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news
Near Miss of the Day 252: Another day, another white van driver in close pass
For the second day running, our Near Miss of the Day features a white van driver (and if you have followed the series for a while, you'll know there are plenty more in the archives).
This one shows the motorist doing a close pass on a cyclist when there is a black car waiting to pull out to the left, and an oncoming red car - meaning that there simply wasn't space to overtake safely.
It happened to road.cc reader Mike who said: “You can see how little room there is for a bike and a car to pass between the red car waiting to turn and the black car waiting to emerge.
"Unfortunately there is a break in the bike lane here to allow for the turning lane (red car location).
“There is quite a long cycle lane and this is preceded by a downhill so I had not held up the van, so I don’t think they were impatient from that.
“Reviewing my ride after I can see I was travelling at 26mph on this stretch. I really thought they would hit me.
“I have posted on Twitter asking Devon and Cornwall police how I can submit this for review. I have also emailed these photos to the van company asking them to speak to the driver.
“I did catch up with the driver at the next set of lights. I calmly tapped on the passenger side window but he just ignored me and the lights changed and he drove off.
“I then caught up with them at the next lights. They really did not gain anything by overtaking me so dangerously.”
> 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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To paraphrase the Dalai Lama ("One should be kind whenever possible. And it is always possible"), there should only be 20mph limits in towns when...
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Welcome - probably didn't show as they tagged it "not near miss of the day"?
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23 comments
It's a typical bad pass, though if I was cycling that fast, with the traffic, I would be pretty much be taking the lane. I view those painted on cycle 'lanes' as needing to be kept free by vehicles if traffic is queuing, and only to be used when having to 'filter'; I avoid that 'cycle lane gutter space', when traffic is free flowing.
Example of the change in cycle lane status: https://bit.ly/2TKNUM1
Edit: Having a little look around, you can see where it used to be a solid line all the way too. Someone changed their minds
Think we can agree that, on road cycle lanes are a waste of paint
Another one of my pet peeves (I have many) are the painted lines in supermarket car parks. Because there are 'zebra crossings' at regular intervals, many (if not most) drivers think that pedestrians should only cross at those areas.
Last week, large Asda in a London suburb, my wife and I were walking from our car to the shop entrace, when bloke in (unsurprisingly) a large Audi came up behind us sounding his horn and as he passed, yelled 'get off the fackin' road!'.
I didn't think it was even a cycle lane at first, I though it was just a slightly wider than usual road verge bit outside the line.
Fixed that for you
Highway code
Rule 140
Cycle lanes. These are shown by road markings and signs. You MUST NOTdrive or park in a cycle lane marked by a solid white line during its times of operation. Do not drive or park in a cycle lane marked by a broken white line unless it is unavoidable. You MUST NOT park in any cycle lane whilst waiting restrictions apply.
Of course, 'unavoidable' is understood in the same way that the "competent driver" bit of the definition of careless/dangerous driving is understood - i.e. the driver is automatically assumed to be in the right, and cyclists in the wrong.
A stupid cycle lane. The van driver probably though he was doing nothing wrong passing the rider in the cycle path, which then disappeared as the road narrowed.
Agree with above, would be best if such lanes were got rid of as they do more harm than good.
A 'stupid cycle lane'?
Is that the same as a 'killer road'? Or a 'dangerous junction'?
Roads don't kill people. People kill people.
(been waiting ages to use that one ... )
True but as has been said on here many times, how often have you used a cycle lane (even the very outer of one) and had cars give even less room thinking that you have a lane each...
To rephrase and make it clear.....It's a really stupidly designed cycle lane. It does more harm than good. It gives shit/ignorant drivers to pass closely, under the misapprehension they are doing nowt wrong.
People do kill people. Good design can assist greatly in preventing the people killing people.
Cycle lanes are fine. It's the implementation that is the issue. If cycle lanes met the DFT standards for highways requirments and were a minimum of 2 meters, and only going down to 1.5 meters where absolutely no other choice, then that would be fine. They woul dbe usable, and set in the minds of drivers and cyclists how much room they should have.
As it stands most cycle lanes fall way below this. The only time I see them at this size consistently is either on pavements, where they almost inevitably get the side that is blocked with trees, lamp posts and other street furniture, or on sections of specificly designed cycle infrastructure in major cities, such as the cycle superhighways in London. The vast majority of cycle lanes where I am (Oxford) are less than 75cm wide, a large chunck of which is taken up with crumbling tarmac, gutters and gullies, along with the inevitable dutritus that ends up at the edge of the road, meaningv very little space to cycle.
What this leads to is:
1) Drivers beliving that this is all the space cyclists need.
2) Cyclists not feeling confident even cycling in secondary, and being bullied off the road
3) Cyclists then thinking it is safe to filter down the inside at junctions where there is no cycle lane, includding hopping down the pavement or jumping up on to the pavement when there is no gap.
By putting in propper cycle lanes and removing ones below this limit we could
1) Make it clear to drivers that cyclists need space
2) Encorage cyclists to feel confident on the road
3) Reduce cycling on the pavement, flitering up the inside, and cycling in the gutter.
All of this would make cycling safer. In my opinion no cycle lane is better than a useless cycle lane. I am sure planners think they are doing the right thing, but they seem to not ask anyone who cycles regularly and with confidence.
You are not wrong. I have never seen a cycle lane on a road that was anything like even 1.5 metres. Most around here (Bristol) are painted lines on roads, usually a metre or so out from the kerb (and significantly less than that in places...).
Have a look at these, each side approaching the Clifton Suspension Bridge, as examples of prime cycling infrastructure:
https://goo.gl/maps/udegf7nGDo42
https://goo.gl/maps/ACh7c8kEgQy
The first one of those is barely wider than the double yellow lines! What a pointless waste of paint!
I'm honestly not sure what the point of them is - perhaps just to tick a box saying "We've put a cycle lane in"?
I can tell you from experience that that first one isn't wide enough for a bike to get past any cars in the 'motor traffic lane'. I (literally) took someone's wing mirror off!
I was very apologetic, but luckily they were understanding about it and nothing more happened. But, I don't use the painted lanes there any more...
They're absolute shockers. The only bonus is, when you get inevitably close-passed by someone trying to get to the bridge 2 seconds faster, they have to stop to pay the toll and you get to just pop right back in front of them for a lovely slow ride in primary with them stuck behind while you take in the wonderful view.
I think one factor in this is the rubbish painted cycle lane. This can provides an unfortunate visual cue that can make drivers think that cyclists are to stay in that lane, and they are therefore hermetically sealed from other road users, so they can pass as close as they like.
Whilst the driving is unacceptably poor, I honestly think that cycling would be much safer if we got rid of all painted cycle lanes, particularly those dotted ones which have no legal meaning - they literally mean nothing in terms of road law and the highway code. The ones with solid lines are very slightly better, as these actually have a legal meaning.
spot on, the only difference between dotted and solid lines is advisory or mandatory, mandatory being no motorists at all!
However as you can see in the picture (Histon rd, Cambridge), cars when passing each other use the mandatory cycle lane! Now imagine that when there is a bus or lorry trying to pass a cyclist, they think it's fine to pass with oncomming traffic, regardless of space!
I keep saying on road lanes are pointless and give drivers a sense of false entitlement, fully segregated or none at all for me. Whenever I use Histon rd, I'm right in the middle no matter what, never give an inch, as soon as you do, some twat will close pass!
HISTON RD.jpg
If you're ever turning right in your car, on a part of the road where there is a mandatory cycle lane continuing ahead on your left, you'll note that it's essentially just an 'undertaking' lane for car drivers who don't want to wait for you to clear the carriageway.
If you are behind someone who is turning right at said junction and you don't undertake that vehicle, then you'll be subject to enraged sounding of the horn, furious gesticulation and occasionally threats from those who are behind you.
Round these parts (Wokingham Council), they change the 'cycle' lane marking at these points from a solid lane to a broken one to allow drivers to enter the cycle lane for just this purpose. They probably would have anyway. Mentalists.
Interesting. They don't do that here.
The Highway Code states - IIRC - that one should not enter a cycle lane marked with a broken line, 'unless necessary'.
I have argued the toss with at least half a dozen drivers - and two policemen - that getting to the pub twelve seconds earlier is not an acceptable definition of 'necessary'.
Reading Road, usually Halfords end, I always see plenty of cars going into both mandatory cycle lanes to undertake cars waiting to run into their driveways. I'm usually well over 30mph on the bike all the way down from Winnersh crossroads. These idiots are going to kill or maim someone one day.
Oh, the parts that are on a slight bend are also driven in by almost everyone, even though the road is very wide, people are just lazy and take the racing line
We have reached a stage where many people seem to think that cyclists have no right to be on the road, and will drive as if cyclists are of absolutely no consequence, they literally don't care if they injure or kill them. I can't see any other reason why a driver would risk knocking off a cyclist other than that they just don't care.
I'd love to hear what the cleaning company come back with, and kudos for getting in touch with the police. As you make clear, the dangerous overtake was completely pointless as you caught him up at the next set of lights. That was an utterly cretinous overtake, and the driver should not be allowed on the road until they have been retrained and passed an extended test.
The cycle lane looks very narrow, where it exists, but then, like all British cycle facilities, disappears exactly where you need it. There is no legal reason why it has to disappear at the junction, there are plenty of examples where it continues, likewise for the pedestrian crossing.
There will undoubtedly be many people who blame the cyclist for not adopting primary position, which has some validity, but we need a cycling environment where all levels of cyclists feel safe, and are safe, and until we get it, cycling will remain a tiny minority.