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Video: Overtaking cyclist almost sends another rider under a lorry
A London cyclist has today posted a shocking video to YouTube showing the moment a rider overtaking a man riding a Santander Cycles hire bike clipped the other cyclist's shoulder, almost sending him into the path of a lorry.
Uploaded with the title "Cyclist MGIF" - the acronym stands for "Must Get In Front" - the video shows one of the most frightening near-misses we've ever seen, and serves as a sobering reminder of why you should allow fellow cyclists space when overtaking.
The incident happened beneath Grosvenor Bridge - also known as the Victoria Railway Bridge - on the north bank of the Thames, on Cycle Superhighway 8 which runs from Wandsworth to Westminster.
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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39 comments
Speaking with a colleague who lives out west, and he went through that way last night. He said at that spot there are 2 drains [1 covered the other a slice] that suggests both cyclists were taking the conflicting lines around them.
The CYcle hire guy goes wide into the lane, while overtaking guy tries to go left
They are visible here: https://goo.gl/maps/nDs79vXfAJ52
The blame lies squarely with the overtaking cyclist as he is just a MGIF'er even though he will get caught at the lights. An utter cockwomble of the highest order.
It does look to me like the racer checks over his right shoulder then deliberately sticks his left shoulder out and braces to bump the hire biker. Oh and what kind of Superhighway is that with narrow width and full of manholes etc causing riders to slalom around them?
The overtaking cyclist misjudged it. Beyond rude to not slow and say sorry, check the rider is okay. Had the rider gone down, or been injured that would have been a 'Failed to stop'.
The reactions on the lorry driver were on point, driver was clearly watching the cycle lane traffic.
Swearing at the overtaking guy on the internet, doesn't serve much purpose.
This incident shows that bike on bike collisions don't carry the heavyweight penalty of a vehicles on bikes.
Good save by the hire bike rider.
This is not a "lack of spatial awareness". It looks like a blatant deliberate hit by the passing cyclist. Does anyone else see that? He lean to the left as he passes and knocks the inside rider. I hope the faster rider can be found and charged with some form of dangerous behaviour. His hit on the rider came very close to being fatal. Another Strava fuelled, crap for brains, wannabe racer. Tosser. There was a cyclist in Perth Australia who would deliberately make close passes to people walking along a shared bike/walkway. He was known as "Roadray" (a play on road rage, his first name was Ray), also known as a proper dickhead.
Sense of proportion please..
I've watched it a few times, even doing the stop motion thing and I think he just left it too late to overtake. He almost rides into the back of him and takes a very sharp, late swerve to get past. His lean to the left is just counter balancing imo as he's already on track to move out of the bike lane. Stick your head and shoulders where you want to go and you body follows.
I'm not saying he's a not a twat but it's easy to get caught out if the person in front just drops the pace slightly. Personally I would have looked over my shoulder, seen the lorry and left it a few seconds before I tried to get past.
That's why you should pay attention, leave sensible space between you and other road users and avoid risky manoeuvres that endanger others.
The hire-bike rider swerves a tiny bit from left towards middle of the lane (no blame is due here), the overtaking twunt hadn't allowed for this and only had time to adjust body position in order to change course. This makes it look like he is leaning left into the (hire-biker), he's done what he could to avoid the collision, but only after he's put himself in the position where it would happen.
I do a similar thing on the TT bike when I see a sharp stone at the last second, throw my mass to one side so the bike goes the other way for a split-second.
For a long time I resisted admitting there was a 'lycra lout' problem in London but this is a perfect example of it.
Arsehole on a road bike, wearing shorts, bullies another cyclist almost putting them under a lorry.
I see this kind of behaviour every mornining along the Embankment with tossers like this bullying the very people who the segregation was built for. You can easily spot them because they push to the front at the lights, try overtaking when its already two abreast both ways, and generally have the MGIF wanker attitude.
If I was that guy on the cycle hire bike, I would have lamped the cunt at the lights. Even then he probably still wouldnt get it.
The overtake was foolish but not stopping was more than that, a jerk with a diploma.
And yes that is not a superhighway.
Apart from this ... calm down... calm down... sort of cyclist: may I ask, what exactly makes this ... calm down... calm down... sort of cycle lane a "Cycle Superhighway"?
That scared the sh*t out of me, hands are majorly sweating!
That sent a shiver down my spine.
You'd like to hope that offender will have learned a lesson but aggressive close passes by other cyclists aren't uncommon on the busy roads (and cycleways, protected or not) in London.
It is indeed a scarily bad example of overtaking. I wonder if the rider reads this website? The rider on the Santander bike was very, very lucky.
Thank the lucky stars this was not a protected section. Otherwise (IMHO) both would have hit the kerb and probably ended underneath the lorry.
Echo a previous post;
My other vehicle is an Audi/BMW.
I take umbrage at that, I drive an Audi and even I wouldn't be that much of a dickwad.
Shocking stuff - I'm by no means the slowest but I'm not Chris Froome either... and I'm often spotted on Boris bikes since carting mine on a plane isn't always practical. Er, they're not particularly geared for high speed either, you just KNOW to give them a wide berth, or simply WAIT for an opportune moment to give plenty of width. Fool.
STOP calling this C U Next Tuesday a cyclist.
He is NOT a cyclist - he is a tw*t who rides a bike.
There are a lot of them about.
Whingy b******s in my experience....
I hope this does not stop Santander man riding his bike.
I only wish c**t on a bike had tried that move on with me.
A few have, including cabs (bless 'em), they dont do it again.
I'm XXL and dragged up through 70s racing.
PROPER cyclists!!
Take care y'all
No, no, no, no, no! No!
Cyclists *are* people who are riding bikes. It's just that some of them are indeed twunts.
It looks to me like the overtaking 'cyclist' realised at the last moment that if he pulled out to overtake properly the approaching lorry would have had him, so chose instead to bounce off his 'fellow cyclist'.
Which only goes to show that a to$$er on a bike is still just a to$$er I suppose.
'Superhighway' is clearly meant ironically in that location. However I can only speculate whether he would have done the same thing if the lane were twice as wide and he was overtaking two people abreast.
Poor behaviour remains just that whatever the circumstances, better infrastructure just offers the potential for more margin for error.
Total idiot overtaking.
At first I though the overtaking rider had just badly missjudged the speed difference, but he braces before the contact (rather than braking), so I really don't know what he was thinking.
This is on one of my routes home from work, this is a bit after the cycle lane narrows and is not the pace for overtaking (and you almost always hit the red light shortly after). Hopefully I don't see this idiot on my commute.
"My other bicycle is an Audi"
The guy on the B... sorry, Santander bike is so very lucky there. I can't tell from the video whether it was on purpose ("Get out of the way you nodder!") or an accident caused by rubbish spatial awareness. I truly hope the latter. But I would love to have been a fly on the wall when they all stopped at the next lights...
Seriously, that guy shouldn't be on a bike. No spatial awareness at all.
like a lot of drivers then... once you're no longer in sight in the front windshield, you're no longer there...
Just more proof about how bad cycling infrastructure is.
If most countries spent on education what they spent on infrastructure, archaic bike lanes wouldn't need to be necessary.
This was captured by a guy on the cycle chat forum ( he's the one recording it ). The knobber who clattered the guy on the Boris Bike, did stop at the red light (amazingly). I think he just did the 'stare ahead, no one will say anything' manouvre.
Wow. seriously what a knob of a rider, could have killed both of them. Imagine how the truck driver must have felt too- good to see the driver checked he was OK as they slowed down for the lights. All to gain a few couple of seconds.
To be fair to the knobber, it was a full 15 seconds before he had to stop for the red light, so that would have been well worth it.
Both parties were very lucky. This is why the infrastructure just isn't fit for purpose, it's really not wide enough for overtaking and the magic white means motorised vehicles are only inches away. Also, cyclists need to give room when they overtake, just as we tend to tell drivers they need to give us room when they overtake.
How is this remotely anything to do with the infrastructure?! If there's not enough room to pass you don't pass - wait until you can!
The same can be said of cars on any narrow road anywhere - but there's usually some tosser who'll try it on like this cockwomble did.
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