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news
Two buses in SE London 0-19 screenshotNear Miss of the Day 563: Two close passes from bus drivers in quick succession
Two close passes in very quick succession from a couple of London bus drivers feature in today's Near Miss of the Day offering.
Filmed on West Street in Erith, southeast London, it's a classic example of how on-street parking - plus, in the case of the second close pass, a lorry parked on the other side of the road - puts space at a premium and cyclists in danger.
The road.cc reader who submitted it asked to remain anonymous, but told us he had sent the footage to the bus company.
> 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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26 comments
Yes, and I expect you then imagined running them over....
You were probably going too slowly....
And we're glad to hear it. 🥳
Ita called traffic. Its what happens in urban areas, Not so much in leafy surrey where you can't get your lyrcra pelton vibe going.
And the cyclist is part of that traffic. Yet is treated like nothing, especially by the second bus who could see the road ahead and could have decided not to try to push through.
the second was quite tight but i've used plenty of cycle lanes that wide in London.
The second one looked shite to me, especially considering the pinch point. Been watching the first one a few times, struggling to see an issue, seems to be passing wide (as possible) and slow. Failing to see any danger at all in that one, looks reasonable - second one looks like he's unsighted on the obstruction, doesn't give a crap, or both.. dreadful.
No Nic, it's deliberate action by 2 individual drivers, that was at best negligent, at worst intimidating and threatening.
If this is an example of acceptable driving to you I urge you to surrender your licence to ensure you don't mete out the same treatment to the vulnerable when you're behind the wheel.
Really Nic,I can't decide whether you actually believe the stuff you post, or are doing a Socrati. Perhaps it's both....
Worse than that Capn', 2 professional drivers in control of massive vehicles, after I was hit by a single decker on a mini roundabout I noticed it's weight was 8.5 tonnes.
I've often wondered if bus drivers are employed as part of some reform scheme for psychopaths.
Bit close indeed but honestly I have had a hangover and crawled quicker than that cyclist is going, so I can see how folk woudl get impatient behind... This is possibly where electric bikes will be a game changer as they become more popular. The cycling in the UK is lagging behind euro countries where even teenagers have electric bikes to go to school. They discourage dangerous overtakes on NL shared urban roads because they can zip along at 18mph with acceleration as quick as any bus'es.
It only took a few seconds to get to that odd bit of cycle lane and both buses could easily have waited till then. Would have been even quicker if there hadn't been a car parked in it .The drivers must know the route well and know that it's coming up. No excuses for these two passes in my opinion. How can you condone gaining a few seconds by putting a cyclist in danger .
I don't condone. Reign in your outrage fella.
I'm relieved to know that we agree they were examples of poor driving.
I think you mean "rein in", if so consider my outrage reined in.
Bully for you
Cycling is a right for everyone. It is not the responsibility for children, disabled, old folk etc to "keep up with the traffic". It's the responsibility of drivers not to bully, intimidate, injure, maim and kill.
Quite right. I'm old and slow but I never feel that I have to keep up with traffic, or that I'm holding up traffic, I AM traffic.
Yeah I think you missed my point. There needs to be seperate infrastructure so that slower cyclists are safer.
That clearly is not the point you were making...
But let's address that point. There wasn't infra there, and the drivers, particularly the second deliberately put that rider at risk with the sole aim of getting to the end of the next queue a second earlier.
You started by criticising the rider for their speed, and followed with some pie in the sky about EBs, as if that would have prevented the drivers' dangerous manoeuvres
Both of those points are victim blaming. Drivers aren't supposed to endanger others...
Since neither was compliant with the Mayor of London, so TfLs, Zero Vision, I would suggest that you refer this to both and request some explanation of the driver training provided...
The first was tolerable (barely) the second however was f@cking negligent.
Two unacceptable passes and a lack of planning on the part of the 2nd bus driver in my mind. Car door zone would put me in the other lane effectively preventing any pass and in the case of the parked lorry no one should be passing other road users in that gap so a primary position would be ideal.
The first one wasn't too bad, the second was more threatening. However how close to the car dooring zone was the cyclist being as the camera was on the "road" side of the head?
I would concentrate on the bad driving rather than making sniping criticisms of the victim.
Thanks for the advice. However I think I will call all as I see it and the first pass gave room, the second didn't but I believe the cyclist was too close to the cars parked as well for his own safety.
so as the cyclist should not have been so close to the parked cars, then there was not room to overtake, as a cyclist in the correct position would have beeen hit by then bus.
Ermm, I commenting, as someone who learnt the hard way, he was way too close to any car dooring which wouldn't have been his fault if it had happened, just that it was an added unneccesary danger whether the buses were there or not. It is like gutter riding, you avoid doing it and give yourself more space.
As an added advantage, it might have made the buses think twice to squeeze past,or they might have made it even more dangerous to the cyclist from them if they did. Obviously we will never know that outcome.