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news
Near Miss of the Day 268: Three incidents in 90 seconds
Today’s video in our Near Miss of the Day series shows three incidents happening to a cyclist in just a minute and a half.
It was filmed in Leamington Spa last Wednesday evening by road.cc reader Tony.
He told us that there were “several reasons for me sharing” the video.
“Cycle lane squeezing, a left hook, and a close pass all in 90 seconds,” he added.
“It was the white Audi at the end which freaked me, I was ready for the others.
> 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.
Latest Comments
- ktache 3 hours 28 min ago
The small frame, the aggressive posture, lots of standover height.
- mctrials23 4 hours 24 min ago
As i've said before, the police should be sued for a lot of money when someone they have knowingly ignored has gone on to commit a serious crime....
- David9694 4 hours 31 min ago
'Bad parking' blocks firefighters multiple times on same emergency call-out...
- David9694 4 hours 35 min ago
Cambridgeshire boy, 13, crashes Audi into garden wall after taking it from home...
- Adam Sutton 5 hours 21 min ago
Good stuff. Now do it on cycleway C9 through Hammersmith to Chiswick.
- mark1a 5 hours 30 min ago
It's technically allowed but it's not known as "London's Orbital Car Park" for nothing.
- Dogless 6 hours 38 min ago
You're defending bombing hospitals and refugee camps and starving children.
- mattw 9 hours 18 min ago
Used car salesman is a complete attention-seeking plank....
- tubasti 9 hours 35 min ago
I don't know if they're any better, but they's certainly become more boring.
- FionaJJ 10 hours 1 min ago
At risk of being cynical, and stereotyping the police, it's so they don't have to leave the comfort of their panda cars and pursue on foot when...
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15 comments
Reading the comments I thought I, as the rider, should add some information.
I don't know what the rules are for bike lanes and zig-zags / bus stops. I supose they can't both be marked, but I would have thought it was just courteous for drivers to maintain their line, even if they often have their tyres on the white line. I can't understand the need to pull into the kerb and I am sure these drivers make the same trip over and over so they must know the cycle lane continues to the lights.
The left hook was expected, I reached the front of the queue just as the lights changed and so I carried on at the same speed. The driver and I made eye contact, then she accelerated. I wasn't surprised when she indicated left, I was already braking.
I think the other two were just jealous of me sailing past them in the queue while they sat in what is probably daily purgatory for them.
I have made a mental note of the white Audi's registration though
Most people seem to respect the cyclist's safety and I usually find one car a bit too close is followed by then next one giving me a full car width.
I am not totally convinced about primary position, the driver who cut me up last year at a pinch point used in her defence, "Well, you were in the middle of the road" - she decided to take the driver awareness course when offered it.
Yet another dickhead in a white Audi. I have had two near misses with white Audis, one is on here, number 227, and also on Sunday, descending a narrow technical descent off the side of Winter Hill, a white Audi squeezed between myself and another rider, then slammed on as the road was too narrow for him to pass the oncoming car that he should have seen if he was paying attention. He forced the other cyclist to brake heavily. What is it about white Audis?
They - in common with the other large, powerful, expensive makes of car like BMW, Mercedes, Jaguar etc - are bought by attention-seeking psychopaths.
Not all of them, of course. Just the vast, overwhelming majority.
Looks like the poison infects the passengers, too…
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6856129/Road-rage-attacker-batt...
How can they call that strip a cycle lane, when the highway code tells us, that we should ride 28" from the kerb side to avoid drains, debris etc. By those lane markings, we should be on the outermost white line at least. That lane or any lane similar, should be twice its width, at least.
I hate these cycling 'strips'. Seems they allow cars to drive far too close to the line. Last year a mate was 'doored' with the tip of the door going straight through their shoulder, the one shown isn't too bad compared to the one which joins Warwick to Leamington, littered with holes & access points and is treacherous enough just to stay in the saddle regardless of avoiding dodgy drivers.
The road infrastructure in Warwickshire is under increased pressure, they are expanding the town rapidly but the main thoroughfares in and out of the local towns simply aren't adequate enough and haven't been adequate enough for the amount of traffic for the past 20years.. still, we have got a nice new bandstand.
Mate, that's just the UK. I can't think of a single place where infrastructure has increased in line with population. Worst in the South and Midlands.
The last one was bad, but I can’t have any sympathy for the other two. Totally predictable.
The first one,the car did not come in to the cycle lane and was moving. Poor place to try and undertake, but also a crap cycle lane.
The left hook was the result of passing the van when the light went green and continuing to pass the van at the lights when there was clearly no hope of completing it and the cycle lane ended. The cycling equivalent of “must pass bike.”
The third driver should not be on the road.
I’m sure the usual will be along to tell me how I’m wrong, how drivers should be psychic and anyone who is not perfect all the time should not drive, but those two to me are the result of poor cycling as much as anything.
The cyclist was well past the vehicle before the driver decided to reovertake and almost left hook the cyclist. The final close pass is bad, but so is the cyclists positioning, he’s going round a bend past parked cars in the dooring zone, should be at least a meter further out.
Just guessing - and I may be wrong. But that's a classic response - from a motorist accustomed to driving 2 tons of steel and claiming "rights". Sorry mate - that's not how it's supposed to be ;-).
Just guessing - and I may be wrong. But that's a classic response - from a motorist accustomed to driving 2 tons of steel and claiming "rights". Sorry mate - that's not how it's supposed to be ;-).
Definitely, for every one close pass when you have taken a central or even right of centre position when the road narrows, you'll get a shed load more close passes when you don't.
Take the position early, sometimes this can be 50metres or even more if it's a busy road and you need to get your position, otherwise it could be a right bastard leaving it too late. And if you have to, hand signal with a good outstretched arm and move into position.
You shouldn't have to do any of this because a competent driver will see/read the situation past the end of their bonnet, will actually check to see what hazard they are presenting to other road users not just the person directly in front, fathom the varying speeds (if any), consider if there is room to overtake safely before the narrowing and not impinge/put fear into the vulnerable road user, nor having to 'gun it' to squeeze past (typical MGIF). If there isn't, hang back, it's not just unlawful to tailgate, it's dumb thinking and slower for you as a driver as you have no room to accelerate in and not able to have a good view of what's ahead, it also means you cut down the angle of the overtake instead of it being an acute one because you were right up someone's trumpet.
I had a perfect overtake by the local authority 'enforcement' SUV (a proper one) on the main industrial road in the town, went completely into the opposing lane, didn't hammer the accelerator, rare as rocking horse shit sadly.
The first comment should be about how crap the driving is, or how crap the cycle lane is, not blaming the guy on the bike.
He is using the 'cycle infrastructure' which puts him on the left. The problem is, it is unprotected, intermittent, and puts him in conflict with vehicles where it gives up at junctions and elsewhere.
Again , when there are central islands take a primary position to stop the squeeze by pass
it helps cut down on them, it doesnt stop them though. I had one just the other week, I was in prime central position from maybe 30metres away from the actual pinch point as its a regular close pass zone, got within 6-7 metres to go, about 1 second of riding time at 15mph, and still had a car go for the overtake, and boy do they squeeze you when they do that,and their rear bumper is only centimetres from collecting your front wheel.
had another one last year I truly believe the car actually drove over the central island as the road simply wasnt wide enough for us both to have fitted through without us colliding.
personally I dont much enjoy close encounters like that, and other than riding the whole way in prime all the time, its not as easy as people make it sound to just put yourself closer to the big metal objects that can hurt you.
maybe its wrong to think it but sometimes Im probably happier to be close passed more frequently with only a couple of feet room to spare, theres less hassle attached to it and Im desensitised to it as its almost par for the course on some roads, than occasionaly coming within literally centimetres of a collision.