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Van driver almost hits group of cyclists

Near Miss of the Day 663: Van driver almost hits group of cyclists

Our regular series featuring close passes from around the country - today a small peloton almost suffer a total wipe out
by Nick Howes
Sat, Nov 20, 2021 12:57
8

Our latest Near Miss of the Day is an absolute shocker and sees an errant van driver almost sending a group of cyclists sprawling (or worse) in Salcey Forest in Northamptonshire.

HoarseMann, the road.cc reader who sent this in, said the van - apparently on Lithuanian plates - was being driven way over the 40mph speed limit as it overtook him and then went head-to-head with the unsuspecting peloton, missing them by the tightest of margins.

The move was even more surprising given that it was on a quiet, long, straight stretch of road where there would have been ample further opportunities to pass him.

And if that wasn't enough, eagle-eyed viewers might also notice the back door of the trailer on the first vehicle which passes today's contributor is also wide open and its contents look like they're about to spill out across the road at any second...

 

> 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

Near Miss of the Day
NMotD

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8 comments

Avatar
Gimpl | 2 years ago
3 likes

Know that road well. It's arrow straight for what seems like miles. 
Shocking pass and absolutely no need. The driver could easily see the riders coming and have plenty of time/space to overtake afterwards. 

Avatar
Bigpikle | 2 years ago
1 like

I've ridden that road many dozens of times and for some reason it is a stretch of road that seems to attract appalling careless driving and deliberate punishment passes, despite it being a long, fairly wide and straight road. Never had  anything quite as bad as that though, but 70mph VERY close passes are the standard it seems.

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lesterama | 2 years ago
3 likes

Please tell me that you have reported it

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HoarseMann replied to lesterama | 2 years ago
3 likes

I haven't reported this one. I just don't think the police will take action as I only witnessed it and the foreign plates would make it difficult to trace the driver. It's hard enough getting the police to take action when it's a UK registered vehicle.

Avatar
chrisonabike | 2 years ago
2 likes

Wow - another one where you think "was that it?" and then something terrifyingly stupid happens. This is really awful dangerous driving - because it was needless and the driver showed either zero observation and foresight or a total lack of regard for others. Hope someone got the reg. although as we all know this might merit some response in a few places but "no-one hurt, nothing to see" in others.

**EDIT oh, it's a forin one - so that probably means "We'll do something about that!" followed by "er... they seem to have left the country, sorry...". **

Good spot on the potential for loss of unsecured load although it does at least look jammed in in this case. This issue received a little prominence earlier this year and is implicated in quite a few road deaths. I doubt that will be looked into any sooner than the road safety review though.

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HoarseMann replied to chrisonabike | 2 years ago
1 like

I did get the reg. Had a look to see if the company had a website too, but couldn't find anything. Company is polish and plate lithuanian, so I reckon an old van bought from a defunct company.

I was a bit distracted by the unsecure load and swerved for the verge when I realised it was going for the gap. I would normally ride much further out, but tend not to when it's an oncoming cyclist.

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v4idas replied to HoarseMann | 2 years ago
4 likes

Those are Polish plates, the standard in Lithuania is 3 letters + 3 numbers, also, W does not exist in the Lithuanian alphabet.

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HoarseMann replied to v4idas | 2 years ago
0 likes

ah, thanks v4idas, that makes more sense with the company on the van being Polish. It did go past pretty quickly (I calculated 55mph). I just caught the 'L' in the blue bit on the left of the plate and wrongly assumed Lithuania.

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