Sometimes it seems that Near Miss of the Day submissions come in themed batches, possibly because road.cc readers watching a particular video are prompted to share their own similar experiences – so while last month we had a succession of entries involving buses, today we have our third incident in a row that happened on a roundabout.
The latest one happened on a roundabout that links northwest Plymouth with the A38 Devon Expressway which carries traffic over the River Tamar to and from Cornwall.
The cyclist was road.cc reader Chris, who says on the description of the video on YouTube: “A green car coming from the Cornwall direction fails to stop at the junction at the end of the slip road to join Ernesettle Roundabout.
“You can see the white car who saw me stop on the line but the green car just ploughs on through, I don't know how he missed me perhaps he heard me yell? I was braced for impact!"
Chris added: “I was wearing bright reflective gear a helmet light and 3 x front lights on the bike.”
> 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.
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9 comments
My first cycling accident 2 months after I started commuting was on a similar thing. Two lanes coming onto the island, truck stops in the furthest from me and the car in my nearer one just goes. My front wheel hit is rear wheel arch and flicked it right and I went straight on. Some bruised or cracked ribs and a slightly bent front skewer was the only damage suffered. Even with the noise of me hitting him the driver didn't even brake and carried on and around. Lucky for me, I had just won a go pro which was mounted to my handlebars and caught a good glimpse of his rear number plate when the handlebars were flicked that way. Unfortunately only 6 points and a fine from the Police.
I suspect that as the road only goes to two lanes at that point, he was caught behind the lorry and was late for work. As soon as he passed the lorry he wasn't stopping as he just need to get in front even though the lorry was going straight and he was going around. The slo mo of he footage even shows his head just looking forward when it appears in sight.
One plus point is it has made me aware of not making assumptions on other people doing the right thing and has enabled me to miss more serious injuries by being more aware of the hazards.
Hit, knocked off, left the scene. That there should be an automatic ban!
While I am all for having a go at the Police if they don't do their job properly, in this case, it seems that the Police have done so by the fact that you have managed to get a conviction at least. The unfortunate bit is that the courts don't always back it up with meaningful sentences.
Not to worry - the Govt. have announced a wide ranging review into road traffic safety and sentencing.
The driver here could have caused serious injury or death, but by luck rather than judgement escaped causing harm. As cyclists we shouldn't have to endure the poor driving standards on our roads or the apathy shown by the police with respect to near misses or even collissions. Perhaps a documentary highlighting near misses and injuries sustained by collisons could interest Channel 5 to counterbalance the anti-cycling tosh they put out before.
'I was wearing…'
Mate, you could have been wearing a traffic cone on your head firing laser beams and they still would not have seen you!
When I don't have a broken collar bone I commute daily and this roundabout features on my route in everyday. For 2 years since I have been going this route I have always said to people that this is a dangerous roundabout and that junction coming onto it in particular is dangerous as cars force they way out from it (at busy times it is really hard to get onto the roundabout). I am extra extra careful going around that roundabout and many a time in the heat of the moment I have cursed and given the odd hand gesture to drivers that haven't been paying attention.
The cyclist in this video is even taking the lane where the driver should be looking, it's even worse in the cycle lane going round the outside, for some reason many drivers just compeltely overlook it!
Another driver sails on to work thinking "I judged that one perfectly, can't believe that guy was riding in the rain..."
Oof, that one made me flinch.