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news
Whalley Range white Audi video still (source Karel Hladky via Manchester Evening News).JPGVideo: Driver "swerves to avoid cyclist" - what do you think?
Was a driver “forced” to move across to the wrong side of the road to avoid hitting a cyclist? That’s the angle the Manchester Evening News seems to take in its commentary on a video the rider shared with the newspaper – we're not sure many cyclists would see it like that, what do you think?
Shot last month in Whalley Range, Greater Manchester, the newspaper says the “shocking” footage shows how the motorist “only narrowly avoids hitting a cyclist by swerving onto the wrong side of the road.”
It describes how the white Audi passes through a set of traffic lights and “accelerates towards the cyclist,” and that “the driver is forced to pull onto the wrong side of the road to avoid a potentially fatal collision.”
There’s no mention of the fact the driver is overtaking, at speed, another vehicle at the junction in question.
“As the Audi passed it was inches from me,” said the cyclist, 64-year-old Karel Hladky from Fallowfield.
“I came up to the junction and was going to turn right so got in the right position. But then I saw the Audi coming towards me – it was either racing the black car or it was trying to overtake it.
“It could have been so much worse, there wasn’t enough time to move over so I just stayed still and tried to remain calm. And if there had been a car next to me then the Audi would have smashed into it. He must have been going about 60 miles per hour.”
However, the cyclist says he won’t be going to police with the footage.
“I see this sort of thing on the roads all too often unfortunately,” he explained. “It is not the first time someone has nearly gone into me while I have been on my bike.
“To be fair to the driver seemed in control when he turned the corner – he made the decision to avoid me by pulling into the wrong lane. I saw his face as he went past and he looked pretty calm.
“But in control or not, what he did was very dangerous.”
What do you think? Was the driver “forced” to take evasive action, or had he created a danger to other road users through his own driving? Let us know in the comments below.
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.
Latest Comments
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Thanks. I guess the question is "need". If the road is busy, it sounds like it is a desired route between places? In which case (given this an...
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Don't know what you mean. I thought my suggestion was entirely practical.
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There are people out there who will make you the belt out of your old tyre.
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32 comments
Cyclist doesn't need to report it. The Manchester Evening News did, so it's in the public interest that the Police investigate it and at least see if the CPS let it proceed to proscecution of some form.
The more this is tolerated the more it'll happen.
We've reported this to GMP Traffic and blogged about it here: http://www.gmcc.org.uk/2016/02/whats-in-a-video-kv14nwb/
This is why 'normal' people don't cycle. Utterly terrifying.
C'mon GMP, do something about this Audi-driving half-wit.
What do I think? I think that the MEN has worded the headline in a way to maximize page traffic, in the same way as Road.cc does.
I can't see that the Audi swerved at all. He was overtaking the other car on a roundabout (which I'm pretty sure is a no-no), and was very luckily able to change the line of his curve so not plough into and kill the cyclist waiting to turn right. Also looked like he might have been a tad over the speed limit. But he was driving a white Audi, and everyone knows they can do no wrong...
I agree with the other posters - the cameraman should pass this on to the police as a report of bad driving.
I find it hilarious the idea raised that the MEP might have held back from criticising the Audi out of a fear of a defamation claim: it was clearly careless driving, even if not dangerous (the boundary between the two seems to be getting more and more blurred nowadays).
If you wish to discuss this with Manchester police simply hop onto the pavement at Deansgate, they will happily discuss the evils of cycling whilst issuing a £50 fine...
Eh? What's the first rule of the road?
According to the Highway Code it's this:
Rule 1
Pavements (including any path along the side of a road) should be used if provided. Where possible, avoid being next to the kerb with your back to the traffic. If you have to step into the road, look both ways first. Always show due care and consideration for others.
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/the-highway-code/rules-for-pedestrians-1-to-35
Get past the cyclist now?
The only thing that surprises me here is that the rider hasn't contacted the police with this evidence.
Don't wait until you're in the morgue to make proper use of that expensive camera. Do it before someone else ends up there.
From the instance you see the Audi it is already on the right side of the carriage way where it emerged from. The car in front passed quite properly on correct side of the cyclists. The Audi was carrying much more speed than the car in front, it was going for an overtake in the completely wrong situation. There is nothing i can see to remove responsibility from the Audi driver. This video should be passed onto the police
Take his car away from him and make him cycle to work for three months!
kie7077 - no, not trolling. It's just that I didn't think the headline or the article as a whole either criticised the cyclist or condoned the driving. The headline is studiously factual but doesn't suggest who is to blame. If anything the headline criticises the driver for being on the WRONG (caps no less) side of the road. But language in the article like 'shocking', 'swerving', 'veered', 'WRONG' (applied to the car) and 'dangers cyclists face' didn't seem to criticise the cyclist, and I don't think anyone could take that implication from the headline having read the article and watched the video for themselves (as the headline invites them to do).
Whatever they may think of it, presumably M.E.N. can't say 'dangerous driving', 'illegal' or 'speeding' because there is apparently no criminal charge and for fear of legal reprisals - defamation etc.
They could though have said something like 'a driver on the wrong side of the road nearly kilked a stationary cyclist", instead of the deliberately ambiguous pish they actually offered up.
As a cycling media outlet, I'm apalled you haven't pointed out that the cyclist was stationary on the correct side of the road at traffic lights to dispel any premise that they've precipitated this moronic maneuver.
The MEN does not blame the cyclist or say he was in the wrong in any way, but it does seek to excuse or downplay the driver's actions. It implies he swerved on to the wrong side of the road specifically to avoid the cyclist, whereas clearly he was on the wrong side long before that and for the specific reason of overtaking the black car. It's lucky there was no one crossing the road at the time, or even a car behind the cyclist.
I don't know if that article has been rewritten since but I don't see that the MEN is defending the drivers actions. The article is very poorly written though. That's a symptom of the decline of local journalism (see Flat Earth News for the full shocking story).
I don't know if that article has been rewritten since but I don't see that the MEN is defending the drivers actions. The article is very poorly written though. That's a symptom of the decline of local journalism (see Flat Earth News for the full shocking story).
The driver was forced to take evasive action, but only through their own poor driving. I can't understand when presented with such blatant evidence why the Police do not act against drivers such as this. Perhaps they have? Some follow up would be good.
that was my thought, but on the other hand thre tone is very neutral, there is no condemnation of the driver either.
I have emailed the MEN to ask them the very same question as the cyclist is clearly not in an illegal position. This kind of journalism isn't just sloppy, it's supporting poor driving and making it acceptable to abuse cyclists. Day to day cycling, and indeed driving, is a frigging nightmare in these parts, the worst I've ever seen.
Am I missing something? I don't think there's anything in the Manchester Evening News article that either criticises the cyclist's behaviour or condones the driver's (which, obviously, is appalling).
M.E.N. reports it as "the shocking moment a driver only narrowly avoids hitting a cyclist by swerving onto the wrong side of the road" and says "as the vehicle accelerates towards the cyclist... the driver is forced to pull onto the wrong side of the road to avoid a potentially fatal collision" and that the cyclist "has shared it with the M.E.N. in a bid to warn others about the dangers cyclists face on the roads". It doesn't suggest the cyclist did anything wrong.
Scary footage though.
Lol, are you trolling? Their headline implies that the cyclist was in the wrong place, why else would the driver have to swerve to avoid hitting the cyclist? What the article doesn't say is that a dangerous driver narrowly misses a cyclist whilst the driver is clearly performing an illegal overtake whilst speeding.
The article implies both wrong-doing by the cyclist and ignores and thus condones the illegal actions of the driver.
For me the headline is wrong. It reads as if the driver was forced onto the WRONG side of the road, by the evil, baby eating cyclist, as opposed to driving on the WRONG side of the road and nearly hitting the cyclist rather than avoiding. A lucky escape for the brave and skillful driver there, if only more could show such awareness and care where cyclists are involved...
eh what??
Could it have been the editor's son behind the wheel of the white car perchance??
Because I really struggle to comprehind how anyone could defend driving like that.
I live about a half a mile from there in Hulme and frequently go through that junction. It's dangerous which ever way you travel because of a poor layout and dreadful drivers, it's not as if #GMP will do anything to a bad driver though.
What is the point of the cyclist's camera if they don't use this footage?
The cyclist should go to the police with this. Dangerous driving by the Audi there and good video evidence. The camera is not just to assist a coroner!
Without any shadow of a doubt the white Audi turned right at an ATS on the wrong side of the road. Absolute offence. The cyclist had stopped in the "cycle box" at the ATS. No offence by the cyclist. QED.
The car was on the wrong side of thw road already cutting the corner because of overtaking the blackcar.The cyclist was just lucky that they were turning right leaving their inside lane for the white car to go even further onto the wrong side of the road.
The driver should be prosecuted whatever the cyclist thinks...they are extremely dangerous and need to be off the road.
Cyclist had a lucky escape there, that driver! Overtaking, in a hurry, probably texting at same time, whilst lighting a cigarette, muppet!
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