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news
Near Miss of the Day 623: 'Must Get In Front' driver cuts up cyclist on roundabout
‘MGIF’ – standing for ‘Must Get In Front’ – is an acronym that any cyclist who spends time online will eventually get to know, used to describe the kind of driver who simply has to get ahead of someone ahead of them on a bike.
In this example from Swansea last November, sent in by road.cc reader Marcus who describes it as a “prime example” of the genre, it happened at a roundabout.
He said: “The particularly odd thing about this one is that they driver actually gave me plenty of room, yet still cut me up, and they had a bike in the back of the car!”
> 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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24 comments
I have been away on holiday for a week so I have only just noticed that my video was posted here.
As some of you have noted, this was not a close pass (although the wide camera angle makes it look even less so) and given some of the truly dangerous ones I get on my ride to work, I was not at all fazed by this one from a safety point of view. I did however think it was completely unnecessary, and a good example of the mentality of some drivers that feel the really must overtake that cyclist at all costs. You could just pass this off as poor judgement, and no harm no foul, but it's one of those with lots of 'what ifs' where the outcome could have been very different.
It was November last year, the roads were cold and slippery, if I had panicked and grabbed a load of brake, as an inexperienced rider might, then I could be on the deck.
What if there had been a car entering the roundabout from the right, and then we both have to stop with no room left for me to stop safely?
The driver was clearly trying to give me loads of room, and consequently came very close to the bollard. What if he also misjudged that, and hit the kerb?
I didn't submit this one to the Police, as I felt there was little point doing so, but I did keep it as an example of a needlessly risky situation created by a driver that was not willing to give up just a few seconds of their life, and choose the much safer and lower risk alternative of lifting off the throttle to coast around the roundabout behind me! Made all the more frustrating by the fact that they had a road bike in the back of the car, so if they too are a cyclist they should really know better!
Highway Code 167: DO NOT overtake where you might come into conflict with other road users. For example [example 9] stay behind if you are following a cyclist approaching a roundabout or junction, and you intend to turn left.
It makes not the slightest odds whether, in your opinion, there was enough room to overtake, it was against the Highway Code to do so.
You mean the Highway code thinks it's not safe to approach a roundabout by going the wrong way up an exit lane? What could go wrong?
Aye, safe as houses isn't it - particularly as drivers coming from the third exit (looking at it from this perspective) and turning left will be appearing from behind a hedge. But our Nige rates this as assiduous care and courtesy, it seems...
I wouldn't have even noticed this one, still less been bothered by it. However, that's not the point- all the discussion about this seems to be a cross between arguing about the number of angels which can fit on the head of a pin, and 'fiddling while Rome is burning'. The really bad close passes receive no action from the police and are becoming more common- the only worthwhile action is prosecution/ FPN and Points on the Licence. Warning letters, joke online 'driving courses' and (Lancashire's latest dodge) sending 'educational material' without even any warning letter just convince the drivers that they have done nothing wrong.
The driver did not appear to follow the bike for sufficient time to judge the cyclists speed before making the overtake, therefore if the cyclist had been travelling faster this might have resulted in a collision. At the point of overtake is where the cyclist might have expected to steer towards the right of the lane if they were going to take the 3rd exit which would have forced the driver to take evasive action or hit the bollards. It is a wide overtake but a stupid one, for the sake of 5 seconds...
Ha! If that was my near miss of the day I'd count it as a pretty darn good day!
There's nothing to see there. The motorist did give him acres of room, and it was patently obvious where the motorist was going. I really wouldn't have even shaken my head at that one.
It's not the worst I've ever seen, however to even commence the overtake was pretty stupid given the upcoming road furniture and cutting across the cyclist to make the left turn was bad manners at best. The driver would have been delayed by a maximum five seconds if they'd hung back and let the cyclist go first; something doesn't have to almost kill someone - or indeed actually kill or injure someone - to be inconsiderate and pointless bad driving.
Id have shaken my head at it, ok its not the worst example you are going to see on the roads normally, but its annoying, its a pointless overtake, its the epitome of MGIF. Theres no thought put into it other than got to get in front of the cyclist, the motorist knows they are taking that 1st exit at the roundabout, so what do they gain from it because they reached the exit at virtually the same time as the cyclist anyway ?
I see so many of those style overtakes triggered purely because you are a cyclist, and the driver doesnt think, just reacts cyclist got to overtake, they wouldnt have overtaken a car travelling at the same speed in that situation, or a motorbike,or a horse & rider, so why do cyclists have to bear the brunt of this stuff.
Agreed not the worst, yet the driver is hardly to be commended for that.
It was however in flagrant beach of at least 2 rules of the HWC, and let's be clear those rules weren't trivial, like wearing light clothing.
That was a really shit piece of driving, that was risky, intimidating and totally unnecessary
HC 167.DO NOT overtake where you might come into conflict with other road users. For
example
stay behind if you are following a cyclist approaching a roundabout or junction, and you intend to turn left
enough room to overtake isn't only about width beside the cyclist, but distance to complete the overtake and also space in front of the cyclist.
Far too many drivers only consider the first one, better than those who consider none, but still not right.
All so pointless too.
Take primary position before the roundabout. It pisses some people off, but so does the existence of cyclists. I learned this from multiple near misses at roundabouts.
https://youtu.be/cThPjLvDd4E
Unfortunately, not even that seems to stop some people. I once had someone come up from behind me, as I reached a small, single lane roundabout, in prime position, and proceed to attempt a pass by entering the roundabout in the oncoming traffic lane. As I rounded it, this person continued to squeeze into a gap that wasn't there on my inside, forcing me wide and against the curb at the exit.
Not only that, but the guy in the car following them swerved towards me about 10 meters down the road, missing me by about a foot whilst leaning on his horn. When I caught up with him at the next lights he berated me. He said that I must have scared the crap out of the lady that passed me on the roundabout, that I'm only on a bike so I must move for cars and that I'd get myself killed! I just don't know what goes through the minds of some people!!
Nothing goes through their minds. They're invalids.
Minds?
A pretty mild one IMO. Driver left it a little late to overtake or misjudged the distance to the roundabout.
A thoughtless manoeuvre but little to no risk to the cyclist.
Yes, the driver did leave as much room as they could, they still caused the cyclist to take evasive action and the question is why weren't they paying attention? A second later and it could have been very different. What if there had been a vehicle coming the other way?
I don't like sharing the roads with people who's mind isn't on the one job they have to do, when if they get it wrong, I'm dead.
On a roundabout - don't be silly !
Amazes me the number of drivers on a main road who just think no one will be coming the other way - "yeah, but I'm going home".
All it takes is two of those people going in opposite directions.
I agree, but that doesn't make it OK - the constant low-level bad manners/thoughtlessness drivers (and some cyclists, to be fair) display on the roads is just wearing.
Yep, two examples today of MGIF for me when not needed. Both 30mph roads and I'm doing damn close to that on both.
First one was very similar to the Virgin van the other day with me a a cars length or so from the one in front and the wanabee off roader just decides "as I'm a bike" he will still over take and force me to slow.
Second one was a slight country lane which has had it's speed reduced due to deaths and leading into a 20. Speedo showed I was doing 31 when they decided they can't be behind a cyclist so roared past.
Neither particularly put me in danger, although as mentioned I had to slow because of them but just bad manners and thoughtlessness.
As one minister of transport said, it isn't the madmen driving like idiots you should be worried about, it's the normal drivers taking everyday risks every day. Those risks might be a million to one, but when thirty million drivers each take hundreds of those risks a day, that's a lot of collisions.