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news
Near Miss of the Day 83: White van driver in left hook and punishment pass
Today's entry in our Near Miss of the Day feature shows a white van driver executing a left hook on a cyclist then, shortly afterwards once the rider has got back in front of the vehicle, performing a punishment pass on him complete with horn blaring - an unnerving experience for anyone on a bike.
It was submitted by road.cc reader Jack, who filmed the footage on his commute last Wednesday at about 4.10pm.
He told us: "I give my fist a shake as I passed the driver, I suspect they weren't too pleased I got ahead by using a shared cycle path.
"I did nothing wrong, unlike the driver of the van. This is a 30mph zone, the speed and closeness he passed left no room for error, not to mention the use of the horn to add to the intimidation.
"I know I should try not to react, that's easier said than done whenever you have a couple of tons of metal threatening your safety!"
Jack added: "I never reported to Police as in my in experience, this would be a waste of my time! I would hate to see someone hurt from this type of unacceptable behaviour."
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.
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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15 comments
This is the docks area of belfast. The cycle path isn't as bad as it might look. There aren't many pedestrians because of the location and it leads to a greenway type path which runs for a good few miles. I'm not sure why he left the cycle path and went back on to the road at that point unless he's taking the turn on the left after the red brick buildings to cross the motorway via the footbridge.
And what about the cycle path speed limit, cyclist looked to be doing in excess of 15mph so should not have been on it.
White van as you would expect. Like a hedgehog with exception to the pricks being on the inside rather than out.
what about the cycle path speed limit? The one only in your mind, you know, the one that does not exist in reality.
There are no official speed limits on shared use cycle paths for bicycles, but common sense should come in to play here. Sustrans suggest "Not to expect to ride at high speeds" , and British Waterways have a 12mph limit for the canal towpaths I believe.
I seem to recall that there was a paper around a decade ago by the DfT who's guidelines stated something like "over 18 mph you should consider using the road".
Personally, if I want to ride fast on my commute then I take the roads. If I don't then I will take the more pleasant shared paths route through the parks. Does not really matter if anyone is around as dogs and joggers tend to come out of nowhere and speeding along these sections is habit forming.
It seems to me that in the scenario captured here that the van did an unforgivable move and the cyclist then decided to get back at them by getting in front by any means necessary.
Also, not reporting this to the police is a move that just means that it is highly likely to happen again and any resulting injuries should be on the OPs conscience.
Just my opinion
There are no speed limits on cycle paths unless you are in the Royal Parks.
Some organisations recommend you do around 12mph on them but that's if someone else is using it and particularly if it's a shared use one. Also common sense should tell you if there is a pedestrian on a shared use path use the road, as cycle path use isn't compulsory in the UK, or slow down - which maybe by a lot - when you are near them.
It' s a van driver. Ergo it's thick. Simple.
No sensible person would have used that cycle path or ridden so close to those car doors.
Van drivers a psycho(shock horror) person on bike has poor judgement.
Except he then seems to be going heads on into traffic at 10-12 seconds to get to a cycle path. If another van was taking the corner he would have been in the wrong and in trouble.
Numptyism all round.
Had an old biddie moan at me the other day "bit fast for the cycle-path!"... I ignored the ignorant old idiot. It's a shared-use path that is quite wide, she wasn't on it, in fact, no-one was on it except me... it's also uphill, probably over 6% incline. I wasn't even trying to go fast.
Nope, there is no traffic in the other lane, all of the way up to the junction. He has to go into the other lane to get to the cycle-path. Cyclist has done nothing wrong here.
Good luck man, you are gonna need it.
Thanks man.
Trying to figure out why you would shoot across two lanes of road to hop onto a cycle path to hop back onto your original lane and the cycle path hasn’t ended. Maybe the ‘victim’ could explain.
How nice to have trees planted in the edge of the cycle path - just the thing to catch your handlebars.
http://www.gazette-news.co.uk/news/15904014.Police_to_go_undercover_as_c...
"Scum of earth. They deserve to be knocked down ."
"More rogue cyclists than drivers, but then it is not PC to go after them is it!"
There you go OP, count yourself lucky !
If you don't report it to the police, then you're complicit in them doing it next time, and the results could be very different. Any inexperienced cyclist suffering intimidation like this would probably give up cycling for life, and someone who behaves like that with a dangerous weapon shouldn't be in charge of it any more.