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news
Near Miss of the Day 355: London cabbie left-hooks cyclist (+ swearing)
Rule 103 of the Highway Code says that drivers “should always give clear signals in plenty of time” but you don’t have to cycle on Britain’s streets for too long to realise that many motorists, if they signal at all, do so at the very last moment, as shown in today’s video in our Near Miss of the Day series in which a London taxi driver almost left-hooks a cyclist.
The incident was filmed by road.cc reader Lukas, who was riding along Aldgate High Street in the City of London, heading towards Fenchurch Street, when a taxi driver turned across his path into Minories.
Lukas told us: “Another urban encounter with London's finest, apologies for the lengthy and robust swearing.
“I admit I hadn't put myself in a great position in between the first few cars, and I did stop accelerating when I noticed the cabbie lift off the gas, however I didn't expect him to left hook me without any indication (where I say he indicated once, I meant that he indicated as he turned rather than before, so there was only one flash of the lights).
“The cabbie seemed content with his driving judging by his instant response to me, however he was seemingly very contrite when contacted by the City of London police.
“Sadly, City of London Police are nowhere near as good as the Met and let this professional driver off with a warning for a really shoddy piece of driving,” he added.
“City of London Police have said: ‘The identified driver contacted us apologising profusely as he did not realise how dangerous the manoeuvre was’.”
Hopefully, the driver will give other road users – including cyclists – plenty of warning of his intention to turn in future.
> 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.
> What to do if you capture a near miss or close pass (or worse) on camera while cycling
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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20 comments
I guess I the bigger question is who is having the right of way where the cycle lane is dashed. I guess the cyclist but not sure. In any case, the scenario of the taxi turning left must be anticipated - just Darwin (taxi is stronger than bike). Cyclist is ridiculously naive. Ultimately, the highway code is good to have but will not save you as no one is even close to enforcing it. I commute every day and I'd certainly have slowed down as a precaution.
Not sure where the term 'hook' is coming from btw
From the Highway Code Rule 140:
So, a dashed cycle lane means that the taxi should not be driving (or parking) in it unless it is unavoidable. In this case, the taxi has to cross the cycle lane in order to make a left turn which is why that section of the cycle lane uses a dashed line - to allow access to and from the side road.
However, turning traffic does not have priority as explicitly stated in the Highway Code:
How anyone can possibly think that the Taxi is following the rules of the road is beyond me.
rule-182-do-not-cut-in-on-cyclists_orig.jpg
If you're having to guess, maybe you shouldn't be attempting to speak with any kind of authority on this. This sort of overtake is like the dickheads who fly down the middle lane of the motorway then sweep across the left hand lane just before they run out of time to make their exit.
Darwin is not a principle of road craft, you psychopath.
Also, the cyclist did slow down, as you would have done in your infinite wisdom. You can tell that he did, because the video shows him slowing down, rather than clattering into the side of the taxi.
This wll never stop whilst we are bullied into using bad infra. Every right to adopt primary. I can understand why the less confident keep left, so it is the confidents responsibility to form a presence, educate and familiarise traffic with our presence. I do fear the time when infra is compulsory and with the current political climate it doesn't even have to be law., it's lawless out there anyway. You are just gonna have to assert your space.
I feel a mite cynical as to the cabbie 'apologising profusely' once the police got involved, when he didn't exactly seem very apologetic to the cyclist immediately after the event. Almost as if his apologising was strategic rather than heartfelt.
Mirror, signal, mirror, manoeuvre.
Crap driving by a professional driver who should know better. It's in the Highway Code; Mirror, Signal, Manoeuvre. The order is not; Manoeuvre, Indicate.
Perhaps the cabbie will take more careful in future, but I doubt it.
Dangerous driving by a cabbie followed by instant regret when called out for it.
Oh, and some top notch victim blaming in the comments!
That was pretty much an action replay of one of my rides up the Kings Road ( including the swearing and use of the Hornit ) a couple of weeks ago. Left hook from Cab, check, no real indication, check, Hornit, check, Swearing, check. Yep good effort, 10 out of 10.
I get most irked by poor indication on a roundabout - specifically going round a roundabout without indicating (semi-ironic as when riding I will invariably have both hands on the bars as I find holding ones arm out while turning very unnerving).
And while I have developed something of a sixth sense for who has failed to indicated, that doesn't mean the car behind you is expecting you to stop, and nor is it fool proof which has led to several close calls and some unwaranted stops because they actually where turning off.
I shall also point out that the taxi driver put 2 wheels across the solid white mandatory cycle provision line.
I believe they were very well aware of the effect they would have on the cyclist, and of the possible serousness of any collision. Not going to injure themselves after all. Hence the quick stop and instant abuse.
Of course there is always the arguement that they really are that incompetent at driving and that they shouldn't be allowed on the roads.
Ignore the fact there is a cycle lane. It's esentially an intended undertake, call it filtering if you like, but gotta be super aware of left hooks in that situation, 50/50 at best. Overtake on the right, forget the shite infra. There is no way I'd barrel down the inside with left turns like that. On my commute the only place I mix and mathc left and right filtering is on a 1km straight with no turns, otherwise in that kind of traffic, primary and down the dotted all the way.
You start with "ignore the fact there is a cycle lane" - would you feel the same if it was a bus lane? another lane of motor traffic? Would it still be an intended undertake? Or just someone using the lane in the intended direction of travel and the responsibility lie with the driver moving left?
I agree these sorts of lanes are currently ineffective and dangerous. However, they would be a lot less so if drivers treated them as what they are, another legitimate lane for moving traffic, and check them for occupants before moving across them for any reason.
Drivers not indicating has to be my biggest bugbear. It's literally just a lever to flick.
I wish that driving instructors would ram home the message that you should always indicate when turning (when overtaking, it is sometimes advisable to not indicate if there could be confusion about your intention).
Meanwhile, I don't always indicate/point when I'm on my bike, but only if I'd rather keep both hands on the controls - it's not as easy as just flicking a lever.
Sometimes I have had to stop indicating to use the 2nd brake lever.
But I would never turn if there was someone there.
More akin to sticking a leg out the window.
Signalling on a bike is a bit of an oddity, to signal right (across traffic) you forgo most of your ability to stop and signalling left is often redundant to following motorist because they are so far up your ass their line of sight means your body obscures your arm.
Like last summer, when a car that passed me indicated right as they moved out, motorcyclist behind took that as the car intending to turn right at a junction (there's a right turn lane) and shot between me and the car and then nearly got knocked off as the car moved back left after passing me. Cue lots of swearing from motorcylist.
I say motorcyclist - what I mean was inexperienced kid hooning round too fast revving the nuts off a trailie. I would have to have gone with motorcyclist's fault, but hopefully he'll live long enough to learn from it.
"he did not realise how dangerous the manoeuvre was"
Perhaps such a type of driver should not be using the roads for his living then.
I don't think the cyclist had that much warning of the cabbie's intent.
Hmm - cabbie braked approaching junction but didn't feel the need to indicate that that was where he was intending to go...
From the title it sounds like the driver punched the cyclist. Clearly not the case.
The taxi driver was completely in the wrong by not indicating but the cyclist should have been experienced enough to spot the potential danger of that happening. It's called hazard awareness.