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Near Miss of the Day 258: Driver changes lanes (nearly) into cyclist
Today’s near miss involves a motorist indicating only as they change lanes and not before. The unfortunate cyclist is squeezed to the kerb.
Dan said: “I recorded this on my commute on Balham Hill in South London. The date is correct but the time is off by one hour. It happened at 8.30ish.
“There were quite a few cyclists behind me and you can hear one ask if I’m ok in the vid. I spoke with the driver at the lights and he just shouted at me that I should have noticed his signal.”
Dan’s final comment is a recurring one within our Near Miss of the Day feature. “I was unhurt and obviously no point reporting it to the police who simply do not care.”
> 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
Alex has written for more cricket publications than the rest of the road.cc team combined. Despite the apparent evidence of this picture, he doesn't especially like cake.
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16 comments
The "it's a bus lane, it must be empty" manouver is one I encounter far too often. Usually as in this video, to avoid queueing traffic. Often without indicators. And occasionally when I'm right alongside, rather than approaching.
I do not see the cyclists speed as having any relevance.
Apart from the lack of use of the mirrors? Which I had always thought was part of the signalling process, oh yeah and the illegal crossing of the solid white line into the bus lane.
And the way the cyclist releases his front brake makes one wonder what?
I can only conclude we are watching a different video.
How would you like cyclists to release their front brake?
Going by the time from the camera there were four seconds from the driver starting to move to the cyclist coming to a stop alongside. While the driver shouldn't have made the manoeuvre unless the cyclist was travelling at 30 there was plenty of time to stop. Bit of engineered outrage to get on near miss of the day
more like 2. Perhaps the cyclist thought they were indicating in advance of the solid white line?
Maybe he didn't need to ride up right beside the vehicle, I'd accept that, however when you are put in danger there is the automatic fight or flight response, coming alongside to make the driver know that you were there, that they just cut you up is probably what a lot of us would do.
In any case as mentioned by another poster it's two seconds, firstly you aren't always looking at the motor to your right in those circumstances.
There are numbers exits directly to the left of the rider which are to be considered in terms of observance of potential threats - afterall this is one of the most common threats to all road users but is a horrible one for cyclists. There are also two pedestrians within close proximity to the road, given how peds stepping out is a well known thing/threat to safety it's another thing to be looking at and making a decision, so you aren't always immediately going to see the action of someone who you wouldn't ordinarily presume is going to make an illegal move.
So let's call that distraction of other more immediate potential threats/hazards a conservative .5s before he sees the vehicle moving, then we have what experts in crash investigations call reaction time. For an alert, well rested person an unexpected event it's reckoned upon 1.5seconds to react, and often longer in threat/panic moments. If you've already been making multiple decision making for your safety to hazards to your left as per above, the 1.5s would be quite reasonable, you also have then on top of that another 0.4s mechanical action time from pulling the lever (or pushing brake pedal in a motor) for the brakes to actually be activated and of course the time from the brakes actually hitting the braking surface for you to slow.
That does not and never has happened instantaneously, hence why we have braking distance/time charts and of course the thinking time added for braking distance totals.
It's easy to say that it's x period of time, but in practise there are so many things that are threats to you that it's not always easy to react as fast as we think or the 'book' says we should.
And hence why the Alliston reconstruction video by the MET was completely unrealistic and a stitch up!
Another example of why anarchism is a flawed philosophy! The roads are an ongoing refutation of that political belief system!
In the absence of outside enforcement, many people will just follow the rule of 'might is right', and come up with any old rubbish to justify it to themselves.
The old "I was indicating so it was ok".
I expect he thought you were riding 2 abreast and needed a lesson.
Just watched the video again, the driver moves across then moves back into the outside lane again. What was that all about? Was he so impatient that he thought he could save a nanosecond by undertaking the driver in front, thereby getting one car further up the road? Dick.
Definitely send it in. I've been sending close pass videos to Surrey Police and thought nothing was being done so I called them to find out why. Apparently action had been taken but the crazy thing is they don't reply and let you know that, which makes you think that nothing is being done.
Turns out the close pass on Newlands Corner, Guildford that I sent in and road.cc published a few weeks back, the driver got a warning letter.
The driver clearly crossed the solid white line denoting the bus/cycle lane, in order to jump the queue, and has broken the law by doing so, and by failing to give way to the cyclist.
You really ought to report this Dan, there is no doubt that the driver is guilty; give the police a chance to prove that they will take action. After all, what have you got to lose?
I think the police might be interested in this one, afterall he crossed into the bus lane
Because remember, boys and girls, that driver had put on their flashy orange light so they had no more responsibility...
" spoke with the driver at the lights and he just shouted at me that I should have noticed his signal.”
Perhaps the driver needs re-educating, that his indicators are...just that. An indication of his intentions, not an order which gives him the right.