't drive a lorry any more too. I think I did quite well though with 15 years without an accident and no close shaves with any cyclists. And we did a lot of steel tube so know all about not wanting to brake hard as if you do it can come straight through the back of the cab and kill you.
Nope. Sorry. You can stop digging now - that hole is deep enough already...
The speed was not so much the issue as the complete failure of the horsebox to slow/stop to allow safe passage of both vehicles.
I'm glad you didn't have any accidents or close shaves, but I'm somewhat concerned about how you carried the steel tubes. Not being able to perform an emergency stop is hardly road-worthy.
I hate bad drivers (and bad bike riders for that matter) but in this case I can't see much wrong. I'm an ex lorry driver myself and ride lots of narrow lanes. The driver wouldn't have seen him til the last minute and was over as far as he could be by the looks of it. If it had been a straight road then fair enough and I'd have thought the driver a d**k. But other than put themselves in the wall and send the livestock flying I don't see what they could have done? Even their speed seemed reasonable. This is the risk of riding narrow lanes. I've had it happen to me and sometimes it's no ones fault.
Sorry, but that's bollocks. Are you saying that when you approach a blind bend on a narrow road you just don't bother slowing down? You just cross your fingers and hope for the best?
What if that footage had been from a dashcam, rather than a cycle helmet? There would either have been a collison, or both vehicles would have had to slam all on and sent 'the livestock flying'. I regularly ride roads like this on my commute, and the amount of drivers who fly around blind bends at speed is ridiculous. Case in point - yesterday morning, at dusk, approaching a right hand blind bend, Porsche driver overtakes me, gives me plenty of room so is well over to the right and rounds the bend on completely the wrong side of the road. Fortunately Mr Porsche driver is back on the right side of the road when ten seconds later a 4x4 comes down the road. That's ten seconds from a potentially life changing collision. It would have taken 5 seconds for Porsche boy to wait behind me and pass when the road straightened up again.
Every road user (regardless of form of transport) should always be able to stop in the distance they can see is clear in front of them, therefore the driver was either driving to fast for the conditions or they made the decision to carry on regardless and assume the rider would get out there way.
When the only moving objects are under the control of people It is always someones fault
This is absolutely right, but not actually law (I believe) and a theory only actively taught as part of the advanced driving test.
Highway Code rule 126, surely:
Stopping Distances. Drive at a speed that will allow you to stop well within the distance you can see to be clear. You should
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/the-highway-code/general-rules-techniques-and-advice-for-all-drivers-and-riders-103-to-158
Okay.
I'm glad that you no longer drive a lorry as what you've just said is ridiculous. Do you really think that it's acceptable to go full speed round blind corners?
Tim: you've obviously had a good Friday lunch, fella. You might as well extend it into the afternoon: right now the pub needs you more than the Internet does.
Thank you for your comments. I have reported this to the Police as it was really rather alarming. I don't know if Copenhagen/Red Rum was on board the truck at the time, and I was too shocked to follow after the truck. If I had been riding in the middle of the road for better visibility I think it would have been even harder to avoid a collision.
Well done, and as someone who rides in that area, we have more than our fair share of idiots in cars so we need to get the worst of them off the road. I have found that the A&S police seem to have changed over the past few years and are much more ready to take action about dangerous driving. Please keep us updated.
When driving a horsebox, many drivers will be totally focused on the needs of the horse... so what they'll rarely do is brake unless its absolutely essential.
Not offending a cyclist will not be seen as essential.
Quite annoying really
That sounds incredibly dangerous if they think twice before braking.
How do they feel about "not killing a cyclist"?
Horses are valuable animals that they have a relationship with; cyclists are expendable strangers.
Only traversed that area once (doing the Avon Cycleway loop) and, on average, didn't find the motorists particularly 'cycle friendly'.
That is criminal. Report the sob to the law
Incredible, especially when there was a driveway with plenty of room opposite that the truck could have pulled into without hardly slowing down. Most horse riders are fine, but like drivers, there's always the odd one.
Jeezus! I hope that's been submitted to the police.
You'd have hoped someone who rides a horse would know better. Maybe some driver training is required?
If that were true we'd never get close-passed by cars with bike racks on the back...
I was most upset one day to have an incredibly close pass from someone with not only a bike rack on the back, but attached to it was a bike identical to the one I was riding!
Regarding the video, I tend to stick myself out a bit on this corners to give everyone a better chance to see each other. But I have still had some incredibly close misses from drivers cutting the corner. One so close that I was completely baffled how I didn't get hit, the driver behind me pulled along side to ask if I was okay, which was nice of them. I have no idea either how the driver managed to miss their car, it must also have been incredibly close.