Near Miss of the Day 174: Three close passes in 10 seconds

Hi there,

Call me a wimp, I commute regularly and there is no way I'd use such a road. On such roads you are inviting trouble. Until you have separation from the majority of drivers, why risk it?

hmm. So the driving was not ideal, but the road design is truly awful, for bikes.

having done a Croydon commute last year I learned on pretty much day one that this was not a road for cycling. There are alternative routes round if you really want to go north south through the town centre. Can’t believe he stayed on the road through the underpass.

At what point do we begin to question whether people arefishing for close passes to up their YouTube hits??

Yes, car drivers have clear responsibilities. But equally, you are also responsible for the choices you make. One day there will be no cars and all the land will be ours. But meantime you need to do a bit of personal risk assessment.

As fOr the road positioning argument, well, yes. But, smart road positioning would mean avoiding duel carriage ways through tunnels, and putting up with a couple of sets of lights above ground.

I came off on those tram lines a couple of year ago following the directions for cyclists! 

wondered what was up with the bike lane slip visible just before the tram tracks, so looked it up on streetview and really what the hell?

Your choices are:

1. cross the tracks at an inadvisable angle, like the guy in the video
2. Come to a halt, cross the tracks at 90°, try and rejoin the speeding (literally) traffic from a position where you're stopped in front of any oncoming trams

It appears that if you've survived that you can take the following bus lane slip to avoid the underpass, but you'll have traffic lights (and buses). Whichever way you go, if straight on you'll end up at a four lane roundabout approach

Lovely

I found it odd that the drivers travelling fastest were in the inside lane, and not the overtaking lane. Clearly 3 scumbags who are racing to get to work because those extra few seconds are incredibly important.

Oh my goodness, what a horrid place to ride!

Shallow angled tram lines likely to tip you under the wheels of cars, confusing slip exits (can a bike use the bus slips?), busy traffic in narrow lanes ...

Poor you - that must have been scary.

punsihment passes for using the underpass and not the bus/tram lane. Needs reporting.

I lived in Croydon for 12 years. 12 miserable, soil destroying years. Can confirm that Wellesley Road is indeed an absolute shite of a road to ride on, at any time of day or night. Its not just the traffic, or the fact that Croydonites in the main are truly horrendous people - the road itself is one of those roads that people 'in the know' avoid like the plague

take the lane... take the lane, make them overtake you properly. That road is no place to be riding in secondary.

Anyway, get a spiky wrist band and slap it down on their roof...

Those tram lines look lethal.

Ugh. That doesn’t look like a road I’d ever want to cycle down.

report it here https://www.nextbase.com/en-gb/national-dash-cam-safety-portal/

not treporting it means the tool in the Golf keeps on doing it and eventually someone gets injured