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news
Near Miss of the Day 854: Taxi driver hits cyclist with wing mirror at pinch point... blames rider for swerving
"One of those 'near misses' that didn't actually miss," is how our reader summed up today's Near Miss of the Day submission.
Riding along Newgate Street in the City of London, not far from the Old Bailey, the rider moved out to overtake the cyclists in front, only to have a cabbie's wing mirror hit his back as the professional driver attempted to overtake at a pinch point.
"To this day I don't know how I wasn't knocked off," the reader told us. "I was hit by the wing mirror as the taxi squeezed by inside the traffic island. I was passing another cyclist at the time, so there was barely any space to move away. I've cycled for 35 years or more, many through London and experienced all kinds — but this was one of the scariest I've ever had.
"Usually if I report an incident I just carry on with life, and don't check up on it — life is too busy for me to worry about outcomes, especially when they're so unpredictable.
"But this one left me really shaken — I was still tense on the train, and I had actual flashbacks at night for several days after of the vehicle suddenly looming through a gap I hadn't thought existed never mind that someone would try to drive through — I was terrified that I was going to go under the wheels — and then furious at the insanity of it, as you can hear.
"As a taxi driver, he clearly knew full well that immediately after this junction it is a dual lane road. So, unusually, a couple of weeks later I did email City of London police to ask what the status was, since — as is usual — I hadn't even had an acknowledgement of the report.
"I had a brief response saying that they were prosecuting — but I never heard anything more after that — so presumably it didn't actually go to court. The most bizarre thing was then being tailed by the driver yelling all sorts of things out the window at me, including that he 'had it on camera' (I told him to save it for the police).
"He also accused me of swerving in front of him — which was complete nonsense — I was rolling up to the red light when it changed. The cyclist ahead of me dropped in to the side and I picked up speed to pass the line of slower moving cyclists, but didn't change road position at all, as can be seen absolutely clearly in the rear footage.
"Once through the chicane and clear of other cyclists, I moved into the cycle lane and waved him on as I didn't want to him behind me or to have any further engagement with him. Without a doubt my worst experience on London roads, and probably the biggest threat to my life. To this day I don't know how the driver managed to get between me and the kerb without actually sending me over."
Acknowledging Rule 72 of the Highway Code, advising that cyclists should "ride in the centre of your lane, to make yourself as clearly visible as possible [...] at the approach to junctions or road narrowings where it would be unsafe for drivers to overtake you", our reader told us he now "religiously" takes primary position in situations like this to avoid a repeat.
> 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
Dan is the road.cc news editor and joined in 2020 having previously written about nearly every other sport under the sun for the Express, and the weird and wonderful world of non-league football for The Non-League Paper. Dan has been at road.cc for four years and mainly writes news and tech articles as well as the occasional feature. He has hopefully kept you entertained on the live blog too.
Never fast enough to take things on the bike too seriously, when he's not working you'll find him exploring the south of England by two wheels at a leisurely weekend pace, or enjoying his favourite Scottish roads when visiting family. Sometimes he'll even load up the bags and ride up the whole way, he's a bit strange like that.
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26 comments
Anyone who thinks there is a "swerve" involved here, please review the rear footage from 1:33 onwards and tell me at what time on the footage this "swerve" occurs ...
https://youtu.be/pbmOlA4bqi8
It seems a deliberate hit to me. The cabie probably got angry because the rider wasn't in the lane that seems to be a cycling a lane, as he tried to overtake slower riders.
In general if there is something that seems like a bicycle lane I will definitely try to use it if there is significant motor vehicle traffic. The taxi driver must be prosecuted, possible for an intentional hit but as no one likes a driver driving on an low traffic motorway at 30mph or a guy walking in a sidewalk holding transversely a 2m stick, try using cycle lanes.
The taxi driver was happy to have a ruck after a stupidly pointless pass attempt. I'm 50/50 whether it was a deliberate intimidate attempt rather than a mindless overtake. Breaking up the monotony of sitting on his fat ass all day?
Then carrying on an argument out of the side window... ffs
It's shitty cycling round there. Mainly because it is shitty driving round there so motorists want to take out their aggressive frustration on you.
Deliberate in my view. I suspect they were riled by the cyclist filtering up to the advance stop line box and stopping in front of them at the previous set of lights. Pointless getting annoyed at that, because it's exactly what the ASL is there for.
The vehicle in front always has priority. The 'professional' driver should know that.
Too many drivers don't think that a bicycle is a vehicle, though... (not a real one, anyway).
'Professional' - That word's doing a lot of heavy lifting there...
for me I felt the cyclist held their line, theres no deviation on the road at all, the movement we are seeing is simply the head camera as the cyclist turns their head in response to the near approaching taxi & collision.
theres no gap there for the taxi to fit through, and Im perplexed why the drivers reaction to from his perspective a narrowing convergence angle, is to carry on piling through hoping the cyclist would simply get out of the way in time, and not use that brake pedal thing.
but there you go drivers continually surprise me with their inability to think of anything but must get ahead
for me I felt the cyclist held [his] line, there's no deviation on the road at all, the movement we are seeing is simply the head camera as the cyclist turns [his] head in response to the near approaching taxi & collision
Completely correct! It's pretty much impossible to avoid turning your head in response to a close-pass attack by a nutter driver who couldn't care less about cyclist safety, because he knows he'll have the support of the police in disregarding it. I assure everyone that my steering is rock steady and straight ahead when this school bus driver commits this offence- or I'd have been dead long ago
https://upride.cc/incident/p21sra_schoolbus_closepassuwlcross/
Well, I'd say the cyclist did move to the right, looking to overtake the rider just in front.
That is something of a moot point however as the taxi should not have been looking to overtake there. For the exact reason that the cyclist could swerve for a number of reasons, and there is not sufficient room for the taxi to move.
Passing distances aren't about making cyclists feel warm and cosy, it's about leaving room to mitigate against line changes, for instance swerving around a pot hole, rabbit, etc etc.
One very angry and stressed driver. Probably needs a bit of a break from duties, say 6 months?
Maybe 12 months plus a hefty fine.
That London cabbie couldn't sound any more like a London cabbie if he tried, haha
Why wasn't the cyclist riding in the 'murder strip'?
yep - I think this is a situation where the ASL could have made things worse.
A lot of misinformed drivers think the feeder lane for the ASL is a cycle lane that cyclists should use so drivers can get past. The reality is it's there to keep queuing vehicles away from the kerb so cyclists can filter up to the ASL when the lights are red.
Once all traffic is moving, the place to cycle across the junction, as recommended in the highway code, is the centre of the lane. The feeder lane and ASL should be ignored.
In addition to the initial incident, doesn't driving several hundred metres whilst leaning over to shout and gesticulate at the cyclist constitute a lack of due care and attention?
Taxi should not have even been thinking of trying to overtake there - simply not enough space to give the rider space to avoid obstacles - so unquestionably the driver's fault.
That said, although the rider says he’s going straight ahead it looks pretty clear from that footage (which may be misleading as the lens distorts the perspective a bit) that the rider moved right in the lane - presumably to overtake rider in front - without looking. Clearly the driver’s fault, but exacerbated by the rider getting a basic wrong. Which in no way lessens the driver's culpability
I think they hold quite a straight line. The helmet camera, at a jaunty angle, with electronic image stabilisation doesn't help though.
A fixed camera that has some part of the bike in view is better for capturing positioning and movement.
Edit
To me that footage makes it look like quite a deviation, but as I said the camera may not be helping there. Either way, given the appalling state of London roads, drivers cannot expect riders to be able to hold a perfectly straight line. The driver should not have been attempting an overtake there.
There's a bit where the image seems to suddenly 'swerve' to the right. This is the electronic image stabilisation catching up with a head movement, rather than a lateral movement of the bike I think.
EIS is best turned off for helmet cameras IMO. You lose the real-time head movement info, as the stabilisation is always a step behind and trying to resist any change in the field of view.
Is that not a helmet mounted camera?
Never see the rider's bars, he could have a mirror?
This pretty much sums up my perception of this one. Bad overtake by the driver that he shouldn't have attempted - and the remonstration down the road through the window didn't help. But the cyclist looks to have moved right to overtake without looking either.
Did it get reported to the taxi licencing authority too? I once reported an incident to the authority (police would have been no use in this case). They brought the driver in for an interview and issued a final written warning.