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news
Near Miss of the Day 288: Double white lines, multiple close passes
Rule 129 of the Highway Code tells road users that, where the carriageway has "double white lines where the line nearest you is solid," they "MUST NOT cross or straddle it unless it is safe and you need to enter adjoining premises or a side road;" It adds that they "may cross the line if necessary, provided the road is clear, to pass a stationary vehicle, or overtake a pedal cycle, horse or road maintenance vehicle, if they are travelling at 10 mph (16 km/h) or less."
Let's leave aside the subjectivity of how a driver is expected to assess the speed of another vehicle ttravelling in the same direction, and focus on the safety aspect.
This video, shot by road.cc reader James, shows him first being overtaken rather closely by the driver of a tanker lorry, then closer still by a person in a black car, and finally, the closest yet, by someone driving a white van - who executed the manoeuvre despite oncoming traffic.
James said: "I reported to West Midlands Police and the driver has been offered a driving course. I also sent a link to the company and received a reply from them that was much more concerned with having the video removed from YouTube than anything else."
> 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 (link is external).
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
> What to do next if you’ve been involved in a road traffic collision
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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16 comments
And those pedestrian refuge pinch points.
I wonder what percentage of drivers know the 10mph clause in the double-white lines section of the RTA? I certainly didn't until I started cycling.
Personally, I try to steer clear of cycling roads with double-whites. Stay central to prevent the pass and you'll get loads of abuse, hug the gutter and you get a close pass. On my old commute there was one section I couldn't avoid - if I'd run a camera (and Hants Police actually cared) I'd have caught several drivers per day. As ktache says, they're second only to mini-roundabouts for making drivers act weird.
All of them were just everyday terrible driving. Most drivers are crap at driving, and it's just accepted, both by the public and by the legal system.
I note today certain media figures are banging on endlessly about the evils of motorised scooters, because one person has died on one - if they gave as much attention to every car-or-truck-related death there'd be no space in the media for any other topic. Human beings are just idiots. How have we survived as a species even this long? Perhaps we should just abandon this whole "homo-sapiens" project and hand the planet back to nature to try again?
Now, I don't want to be spreading conspiracy theories, but there's a perfectly good reason why there's an ever increasing number of humans with seemingly limitless capability for illogical thought.
Old Ones
propaganda_cthulhu_by_norfire-daoaprl.jpg
I was reading one in the Guardian this morning. Wasn't really sure what point the article was trying to make. I also noticed the lack of balance by omiting the 'elephant in the room': the 5 driver-caused deaths and the 480 injuries each day. And that's just in the UK. Or the menace of heavy trucks being driven in urban environments. It's always struck me how crazy it is that the movement of heavy vehicles on work sites is tightly controlled yet they are free to roam urban streets at will. And yet it is squidgy people on lightweight vehicles who are the problem, apparently.
The tanker belongs to Severn Trent Water. It appears to have crossed over the line with oncoming vehicles approaching, the first one being inconvenienced by these actions.
Is the original video quality better than this? As it stands, the van was the only one with a clear reg plate for plod to pursue.
All drivers should have waited.
Personally I would have ridden central in the road to block attempts to pass and given me more escape room to the left.
If you look closely at the double white line there does not appear to be any "Cats Eyes" inbetween the lines. If this is the case then the white lines are unenforcable as they do not meet the required standard.
Doesn't effect the actions of trying to wash the grime off the side of the van by brushing it with a bicycle, riders legs and end of the handle bars though.
Where did you get that from? Lots of roads without cats eyes.
Morgan Bennett Group.
a) They need a new corporate lawyer, who actually understands that there's just a little bit more to the law, than protection for his clients ... bullying is NOT acceptable in law (yet
).
b) Pretty well any GCSE student could put together a better website than http://www.morganbennett.co.uk.
c) And I'll bet I'm not the only one to have downloaded the video ...
I doubt they’ve even got a corporate lawyer, there’s literally four of them. The driver was probably either, James, Jason or Gareth...
http://www.nee.co.uk/our-team/
I dislike roads with double white lines.
Drivers behave weirdly on them.
If you google the registration number, YouTube with company name is top of the list.
are you sure? https://www.amazon.co.uk/Beurer-BG17-Diagnostic-Bathroom-Scales/product-...
Why not just tell us if you already know?
It's a weighty issue for sure but TedC is actually right.
James said: "I reported to West Midlands Police and the driver has been offered a driving course. I also sent a link to the company and received a reply from them that was much more concerned with having the video removed from YouTube than anything else."
I couldn't identify the company, so if James would like to tell us, I'm sure we'll help them reinstate their reputation.