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news
Near Miss of the Day 868: Warning for driver who mounted pavement and drove into cyclist after rider's emergency stop to avoid collision
This Near Miss of the Day footage shows the moment an Oxfordshire cyclist was forced to emergency brake on wet roads to avoid a collision with a driver overtaking a bus, only for the motorist to then continue driving forwards, up onto the pavement and making contact with the surprised rider while pushing past.
road.cc reader Tom has since made a complaint to the professional standards department of Thames Valley Police about the handling of the case after his initial report resulted in the driver being "officially warned for careless driving".
During that process the driver denied receiving any paperwork, something TVP acknowledged they had experienced postal problems with in the past, and ultimately received a phone call warning from an officer instead and was offered a place on a course.
The incident happened on 14 January 2023 as Tom cycled to work in Oxford through Abingdon and was reported online the same day...
"The initial pulling round the bus was careless, the driving at me, was in my view totally deliberate and reckless in the extreme," he explained. "I pulled an emergency stop on wet roads at 30km/h.
"I managed to stop about 60cm from the front bumper of the car. So far I think that was careless driving. However, what happened next is, in my view, a deliberate act by the driver. He mounted the pavement and sped off, colliding with me in the process.
"The response from Thames Valley Police is copied below. As you can see, the driver admitted to it, but no further action was taken. I was unhappy with this and so a course was offered to the driver which they have taken at their own expense. No criminal action taken.
"As you can imagine I am not happy with that outcome. The initial outcome is, in my view, a total let off for the driver. Even a course is a let off. He drove a car at me, hit me, mounted the pavement on the off side of the road in relation to him and drove off and has escaped any form of criminal sanction whatsoever."
The incident was so bad, Tom said, that he called 999 at the scene and reported a collision but was told to report it online as it was a traffic incident. Having submitted the footage online, Tom then called TVP within two weeks, fearing that the 14-day deadline for a notice of intended prosecution may pass unanswered.
"They said that as a collision occurred, the 14-day rule did not apply," he explained. "The reply from TVP is on the 23/3/23, two months after the incident."
Tom was told by TVP:
Regarding the Range Rover incident, sorry for the delay, I spoke to the driver yesterday, who denies receiving any paper work from us, which we know there has been a problem with the post, so I emailed him a copy, it was then I noticed that the location on your google map location on the report was in Campion Close not Radley Road, also not sure if you are aware your camera is six years behind, discussed with a decision maker and we have officially warned the driver for careless driving.
I did also point out on the phone to him, about looking out for cyclists, he did apologise and says he will learn from his mistakes.
Tom continued: "I have made a complaint to the professional standards department of TVP about the handling of this case. That complaint was made on the 31/3/2023.
"They are totally overwhelmed and I have absolutely zero expectations of a meaningful response. I received a holding letter from them in the last week telling me it is still pending."
road.cc contacted Thames Valley Police for comment and the force confirmed as the complaint is ongoing "we wouldn't comment on any aspect as it would be inappropriate to do so".
Dan is the road.cc news editor and joined in 2020 having previously written about nearly every other sport under the sun for the Express, and the weird and wonderful world of non-league football for The Non-League Paper. Dan has been at road.cc for four years and mainly writes news and tech articles as well as the occasional feature. He has hopefully kept you entertained on the live blog too.
Never fast enough to take things on the bike too seriously, when he's not working you'll find him exploring the south of England by two wheels at a leisurely weekend pace, or enjoying his favourite Scottish roads when visiting family. Sometimes he'll even load up the bags and ride up the whole way, he's a bit strange like that.
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68 comments
Ok, I'm going to be unpopular for this but here goes anyway.
1. The cyclist appears not to have applied any braking until around the point of getting to the hump. That's quite late given when the car started to overtake the bus and the driver will have noticed that.
2. The cyclist moved to the right during the incident. It may be due to the late braking meaning they were slightly out of control (see above for why that might have been unnecessary) or they were seeking a safer roadspace in front of the bus rather than near the kerb or pavement. We'll leave judgement on this one.
3. The cyclist demanded the driver move back. Why not just move to the side and let the car go? Situation solved. But no. A point had to be made.
What the driver did next was inexcusable but in his mind, the cyclist has engineered a confrontation to make a point: late braking, moving to an unexpected road position blocking the car's way back to the correct side of the road and then demanding an unreasonable manoeuvre.
There's too many of both of these types of drivers and cyclists out there. Mistakes are made by both drivers and cyclists. It is all our jobs to limit their effects and make it a non-event every time.
I can hear the brakes engaging well before he reaches the hump. As the rider states, he was braking from 30kmh in the wet, his stopping time and distance in the circumstances are perfectly reasonable. As for pulling to the right, there's a car driving straight towards him on the wrong side of the road, unless he's got pro-level bunnyhop skills he can't get on the pavement so I assume he was taking the only line available where he could safely escape if the driver failed to stop.
If someone is driving dangerously and illegally (as here) it is perfectly acceptable to challenge them; if this sort of bad driving and bad manners goes unchallenged it becomes regarded as acceptable and will happen over and over again until someone gets hurt. Due to police incompetence the driver only got a warning but hopefully that at least has made them think twice about doing the same thing again.
To me it boils down to : did the driver make a mistake or were they bullying their way through. The more we give way to bullying the more entitled these drivers become and eventually it leads to tragedy.
In my opinion the cyclist acted correctly. If it was a mistake the driver would surely accept the short delay, if it was bullying then they need to know it's not right. No point reporting these to the police they will do absolutely nothing.
Or you could have read the story and the cyclist's comments and saved writing all that.
1. Listen with headphones if needed. The brakes are applied as soon as the driver starts to pull out.
2. If i was in the middle of the lane, and a car was heading directly at me I would have gone for the more space for bail out.
3. Cyclist asked "what you doing?" Then did mention "go back". However as the driver seemed to only give him 3 seconds from coming to a complete stop to moving out his way before he gunned forward, we do not know if the cyclist was going to move for the bully or not.
As the driver also didn't seem bothered about the runner on the pavement or the red mini coming up behind the cyclist either, it does seem that the incident had nothing to do with the cyclist at all, but just a rather well off individual who isn't bothered about road laws being applied to them at all.
Absolutely right to complain to police about their lack of action on this.
Similar to my own incident (without actual collision) which the Met police did take action on:
https://youtu.be/_qO2FIe5poE
Oh dear. It seems that as you forced your way past me, my handlebars accidentally scraped down the side of you status symbol.
The police are too busy to handle your complaints because they're escorting tens of thousands of migrants to their hotels. Deal with it.
Yep it be them immigunts to blame, for sure. Not a decade of unnecessary austerity and police cuts, nor policies and attitudes that deprioritise cycling and treat cyclists as second class citizens, it's all them immigunts' fault. Do take your hatred and spite and toddle off elsewhere, there's a good chap. You'll receive a warm welcome in the comments sections of the Telegraph or the Daily Mail, where desperate shoehorning of anti-immigrant hatred and blaming them for everything is de rigeur.
Only Guardian readers like you allowed here eh?
You went full retard, man. Never go full retard.
They've not gone anywhere. They've been there the whole time.
Still, right to question things in one sense. Whether we have more police than ever or not enough, what they're not doing is a ton of roads policing.
The numbers of traffic police officers in England & Wale as I am able to ascertain are as follows:
May 1997 - 12,500
May 2007 - 7,500
Today - 2,500
Says it all really😡
Please don't use the R word - it's offensive. (Edit, and yes, I know it's a quote)
I wasn't offended.. are you the word police?
No, but I work with people with learning disabilities and I know how offensive that word is. You wouldn't (I hope) use the N or P words. Please don't use rhe R word.
Usual tenuous grasp of any legislation.
Perhaps you could point to some legislation where the test of be offended is if gr0g is offended or not...
Aeroplanes often necessarily go full retard.
The word "retard" isn't offensive by itself, it's the perjorative use of it that's the problem. It used to be used in a medical sense to describe various developmental issues, but it then began to be used as a slur against people who may be stupid, but don't have any particular medical issue - that's offensive to people with mental disabilities.
Of course, the earlier use of it was complicated by it being a line used in Tropic Thunder which is satirical and relies heavily on social commentary. RDJ notably plays an australian actor that uses blackface to portray a black american actor, thus calling attention to the racism endemic in Hollywood.
Wow. Do you really believe that?
I wonder if there is an immigrant equivalent to "Godwin's Law".. it seems it is brought up as the reason for every problem rather than, I don't know, a Government that has been in power for 13 years?
Where are you reading it is the police and not someone like Serco ?
Time for Road CC to get their banning stick out.
We don't want or need Racists on this site.
Go back under your bridge.
This is literally not happening, but don't let facts keep you from your racism, gammon.
Maybe the reaction of the cyclist 'go back' angered the driver, but FFS if that's all it took to instigate Assault with a Deadly Weapon they shouldn't just be off the road but in jail 😐
Good grief!
Are people genuinely blaming the cyclists actions for this irretrievably incompetent driving by the buffoon in their wankpanzer in the comments section?
Where exactly do you think the cyclist should have gone while performing an emergency stop in far less than ideal standards. Towards the kerb, an immovable object while slamming the brakes on?
You've got to be joking, right?
Some people need to take their heads out of their asses before spouting thoughtless comments.
The automobile will always be king while a large percentage of cyclists allow motorists to rodger them at every opportunity.
Having watched the clip several times I'm not sure what else the cyclist could have done. Pity he didn't have a heavy d-lock handy as the twat at the wheel performed his abysmal manouvere.
Diabolical driving and police response.
I'm sure a Spectator journalist will be along soon to complain about vigilante cyclists shopping innocent motorists for a moment's inattention.
Why is the license plate obscured? Wouldn't it be doing a public service to protect other cyclists by having the number out there so they could be especially alert for this particular Range Rover?
Its not just a Range Rover Evoque, but a Revere one for extra twattishness.
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