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news
NMotD 673Near Miss of the Day 673: “Way too close to ignore” – impatient driver brushes past cyclist
We’re off to south London in our Near Miss of the Day series today, with a video showing the moment an impatient van driver trying to beat a motorist on his right to get away from a set of traffic lights brushed against a cyclist waiting at the junction with his wing mirror.
The incident happened in Tulse Hill where Norwood Road crosses the A205 South Circular Road with the cyclist, road.cc reader Dennis, catching up with the driver a couple of hundred yards down the road to let him know how close he had been and eliciting an apology.
Meanwhile, motorists behind who were clearly also in a rush to get somewhere beeped their horns.
You can also see in the still picture above how another cyclist who most likely had been riding behind Dennis and may well have seen the close pass has stopped, presumably to offer assistance should the situation escalate – such support from fellow riders being common in situations like this on the capital’s roads, where everyone will have experienced being put in danger by drivers.
“So this guy tried to beat the other car from position on the left,” Dennis told us. “So he decided to rush up and passed me with a few inches to spare almost hitting my right handlebar.
“It was sooo close that I felt his side mirror brushing my ears and top shoulder.
“Like I said, I’m normally used to close passes but this was way too close to ignore,” 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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43 comments
That's terrible driving. I know that junction very well. Taking the lane does help but you do get motorists trying to squeeze through there, even though traffic is heavy and usually nose to tail just after you pass the bridge on Norwood Road. Too few drivers seem to understand that overtaking a cyclist just to get to the end of the queue quicker is pointless, as well as being dangerous.
The road surface at that junction is also terrible by the way as it's been repaired so many times, so you don't want to drive over it at more than 15mph anyway, unless you're keen to wreck the suspension on your vehicle.
Agreed, I ride through there semi-regularly and though I take the lane often all that means is that the vehicle behind shoots into the right turn lane to overtake then cuts back in hard to get back to the lefthand lane running towards West Norwood. Absolute prime location for early cyclist release lights.
When I was up in Inverness for the much delayed Etape Loch Ness this year, I was impressed how they actually have early bike release lights in some sections of the town centre. First time I had ever seen them in the UK.
We're lucky enough to have quite a few round here, Camberwell Green, Camberwell Grove, East Dulwich Grove...after a bedding in period when there was a certain amount of confusion - drivers either thinking they could go on the cyclist light or getting irate thinking that we had run the driver light - they work brilliantly and have removed masses of conflict. They should be added to every light in the country in my opinion.
Plus illegal use of the Horn; I thought the government were cracking down on this ?
Definitely improper use of the horn, but that wasn't by the close passing van. The van did, however, have a broken brakelight.
"I was only 24 minutes from Tulse Hill"
Shocking and very dangerous pass. But at least he didn't double down on it and blame the cyclist as is the norm.
this was way too close to ignore
The chances are it's not too close for the police to ignore. How often do we hear of significant action against a driver like this?
I think more emphasis needs to be placed upon not overtaking across a junction.
Using multi-lane roundabouts and multi-lane junctions as an opportunity to gain a small advantage over other traffic is high risk.
Agreed. Have maintained this for years. Cyclists should not be overtaken on a light controlled junction or a roundabout. There's several roundabouts on my commute that motorists regularly attempt to overtake while I'm on it. I deliberately put myself in such a position to prevent this and make myself more visible for exiting. It's like the guidance of being aware of cyclists/equestrians on a roundabout no longer exists.
As with your previous attempt to claim that one cyclist was blocking a driver's view of another, you appear to believe that motor vehicles in this country are left-hand drive. That's the only explanation I can think of for your claim that a driver on the right-hand side of a vehicle will have his/her view of one cyclist on the left-hand side of the road blocked by another. Here's a little diagram for the hard of thinking:
Or this one as Van driver was at lights well before 2nd cyclist.
Certainly doesn't, here's the van driver with clear line of sight between himself and the rear of the cyclist before the van has even crossed the stopline (-1.13), and below it the front of the van starting to pass the cyclist on the other side of the junction (-1.10). The van driver has the cyclist in absolutely plain view for three whole seconds before making the pass.
Absolute drivel even by your pisspoor standards. Cyclists are now selling dummies to drivers to try and get them to hit others? Just go away, the Autocar and Daily Mail websites are missing their idiot.
I see your obstruction and raise you 2 seconds earlier.
TBH, 100% of the time Boo is a bullshitter. I expect he went through the video multiple times to see what the best trolling statement to blame cyclists for and decided this was it this time.
As he hates swearing, I think everyone should just reply to his posts with solely
Fucking Knobhead.
It might be childish, it might be petty, but at least the Road CC crew will either have to do something about the oh so obvious deliberate trolling or ban the rest of us for making the board full of Fucking Knobhead everytime he posts.
Childish. Petty. Yes, you are right.
.
Yep, if Boo can be childish and petty in his trolling, we should reciprocate in kind. But I'm glad you approve as you have those to a tee in most of your posts.
More like
I can't believe I didn't notice all of this happening!!! However, I counted all of the close passes from the van wearing white, and I did notice the invisible gorilla this time.
EDIT: I have now watched the whole video and realised there is also rear facing footage, so actually the joke's on me. Not that I agree with NG's assessment of it.
Whilst his trolling comments are getting out of any bizarre reasoning, it is no surprise he blames the cyclist for mounting the pavement and not the van for the manouvre OR for the highly visible cyclist having to mount the pavement because the van was encroaching on the side part of the ASL.
It is one of his most ridiculous efforts yet. With his portfolio of stupid comments it is hard to take it to a new place, but he keeps on trying.
Total merde de cheval !
There We Are Then.
Oh catch yourself on. The van driver should have already clocked the cyclist before the other one rolled up (I don't condone his road sense at all before you accuse me). I drove minibuses for about 7 years and their being higher up and more so than SUVs allows for a better view of what's ahead. Any competent motorist will use this to their full advantage. This particular one was either distracted or impatient. He has at least apologised for his actions which was something.
You're lying. Of course that's not your real opinion. Are you capable of going one day without being rude, dishonest and antisocial?
Van driver 100% in the wrong, but so is the cyclist. Stupid position to put yourself in, which invited the close pass. Take the lane, hold the traffic behind you, don't give them an inch. Why ride in such a timid and apologetic way? If you ride like you shouldn't be there, you get treated like you shouldn't. Granted, ride in the way and you will be beeped or shouted at, but I'd rather annoy a driver and be acknowledged, than be ignored and knock off
No, I disagree. Yes, you and I might take that assertive stance, however the idea the rider is in the wrong is, well, wrong. HWC 163 blah blah states how a driver should overtake. At no point does HWC place any duty on a rider to "Take the lane, hold the traffic behind you, don't give them an inch."
The first half of your first sentence was utterly correct. The rest is around a riding style that cannot (and should not) be expected in all riders.
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