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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
"Careless driving" doesn't seem like it should ever be applied to something the driver does on purpose. If the actions are deliberate it should automatically be dangerous driving and punished accordingly.
Yes, yes, yes, but the comprehensive review of road law will be considering this very point in depth, I'm sure.
It is more than obvious that the Range guy drove like an ahole, but I disagree with the rider blocking his way out. First of all it was dangerous for him, reminding me the Last Action Hero chicken game (I AM A COMEDY SIDEKICK!!) and then created additional danger for the pedestrian who got a dangerous pass on the sidewalk.
I don't ride with a camera, but if I had one I just would smile to him and point my camera. I think he would get the point. It is unfortunately true that the police would may give less attention to this incident if the rider simply had avoided the driver, but pouring oil on fire just to ensure that legal action or that the driver will "learn his lesson" seems to create more troubles than the ones it is supposed to solve.
While doing his best impersionation of CyclingMikey (go Back!) may not have been the best call, I make it around 5 seconds between the rider and car coming to a stop (and an emergency stop at thet) before the driver decides to go forward again and causing then leaving the scene of a collision. I don't think the rider had any opportunity to do anything else
I would definitely go towards the sidewalk and none of this drama would have happened. In any such danger, the sidewalk seems the safest option. The fact that he shouts before even having stopped, shows that going towards the centre of road is because he intended to block him, not because he was out of options.
PAVEMENT
WING FOOTWAY
Let's be crystal clear, the danger for the pedestrian on the footpath was created by the driver, not the cyclist.
Also, where was the cyclist supposed to go whilst doing an emergency stop from 30km/h? Onto the wrong side of the road, in front of the bus? Or (illegally) onto the footpath, possibly colliding with the runner?
I couldn't agree more with this, without such a shitty driver in first place, no danger would have occured.
I would just go to the left and I believe this would have been just a super tight close pass, with no collision, as both managed to stop in time. But even if things were tighter a 0,5m wide 100kg vehicle is better than a 2m wide 2000kg vehicle on the sidewalk. With his reaction to go directly on the vehicle if they couldn't stop in time, the rider would be in accident statistics.
But I think it is clear that the rider tried to block him, not just braked and this is where his instict took him.
Did you make up that speed? I can't see a speed in the video and it looks way slower than 30km/h.
No, its from strava. 36.5 to be exact.
It's in the description of the incident.
Thanks cyclisto. It's my video. You raise a good point and I can see where you are coming from. Hopefully I can clarify a few points. You are not the first to make them nd I am sure others may have throught the same.
First, I pull an emergency stop from almost the moment the car starts pulling round. You can see the judderring on the video when the braking starts. I do not deliberately get so close. I have not provoked him at all other than to say 'what are you doing?'.
Second, it was a full on emergency stop and my back wheel was locked. Listen hard and you can hear the squeeling. Control was limited at that point. The idea that I could bunny hop onto pavement is fanciful. If you have that level of control and speed fo thinking I salute you. My mind was mostly occupied with stopping. There is also a runner on the pavement. i am not sure if I had clocked them to be honest. I honestly cannot recall what I was thinking, Maybe I was thinking if I go right he can go round my nearside. I don't know. Honestly I just wanted to stop. I was well within my lane. It was absolutely not my intention to block the driver, simply to stop before hitting the car.
Third, I stop about 60cm from the bumper of the car. I cannot actually manouvre my bike out of the way without either me dismounting, or the car going back. I appreciate it sounds a bit 'Regents Park' but it was not meant to, we are, as yo might say toe to toe and I do not have a reverse gear.
Finally it is about 3 seconds from me coming to a stop before he drives at me. i am not going to comment any further but thoguht it might be useful to have those additional clarifications
Finally thanks to Dan and the team for putting this up. I do regularly find myself aghast at the quality of driving and the lack of police response. The poor driving needs to be publicised.
the lack of police response
The fact that offenders can rely on this is the major reason why offences against cyclists are so common.
Thank you and well done Sir!
Well done to you for keeping your cool and presence of mind to look (and find) a witness. I am not sure I would have been able to do the same after that.
It sounds like you have done what I am sure a lot of people on here have done - reviewed your footage more than a few times, thinking "what could I have done better?" I would like to point out that the drivist of the wankpanzer, given their obvious mindset in the video, is most definitely NOT doing the same thing. They left that experience cursing you and firmly believing they were entirely justified (despite the platitudes they subsequently fed the police)
Well done to you. Don't stop reporting and highlighting this kind of thing, even if the police do nothing.
Thanks for your input, it is good to receive feedback from the actual rider. My fault then, I hadn't understood that it was such a distress braking, so that you were in skid conditions and your bike was not fully controllable.
I am preaching about peace on roads for me also to hear when cycling. I have been angry in situations with confrontation with drivers and I think it didn't make them better drivers just angrier, and in the long run it creates tensions with drivers .
PAVEMENT guys, sorry not a native speaker so excuse my mistakes and incosistencies (and road.cc text form not accepting Mozilla spelling check), pavement for me means the road surface and its various layers. I believe sidewalk is understood by all countries speakers more clearly that is a footpath at the side of the road so I use it often.
roadeo_123 clearly you didn't actually need to stop. You could have bunny hopped onto the bonnet of the car, bunny hopped onto the roof of the car, then forward flipped off the back of the car and continued your journey while maintaining your original speed.
You mean like this: Peter Sagan Bunny hop
Agreed. At 0.04 I would have eased up and at 0:06 when it became obvious the car was going to barge through, I would have moved left and braked. Neither of which he did. Conversely, with camera in place he moved right to block the car and do a 'cycle mikey'.
The car driver's a c^&t but I wouldn't have confronted him.
You do realise there is a raised speed bump, it is wet an there are puddles near the left of the road. He appeared to brake when you mentioned you would have braked (1.5 seconds reaction time is the norm, wet road meant longer to stop so three seconds). I doubt a cyclist would be thinking about manoevering the bike so I suspect going to the right slightly was just the way it went.
I do love how people seem to think cyclists are superhuman at braking in certain conditions and can plan where they will stop.
I can see at 0:04 he's got plenty of space to ease up before the speed hump.
I ride 200+ miles a week, I'm not super human but I think I'd have avoided that situation.
Read his own account (it's here, in ther comments section) - just because we think that we may have been able to manoeuver better it doesn't mean that everyone can, especially in the instance of the moment.
Not to mention that our start point is a video where we KNOW something happened, so are actively looking for it.
"They said that as a collision occurred, the 14-day rule did not apply,"
I'm imaging that as he'd rung 999 the operator may well have thought it was a collision with injury where the 14-day rule indeed would not apply*.
If he then went online and reported it as a motoring incident rather than a collision with injury then the 14-day rule would apply.
*As someone who has been injured in a collision from a motorist then I reported it as a collision with injury and it takes time as they have to speak with all parties before making a decision.
Not just a Range Rover, but a specifically customised jobbie. No wonder they thought they were King of the Road (and pavement).
How close was he to the runner as well?
The majority of people in vanity Land Rovers behave like utter twats on the road. The only breed that is worse than Audi drivers.
So the law allows people to drive into other road users and drive off.
What a knob.
This is the sort of thing community service and a long temp ban is for.
But instead that's given to killers and the rest get a strongly worded letter, a telling off, or sent on a course to mingle with celebrities, footballers and politicians.
Dont be silly, politicians havent got time for such frivoulous things. They get a civil servant to pull a few strings for them instead.
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