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news
Near Miss of the Day 618: Morrisons lorry driver in close pass on two cyclists (includes swearing)
We’re in the northeast of Scotland for a second day in a row in our Near Miss of the Day series today – with this video showing the moment the driver of a Morrisons articulated lorry made a very close pass on two cyclists while overtaking them on a country road in Aberdeenshire, despite double white lines and oncoming traffic.
The road.cc reader who recorded the footage, who goes by the name Doric Cycling, told us: “This happened on the A957 Slug Road between Banchory & Stonehaven in Aberdeenshire, on 17th of July.
“I emailed the footage to South Aberdeenshire Police who at first were a bit ... unconcerned?
“I seemed to have to point out, it was not just a close pass, I was travelling over 10mph on a road with double white lines, and did they fail to see the vehicle coming in the other direction.
“And surely it was bad enough that he did it to me, but then also did the same to the cyclist ahead of me?”
The Highway Code stating under Rule 129:
Double white lines where the line nearest you is solid. This means you MUST NOT cross or straddle it unless it is safe and you need to enter adjoining premises or a side road. You may cross the line if necessary, provided the road is clear, to pass a stationary vehicle, or overtake a pedal cycle, horse or road maintenance vehicle, if they are travelling at 10 mph (16 km/h) or less.
Doric Cycling continued: “After several days of emails back and forward, I was told that they would only act, if I made an official complaint & statement, the cyclist ahead of me did the same, and the driver of the vehicle going the opposite direction did the same.
“That just all seemed highly unlikely to organise", he added.
“Morrisons were uninterested in viewing the video, and said they would prefer the police handled it.”
Doric Cycling concluded: “I apologise for my language, even though it was spontaneous, I really regret it.”
> 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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18 comments
Sorry this is late but isn't this an ideal opportunity for road.cc to get in touch with both the police and morrisons for a comment?
Morrisons were uninterested in viewing the video
It's never worth sending video to the company- they always claim to have 'spoken to the driver' = done nothing at all. It shows how sincere all those 'How's my driving? signs on the back of lorries and buses were- they were quite happy to pretend they were interested in the days of 'well, it's your word against his- if only we had some evidence!' Now they have even abandoned the pretence and most of the signs have gone, because we do have the cast-iron evidence which the police and the companies are desperate to avoid seeing.
I often wonder if some Police forces have made an operational decision that employing a few specialist Officers, trained in breaking bad news to relatives, is cheaper than active road safety policing.
I would have thought Morrisons would have wanted to see the video, seeing as their drivers would be having to do regular driver safety training. Unless Morrisons don't really value the integrity of their brand outside of their carparks..
Just my opinion .
"How is My Driving"
I thought the police were being quite reasonable really. They could have demanded video for the previous five minutes from Doric, the other cyclist, the other driver and from the Morrisons driver.*
*May contain elements of irony, sarcasm and despair.
Police Scotland aren't interested unless you are Alec Salmond and friends.
I hadn't realised Mr Salmon had friends.
A copy of South Aberdeenshire Command's priorities from their website is below - offences against cyclists should score highly on at least two counts (can't see SA being a hotbed of terrorism or violent extremism!)
Priorities
The priorities for your area are decided by data from our strategic assessment which details threats and risks, and also from feedback from local authorities, partners, and residents in the Your Police survey.
Protecting vulnerable people
Serious organised crime
Antisocial behaviour, violence and disorder
Road safety and road crime
Crimes of theft and dishonesty
Counter terrorism and domestic extremism.
Of course Polis Scotland are lazy incompetent barstewards almost to an individual, so this is all vastly theoretical
I'd say it's also anti-social behaviour and maybe they were trying to terrorise the cyclists off the road?!
This sounds like a vague wording to "we prioritise people getting their feelings hurt online" even though it's not a crime, over actual crimes. And hate crime laws should mean that a crime is treated more harshly, not that it's prioritised.
It's your own fault for not getting a signed affidavit within the hour from everyone in the video and everyone that was within a 5 mile radius during the preceeding 24 hour period.
That's utter shite from the local police and they know it. If they bleat about corroboration then point out (in your complaint) that your statement plus the video is sufficient. Definitely one to escalate and your MSP might be useful if you get no joy.
Re the language, have no regrets and get yourself off to Glasgow for some lessons as it was all a bit tame really. Those sweary words are there for extreme situations and this one was.
Fully agree complaint should be made.
As demonstrated by their refusal to have a portal to upload footage on their website. This is indicative of Police Scotlands mindset and approach to protecting vulnerable road users.
If cyclists were classed as a minority they would be all over it like a rash. I deplore racism and make the last comment purely to highlight Scot Gov targets drive police behavior. So this comes from the top.
In terms of traffic, we are a minority. We're just not given extra protection under hate crime laws. We probably should be though, since some motorists certainly target cyclists just for being cyclists. If that's not discrimination and targeted hate, then I don't know what is.
^ This
This is the stupidity of the current '-ism' laws, in that it is only illegal to incite hatred, act violently or discriminate towards a predefined list of stereotypes/groups. No list is required, only examples of what is illegal in order to educate. Perhaps then, Clarkson and Liddle would be facing prosecution for inciting hatred and violence towards 'cyclists'. All the journos from the likes of the Mail etc. would have to remove the bias in their articles. Judges would have to think more carefully when letting off dangerous drivers who have killed cyclists, incase that decision reveals a subconcious bias against cyclists. Police would have to act on reports of dangerous driving at cyclists, incase that driving was intentionally targetting the victim simply because they were cyclists. We don't want racism, sexism, beliefism, or any fucking ism...get those who harbour this hatred prosecuted whenever they show it and perhaps future generations will not even think of it. This re-education is working, you don't have to think back too far in the past to recall ism's that were common in TV programs that would never happen now.
Surely an official complaint about that statement is the next step. South Aberdeenshire Police don't have a leg to stand on
Per usual - the
work-dodgersPolice looking for an excuse to do nothing.