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news
Near Miss of the Day 323: Another London commute compilation
Back in September, we featured a compilation from road.cc reader Adrian of near misses filmed on his commute from Epsom to Blackfriars.
Now, he’s sent through another one, and told us: “The last compilation attracted a diverse range of comments, so let’s see what everyone makes of this lot.
”I took some those comments to heart and, knowing that a similar compilation was on the cards, I generally proceeded with more caution to see if it made any difference.”
Most of the footage was shot on the route of CS7 from Ewell/Epsom to central London, other than one piece filmed on Pebble Hill (the back side of Box Hill).
Up to and including yesterday, Adrian had covered 773 miles during the month, almost three-quarters of that – 572 miles – for commuting.
”The weekends were bliss in comparison,” he added.
> What to do next if you’ve been involved in a road traffic collision
> 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.
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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49 comments
Stop being obtuse. I see loads of cyclists not paying attention to indicators as well. Most of those are nodders, but there are still plenty of numpties on decent bikes who should know better. Maybe you just don't ride much so don't see it that often?
I'll be honest, as someone who has done that commute many times in the past, some of the riding through Tooting was pretty shit. You know it's muppet central there - why ride straight into problems. Regarding the bus, Where's he meant to pull in if you're basically keeping pace with him but a tiny bit behind? He's indicated that he's going to pull in to stop - just slow down and go right of him. In general, filtering up the inside in CS7 in the built up areas is asking for trouble - even if it is a bike lane. Where it narrows, and traffic interacts with pedestrians, it's generally safer to do it on the outside.
Tbh, maybe I'm just numb to it - but I didn't see much to make me wince here. The odd bit of shit driving, the odd bit of shit riding.
I see lots of cyclists in Bristol doing all manner of crazy maneouvres, but I rarely see them ignoring indicators. Can you point me towards a selection of these videos? I'm sure there must be some around, but I doubt that there's a huge number as otherwise I'd surely have seen one or two.
If a cyclist is going the same speed as a bus and the bus starts indicating to pull in to the left, the sensible answer is for the bus to slow down to allow the cyclist to go in front. The bus is going to have to come to a complete stop anyway, so why overtake instead of slowing down?
Personally, I filter on the left or right depending on the conditions. If there's a lot of fast moving traffic coming the other direction, then I'll often go for the inside and be wary of all the usual risks. But yes, you have to be careful when filtering and be prepared to give way.
If that's the case, then shouldn't someone have thought about that before they built/painted CS7? Because, based on what you've just said, it's a complete waste of paint/money.
(Disclaimer: I am not a London cyclist).
Anybody cycling like that in those conditions is asking for trouble. At 25 seconds it looked like somebody was letting the car out of the side road so why didn't the cyclist? At 4min. that car was signalling left well in advance of the cyclist so why didn't he slow down and let him move left? Being a cyclist doesn't entitle you to less considerate than motorists.
Zipping past pedestrians crossing the road when vehicles have stopped is just ignorant.
Why would the cyclist want to lose their forward momentum and then have to accelerate again just to allow a motorist to join a queue of traffic? The car was already stopped, so it's just a case of them waiting about 2 seconds for the cyclist to continue past.
Personally, I hate it when motorists "let" other motorists into queues of traffic without considering the moving traffic in the cycle lanes.
Generally, to all involved, slow down a bit, be considerate, don't feel so entitled.
What a brilliant video for illustrating the gulf of understanding between cyclists (well, this one at least) and motorists. I'm guessing by the fact that he submitted the video that he believes it shows him in the right. I'm pretty sure most of the motorists and pedestrians think he is everything that is worst about entitled cyclists who think they own the road.
I don't live or ride in your country or ride on your roads so take this for what it might be worth. I see fault with some of the driving but also see above average faults with some of the riding. The speed and apparent lack of willingness to slow down in what I see as perceivable high risk situations. Riding at higher than safe speeds approaching blind overtakes in regard to pedestrians is not safe riding. The number of time it sounded like hard breaking suggests to me the need to slow down for a less stressed and enjoyable ride. Not sure commuting should be a bike race.
Some poor driving shown here, but in my opinion some of the cycling doesn't look too clever too. I would always be more hesitant when riding in heavy traffic. Better to be a few minutes late than not at all.
The opening seconds certainly grabbed the viewers attention.
Still think you travel a little quickly for the volume and mix of traffic.
I'm so glad I don't have to commute in a city any more. All of those were depressingly familiar and likely to be experienced by most cycle commuters frequently. I for one, am amazed that London didn't make the top ten of cycling cities.
It's definitely time that vehicles unsuitable for cities were banned and drivers better trained and held to account. Ooooh look, a unicorn.
Fair points re: the Fiat, and I appreciate the video loses some of the nuance. It looks like the driver was hesitant of cutting in on the two cyclists in front of you and indecisive about how to make their turn. Another driver might have overtaken, braked hard (once!) and turned left, and we'd be complaining about a MGIF / left hook instead. Anyway, I don't envy you that commute. Safe riding, particularly in this first week of clocks gone back!
The Fiat driver is an interesting one. She had a good half mile to get into the left hand lane and a clear road, but didn't. Then, when she first had a go, she nearly sided-swiped the rider in front of me. Then she braked and blocked both lanes (because I can't go down her inside) and started to collect the skip lorry, which blasted its horn.
Then she moved across and hit the brakes again, and then finally a third time to stop dead, blocking both the left hand lane and CS7. On the other hand, if she'd accelerated a bit to be in front of the rider she nearly sided-swiped (and she had masses of room to do that), then we would all have been fine and able to pass down her right, which happens every day at that location (which is why I was in the middle of the lane in the first place, as was the guy in front of me, well away from that lethal bit of CS7).
What the camera doesn't really show is who is braking and who is not - the sudden surges are her braking hard. It doesn't reveal me braking in the interim as she slows.
Getting my caveats in first: I have a similar London commute, thouogh not the same roads; I know that the camera has a habit of making things look worse than / not as bad as they were (usually whichever is least helpful to you at the time); and that it's very easy to judge in retrospect from behind a PC. My honest appraisal though is that in some of those (e.g. the stretch through Tooting with multiple incidents while filtering) I'd be slowing down a few ticks because of the high likelihood of pedestrians crossing / traffic turning across a slow moving carriageway. Also the Fiat 500 driver Adrian berated had been indicating left for 23 seconds by my count before Adrian queried not so politely what they were doing. I thought the answer was pretty self-evident, but I appreciate his view may have been obscured by the scooter. Nonetheless, also some nasty near misses too.
Depressingly familiar commute, at least my hazard perception is working well as none of those close encounters came as a surprise
The Cambridge guided Busway can get a bit boring but I'd take boring compared to that :-o
Apart from stealth walkers/joggers and dogs not on leads, as well as the crap because it's not swept!
I think all those "offenders" were just blinded by that OTT front flashing light!
Good grief. I'll take my hills, dark country roads and sheep dodging over this any day. Nightmare.
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