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Near Miss of the Day 408: NHS worker's everyone-back-to-work birthday gift

Our regular series featuring close passes from around the country – today it's South London...

Just like Near Miss of the Day 407, today’s near miss occurred on Wednesday – the day that the government urged people to return to work (without taking public transport).

The incident occurred heading east on Tooting Bec Road/the A214 between Tooting Bec and Streatham, in South London, just at the entrance to Tooting Bec lido.

Laurence writes: “I work for the NHS and have been working through the lockdown period. A silver lining has been the much reduced traffic on the roads during my commute. So on Wednesday the May 13, with the government recommending people start to return to work (but not take public transport), the roads were suddenly much busier than the preceding weeks.

“I'd noticed quite a few care share/pool vehicles on the road – I guess as people decided to avoid public transport. But it makes me wonder if some of those drivers are a bit out of practice at driving, as we see in the video.

“Pulling out into an adjacent lane from stationary, without indicating or (apparently) checking mirrors, a motorist nearly hit me.”

The car involved was a Zipcar – a car-sharing service.

Laurence continues: “My 650b gravel bike was fully laden with panniers – even some medical textbooks lashed to the rear rack – so my disc brakes didn't stop me as sharply as they might have done otherwise.

“The driver and occupants of the car did all take a good look at me after I yelled and stopped, but seemed entirely unconcerned. They moved off fairly quickly. I easily caught them in traffic but didn't want to antagonise or make trouble.”

Laurence adds that it was his birthday.

“About ten minutes later I was drinking a cup of tea and eating birthday cake which my wife and daughter had baked for me.”

> 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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24 comments

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Butty | 3 years ago
0 likes

0:53 Just look at all those cyclists going through a red light!

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quiff replied to Butty | 3 years ago
3 likes

I thought that to start with, but as AlsoSomniloquism spotted, there was actually a green filter for straight on.

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Bhachgen | 3 years ago
0 likes

Have you all given up on social distancing in that London? Rider should surely be at least 2m from the kerb where there are pedestrians?

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brooksby replied to Bhachgen | 3 years ago
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Looked like the pedestrians were all on the other side of that fence, on the big wide footpath instead of next to the road.

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quiff replied to Bhachgen | 3 years ago
2 likes

Caught between a rock and a hard place I guess - flout social distancing or suffer the grief you'd get from drivers for taking primary to give pedestrians 2m passing distance. Although the latter would avoid clipping those drain covers too.

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Hirsute replied to Bhachgen | 3 years ago
2 likes

There seems to be a divide on this one.
Some think you should, some think that the contact time is so low, the hazard of moving out is more risky.
As I expected, pedestrians move into the road to avoid others, so I'm in the first camp.

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Bill Tucker replied to Hirsute | 3 years ago
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In the quiet country lanes of Suffolk where there is ample room about 50% of cyclists don't care a hoot for keeping 2 metres from pedestrians or fellow cyclists. Those will be the ones complaining loudest about close passing. I know it's a pain to assume every driver you pass is going to pull out on you but it gets very cold and lonely in the churchyard. My old ex-navy uncle always told me it was foolish to attack a battleship in a rowing boat as you never would win.

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Hirsute replied to Bill Tucker | 3 years ago
3 likes

I'm not sure what you are alluding to there Bill. Are you saying that on the main road you slow down at every single minor road ' just in case'?
That you expect every single stationary car you pass to pull out and hit you ?
There is only one remedy for that.

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HLaB replied to Bhachgen | 3 years ago
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Ideally yes, I've been lucky that driver's have hung back up until now letting me move out but as the traffic is getting denser it's harder to do so. Fortunately I still can but it looks like it will be harder in London to do it safely  7

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spen | 3 years ago
0 likes

While it's clear the driver didn't check any of their mirrors I'm surprised the rider didn't anticipate that manouver

 

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Hirsute replied to spen | 3 years ago
6 likes

Do you expect every driver to do that then ?

I'd have been on the tarmac, as I'd have been more central in the lane.

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ktache replied to Hirsute | 3 years ago
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I do indeed expect every driver to do that, and sometimes worse, luckily, I am pleased that most of them don't.

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Awavey replied to ktache | 3 years ago
1 like

Whilst I expect the worst and very often not disappointed, approaching a red light like that...ok so hold on a mo how is traffic in the left lane even able to move forward to enable the silver car to pull across in the first place? Am I missing something obvious there ?

I wouldn't have expected that,id probably still be thinking wtf did the car directly ahead just do,and the silver car doesnt even indicate and I would have been slap bang on the painted arrow line centre lane, so I'd have been hit.

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AlsoSomniloquism replied to Awavey | 3 years ago
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"Whilst I expect the worst and very often not disappointed, approaching a red light like that...ok so hold on a mo how is traffic in the left lane even able to move forward to enable the silver car to pull across in the first place? Am I missing something obvious there ?"

Green straight on arrow at the bottom of the lights so straight on traffic is filtered on whilst the rest turning right have to wait until fully changed. I suspect the cyclist and most of the traffic is used to that road layout whereas the sharing driver (probably normally uses Public transport and now using a car for social distancing) is not. 

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Hirsute replied to ktache | 3 years ago
1 like

But if you really followed that, you would never make any progress.
In this scenario, you would never advance past the last car in L2 just in case. I don't think that would make you too popular with those behind, and you might even get rear ended !

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ktache replied to Hirsute | 3 years ago
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It's not about stopping just in case, more of being ready to take action, not giving it the beans, and keeping fingers on the brakes, flat bars for me and newish single finger hydraulics.  And keeping a beady eye on the most suspicious looking vehicles and drivers.  Been a victim of the Great British driving abilities too many times to ride without an impending sense of doom and paranoia.  In traffic anyway, the past few weeks were a joy, especially the early part.

Looking at the driver, the wheels, the positioning of the vehicle, listening for the merest change in tone of the surrounding engines, wondering what might happen, ready to take action.  Easing off the power, not sitting heavy on the seat, ready to move.  Anything that can give me the edge.

A bit like looking over the shoulder when approaching a pinch point/pedestrian refuge or a painted SLOW.

Or the head being on a constant swivel when coming upon a roundabout, judging multiple speed, position and inferring drivers intensions, something non cycling drivers don't seem to.

I had assumed that's how most of us on here rode.

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Hirsute replied to ktache | 3 years ago
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Not sure that is quite the same as you said before and clearly here you would have had to stop !

To me it looked more like the driver had swapped from L1 to L2 and also I would have been more central to prevent someone tryinig to squeeze by in L1 before the lights (as it is essential to be in front), hence I would have ended up on the tarmac.

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Hirsute | 3 years ago
5 likes

I was wondering what the punchline was for a bit, then it came out of nowhere.

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AlsoSomniloquism replied to Hirsute | 3 years ago
1 like

I like to watch these without reading the text first to hopefully improve my own hazard perceptions. As 90% of the traffic had given plenty of room I was anticpating the choke point first which didn't happen. I then thought it was the lights and that car as it was further over then the others in the queue. It was still fast though. 

(He was almost taken out by the peds about to cross over just past the raised section).

I wouldn't have filtered in the other lane with oncoming traffic at the end though as a personal preference. 

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Dao | 3 years ago
2 likes

My first thought was to get out of the gutter, PoV doesn't seem like you're in secondary. Then it was thank god you weren't in the primary position.

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brooksby replied to Dao | 3 years ago
0 likes

They definitely bumped over a manhole/drain cover at one point, which I'd personally consider being bit close to the kerb...

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muhasib | 3 years ago
4 likes

Are people happy to use car sharing schemes? Do the car interiors get cleaned between bookings? At my workplace the pool cars are no longer allowed to be used if they aren't cleaned between different drivers - although no one is in to test the policy so far.

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Elcustardo replied to muhasib | 3 years ago
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Not allowed? Think how many employers use 'pool' vehicles day to day. You think Royal Mail no longer use their fleet of vehicles now as an example?

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muhasib replied to Elcustardo | 3 years ago
1 like

I did say not allowed if they aren't cleaned. My employer also has hundreds of sites closed at the moment which the staff are asking to be 'deep cleaned' before they will agree to reopening. I'm enjoying my last week of cycle commuting of empty roads before the cars are all back, I expect Monday will be much busier.

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