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news
Near Miss of the Day 666: Absolute beast of a close pass by mobile crane driver
This is entry number 666 in our Near Miss of the Day series, and it features an absolute beast (pun intended) of a close pass by the driver of a mobile crane.
You can see how the driver of the vehicle – a Liebherr LTM 1040-2.1, to be specific – doesn’t give the cyclist much room to begin with, then cuts in closer and closer due to an oncoming car, leaving the rider just inches from being hit by the rear wheels.
However, road.cc reader Mark, who was on the receiving end of this shocking overtake in Bexhill, East Sussex, told us that the driver received nothing more than a warning letter.
We’re pretty sure it should warrant stronger action than that.
> 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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Another video that supports the argument that for some vehicle categories roads should be treated as a workspace and fall under legislation that is applicable
...going back possibly 20years I recall being on the circulation list where I worked for something like "trucking updates" and besides the obvious depot to depot trucking co's only buy fuel efficient motorway cruisers remember an article that ranked mobile cranes by speed argument was higher speed on the road meant less unpaid for travel time and for big operators smaller fleets / less depots....as a cyclist high on my list of vehicles to be wary of many fall in the construction category...skip...tipper...scaffold...building supply...cranes strong argument for HSE to investigate and issue (enforcable) guidelines for construction industry vehicles specifically looking at pay per load and punitive on time on site clauses...road law is weak...that crane driver on site would be driving at max walking pace with a guide (banksman) on the road not slowing because has to be on site on time
Any vehicle driven for work is a workspace and can (and in my opinion should) be treated under HASAWA.
The people in real stir are in the cars coming in the other direction. The crane was close, but for those of us who have elbows clobbered by wing mirrors when there is SFA coming the other way and we are already riding the gutter i cannot see what the fuss is about from the bike's pov
The wide angle lens makes it look further away than it really is. It is way too close. It's bad enough being close passed by a car, but at least you might bounce off a smaller vehicle or panel van. The huge wheels on this would just pull you under.
It's shit driving in part because it also is a danger to oncoming traffic. However although not an appetising prospect for them but they're in cars. They have the engine block in the way, crumple zones, a metal cage if they roll, air bags and seatbelts. By contrast the cyclist has none of that. Go under this vehicle (which is going fast) and you're not coming out in one piece.
With utility vehicles there may be protrusions from the sides and there will be an airflow effect which may act to pull you towards the side of the crane. The crane is pulling in on the cyclist. If the driver suddenly chickened out first with the oncoming cars and pulled in the cyclist would be hit.
Not the most dangerous one we've seen here for the cyclist but the driver is presumably a "professional". He's not just Mr. Smith (83) out for a pootle - he's presumably supposed to have extra training and be paid for driving this thing. I wouldn't employ folks I saw driving like this - why add that risk to your business?
I've been a hgv driver for 19 1/2 years. Every time I see a near miss involving a lorry I cringe. It's embarrassing that these people demand the respect they feel they deserve whilst giving none in return. No its not all of them but it is a great many who behave this way. At the same time though some cyclists are completely ignorant of how much space a lorry needs to give to pass safely. So many times I've been crawling along behind waiting for the opportunity to overtake safely only for the cyclist to stop against the kerb and wave me by or even worse they do it whilst they are still moving when it just isn't safe. If I cannot see far enough ahead I will not attempt to pass and even if you're stopped by the kerb I still need to pull out over the white line to keep you safe.
Passing like this whether at speed or not is disgraceful behaviour. The driver deserves to have his hgv entitlement revoked. There was a time when we were penalised more harshly for every indiscretion. I guess now with brexit and an increased driver shortage anything goes? Be prepared for things to worsen now that people can go from passing a car test to a class 1 in a year. Imagine driving 44 tonnes of killing machine with less than 12 months of driving experience in total. It scares the bejesus out of me just thinking about it. 😬
Thanks for the HGV driver's view from the cab as it were and for your proffesional attitude to keeping others safe on the road. I'd like to think that lockdown and recent supply shortages mean your profession gets a bit more respect.
A close pass from a large vehicle can be extremely intimidating, representing as they do instant life changing injury or death in the event of a mistake by either the cyclist or the driver. I've got one horror story in many years where the tie down hooks on a flatbed actually snagged my clothing, but overall my personnal experience is that it is often the HGV driver who waits patiently a good distance behind having correctly discerned that a cyclist is local traffic and likely to turn into the next housing estate, or when out of town waiting until a clear wide overtake is possible. I make a point of giving those drivers a big thumbs up. However, they are sometimes followed by an aggressive close pass from an irate car driver. https://youtu.be/nS1Rnwjzdl4
Second the thanks and confirm the experience, more often than not it's not the HGV driver who puts one's life at risk but the driver behind who is desperately trying to make up the 15 seconds of their life they lost whilst the HGV driver was waiting for a safe time to pass.
Sadly no. We had zero respect before lockdown, an almost idyllic few months on deserted roads..... then lockdown was lifted and all hell broke loose. I've recently changed jobs and now I only travel within my local area on A and B roads which means meeting a lot more vulnerable road users and unfortunately a short queue of car drivers I can see in my mirrors punishing the cyclist for being there. I'm so tired of driving now that I am planning on giving it up in about a year once everything I owe is paid off. To be honest if I have to sit in one more CPC training day with drivers complaining about road tax and cyclists I may be forced to insert a chair somewhere.....
Thanks, I know from experience that there are a lot of great HGVers on the roads.
I used to wave folk through. I learned over time though that by the time they've worked the intent of the wave, steeled themselves to make the move (which sometimes takes what seems like hours...), changed gear, overcome inertia, and closed the gap, the moment has gone and they end up closing a pinch forcing me into th e side. Of course this is the facking cyclists fault.
Nowadays i simply use road position appropriate to the environment, and a thumbs up when folk are being kind.
Must be in a hurry to get round all those cars needing craning onto the pavement.
"Professional" driver, serious risk of harm (to oncoming traffic too) ... = not even "having a quiet word with them" ?!
Drivers on the left too.
Shocking driving, but of course the moment they stop and dangle heavy weights off the boom they become incredibly safe...
Unfortunately some police forces apply a blanket policy of warning letter for cyclist close passes, regardless of how dangerous it actually is.
In fact, in Warwickshire the driver could do it a second time and only get a 'sterner' warning letter. So as long as they don't actually hit you, it's essentially tolerated.
While I do appreciate that policing resources are stretched thin, and that this enables swifter processing and removes the need to make subjective and potentially inconsistent judgements on how dangerous individual close passes are, I do feel that this policy is misguided.
When I'm going in/out of work in London the Met, for instance, appear to have a blanket policy of NIP for the same offence - and presumably driver improvement course or points/fine. But far more dangerous passes back home in Warwickshire get away with a warning letter.
I can assure you that in the Land of Bad Cops, Lancashire, there would be no response whatsoever to an incident report including this video- no acknowledgement, no warning letter, no joke driving course, and no prosecution: Lancashire has never prosecuted anybody for close passing a cyclist
Not sure I buy the policing resources argument. How hard is it just to issue a NIP with a fixed penalty? Seems easy enough for minor speeding indiscretions. Surely its no more demanding than writing a warning letter.
It's not a resource issue, it's priority. Resources are hard facts, priority is subjective decision making.
Until decision-makers start to see road violence as utterly avoidable and controllable, and teh dead and maimed not just feckless authors of their own doom, this violence continues unabated.
Even in the world of measuring payback of resource, it is clear to see that de-prioritising this issue is utterly wrong-headed, for reasons stretching from avoidance of carnage, to environmental, to social justice, and even the intangible yet very real and unvalued factor of having a nice place to live travel and work.
Ah 666 and 'beast' I see what you've done there
That's a big vehicle for sure that's way too close to a cyclist for comfort or safety, covid backlogs in courts not withstanding of course youd like to think that deserved more than a warning.
Thouhg these kinds of vehicles required a special driving licence due to the extreme risk to the public they posed.
Should have been revoked
Not the worst I have seen... still not nice either
I wondered if that's the problem, that and locating the driver anyway, as the video doesnt really convey the true danger of that situation that well, if you've never had a bunch of huge wheels as tall as you,connected to a big crane, spinning at 30mph inches from your head it's difficult to appreciate the one false move and you are dead dilemma you've been forced into, and it ends up looking just a bit close but seems to pass without incident.
Cyclist was doing 25-30 so driver could have eased a fraction and overtaken safely at a cost of a few seconds.
Looks to be a round 40T too, so a letter is clearly the right option.
I quickly checked the vehicle enquiry website and it is taxed, but nothing logged for MOT. Comes in fully loaded as just under 20T.
You need special license to drive these beasts, therefore this is appalling to watch. There is enough space for the cyclist to get sucked under the vehicle worse case.
I just googled the model and weight for the 40T figure. Maybe that was fully laden.
If it's only 20T - NFA !
After all, everyone's licence covers for that sort of vehicle weight and size.
Are we talking about the unladen weight of an African mobile crane or a European mobile crane?
EDITED:
The crane has an actual GVW of 30te and operates in the UK under STGO Regulations due to the high axle weights and as such, it is exempt from an annual MOT. You do not also need any type of special license to drive any crane of any size on the highway, just a normal old fashioned Class 2 ... the same as the one you need for a cement mixer. Very poor driving from the crane operator and you would hope that the letter contained the words Final Written Warning.
The wonders of Google. Seems you get different answers depending on how you write the question (I did Google as I genuinely didn't know).
As for the weight, I got that from the Vehicle Enquiry website which quoted Revenue Weight as 20T. Again, had to Google Revenue Weight meaning so I may have read something non-factual.
a "40 tonne" crane should be suitable for lifting 40 tonnes, it shouldn't weigh 40 tonnes
I don;t know much about cranes but it says 40T here
https://www.bossmachinery.nl/en/vehicles/Crane/1903/liebherrltm-1040-21
40T is the maximum lifting weight. As given on page 4 here https://cranenetwork.com/uploads/specs/e690dd9dfe9da200fa1f4b1d3.pdf
And for other commentators here, no you cant just drive one of these on a car license.
Gotta love the way others spread misinformation without checking first.
You used to be able to drive a crane on a car licence. That loophole was closed for obvious reasons some years ago.