Near Miss of the Day 199: Close pass at mini roundabout

There is so much wrong in that video!

- useless cycle lane

- car parked in cycle lane

- car double-parked

- ever-present danger of being doored by the parked cars

- island at the mini roundabout that squeezes cars towards the left

- negligent close pass, which gave zero benefit to the car doing the overtaking.

- bad road surface

- cars going through amber/red light.

Frighteningly distopian, and frustrating that the traffic planners think that this road is somehow adequate. A vision of road hell.

I would have been smacking all kinds of shit out of that car.  On what level is it acceptable to be THAT close to a bike?  People that drive like that should be made to walk in the road, and we can all then drive danger-close to them so perhaps maybe they can get some appreciation of how bad it is.

And that BMW 4 wheel drive in the "cycle lane" 

The other thing that annoys me is the "cycle lane". That excuse for cycling infrastructure does nothing for cyclists other than to put them in even more danger if they use it, and risk abuse from from car drivers if they don't! 

I thought someone would have picked up on the obligatory BMW parked in the cycle lane at the bus stop. Maybe that also is such a commonplace as to be unremarkable?

Usually at this mini roundabout I turn left, but I had to go into town that day. I used to take the lane but this ended up with aggression rather than indifference. Aggression was worse, indifference I can deal with and always have that bailout option of turning left. Of course the ones that half overtake and then turn left are still a problem but I have not had one of those since getting the camera.

Also, as a local, I know the sequence on those lights changes very quickly. Passing on amber is marginal at best.

It didn't jump a red light though...

Poor driving.  I always take the lane well in advance, when approaching a roundabout like this, sometimes indicating that I will do so.  In the main it prevents a driver predisposed to making stupid / dangerous decisions from doing so.

I must admit in this scenario I would probably have taken the middle of the lane. But in his defence the Kia was already alongside him quite a way before the roundabout, so he didn't much of an opportunity to move out. I like the mirror hit though. Think I'll adopt this in future. I'm sure the police wouldn't look too harshly on this action given the proximity of the vehicle, and it's a non-damaging action, mirrors are designed to fold when hit!

Mini-rbts are generally awful for cyclists and pedestrians, but they keep motorised traffic flowing, so lots of councils use them.  Last time I checked they had a high rate of cyclist collisions.

Reminds me of twenty years ago when my local council (South Glos) were putting in more and more of them, to which I strenuously objected, to be told that the national figures for cyclists collisions didn't apply there, as the total number of those collisions at mini-rbts in the area were much less than other types of junctions.  After I'd stopped laughing, I pointed out that they had possibly twelve mini-rbts and probably 10k other types.  It was about then that I lost even the tiny bit of respect I had for my council's planners.  They were either incredibly stupid or thought I was.

He added "Not submitted to authorities as the Hertfordshire process is too long winded and also there was contact between myself and the wing mirror which might not have gone in my favour."

How can it possibly NOT go in your favour when it's clear that the vehicle hit you?

Take the damn lane!

Given the height of the vehicle I doubt they even knew you were there.

Anyway. Mini roundabouts are nearly always shit. People just drive over them and their size makes the whole “give way to the right” thing harder to manage, because things happen that much quicker given the tiny amount of space you’re working in.

If you're able to whack their mirror, they must surely be less than 1.5 metres away. I would report it and then point that particular fact out.

I'd still report it to the police. As the comment above states, the driver is probably oblivious that they're doing anything wrong. They need educating and a prosectuion for careless driving might help with that.

Ah an old favourite, the slow close pass. Actually worse as they probably have no idea where you are in relation to them but they probably think they're being safe as they aren't speeding.

Getting pumped for 200. I hope road.cc has some special for us.