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Near Miss of the Day 336: Driver overtakes as another reverses into cycle lane
Today’s near miss is a fine example of an incident that will be familiar to many a cyclist. You see a driver reversing out of a driveway up ahead and you’re looking to give them a wide berth, but the person behind chooses this moment to overtake.
On this occasion the reversing motorist encroached into the cycle lane and George was left with a decidedly narrow gap to get through.
The incident occurred on the A307 Richmond Road from Kingston Upon Thames to Ham, back in October. George reckons it’s some of the worst cycle lane in Surrey.
“It was purely innocent, I'm sure,” he reflected. “The driver adjacent in the blue Volvo was completely oblivious to the impending pinch point, despite their open window and my polite requests for a little extra room.
“It's amazing how suck-it-in slim you can become when required.”
> 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.
Alex has written for more cricket publications than the rest of the road.cc team combined. Despite the apparent evidence of this picture, he doesn't especially like cake.
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70 comments
nicmason, you do seem very forgiving to drivers not being arsed, but appear to insist that cyclists are better than perfect at all possible times.
Not at all . I just think that cyclists need to react to traffic conditions as much as car drivers.
But all of your criticism has been for the cyclist, not on the behavior of the motorists.
Trying to steer clear of the group think that lives on here.
I think we have to be better than drivers not because we have to be perfect but because of self-preservation. When riding my attention-o-meter is turned up to 11. Most drivers, from my daily commuting experience, can't be bothered to dial in a 3. They're barely awake, some of 'em. Plus there have been plenty of times when I know I have right of way, and/or the driver is being a dick, but carrying on regardless would be most unwise. It is what it is.
And by 'traffic conditions' you mean 'the unalterable behaviour of drivers' - who in your world are a force of nature, that are not subject to any kind of moral judgement. You clearly see the world as belonging to motorists, with the rest of us just obliged to work around them. You never explain why everyone else is supposed to share this view, though.
Well I would say live in the world as it is not how you think it should be. And btw imo traffic consists of everything going on . So pedestrians cyclists cars lorries obstructions. See the whole picture for your safety. This video posted as a car problem is nothing of the sort. It's just poor cycling failing to react to events.
I dont think its fair to say that was poor cycling, its one you could ride differently for sure, that would lessen the overall risk to you I think, as you are relying on the reversing car having spotted both you and Volvo and stop moving, which isnt a given as the left rear passenger side is the hardest to see clearly from the drivers seat, but theres no right or wrong answer to how to ride that in my view.
You can't really expect the average motorist to look beyond the end of the bonnet.
Although I would not have squeezed into that gap.
That's not a cycle lane, it's the gutter, which is why I don't ride in the bloody things. I'm happy to ride in a fit-for-purpose and properly maintained cycle lane but, let's be honest here, such things don't normally exist outside central London.
In saying this, Cardiff City Council has just spent a mountain of money on a new, segregated cycle lane. It's great - wide, nice surface, raised kerbs to protect from cars. Trouble is, they built it on a quiet, wide street that hardly anyone uses to get from A to B. People want to use the most direct route and not faff about with detours. The road that people do use is narrower and much busier with traffic, which is why the Council didn't choose it for their 'flagship' cycle lane. There's actually plenty of space on this (non-residential) road but this is currently taken up on both sides by parked cars (so effectively 4 lanes wide), and taking parking space from drivers, even non-residents, is a vote loser. Hence the decision to opt for the quiet, nobody uses it, street instead. Cardiff CC's plan is to extend the new lane to the north of the city. Great. Trouble is, it's a higgledy-piggledy, indirect route that will be ignored. This will lead to the inevitable complaints of "waste of (my tax) money, they don't use it". And so on......
Not really very bad driving, obviously a more considerate aware driver would have forseen the situation, but all ends up OK without any last minute crazy manoeuvre from the cyclist.
A good example of the need to be aware.
I'd agree with slowing down there and going behind the blue car. The Volvos backed out a bit so they can see down the road and they arent moving and they may have been there before the bike was even in sight.
As for "Do not reverse from a side road into a main road. When using a driveway, reverse in and drive out if you can" .
Well if the cars already in there nose first then you can't.
Don't you just hate it when someone airlifts your car into your drive?
Two things.
1. Not all cars are continually driven by the same person so it may not have been parked by the person getting the car out .
2. So you have never ever driven nose first into parking place in your whole life even when for some unknown reason it may have been expedient at the time ?
1. Why can't all drivers just reverse into the space?
2. I haven't as I don't drive (never learned). However, those instances when someone does drive nose first into a space (it may well be more convenient or expedient), it would make sense for the person reversing to take extra care and only do it when safe to do so and not into the path of traffic (motorised or not).
That explains a lot.
Do you ever get driven anywhere ?
Well, you've explained nothing. Care to answer my 2 points?
Ok I'm not being chippy just making a point that you never seem to see a drivers POV.
1. Because they don't have to, its not a rule. tbh some drivers arent great at reversing either.On a road busy at a certain time of day they may go in nose first because its easier and quicker than stopping on the main road so they can reverse in. Its called traffic.
2.That person may have started reversing when there was no oncoming traffic in the cycle lane so thay backed into it to get a view. and then they ae waiting. They could have come out a few more feet tbh and blocked the cycle lane completely
I do get driven to places and do empathise with the drivers point of view at times, but to my mind, the most important factor is ensuring safety of road users. My wife drives, but as we don't have a drive I can't really share any insights there. My mother-in-law does have a drive and is always complaining about how her neighbours are parked in awkward places which makes reversing into her drive difficult. She always reverses in as where her drive is she would have next to no visibility if she was to try reversing out.
1. Yes, it's not a rule, but if you're sharing a vehicle with someone then it just kinda makes sense for all drivers to reverse into the parking space when possible (exceptions for when you're busting to use the toilet etc). It reminds me of learning to SUBA dive - there's lots of little tips and tricks which aren't "rules" but make things easier and safer (e.g. put your snorkel on the left side of your head).
2. Possibly, but in this instance the driver doesn't seem to have read the road very well. They'd probably have been able to hear the oncoming driver if not see them. I would suggest a handily placed mirror would make reversing out safely a lot easier (a temporary measure is someone standing watching out for a suitable gap).
Just boils down to can't be arsed though.
And you have never done that ?
I'm sure at some point I couldn't be arsed. That is not a valid excuse though.
No, I haven't, ever. I always, always reverse into a drive or parking area. It is all but impossible, and dangerous, to reverse out of a driveway into traffic on a public highway. It is also lazy driving.
Common sense, also.
Ironic that the person in the Volvo reversing out over the pavement into the cycle lane, has cycle carriers on their car roof.
More justification for the removal of all these awful dangerous white lines that have been painted for our 'benefit'.
.... and the car was already parallel with the bike long before approaching the reversing car. Just one of those things, nobody's fault on the face of it, but doesn't say much for the respect reversing vehicles have for bike lanes.
Oh dear, here I go though, did the rider ever think of applying the brakes?
Oh dear, driver overtakes incredibly dangerously and you choose to highlight what the cyclist could have differently?!
I know the law calls for 1.5 metres and give the room of a small car, however I don't know what the law indicates when people are in "seperate" lanes. Take the paint away and it is a dangerous pass, with it there, does it count?
I'm genuinely asking as I do cycle to work and home along a two lane dual carriageway, and with all the parked cars it is single lane really. Obviously I have to cycle outside of the dooring zone which puts me close to the centre lines and vehicles go past giving me variuous definitions of "room" whilst in the other lane.
Although some people regard it as a separate lane, the idea is that drivers overtaking vulnerable road users (cyclists, moped riders, horse riders etc) give a minimum of 1.5 metres (Police guidance) or preferably go into the next carriageway (see picture in the Highway Code section 163) regardless of what is painted on the road. A number of drivers seem to think that this breaches their human rights.
99.9% of these I totally agree with the cyclist and in this case I still think the overtaking driver was wrong as they weren't in a position to complete the move or giving enough room (though slightly blinded by seeing 2 lanes as previously mentioned).
However, keeping momentum etc. shouldn't be the cyclists primary concern. They were looking to change lanes due to the reversing car and never seemingly thought of just stopping...
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