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news
Near Miss of the Day 661: Horsebox driver makes close pass
One curious subset of submissions to our Near Miss of the Day series is the number that involve the driver of a horsebox making a close pass on a cyclist – and here’s another one to add to the collection, filmed near the Oxfordshire town of Henley-on-Thames.
Curious because, of course, if the person driving the horsebox were in the saddle rather than behind the wheel, he or she would rightly expect, as a vulnerable road user, that motorists would afford more courtesy than is shown here and give a wider berth.
BucksCycleCammer, the road.cc user who filmed the close pass, said that it happened “approaching a junction and a blind right-hand bend at 30mph.
“I have to hope that there were no horses in the back, as I’m sure they wouldn’t have been appreciating the erratic driving.
“On 22nd Oct I was initially informed that the driver would be offered a course. However, today (17th Nov) I was told that he'd jumped the gun assuming this was the case, and instead the decision maker had instead selected a formal warning.
“He also noted that the driver had watched the footage and ‘In her correspondence to the Police she raised concerns about the boasting nature of your YouTube site’.
“I did point out that in my opinion, and that of many others, if motorists are unhappy with the standard of their driving being publicised then it is entirely within their control not to put cyclists in danger to start with,” 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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68 comments
That one is properly scary. THink i would have struggled to stay upright.
I live in the coutryside and must confess that I avoid riding as close to the verge as the orginal poster was in this video like the plague. Ride in primary postion. I have found it,s the best way to force drivers into a safe manouver and it does give you somewhere to go. An incident from a couple of weeks ago particularly sticks in my mind. After one of driver expressing his frustration at my positioning, an Audi 4x4 better suited to navigating a low sugar ribena slick, the next vehicle, a white van, overtook me nice and wide with a big smile from the passenger. A few minutes later I saw the van pulled up and decided to thank the occupants for being so considerate. The two young men got all defensive as I approached, they obviously thought I was going to give them a mouthful, what they got was a hearty 'thank you'. They looked delighted. I took a photo' of their van's logo and emailed thier employer who, judging by the response, wasn't used to getting 'postive feedback'. Hopefully this will encourage thoughtful driving by others within the business and got me to thinking, it's a pity that, as a community, we cylists don't seem to highlight other's good behaviour. Encouragement as a tool for change really is a thing, just ask your kids...
You make a good point. Those two guys in the van will remember that and you've encouraged them to do the same in the future, especially since you've contacted their employer. I'd put money on those guys in the van being careful to do the same kind of safe overtakes in the future. Positive reinforcement works. It's good psychology.
“He also noted that the driver had watched the footage and ‘In her correspondence to the Police she raised concerns about the boasting nature of your YouTube site’.
Wow
This comment alone should see the driver signed up for a course, no remorse only finger pointing and whataboutery.
originally I was going to say I hoped the letter reminded the horse box driver that the rule relating to horses applies equally to cyclists and therefore she should pass them in exactly the same manner.
I wonder what the cyclist had been boasting about, though?
That amazing time they nearly scratched the side of a horsebox?
The time on holiday they made their own glue from a historic recipe?
Just remember cyclists
pass horses wide and slow
Terrible driving - really poor. I use my bar end mirror, and attempt to move wider in the lane if needed to discourage a dangerous overtake - shouldn't have too, & it doesn't always work anyway.
The only arguable criticism you could make of the rider is that I don't think I would ride so close to the edge.
The theory of secondary position is to ensure you are in the line of sight and it does force a better overtake... and when they decide to encroach you have some wriggle room.
However, I know roads like that and you rapidly get beaten into submission and try to be non-confrontational.
That being said, the driver clearly was aware of the cyclist and still made that move when there was no unexpected oncoming traffic which says incompetent at best, malicious at worst.
You're right, hold the centre line on narrow lanes. When appropriate (safe for rider) wave them through. Having a prominent central position gives the rider an option to move left in the event a driver inevitably makes a dangerous overtake.
So many benefits to being away from the gutter, especially in low sun periods. You are more visible to traffic, space to negotiate potholes, debris, and you control the vast majority of traffice flow.
And, when approaching a right-hand bend, move to the left to give both you and oncoming traffic better visibility. And at all times ignore the state of the road which may be dictating where it's better not to ride. As you'll see in the rear view of this video, for most of this clip my choice here was ride where I did, or pretty much on the centre line.
Looking back through the video. The riders position was quite close to the edge, this is why the horse box driver went for the silly overtake. Only when the driver had passed did the rider adopt a following central position-presumably with a bit of red mist. Then later moved back to the road edge.
Ride at least on the dark centre line and sometimes on the right side of centre to hold traffic around blind curves on narrow lanes.
It looks like that centre line has collected quite a bit of crud that hasn't been cleared by traffic, though, which would make it a sketchy line to follow.
You can make it obvious through body language, position, freewheeling and looking back, or similar that you are expecting a driver to overtake, but I would caution against ever waving somebody through. If something then happened, such as a tractor pulling out of a farm gate on the right, you might be held jointly liable for a subsequent collision.
The same is true for flashing your lights to let somebody out in a car. Instead, make it obvious by slowing that you are letting somebody out and let them make the decision.
We should avoid directing traffic.
I was recently waved through by a cyclist up in Scotland. I had been following at a graceful distance on a windy section when the cyclist, having reached the apex ahead of me waved me through. It put me in a quandry of not wishing to offend or encourage his frustration, nor wishing to hit a truck he hadn't taken into account coming round a subsequent bend.
We've seen many videos, on this very site, of what happens when a motorist decides to flash or wave through another motorist to encourage them to pass through a gap in a traffic queue...
rather than waving them through, when you think the overtake is on, move from primary to secondary position. A competent driver should see this as a clear signal that you are ready for them to overtake you and take it as a prompt to assess whether an overtake is feasible.
It also keeps you out of all the damage, drains and debris at the road edge, and if there is a pot hole in the secondary line, you can easily divery round it on the left rather than moving further out.
Great stuff! New proposals for Highway Code updates from a contributor:
You SHOULD always ride single file - in order of increasing width. This means that you will soon be stuck behind the box trike. The benefits of this are that it will prevent you speeding (at less than the Minimum Speed Limit [tm]) and terrifying pedestrians AND ensure that the resulting tailback exposes you for the selfish congestion-causing purposeless nuisances that you are.
When someone overtakes you too closely, into a blind bend or without otherwise assessing the road ahead or oncoming traffic you MUST slow down and move out of the way. The driver may not have noticed you and may be moving into your space or they may want to turn left or stop the second they pass. Alternatively if they notice vehicles in front of them and realise they've screwed up they may need to suddenly swerve back in again and it is your responsibility to leave them space to do so.
You should be polite and courteous at all times. Driving is a stressful and often frustrating activity which tests the most patient - don't be the trigger for their aggression. Recognise that maintaining the level of alertness to stay in control of a fast moving vehicle is beyond everyone at some point and nothing is more inflammatory than a cyclist pointing this out. No-one likes a smartass.
Now I agree with that being a bad pass, with no provocation. Just plan aggression that, bad day at the races no doubt.
Disappointing lack of action by the police here - in my opinion the horsebox driver should have received more than a warning.
But at least they did something which is more than some forces would have done. Thanks to BucksCycleCammer for taking the time and effort to submit this to the police.
Near death experiences with horseboxes are common in Cheshire.
I think the drivers are reluctant to brake or swerve incase it upsets their precious cargo.
I tend to put close pass drivers into one of three groups:-
1) Those that think it's perfectly OK, after all we are both experienced, competent road users.
2) The ones that don't see, can't judge speed or distance.
3) The aggressive b*st*rds
This sounds like a Group #1 to me
Needs educating
I like the system - think that covers all bases. Hopefully levels 2 and 3 merit some form of restriction of licences!
The problem is that usually you don't know which group the driver belongs to when you get the close pass
Also the end result is the same
It's the group #2 ones that really scare me
True. They're all bad when they pass a few inches away, or if they hit you.
Probably the distinction only matters when the court's looking at whether they should get a punishment for killing / injuring you. In that case it seems that odds are against #1 and even #2 being punished, and #3 are the only ones likely to get more than a year...
Disappointing punishment. The initial overtake was under 1.5 to begin with then the gradual squeeze was life threatening.
I know that road really well. Its a nice road but sh*tty for cyclists as its used a rat run between the M40 and Reading/Henley - so full of muppets. Ironically that bit is what I consider one of the "ok" bits.
The left turn there can be really busy, as its the main B road into Henley, so a stupid overtake coming up the junction is another black mark for the driver.
If I ever carry out my planned guerilla "give 1.5m to cyclists" signage attack that road is my target.
Streetview
It's been some time since I read the HC, so could someone rather more learned than me tell me what those big white capital letters "SLOW" in the road meant?
ARAF
Its a nautical term, Speed LOts for W' anchors
"S*** Look Out White horse box"?
Some Lycrists On Wheels
Don't have the artistic genius to come off with a satirical acronym so the official term will have to suffice Speed Low Observe Well. It's usually applied to blind corners/summits and hump backed bridges as well as hidden junctions. Used in conjunction with other road markings and signage.
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