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Near Miss of the Day 584: Driver cuts up cyclist at junction, then tells him to “f*ck off”

Our regular series featuring close passes from around the country - today it's Middlesbrough...

A driver who cut a corner at a junction, forcing a cyclist to stop, then for good measure told him to “f*ck off” is today’s offering in our Near Miss of the Day series.

Filmed in Middlesbrough, the clip was sent in by road.cc reader Nigel, who told us that it happened as he prepared to turn right at the junction.

“The BMW driver, too lazy to turn properly or wishing to scare me, was given words by me as to giving me more room, “Nigel said.

“He then told me to f*ck off. The audacity – me, a mere cyclist, asking to be given room by a BMW driver,” he added.

> 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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23 comments

Avatar
Velophaart_95 | 3 years ago
1 like

I reckon this is an all too common 'indiscretion' - in fact it happens on almost bike ride. And drivers just expect to be able to do it - and don't like it, if they can't.

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JLasTSR replied to Velophaart_95 | 3 years ago
1 like

I would add that it is not just as a cyclist that I get miffed at this sort of driving. I can point to certain junctions where cutting the corner like this is almost the norm and like someone else said if you are at the junction turning right those turning right into your road will invariably invite you out, or make you stop short of the give way line if your timing is a bit out. Why those junctions are like that and others are not I couldn't say, there does not seem to be any real difference between them.  

 

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brooksby replied to JLasTSR | 3 years ago
3 likes

As a side issue, isn't this also a design problem?  I mean, there are a lot of junctions out there which have been specifically designed so that motorists can turn in or out of them at speed.

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Captain Badger replied to brooksby | 3 years ago
2 likes

brooksby wrote:

As a side issue, isn't this also a design problem?  I mean, there are a lot of junctions out there which have been specifically designed so that motorists can turn in or out of them at speed.

I think so too. I believe this is called a bell-mouth juction(?) I understand that they ease the leaving of junctions and allow 2 vehicles side by side. Unfortunately, they inevitably encourage less competent drivers to cut across whilst entering. Straight forward T junctions are far better at traffic calming.

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giff77 replied to Captain Badger | 3 years ago
1 like

There's one of these round the corner from me. It also has a STOP LINE. This line is ignored 100% of the time unless there's traffic on the main road. Motorists turning in will also regularly cut the corner. It wouldn't be the first time I've been crossing to have a car cut in behind me and I'm barely past the centre line. 

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alexuk | 3 years ago
10 likes

The guy in the car was just being an entitled jerk. There's a lot of them, and they're of all ages and all cars.

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Jenova20 replied to alexuk | 3 years ago
4 likes

alexuk wrote:

The guy in the car was just being an entitled jerk. There's a lot of them, and they're of all ages and all cars.

Yeah. Some of them have an Audi instead

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IanGlasgow replied to alexuk | 3 years ago
1 like

alexuk wrote:

The guy in the car was just being an entitled jerk. There's a lot of them, and they're of all ages and all cars.

Each $1000 increase in the value of the car corresponds to a 3% increase in entitled jerkness.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2214140520300359

"self-centred men who are argumentative, stubborn, disagreeable and unempathetic are much more likely to own a high-status car such as an Audi, BMW or Mercedes"
https://www2.helsinki.fi/en/news/nordic-welfare-news/the-fast-and-the-fu...

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VIPcyclist | 3 years ago
10 likes

Possibly a pool car delivering drugs. Or have I been watching too much "Police Interceptors"?

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brooksby replied to VIPcyclist | 3 years ago
9 likes

VIPcyclist wrote:

Possibly a pool car delivering drugs. Or have I been watching too much "Police Interceptors"?

You mean, maybe the driver was a wrong 'un?

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Cycloid | 3 years ago
9 likes

About par for the course.

I've had drivers pull out in front of me and shout "look where you are going" lots of times.

Self entitled drivers have a completely different perspective on the roads

 

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EK Spinner | 3 years ago
20 likes

"The BMW driver, too lazy to turn properly..."

This has become such a common way to turn into a junction I'm starting to think many folk don't realise it is wrong, it amazes me how many "polite" drivers will stop and flash me out (when I'm in the car obvs) because I am perfectly positioned at the mouth of the junction and they don't seem to think they can get in.
Strangest thing is it has become more common with the prolific spread of power steering over the last 30 years, yet in the 70s when we all had forearms like navvies we could turn the wheel all the way round (about 10 turns in those days)

Time to start installing a big solid jaggy post at the 'T' of the junction I say

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fwhite181 replied to EK Spinner | 3 years ago
9 likes

I wish they'd start installing bollards at the middle. I live just down from a T-junction and the number of times my ride starts with me nearly being murdered by a chump cutting the corner is unbelieveable.

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Hirsute replied to fwhite181 | 3 years ago
1 like

You must live by me !

Hope that was a shared footway at the end!

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rct replied to fwhite181 | 3 years ago
4 likes

Central reservation and bollards, don't seem to work at Gandulf's corner, unless there is someone with a camera to supplement them.

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brooksby replied to rct | 3 years ago
0 likes

rct wrote:

Central reservation and bollards, don't seem to work at Gandulf's corner, unless there is someone with a camera to supplement them.

Or a wizard's staff...

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giff77 replied to fwhite181 | 3 years ago
1 like

Ha!  You really think that would work. Junction below my flat has a bolard. Council got fed up with the traditional plastic one with a light under it being flattened. They swapped it for a reflective one on a spring. It still gets struck on a regular basis. I'll be sitting watching TV and hear a crunch. Look out the window and see somebody reversing their vehicle. Correcting their angle and driving off. It has now been hit so many times the base has now snapped!  There's als a kerb that they have to mount in order to hit the thing! 

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kraut replied to EK Spinner | 3 years ago
2 likes

I was thinking about that the other day - you know those tyre shredder things that stop you leaving car parks via the entrance... would those be of any use, perhaps?

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eburtthebike replied to EK Spinner | 3 years ago
2 likes

Not sure about a jaggy post, but certainly needs something as this is one of the most common driving failures.  I've seen cars completely, all four wheels, on the wrong side of the white line at junctions.

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Sriracha replied to eburtthebike | 3 years ago
9 likes
eburtthebike wrote:

I've seen cars completely, all four wheels, on the wrong side of the white line at junctions.

You don't mean like unmarked police cars?
https://road.cc/content/news/near-miss-day-550-unmarked-police-car-drive...

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EK Spinner replied to Sriracha | 3 years ago
2 likes

I had forgotten about that one, thans for the reminder

 

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eburtthebike replied to Sriracha | 3 years ago
0 likes

Sriracha wrote:
eburtthebike wrote:

I've seen cars completely, all four wheels, on the wrong side of the white line at junctions.

You don't mean like unmarked police cars? https://road.cc/content/news/near-miss-day-550-unmarked-police-car-drive...

Yes, like that but not an unmarked police car.

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AlsoSomniloquism replied to Sriracha | 3 years ago
0 likes

I had also forgotten about this. Clicked the link and wondered why it was 100+ replies. Then saw it was an usual suspect deciding "it is an emergency vehicle", "how do we know it was an emergency vehicle? ", "they were on an emergency call", "no they didn't put blue light on as I didn't see any", "they are a trained professional", "They could see the car was coming so it was ok to do the manouver", "No one could tell their visibility so it was fine", "Might hwva been a fire service car".

So about twenty different and contradicting reasons why it was ok to drive on the wrong side of the road when entering a junction which none stand up to any scrutiny. But then the previous declarations from them on other videos on why the car wasn't at fault fall into similar categories as well. 

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