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news
Video: Near Miss of the Day 379: Driver pulls out in front of cyclist, almost hitting him
Today’s video in our Near Miss of the Day series shows the moment a motorist in Essex pulled out in front of a cyclist, forcing him to hit the brakes.
While the incident was reported to police, the road.cc reader who filmed it told us that he was unaware if any action was taken against the driver, possibly because the footage got lost while police changed their system for dealing with video evidence submitted by the public.
”I reported this to Essex Police back in August,” said JK, “but they were changing submission systems and it seemed to have got lost in the switchover, so I don't know what happened.”
He added: ”Also their emails say:
Due to the high number of offences reported to us, we are regrettably unable to enter into any discussion with regards to the outcome of your submission of footage to us.
”So it's hard to find out what happened.”
> 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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13 comments
Sort of like CBDR due to the arc the car is on before and during pulling out.
Constant Bearing, Decreasing Range
In reality, just the driver not looking properly.
Can totally see why the cyclist is annoyed by this one - I would have been too - but in my opinion, this is mostly caused by poor road design. As the Fiesta approaches the junction from about 32 seconds on, watch the position of the A-pillar on the passenger side relative to the driver's head. You can't see the driver for at least two seconds because of the curve of the junction and the cyclist's movement, in fact you can't see them until they're basically on 'this' side of the road; and therefore to the driver, the cyclist was likely completely obscured by the A-pillar.
Now, of course the driver could have stopped and looked properly at the give-way line, that's a separate issue, but most of us here are drivers and let's not pretend we all stop at every line.
Except the curve initially points the car at the cyclist before straightening. The junction has high lines of visibility due to no trees, hedges, walls, so no real excuse.
If the cyclist was obscured just before give way, then the speed of approach meant they weren't going to be able to stop.
I absolutely agree. Take into account the type of car which has black wheels and darkened windows so we can safely assume the driver is young, and suffering from feeling entitled to all of the road. When you play the video at quarter speed and watch at 0.35 you can see a passenger in the front so neither occupants gave a damn. Only the right hand on the steering wheel too.
Don't think that the driver ever saw the cyclist. Terrible driving.
Almost as terrible as Essex Police losing the evidence. Losing the evidence!!! I wonder what other digital files went walkabout? So they're not going to investigate because they lost the evidence. The same evidence I've just watched. But even if they had it, they still wouldn't give you a result as they're so busy. I would genuinely like to know how many cycling/dashcam complaints the police receive everyday compared to common assaults, bickering on Facebook and petty thefts.
A question of priorities.
If people where happier to pay their taxes and not be suckered into the low tax small government conservative mindset you'd find you might end up with a properly resourced police system with time to follow up these things.
Tax take as a percentage of GDP has been broadly flat since the end of the second world war though (except for a blip to the upside during Thatcher's first term) , and we didn't have problems resourcing the police system then.
Also, losing evidence is nothing to do with funding, and everything to do with rank incompetence.
That's the reason I always assume they're not going to give way. It's better to get a nice surprise ( they do give way ) than a nasty surprise ( they don't give way ).
Driver not looking/paying attention, should be a straightforward driving without due care at least. I've had similar on a roundabout, luckily I was paying more attention than the driver, realised he wasn't going to stop and braked/swerved to avoid the collison. He got driving without due care, don't know if that ended up with points and a fine or an awareness course.
I've had that happen to me quite a few times. A driver pulled out of a junction on the right (as per the video). After I waved my arm (no rude gestures) the bloke pulled over and I had a polite word. He was bemused why I gestured at him - he said he'd given me plenty of room (he did keep over to the right side of the road before pulling over to the left) but I asked him how was I to know that? I'm not a mind-reader and for all I know he hadn't seen me and was just about to drive into me. As is usually the case, he wouldn't see my point of view, he thought I was being needlessly dramatic) so it was pointless to continue the conversation. But I do hope he'll bear it in mind next time.
Where did you bury the body?
That would be telling - they're piling up though.
Happened to me last year. Twice. Both times the drivers said "I gave you plenty of room, after all you're only a bike."