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news
Near Miss of the Day 501 (UPDATED): HGV driver said he had to cut corner because of fast oncoming traffic
*Update (November 24): The driver has been suspended by his firm, pending further investigation*
*Update (December 4): The driver has left the firm following a disciplinary process*
Today’s breath-taking near miss sees the driver of a builder’s merchants lorry cutting the corner when turning into a side road and almost flattening a cyclist in the process. The manoeuvre itself is only half the story however.
The incident occurred on Thursday on Stoke Road in Sonning Common, at the junction with Gravel Hill.
Secret_squirrel writes: “I had some new kit arrive – ironically a fluoro gilet – and an hour to kill so I thought I would take it for a test ride. Turns out all the fluoro or lights in the world means nothing if the driver doesn’t look or has some very iffy looking wing mirrors.”
Secret_squirrel said that even after he stopped and shouted, the driver continued, forcing him to get out of the way.
“When I challenged him on his driving, he replied that his view had been blocked by the silver deflectors on his wing mirrors, and that he had to turn quickly as the oncoming traffic tended to be fast.
“After exchanging a few more words, he left without leaving any contact details.”
Secret_squirrel has submitted the footage to Thames Valley Police and also to the business in question. He was told that the firm would investigate which driver was involved and get back to him.
“The white 4x4 driver was really nice,” he added, “as was a lady from a nearby house who offered me a cup of tea.”
> 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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Last update - TVP were in touch just before Xmas asking me what would be an appropriate charge - turns out he had 2 incidents in quick succession. They haven't reported back on any final resolution.
TVP were in touch just before Xmas asking me what would be an appropriate charge - turns out he had 2 incidents in quick succession.
Let us know if they take any real action, which means prosecution.
rather worrying, I thought they were supposed to have a better understanding of the law than the standard person, if they can't see an offence here they should seek guidance from a more experienced oficer.
Until we start to get some of these morons prosecuted we will still be here in five years time commenting on near miss 5000+ It amazes me how bad motorists continue to get away with this sort of behaviour. Not only should they recieve a ban based on how severe the offence (life in some cases) they should be made to take their test again, that would certainly get a good proportion of them off the road.
Possibly shows the benefit of not putting all your eggs in one (police) basket. For whatever reason the company are at least doing something. Hopefully the company will give you a further update.
I'm awaiting Scorati's response...
"It wasn't great driving but if you'd opted for a fluro coat instead of a fluro gilet then the driver may have seen your arms. Your choice, but if you value temperature over your life then these kind of things will happen"
Judging by his latest one it will be more like
"Fancy forcing the lorry to stop. It has to push out more pollution now to start up again. And look at the polution caused by all the cars being held up as well. Inconsiderate cyclist. He could have just been run over and then submitted the footage afterwards. At least that slight extra pollution wouldn't have occurred then".
**Update Monday 23rd **
Firm got in contact to say the driver had been suspended pending the outcome of their investigation.
That's good to hear.
I wonder though, if their statement is code for: "our driver will have to stay at home until all this fuss on social media has died down, then it's back to normal".
It's a shame there isn't a camera on that location, to catch them out again.
The thought had occured. Anyone have any tips on how to chase up the Police?
Anyone have any tips on how to chase up the Police?
I'm afraid it's an uphill battle against the wind, with them taking every opportunity for delay, really stupid statements etc. I come from a hard school- Lancashire must be one of the worst- if they're not, we're all in trouble. You have to make a complaint against the officer, but Lancashire often won't respond at all. Then you have to write to 'Force Control Room', or whatever they call it, with your online incident report reference, and just keep wading through the treacle of police obstruction. Even then, they have the secret weapon: carrying the obstruction to the courts. Below is the offence dated 30.9.19- now after repeated delays, due for court in June 2021 except that they have pre-booked a further delay with a "this may change". The problem is that The Enemy has most of the weapons, but guerilla action must continue!
Dial 101 and ask for an update giving the reference number. I would imagine Thames Valley Police would have sent a NIP to the company which requires an answer within 4 weeks.
Dial 101 and ask for an update giving the reference number
Handy advice! I'll give it a try
Depends how TVP update their incident logs. Firstly if the video has been uploaded directly to the force 'dashcam/video footage' site they may not actually generate an incident log. From comments on previous NMotDs there seems to be quite a variety. Including the frankly terrible 'we're not going to tell you anything' response.
When I was in the police, initially (and I'm talking 'incidents' in general) the 'result' was usually very brief eg 'statement recorded from complainant, further enquiries by PC 1234'. Later in my career, logs were left open (or more accurately 'snoozed') for a more detailed result eg 'statement recorded … driver JONES interviewed and reported for summons, vehicle details as follows …'
The best thing to have is either the incident/log number or the collar number of the officer investigating.
Came up to a minor road - normal layout today. Stopped at the give way and driver turning right declined the turn. I then turned right and glanced behind to see the driver cutting the corner from a stationary position by some margin.
I can only conclude some drivers are unable to use a steering wheel correctly.
On Thursday, on my way home from work at a similar junction, I indicated right approaching the stop line. Having seen this and my lane position, a motorist came at speed and drove inside me, in my lane (cutting the corner, driving on the wrong side of the road). All because he didn't want to slow down to take the corner around me.
Or they're just massively poor drivers and think it's okay to cut corners, whether somebody is there or not. It's almost 'entitlement'.....
Don't forget the cross look you always get for "being in their way", even though they are the ones who are not following the road markings/layout correctly...
I've read down the comments and it doesn't seem that anyone else has picked up on it so far, but Dickhead Drivers retort was that 'oncoming traffic tends to be very fast' despite there being - insofar as I can see - no oncoming traffic whatsoever.
So - just a lazy dangerous bastard, then.
the oncoming traffic comes up a steep hill and you can't see the junction at the top from the bottom as I recall.
However, that means the traffic should not be going so fast and the driver should not expect it to be fast. It's a Whataboutery "excuse" for his poor driving... Mental gymnastics to justify doing something blatantly wrong and dangerous.
Both roads sseem to have 30mph limits, so is the oncoming traffic really 'very fast'? Or is it just him driving to/from work?
Probably indiciative that the driver routinely ignores the 30mph speed limit on B481 Gravel Hill and so expects others to do likewise.
It's clear this callous dangerous entiled juggernaut driver believes he is on a mission, come what may at whatever the cost.
Despite being caught for dangerous life threatening driving, the maniac blames things other than himself and too much of a coward to own up and needs stopping before he kills or injures.
Cops may attempt to fob you off and mislead you by fabricating stories, as I experienced. So record every interaction with them and persue them if it comes to it.
How on earth can a flat fronted truck have "wing" mirrors? They are DOOR mirrors as that truck has no "wings".
Yawn.........
A cyclist is almost crushed and this is what you comment on?
Trolls gonna troll.
But really, try harder.
Mods please remove this bot account.
So you agree that the truck driver's excuse was nonsense.
I've never seen someone so committed to dying on one particular hill that nobody is fighting over.
Nice pedantry there.. side view mirrors are still commonly called wing mirrors, regardless of how they are actually mounted to the vehicle.. I call them side mirrors but then I'm not Bri'ish.
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