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news
NMotD police.PNGNear Miss of the Day 643: Police officer pulls out on cyclist
One of the more niche sub-genres in our Near Miss of the Day series comprises incidents in which the perpetrator is a police officer – there’s some examples here –and it’s always a bit of a head-scratcher given that they tend to be better trained than the average driver as well as being, you know, the people tasked with upholding the law.
So while today’s offering, which happened on Lilford Road in Camberwell, South London just after 8am this morning is by no means the worst example of driving we’ve featured in the series, we thought it was worth sharing.
When even the police can't be bothered to look for bikes or indicate before pulling away it's no wonder the roads are dangerous...@MetCycleCops @metpoliceuk @MikeyCycling @anneramsey740 @Jezter55 @roadcc pic.twitter.com/CPh2FcbOZH
— Rendel Harris (@Rendel_Harris) October 12, 2021
As Rendel, the road.cc reader who posted the footage to Twitter says, “It’s not exactly a near miss (could have been if I hadn’t kept aware) but if the police can't be bothered to look for bikes or indicate before pulling out ...”
He added that he has lodged a formal complaint with the Metropolitan Police regarding the incident.
> 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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130 comments
I was wondering why an old NMOTD had hundreds of recent comments. Think this should probably be NMOTD 643, not 463!
There are some people who should never receive the encouragement of a response
Well, I don't see anyone replying to you...
You did...
No, I didn't
Oh, it must have been me, then. Sorry.
UPDATE: Just had a call from a senior officer at Brixton police station saying that he'd spoken to the officer in question and said officer "put his hands up and said 100% my mistake, it's completely on him, didn't realise the cyclist was there, totally apologise." Offered to have the officer call me himself but I said as long as the officer was aware of the mistake and that he should be more careful in future I was happy with apology by proxy. Impressed with the speed with which the police dealt with this and the honesty of the apology.
Presumably all those saying the incident was down to my lack of manners, skill, roadcraft etc will now be apologising for their stupid remarks? Won't hold my breath...
Nice one - good result.
Yes, it was very obvious they hadn't seen you due to lack of indication, reaction only to the car in front, and then the final indicator left after they realised.
But I suppose when someone drives the wrong way around a roundabout regularly and thinks nothing of it, of course they wouldn't think anything is wrong with a driver pulling out without indicating intentions first.
Where are you seeing that final indicator left - I only see a left indication prior to the left turn, long after they finished pulling out of the bay.
To be honest the problem started when the parked on the right hand side of the road, which seems like a very stupid thing to do (assuming the parking bays on the left hand side of the road was as empty as they were when the video was shot). It is lazy, inconsiderate and careless driving from start to finish. If they were driving one of my company vehicles (if I had such a thing), I'd want them to go on a course before getting behind the wheel of a company vehicle again.
That was the bit I was getting at. Rendal (or the car coming up) hadn't been seen by the driver as they didn't indicate. (Inspector Kev confirmed that Police Drivers are actually even more drummed in not to indicate if no one is around by their advanced instructors in another thread). Only towards the end of the video did they indicate their next intention to other road users which I believe was for Rendels benefit, after they finally spotted him.
Why you Brits allow parking on the wrong side of the road is beyond me.. anywhere in Australia, it's a traffic offence.
How would you know? Your entire persona here is calculated to belittle, goad and inflame the people you talk to. Are you saying it's all so you can hold yourself up as an example of what not to do if you want a positive response from others?
Great result. Slightly embarrassing for those who decided to make it all about you but I'm sure they won't continue banging on and on.
Good - how it should be. Doesn't take much. Not that the consequences here were comparable but this should be entered into evidence as to what "careless" driving looks like whenever that offence goes to trial. *EDIT And what accepting responsibility looks like e.g. it's not getting your lawyer to make up a statement to read in court for you a year later *. (Those getting to a trial is for me almost proof of dangerous driving because anything that didn't result in lots of injury with evident awful driving / failure to stop / drink / callous attitude doesn't even get mentioned).
Someone please lock the thread now.
Here you go
If this is the standard of highly trained police drivers, is it any wonder that they won't take action on bad driving by anyone else?
Ssssshhhhh! for gods sake! You'll wake up Nic
An incident in London, involving the police and Rendel... it's already in the centre of the Venn diagram for attracting a particular kind of comment. I wouldn't worry about waking anyone up.
Many fine comments on here from you and Badge and others but that's my favourite. Yours at the centre of the Venn...
'incident' really ?
I'm unsure of your question but an incident is an occurrence, an event or something that happened.
As you ask the qualification to drive a police car is (as I understand it) a driving license. There are additional skills and training depending on what you need to do when in it.
Did I?
How long will it take swlxder or whatever they are called to wake up? What if I say "wing mirror"?
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.dailymo...
I think you have to say it three times into - er - a wing mirror
This is one of those weird situations. If I were in my car and this exact same thing happened I would slow down and let the Police car out. The reason being that for them the struggle is seeing what is coming towards them, which as a driver I can appreciate. I can easily stop then accelerate again so it takes little difference to me so I can help out by doing the after you Claude. What they did isn't right but it is pretty predictable. On my bike I am more likely to resist slowing and feel they could have waited but ultimately I would still think the same I helped them out. Of course since they didn't indicate I would be a lot less likely to want to help in either situation.
Of course you would. If you didn't slow down in this exact situation you would drive straight into their passenger door. I don't think any of us would want to do that no matter what form of transport we were using.
I should perhaps point out that there was an officer in the passenger seat who could have advised the driver on what was both in front and behind...
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