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Near Miss of the Day 756: Cyclist “forced off road to avoid being knocked off or run over”

Our regular series featuring close passes from around the country - today it's Kent...

A cyclist in Kent experienced a close pass from a lorry driver which led to him “being forced off of the road to avoid being knocked off or run over” – as shown here in our latest Near Miss of the Day video.

It was filmed on 14 April by road.cc reader Daniel, who reported it through an online form to Kent Police the same day, but he told us that he has not received a response, and police have not requested the video from him.

“As 14 days have now passed I assume they have done and will do nothing,” he said.

In the description of the video that Daniel supplied to police, he wrote:

Cycling uphill towards the layby there was a queue of vehicles travelling in the opposite direction waiting to pass roadworks.

Nearing the layby I became aware of a lorry approaching from behind as I was about to crest the hill but it did not sound like it was going to wait to pass. At the entrance to the layby the lorry forced its way past pushing me across the white line into the layby to avoid being knocked off or run over.

There were still vehicles queuing in the opposite direction at this stage and another lorry at the point of passing so no way the driver could have moved over to give a safe passing distance but they could have waited and passed safely shortly after.

He said that the close pass took place “on the A225 between Farningham and Sutton‒at‒Hone in Kent by the northbound layby.

“Signage on the lorry is quite clear as it passes but it seems to be a small outfit and I saw little point in trying to take this up with them.”

Daniel added: “Having reviewed this 14 days after it happened it somehow seems worse than I remember.”

> 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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32 comments

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grOg | 1 year ago
0 likes

I can live with slow close passes.. it looked like the truck driver waited for the layby area to pass, maybe an encouragement for the cyclist to stop and let backed up traffic to pass.

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Awavey replied to grOg | 1 year ago
8 likes

I dont care how fast the truck was going, it will still easily crush you if you fall under its wheels, which is always a potential outcome in a close pass like that.

 

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AlsoSomniloquism replied to grOg | 1 year ago
3 likes

Backed up traffic? One bullying truck driver you mean. Also as an ex-copper, you don't seem to be good with details. The victim mentioned the truck wasn't "stuck behind" but approached him at the same speed he overtook him at. IE the layby wasn't "waited for" and just lucky it was there.

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marmotte27 | 1 year ago
10 likes

There's no worse situation to be in, a stationary or very dense line of traffic in the opposite direction and thus the guarantee of one close pass after the other...

Obviously it's the cyclist holding up "traffic" here...

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brooksby replied to marmotte27 | 1 year ago
4 likes

Same principle as riding down an urban road with parked cars both sides.  Yup!  Of course it's the cyclist holding up traffic... 

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carlosdsanchez | 1 year ago
3 likes

Had this one yesterday, Dutch lorry, so seems little point in reporting it. Can't quite make out the web address on the back - if I could I'd see if I could contact anyone at the company.

https://youtu.be/20j-3Mlldkc

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Rendel Harris replied to carlosdsanchez | 1 year ago
11 likes

carlosdsanchez wrote:

Had this one yesterday, Dutch lorry, so seems little point in reporting it. Can't quite make out the web address on the back - if I could I'd see if I could contact anyone at the company.

https://youtu.be/20j-3Mlldkc

The slogan on the back shows it's a lorry belonging to Rietvinktransport of the Netherlands, website here: https://rietvinktransport.nl

Hope that helps, they should at least have a stern word with that driver.

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carlosdsanchez replied to Rendel Harris | 1 year ago
9 likes

Thanks! I could get the vinktransport.nl bit, but not the first few letters. Will contact them and see what happens.

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carlosdsanchez replied to Rendel Harris | 1 year ago
19 likes

Got an apology from the company director and told the driver will be spoken with about the standard of driving.

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Rendel Harris replied to carlosdsanchez | 1 year ago
0 likes

Ah good result - and with a Dutch company more likely to be a serious talking to rather than the token one I suspect many such promises generate over here.

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IanMSpencer | 1 year ago
18 likes

The following is not to condone the actual driving shown.

I think the cyclist seemed to be riding very close to the edge before the pass, in similar circumstances I would have been riding primary.

However, on seeing the layby and it being clear, I might then have deliberately ridden off road to release the following traffic. If the cyclist had done similar they would have had control of the situation and the lorry driver might have actually appreciated the gesture rather than having the end result of two disgruntled road users.

Depending on the number of cars following, chances are I could rejoin without being delayed. I do something similar most trips out where there is a wide section of hatched area before a local short dual carriageway where one lane has been given over to car parking and it is too narrow to pass in the other so I really want a motorist in front of me rather than harassing me.

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JimM777 replied to IanMSpencer | 1 year ago
0 likes

Exactly. As a cyclist and a driver, I hate to see cyclists acting like this. This cyclist is the sort of idiot who gets other cyclists injured or killed, by causing drivers to be anti-cyclist. The last time I looked my highway code says that slow moving vehicles should give other traffic the opportunity to pass if a safe place occurs for that to happen. It's only common sense and courtesy, and as a cyclist, I try to accommodate following drivers whenever I can. (this doesn't excuse the lorry driver)

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IanMSpencer replied to JimM777 | 1 year ago
1 like

One of the elements to riding in primary in this circumstance is that I imagine the driver behind is one of three types:

- impatient oaf, who must not be given the option of forcing their way past dangerously. They are the 1%.

- the reasonably careful driver. The unsung 80% who really aren't interested in taking a risk. They are going to be quite happy with you sitting in the middle as it takes the pressure off them.

- the incompetent unconfident. These are the real danger. They don't try and pass because they don't know how. They will sit there, often even if there is a safe place to pass. However, they react to cars arriving behind them, or cars pressuring them (imaginary or otherwise) and can then pass at the most random and inappropriate places as their stress exceeds their capability for rational thought. They again must be controlled and have decisions taken away from them. These are the motorists who don't overtake on straight roads because they are not sure if there might be oncoming traffic, but will happily pass on a bend because they know they can't see any oncoming traffic! This latter group is also why when driving, if a see a car in front following a cyclist, I will hang back in turn, to ensure that the motorist does not feel hassled.

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David9694 replied to IanMSpencer | 1 year ago
1 like

The 'incompetent unconfident' : brilliant description. 

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JimM777 replied to IanMSpencer | 1 year ago
1 like

I can't see that that makes any difference to the principle that as a cyclist one should be reasonable in letting other faster traffic past if there is a suitable opportunity. If you have to wait a few extra seconds for  the incompetent unconfident, it's only a few seconds off your time. Either as a driver or cyclist I find that if you are followed by someone who won't overtake when it is safe, then if you stop (at a safe place) they will go past. You've been delayed a few seconds, that's all. If we complain about drivers passing recklessly to save a few seconds, then we shouldn't complain if we have to be delayed a few seconds now and then.

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Rendel Harris replied to JimM777 | 1 year ago
4 likes

JimM777 wrote:

If we complain about drivers passing recklessly to save a few seconds, then we shouldn't complain if we have to be delayed a few seconds now and then.

If a driver hangs back a few seconds they can easily make up the lost time once they're past a cyclist with a wee tap on the accelerator. If a 30kph cyclist stops on the flat it takes 200 metres and a considerable burn of energy to regain that speed, on a hill an awful lot more and on a really steep hill it can be almost impossible to remount, there is no sensible equivalence between what stopping or slowing costs a driver and what it costs a cyclist. I pride myself on being as helpful as possible to cars when I'm riding, I'll move over as far left as I feel is consonant with my safety, I'll encourage them to pass with a wave through when I see it's safe, and I always give a thumbs up as a thank you to anyone who's stayed behind until it's safe to pass. However, I'm not going to pull over and stop, wasting my momentum and energy, just because someone's being irrationally impatient and hassling me when they can make up their lost time in a matter of seconds further down the road.

 

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JimM777 replied to Rendel Harris | 1 year ago
0 likes

Citing the exceptional cases such as trying to pull up a hill doesn't negate the idea that I put forward which was to be reasonable. If the time it takes to reach a destination is that important to you perhaps you should be using an ebike or motorbike.

 

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Rendel Harris replied to JimM777 | 1 year ago
2 likes

JimM777 wrote:

Citing the exceptional cases such as trying to pull up a hill doesn't negate the idea that I put forward which was to be reasonable.

That's not an exceptional case, it's on hills where cyclists are slower that hassle from drivers behind frequently occurs.

JimM777 wrote:

If the time it takes to reach a destination is that important to you perhaps you should be using an ebike or motorbike.

It's nothing to do with time, it's to do with the loss of momentum and the unnecessary effort required to regain the losses made to get back to previous speed, something that doesn't affect drivers who have to wait a few seconds, something you haven't addressed at all. If the time it takes to reach their destination is so important to them, perhaps they could leave a couple of minutes earlier, or drive a tiny bit faster after they've displayed a little patience and good manners by waiting behind a cyclist until there's a suitable safe opportunity to pass instead of expecting that a legitimate road user should be bullied off the road to let them past.

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ktache replied to Rendel Harris | 1 year ago
2 likes

I don't mind moving over a bit, and slowing a bit maybe, but coming to a full stop I try and avoid. The effort required to get going again from a full stop, as opposed to putting a tiny bit more pressure on the accelerator...

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ktache replied to JimM777 | 1 year ago
2 likes

Of course, and when I hit the carmageddon caused by the roadworks in caversham a few weeks bake, most of a mile of stationary urban dual carriageway, it was like the parting of the red sea it was...

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Gus T replied to JimM777 | 1 year ago
2 likes

JimM777 wrote:

Exactly. As a cyclist and a driver, I hate to see cyclists acting like this. This cyclist is the sort of idiot who gets other cyclists injured or killed, by causing drivers to be anti-cyclist. The last time I looked my highway code says that slow moving vehicles should give other traffic the opportunity to pass if a safe place occurs for that to happen. It's only common sense and courtesy, and as a cyclist, I try to accommodate following drivers whenever I can. (this doesn't excuse the lorry driver)

Where was the safe place to pull in? The driver went before the cyclist reached a safe space, if you're going to quote the Highway Code make sure you use it correctly.

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the little onion | 1 year ago
8 likes

 "reported it through an online form to Kent Police the same day, but he told us that he has not received a response, and police have not requested the video from him."

 

institutionally anti-cyclist

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squidgy replied to the little onion | 1 year ago
2 likes

raised a few reports to Kent police , had about 50% response rate. 

last report to them was 2 weeks ago but heard nothing after the auto response.

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AlsoSomniloquism replied to squidgy | 1 year ago
1 like

Is there normally responses recieved without chasing with Kent? WMP don't bother supplying "witnesses" anything although occaisionally the form plays up and I get an email asking for a new submission. Recent Ref on the latest the other day seems to indicate over 1800 submissions in 2022 assuming they start at 0001. 

Also find it strange that the report mentioned he uploaded the video, but they haven't contacted him for the video. Do they ask for more on the contacts or just my misunderstanding of the report above?
 

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squidgy replied to AlsoSomniloquism | 1 year ago
0 likes

AlsoSomniloquism wrote:

Is there normally responses recieved without chasing with Kent? WMP don't bother supplying "witnesses" anything although occaisionally the form plays up and I get an email asking for a new submission. Recent Ref on the latest the other day seems to indicate over 1800 submissions in 2022 assuming they start at 0001. 

Also find it strange that the report mentioned he uploaded the video, but they haven't contacted him for the video. Do they ask for more on the contacts or just my misunderstanding of the report above?
 

I was at least expecting a request to send them the video as happended previously within 24 hours, but nothing came back from them, so all I can assume is that they were not interested   

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AlsoSomniloquism replied to squidgy | 1 year ago
1 like

Is this your video above then?

My confusion is that WMP allows upload of videos on the supplied portal when submitting it and my statement. 

 The report above mentioned an online portal and has the line 

Quote:

"In the description of the video that Daniel supplied to police, he wrote:"

So it sounded like a video was supplied. Hence confused why it then mentioning not being asked for one.
 

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squidgy replied to AlsoSomniloquism | 1 year ago
0 likes

No it's not my video, just giving my experience of reporting to Kent police.

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SouthEastCyclis... replied to squidgy | 1 year ago
1 like

In my experience reporting anything to Kent police is a waste of time. No way of uploading the videos with the report, limited if any response and despite persistence to get clarity on why simply more silence. Despite being the largest force in England and with some of the worst roads, road and especially cycling safety is a non priority

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AlsoSomniloquism replied to SouthEastCyclistDogma | 1 year ago
4 likes

It seems the same for most forces. You get the occaisional "mavericks" like Inspector Kev, Andy Cox, Mark and Steve at WMP and a few others. But then you have others like Lancashire from WTJS's many examples and it seems many others who see road safety as a chore and not a good use of resources.

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wtjs replied to AlsoSomniloquism | 1 year ago
2 likes

You get the occasional "mavericks" like Inspector Kev
Sadly, no mavericks in Lancashire Constabulary, or even any officers who can work out what advanced stop lines are, or which way up a bike goes, or how you make the ones without motors go

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