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Near Miss of the Day 172: Chip-eating driver almost doors cyclist

Our regular feature highlighting close passes caught on camera from around the country – today it’s Cheshire

The latest video in our Near Miss of the Day series shows the moment a motorist who had been tucking into a bag of chips opened his car door into the path of a cyclist, who fortunately managed to take evasive action.

The footage was shot on Friday near the High Fry chip shop on Southview Road, Chester, by road.cc reader Dave, who told us that he’s left the audio muted due to the language it contained – understandable, in the circumstances.

He said: “I'd had a few near misses recently from cars pulling out on me and even a woman throw a ball for her dog out in front of me on a cycle path (after the saw me coming and looked to be waiting for me to pass) so I decided to get my GoPro mounted up for future rides.

“My first ride with it mounted below my Garmin gets a car parked on a bend on double yellows with no sign of it having an occupant – I try to go as far over to the right as I feel comfortable with in case of oncoming traffic and would have clearly been visible in the car’s mirrors yet they swung the door open as I passed.

“Luckily I have pretty quick reactions and shouted as it started to open as well as swerve.

“If there were oncoming traffic (which is usually fast on that bend), they may have forced or pushed me into it.”

Dave added: “When pausing the video as the car door opens to get a good thumbnail for YouTube I found the guy has empty chip wrappers in one hand so must have been sitting there eating for some time before I came along.”

Currently, the offence of opening or permitting a car door to be opened so as to cause injury or endanger someone is punishable by a maximum fine of £1,000, although the charity Cycling UK has been lobbying the government to introduce tougher penalties and include the so-called Dutch Reach technique within the Highway Code.

> 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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19 comments

Avatar
vonhelmet | 5 years ago
2 likes

Am I the only one that thinks the “Dutch reach” sounds like a tricky sex move?

Avatar
hawkinspeter replied to vonhelmet | 5 years ago
1 like

vonhelmet wrote:

Am I the only one that thinks the “Dutch reach” sounds like a tricky sex move?

Probably NSFW: https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=dutch+reach

Avatar
burtthebike replied to vonhelmet | 5 years ago
2 likes

vonhelmet wrote:

Am I the only one that thinks the “Dutch reach” sounds like a tricky sex move?

With very little chance of anyone getting pregnant.

Avatar
don simon fbpe | 5 years ago
0 likes

My point is to not cycle in the door zone when you have plenty of space to avoid it. Other examples may be different.

Avatar
FluffyKittenofT... replied to don simon fbpe | 5 years ago
0 likes

don simon wrote:

My point is to not cycle in the door zone when you have plenty of space to avoid it. Other examples may be different.

 

For the previous pass there was an oncoming vehicle in the other lane.  Arguably even for the one before that there was visible oncoming traffic.

 

Sod's law I suppose says that it's the pass where there was no oncoming traffic at all and he could easily have avoided the door-zone that some idiot opens the door.

Avatar
don simon fbpe | 5 years ago
1 like

This is likely to get shouted down, but why did the cyclist give more room to the last pass than the car outside the chippy on Sealand Rd and the first car on Southview? Neither pass was a doors' width. Secondly, there is plenty of distance to see oncoming cars going up Southview until you get to the aforementioned Telford's Warehouse and while I agree they do come down there quickly and in the centre of the road due to the traffic calming measures, it's not so bad that giving the cars a wider pass is impossible.

Yes the car is parked illegally, unless he was loading, and yes the driver shouldn't have opened the door like that, but the rider didn't help themselves. Wouldn't we be lambasting a driver who just had to get past?

Avatar
hawkinspeter replied to don simon fbpe | 5 years ago
1 like
don simon wrote:

This is likely to get shouted down, but why did the cyclist give more room to the last pass than the car outside the chippy on Sealand Rd and the first car on Southview? Neither pass was a doors' width. Secondly, there is plenty of distance to see oncoming cars going up Southview until you get to the aforementioned Telford's Warehouse and while I agree they do come down there quickly and in the centre of the road due to the traffic calming measures, it's not so bad that giving the cars a wider pass is impossible.

Yes the car is parked illegally, unless he was loading, and yes the driver shouldn't have opened the door like that, but the rider didn't help themselves. Wouldn't we be lambasting a driver who just had to get past?

I'm guessing that he almost shat himself with how close he was to getting doored and thus gave himself a bit more room.

I don't really follow you with the passing of a stationary vehicle.

Avatar
don simon fbpe replied to hawkinspeter | 5 years ago
1 like

hawkinspeter wrote:
don simon wrote:

This is likely to get shouted down, but why did the cyclist give more room to the last pass than the car outside the chippy on Sealand Rd and the first car on Southview? Neither pass was a doors' width. Secondly, there is plenty of distance to see oncoming cars going up Southview until you get to the aforementioned Telford's Warehouse and while I agree they do come down there quickly and in the centre of the road due to the traffic calming measures, it's not so bad that giving the cars a wider pass is impossible.

Yes the car is parked illegally, unless he was loading, and yes the driver shouldn't have opened the door like that, but the rider didn't help themselves. Wouldn't we be lambasting a driver who just had to get past?

I'm guessing that he almost shat himself with how close he was to getting doored and thus gave himself a bit more room. I don't really follow you with the passing of a stationary vehicle.

The vehicle that nearly doored him was stationary. surely you pass parked cars with caution, in case there is a muppet inside who wants to open the door.

Avatar
hawkinspeter replied to don simon fbpe | 5 years ago
0 likes

don simon wrote:

hawkinspeter wrote:
don simon wrote:

This is likely to get shouted down, but why did the cyclist give more room to the last pass than the car outside the chippy on Sealand Rd and the first car on Southview? Neither pass was a doors' width. Secondly, there is plenty of distance to see oncoming cars going up Southview until you get to the aforementioned Telford's Warehouse and while I agree they do come down there quickly and in the centre of the road due to the traffic calming measures, it's not so bad that giving the cars a wider pass is impossible.

Yes the car is parked illegally, unless he was loading, and yes the driver shouldn't have opened the door like that, but the rider didn't help themselves. Wouldn't we be lambasting a driver who just had to get past?

I'm guessing that he almost shat himself with how close he was to getting doored and thus gave himself a bit more room. I don't really follow you with the passing of a stationary vehicle.

The vehicle that nearly doored him was stationary. surely you pass parked cars with caution, in case there is a muppet inside who wants to open the door.

Yes, I do and so did this cyclist although he evidently decided to use even more caution after not leaving quite enough space for his comfort whilst passing that car.

Avatar
don simon fbpe replied to hawkinspeter | 5 years ago
0 likes

hawkinspeter wrote:

don simon wrote:

hawkinspeter wrote:
don simon wrote:

This is likely to get shouted down, but why did the cyclist give more room to the last pass than the car outside the chippy on Sealand Rd and the first car on Southview? Neither pass was a doors' width. Secondly, there is plenty of distance to see oncoming cars going up Southview until you get to the aforementioned Telford's Warehouse and while I agree they do come down there quickly and in the centre of the road due to the traffic calming measures, it's not so bad that giving the cars a wider pass is impossible.

Yes the car is parked illegally, unless he was loading, and yes the driver shouldn't have opened the door like that, but the rider didn't help themselves. Wouldn't we be lambasting a driver who just had to get past?

I'm guessing that he almost shat himself with how close he was to getting doored and thus gave himself a bit more room. I don't really follow you with the passing of a stationary vehicle.

The vehicle that nearly doored him was stationary. surely you pass parked cars with caution, in case there is a muppet inside who wants to open the door.

Yes, I do and so did this cyclist although he evidently decided to use even more caution after not leaving quite enough space for his comfort whilst passing that car.

That's exactly my point, on this road there is space to pass cars without fear of being doored, as the rider demonstrated, but until that point they were content riding in the dooring zone. At least the rider has learnt that passing parked cars so closely is not the best of ideas. Yes the muppet who opened the door deserves a slap, but the cyclist was passing parked cars too closely up until that point.

Avatar
hawkinspeter replied to don simon fbpe | 5 years ago
1 like

don simon wrote:

hawkinspeter wrote:

don simon wrote:

hawkinspeter wrote:
don simon wrote:

This is likely to get shouted down, but why did the cyclist give more room to the last pass than the car outside the chippy on Sealand Rd and the first car on Southview? Neither pass was a doors' width. Secondly, there is plenty of distance to see oncoming cars going up Southview until you get to the aforementioned Telford's Warehouse and while I agree they do come down there quickly and in the centre of the road due to the traffic calming measures, it's not so bad that giving the cars a wider pass is impossible.

Yes the car is parked illegally, unless he was loading, and yes the driver shouldn't have opened the door like that, but the rider didn't help themselves. Wouldn't we be lambasting a driver who just had to get past?

I'm guessing that he almost shat himself with how close he was to getting doored and thus gave himself a bit more room. I don't really follow you with the passing of a stationary vehicle.

The vehicle that nearly doored him was stationary. surely you pass parked cars with caution, in case there is a muppet inside who wants to open the door.

Yes, I do and so did this cyclist although he evidently decided to use even more caution after not leaving quite enough space for his comfort whilst passing that car.

That's exactly my point, on this road there is space to pass cars without fear of being doored, as the rider demonstrated, but until that point they were content riding in the dooring zone. At least the rider has learnt that passing parked cars so closely is not the best of ideas. Yes the muppet who opened the door deserves a slap, but the cyclist was passing parked cars too closely up until that point.

I'm sure the rider will use a bit more caution in the future, but it's quite clearly the driver's responsibility to not swing a lump of metal into the path of traffic. I think you're being too picky with the cyclist's choices.

Avatar
don simon fbpe replied to hawkinspeter | 5 years ago
0 likes

hawkinspeter wrote:

don simon wrote:

hawkinspeter wrote:

don simon wrote:

hawkinspeter wrote:
don simon wrote:

This is likely to get shouted down, but why did the cyclist give more room to the last pass than the car outside the chippy on Sealand Rd and the first car on Southview? Neither pass was a doors' width. Secondly, there is plenty of distance to see oncoming cars going up Southview until you get to the aforementioned Telford's Warehouse and while I agree they do come down there quickly and in the centre of the road due to the traffic calming measures, it's not so bad that giving the cars a wider pass is impossible.

Yes the car is parked illegally, unless he was loading, and yes the driver shouldn't have opened the door like that, but the rider didn't help themselves. Wouldn't we be lambasting a driver who just had to get past?

I'm guessing that he almost shat himself with how close he was to getting doored and thus gave himself a bit more room. I don't really follow you with the passing of a stationary vehicle.

The vehicle that nearly doored him was stationary. surely you pass parked cars with caution, in case there is a muppet inside who wants to open the door.

Yes, I do and so did this cyclist although he evidently decided to use even more caution after not leaving quite enough space for his comfort whilst passing that car.

That's exactly my point, on this road there is space to pass cars without fear of being doored, as the rider demonstrated, but until that point they were content riding in the dooring zone. At least the rider has learnt that passing parked cars so closely is not the best of ideas. Yes the muppet who opened the door deserves a slap, but the cyclist was passing parked cars too closely up until that point.

I'm sure the rider will use a bit more caution in the future, but it's quite clearly the driver's responsibility to not swing a lump of metal into the path of traffic. I think you're being too picky with the cyclist's choices.

We already know that it's a drivers' responsibilty to not swing the door open without looking, equally the rider should have been aware of this and not ridden in the danger zone, especially on a road where there's space to pass safely.

Avatar
hawkinspeter replied to don simon fbpe | 5 years ago
2 likes

don simon wrote:

hawkinspeter wrote:

don simon wrote:

hawkinspeter wrote:

don simon wrote:

hawkinspeter wrote:
don simon wrote:

This is likely to get shouted down, but why did the cyclist give more room to the last pass than the car outside the chippy on Sealand Rd and the first car on Southview? Neither pass was a doors' width. Secondly, there is plenty of distance to see oncoming cars going up Southview until you get to the aforementioned Telford's Warehouse and while I agree they do come down there quickly and in the centre of the road due to the traffic calming measures, it's not so bad that giving the cars a wider pass is impossible.

Yes the car is parked illegally, unless he was loading, and yes the driver shouldn't have opened the door like that, but the rider didn't help themselves. Wouldn't we be lambasting a driver who just had to get past?

I'm guessing that he almost shat himself with how close he was to getting doored and thus gave himself a bit more room. I don't really follow you with the passing of a stationary vehicle.

The vehicle that nearly doored him was stationary. surely you pass parked cars with caution, in case there is a muppet inside who wants to open the door.

Yes, I do and so did this cyclist although he evidently decided to use even more caution after not leaving quite enough space for his comfort whilst passing that car.

That's exactly my point, on this road there is space to pass cars without fear of being doored, as the rider demonstrated, but until that point they were content riding in the dooring zone. At least the rider has learnt that passing parked cars so closely is not the best of ideas. Yes the muppet who opened the door deserves a slap, but the cyclist was passing parked cars too closely up until that point.

I'm sure the rider will use a bit more caution in the future, but it's quite clearly the driver's responsibility to not swing a lump of metal into the path of traffic. I think you're being too picky with the cyclist's choices.

We already know that it's a drivers' responsibilty to not swing the door open without looking, equally the rider should have been aware of this and not ridden in the danger zone, especially on a road where there's space to pass safely.

I don't think it's "equal" at all. Riding in the door zone isn't recommended, but sometimes can't be avoided (though plenty of room in this example) and is often encouraged by shitty infrastructure. Opening a door into the way of traffic is clearly illegal.

Avatar
don simon fbpe replied to hawkinspeter | 5 years ago
0 likes

hawkinspeter wrote:

don simon wrote:

hawkinspeter wrote:

don simon wrote:

hawkinspeter wrote:

don simon wrote:

hawkinspeter wrote:
don simon wrote:

This is likely to get shouted down, but why did the cyclist give more room to the last pass than the car outside the chippy on Sealand Rd and the first car on Southview? Neither pass was a doors' width. Secondly, there is plenty of distance to see oncoming cars going up Southview until you get to the aforementioned Telford's Warehouse and while I agree they do come down there quickly and in the centre of the road due to the traffic calming measures, it's not so bad that giving the cars a wider pass is impossible.

Yes the car is parked illegally, unless he was loading, and yes the driver shouldn't have opened the door like that, but the rider didn't help themselves. Wouldn't we be lambasting a driver who just had to get past?

I'm guessing that he almost shat himself with how close he was to getting doored and thus gave himself a bit more room. I don't really follow you with the passing of a stationary vehicle.

The vehicle that nearly doored him was stationary. surely you pass parked cars with caution, in case there is a muppet inside who wants to open the door.

Yes, I do and so did this cyclist although he evidently decided to use even more caution after not leaving quite enough space for his comfort whilst passing that car.

That's exactly my point, on this road there is space to pass cars without fear of being doored, as the rider demonstrated, but until that point they were content riding in the dooring zone. At least the rider has learnt that passing parked cars so closely is not the best of ideas. Yes the muppet who opened the door deserves a slap, but the cyclist was passing parked cars too closely up until that point.

I'm sure the rider will use a bit more caution in the future, but it's quite clearly the driver's responsibility to not swing a lump of metal into the path of traffic. I think you're being too picky with the cyclist's choices.

We already know that it's a drivers' responsibilty to not swing the door open without looking, equally the rider should have been aware of this and not ridden in the danger zone, especially on a road where there's space to pass safely.

I don't think it's "equal" at all. Riding in the door zone isn't recommended, but sometimes can't be avoided (though plenty of room in this example) and is often encouraged by shitty infrastructure. Opening a door into the way of traffic is clearly illegal.

But we're only talking about this example.

Avatar
hawkinspeter replied to don simon fbpe | 5 years ago
1 like

don simon wrote:

hawkinspeter wrote:

don simon wrote:

hawkinspeter wrote:

don simon wrote:

hawkinspeter wrote:

don simon wrote:

hawkinspeter wrote:
don simon wrote:

This is likely to get shouted down, but why did the cyclist give more room to the last pass than the car outside the chippy on Sealand Rd and the first car on Southview? Neither pass was a doors' width. Secondly, there is plenty of distance to see oncoming cars going up Southview until you get to the aforementioned Telford's Warehouse and while I agree they do come down there quickly and in the centre of the road due to the traffic calming measures, it's not so bad that giving the cars a wider pass is impossible.

Yes the car is parked illegally, unless he was loading, and yes the driver shouldn't have opened the door like that, but the rider didn't help themselves. Wouldn't we be lambasting a driver who just had to get past?

I'm guessing that he almost shat himself with how close he was to getting doored and thus gave himself a bit more room. I don't really follow you with the passing of a stationary vehicle.

The vehicle that nearly doored him was stationary. surely you pass parked cars with caution, in case there is a muppet inside who wants to open the door.

Yes, I do and so did this cyclist although he evidently decided to use even more caution after not leaving quite enough space for his comfort whilst passing that car.

That's exactly my point, on this road there is space to pass cars without fear of being doored, as the rider demonstrated, but until that point they were content riding in the dooring zone. At least the rider has learnt that passing parked cars so closely is not the best of ideas. Yes the muppet who opened the door deserves a slap, but the cyclist was passing parked cars too closely up until that point.

I'm sure the rider will use a bit more caution in the future, but it's quite clearly the driver's responsibility to not swing a lump of metal into the path of traffic. I think you're being too picky with the cyclist's choices.

We already know that it's a drivers' responsibilty to not swing the door open without looking, equally the rider should have been aware of this and not ridden in the danger zone, especially on a road where there's space to pass safely.

I don't think it's "equal" at all. Riding in the door zone isn't recommended, but sometimes can't be avoided (though plenty of room in this example) and is often encouraged by shitty infrastructure. Opening a door into the way of traffic is clearly illegal.

But we're only talking about this example.

Okay, so we're agreed on the driver being an asshat and that the cyclist was initially cycling in the door zone. I don't really see what point you're trying to make other than "don't cycle in the door zone".

Avatar
burtthebike replied to don simon fbpe | 5 years ago
0 likes

don simon wrote:

The vehicle that nearly doored him was stationary. surely you pass parked cars with caution, in case there is a muppet inside who wants to open the door.

Of course you do, but as the op pointed out, it's on a bend with fast on-coming vehicles.  Of course, if the government (how can such utter chaos have that name?) had followed Cycling UK's suggestion of making drivers do the Dutch reach, the situation wouldn't have occurred.

Avatar
konfliqt replied to don simon fbpe | 5 years ago
4 likes

don simon wrote:

This is likely to get shouted down, but why did the cyclist give more room to the last pass than the car outside the chippy on Sealand Rd and the first car on Southview? Neither pass was a doors' width. Secondly, there is plenty of distance to see oncoming cars going up Southview until you get to the aforementioned Telford's Warehouse and while I agree they do come down there quickly and in the centre of the road due to the traffic calming measures, it's not so bad that giving the cars a wider pass is impossible.

Yes the car is parked illegally, unless he was loading, and yes the driver shouldn't have opened the door like that, but the rider didn't help themselves. Wouldn't we be lambasting a driver who just had to get past?

 

Hi, my video there - Sorry but I disagree with you on how far you can see up the road at that point. Yes if you brought up google maps it would show a view high over the walls and bushes but bring that down to a normal cycling or car bonet level: https://imgur.com/AhKn721. The junction is a bad one since the traffic calming bumps espcially from downhill, have very little affect on car speed - the central speed bumps are lower and narrower than usual to the point almost no car would feel them plus the wide bump you see the cyclist go up is almost smoothed over on the other side. Cars regulary do 40mph+ down that hill, its super hard to pull out from the "Water's Edge/Earls Port" side of the road as these speeders would catch you half way pulling out into the road (happened to me enough times).

 

With regards to the closeness of passing, how far would you say is enough? I myself thought about 1.5m would do (pause the video at 17seconds and you'll see thats about where I was) but did you know car doors average 1.8m at full reach? I do now  10 hence the extra dodging. If the guy had been holding the door just enough to get out it would probably have been fine. With a safe 1.8m-2m putting you across the white line, that range of movement across the road would surely catch out many drivers thinking they can still overtake you on busy roads or in this case, put you at risk from oncoming traffic. I definately think we should be teaching more drivers the dutch reach technique alongside the close pass initiative - with e-bikes taking off and better cycling infastructure being requested by the masses in cities, we're only going to see more accidents. 

Avatar
burtthebike | 5 years ago
11 likes

Appalling behaviour from the driver, and I'm fairly glad the sound was muted, but my imagination has filled it in with what I'd have shouted at the imbecile.

Cycling UK are right, and the offence is much more serious than the penalty would suggest, at least as serious as a cyclist hitting a pedestrian.  If only we'd had the study on all highway offences that the government promised so long ago, but I suppose they couldn't do that and look at dangerous cycling at the same time.

Avatar
don simon fbpe | 5 years ago
0 likes

Cracking pub that Telford's Warehouse.

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