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news
Near Miss of the Day 625: “Not all d*ckheads drive BMWs – some ride them instead”
“Not all d*ckheads drive BMWs – some ride them instead” is the observation road.cc reader Richard made after this shocking incident while he was out for a group ride at the weekend.
“A small group of us were out on a social ride on Sunday (15th August) on the quiet Essex roads and some motorbikes went past,” he said.
“One, riding a BMW, decided it would be fun to try and force us off the road, going particularly close to the 20 year old lady we had in our group.
“It just goes to show that not all d*ckheads drive BMWs – some ride them instead.
“It might be time for a rear facing camera so we can get the registration number in future,” he added.
We should point out, of course, that not everyone who drives or indeed rides a BMW is a d*ckhead – but it’s a marque that has developed something of a reputation among cyclists over the years given the behaviour of some people who drive its cars, and one that features regularly in our Near Miss of the Day series.
> 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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On such a short clip it is hard to tell the sequence of events but clearly the cycle rider on the right decided to pop ahead to take the left side in good time response to realising there was oncoming traffic.
As to the motorbike riding, it is a fail because the rider is travelling at a speed above which they are able to deal with hazards within their range of vision - on a single track road their speed should allow them to stop in half their viewing distance as they might meet themselves coming the other way.
As to the track of the bike, I think the rider was a passenger. To steer a motorbike at any significant speed, as with a bicycle, you actually steer the opposite direction to the way you want to go as you steer by leaning, so the rider was travelling too fast on the bend to allow them to steer without requiring the whole road width. You see the rider enter on a much wider line than the other two bikes so his close pass was probably dictated by his initial road positioning. The first bike appears hard left so perhaps had already reacted to the oncoming bike as it is not the expected riding position for a motorcyclist who you would expect to be riding to the outside of the bend to maximise vision ahead. The second bike appears more in the wider position so I think they were committed to a wider line and pretty much unable to alter course having failed to read the road, perhaps not being attentive having the scout rider ahead.
Looked like a classic case of 'target fixation' to me, kinda like your rabbit in the headlights scenario. He/she saw the cyclists, kept their eyes on them, so inevitably that's where they went.
Pretty typical of "bored" high powered MC users. On a road trip not too long ago (was showing a friend who drives my ride route to Ashbourne) one of these clowns decided to do a close enough pass on coming to force my mate to emergency brake..... As for your rear camera idea everyone needs one.... I use a broken WiFi camera drone as mine, best bit is my phone doubles up as a rear view helpful when it's very busy 😉
Not all d*ckheads drive BMWs
Agreed. It's only most of them
The rest are in audis (of course)
Regardless of whether that was incompetence or deliberate that rider needs to stop riding their motorbike in public.
I am erring on the side of it being deliberate, possibly in retaliation to the riders initially riding 2 abreast, given that a lot of motorbike riders now seem to have comms between them. It might just be the road surface but it looks like the first rider seems to flash their lights at the rider who is on the wrong side of the road. If they have comms that could easily be relayed to the whole group and the BMWanker decides to try to run someone off the road as a result.
I'm erring on deliberate but not on the two abreast as they had gone more single file at that point. I think it is just another anti cyclist as certain motor bikers do seem to be. Look at one of the regular anti cyclist asshat commentators on youtube for example.
And point in order, I don't think it was two abreast for the cyclists but more an over taking manouvre from blue being as he had more speed to get in front of Pink when the first biker had come into view. Whether he should have done it on that corner is a different question but being as the head height is a lot higher then camera height, they could probably see it was clear assuming they weren't in the same group as the two ahead. And if they were in the same group those ones would be calling out hazards anyway.
They're just jealous!
and not just YouTube comments theres that guy on a motorbike who runs his own channel and seems to go round like Judge Dredd dispensing his version of the law on cyclists.
And some motorbikers seem to pathologically dislike cyclists which I've never understood as youd think theyd have some 2wheel kinship thing going on with us.
I just think from the time that bike comes around the corner to passing the cyclists it's not much more than 2 seconds,its not a lot of time to see,react,and deliberately do something that has a high chance of going very wrong.
and not just YouTube comments theres that guy on a motorbike who runs his own channel and seems to go round like Judge Dredd dispensing his version of the law on cyclists.
Might be the same guy. Can't think of the name of the one I remember, just that he popped up a few times on Videos linked here, even small viewed ones butn his comments would predate their appearence so now on here. He would use his poor drawing skills in paint to try to make his point and then just shout "Lalala, I'm right, your wrong as I've irrevocably proved" when challenged.
I'd have said it was incompetence, purely because unlike the car brand,the BMW motorbike brand is no where near as fashionable and doesnt attract the crazy adrenalin junkie style riders, theres always an exception of course, buts that's 12k of sports touring bike designed for cruising across Europe on motorways in comfort, it's a rich middle aged sort of rider for leisure style thing, not trying to reenact the Isle of Man TT.
I reckon he was just following the rider ahead and relying on their rear brake light to tell if the road was clear and because they didnt pause,stop or react to anything assumed there was nothing there and took a wider line which was a mistake.
Dunno about that Awavey. The biggest selling bike of the last few years in this country, by a mile, was the BMW R1250GS.
but best selling is not quite the same thing as fashionable, the biggest selling car of the last few years is usually either Vauxhall Corsa or Ford Fiesta
they are just cars that fit a function and do it extremely well and sell bucketloads as a result, just as BMWs motorbikes are the ideal "adventure tourer" bikes, they fit a function, ultra reliable,wont let you down, and anyone wanting to pretend they are Charley Boorman on a Long Way Round trip is going to snap one up.
what I was trying to say is they are understated bikes bought by sensible people, who have money because they arent cheap bikes to buy, who are usually into grand touring riding, who arent the hotheads who would be trying to get the knee down on every corner going up to the Cat & Fiddle imagining they are Barry Sheen reborn, so they arent like their BMW car driver cliches.
so Id just be surprised that any one on a BMW motorbike would ride deliberately in that manner
Hmm, my experience as a motorcyclist is that BMW motorbike riders can often be affluent and arrogant. A lot of those 'adventure' riders go for the image but don't ride further than the nearest bit of countryside on a Sunday. I'm not a fan of the marque in case you didn't guess.
I reckon it's an R1200RS SE only 300 are currently registered with the DVLA. If spotted again with same helmet, leather and boots (or with those other two motorcycles), you can be pretty sure it's the same rider. Police *might* have a chat if given the reg.
That's terrible motorbike riding. As a motorcyclist (as well as cyclist) myself, I'd say that looked deliberate rather than a case of poor cornering. Mind you, there are some pretty unskilled riders on large capacity motorcycles out there.
Had the motorcyclist and cyclist actually collided, I reckon both would've ended up on the ground, though the cyclist would've likely have come off worse. You have to be pretty stupid to do something like that on a motorbike.
When riding a motorbike it's a custom to wave and acknowledge other motorcycle riders. I've noted over the years when I've been riding the various (European and Japanese) motorbikes I've owned that BMW and Harley Davidson riders rarely wave back. I'm not a fan of either marque.
Could just be incompetence. A lot of these motorcycles seem to be bought by middle-aged men, who pass the test but simply don't ride them often enough to get any good at bike handling.
Steady with the ageism; not appropriate
Not ageism. A simple observation. When was the last time you saw someone under 50 on a high-powered motorcycle?
It's worse than cycling. 😉
Since lockdown last year I've noticed a definite increase in 'overweight men of a certain age' riding huge Harley type motorcycles. Spending their furlough money, or just an epidemic of mid-life crisis...?
EDITED: possible confirmation bias IAF. Once you notice one, you begin to notice more and more.
Would that be a simple observation like all cyclists RLJ?
Sounds more like anecdata to me...
A lot of young guys round where I live in S London ride high powered sportsbikes. You can get an early Suzuki GSXR1000 or Yamaha R1 for just a few grand. Those bikes will do nearly 180mph. Insuring them though is another matter! I looked very seriously at a GSXR1000 but the insurance cost, despite my age and no claims bonus, put me off. I do wonder how many of the lads in their 20s in my area actually have insurance for their sports bikes.
I've been insurable on pretty much anything since I passed my 30s. I've found motorbike insurance stupidly cheap for the performance you get. I was only paying £96 for a zx6r. I think I looked at a blade and it was £240. More but nothing terrible for very silly speeds.
As for that video, the motorcyclist needs to learn how to read a corner and the cyclists need to stop riding across the entire width of the road.
Living in South London, vehicle insurance is very expensive.
On balance I think the BMW rider did that deliberately.
So cyclists can't pass now?
I mean the bend might look blind to the camera but as that is two feet below the cyclists heads and once apart from the tree the sight lines are very clear. Plus other cyclists ahead would alert people of something around the bend I'm sure.
And sadly backed up by crash statistics.
Facts have no emotion. Your comment, however, IS ageist.
Usual excuse of of being two abreast isn't even relevant here, as they were in single file. The near miss rider was pretty much in the verge...
Yep, I would be surprised if anyone would complain about that.....
Indeed. Only a complete arsehole would be that dim, right ?
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