Video: Motorist hits cyclist while attempting to squeeze past on busy A-road

the more I look at the vid - 6 seconds with a car less than half a metre away, 4 of those seconds with it right next to him in his line of vision, and his head is perfectly still, riding a dead straight line... 

A couple of commenters have mentioned that the guy on the bike might have looked back at the car.

I do tend do look back at traffic, but I remember the pro cyclist who did 2014 TDF route videos commented that you should just look ahead on a busy road. If you look back, you tend to swing out, he said. Plus, on a busy road, there are just so many vehicles, that you're looking back to check on them all the time.

In this case, it's clearly careless driving, and the driver should be prosecuted. Looking back at traffic is a side issue, but I'd be interested to know what other people think.

two road users, neither have good road sense, both seem half-asleep, cyclist comes off worse

not in any way a "nasty collision", police were called, wasting both their time and ours by reporting this non-event

"Must get in front; must get in front; must get in front..."

The driver veers slightly to the left and into the path of the cyclist just before the collision, which suggests distraction at the wheel. Phone? Texting? Changing the cassette? Reprogramming the GPS? Seems likely from where I'm sitting.
Such poor decision-making, which is at base the fault of the driver for failing to respect the virtual 1.5m box that should exist around every cyclist. It should also be noted that the very last place to attempt overtaking manoeuvres is at junctions. Absolute folly. 
A ban and test re-sit for the driver seems the just measure for such cases, plus an audit of the driving school and examination centre that passed them fit to drive in the first place. Someone obviously forgot to explain that that pedal in the middle is a footbrake, and that's what you use until there's a good moment to overtake.
That said, had the cyclist had taken an assertive primary position in his lane of choice, and veered ever so slightly towards the middle of the road as the motorist approached, he would have cut himself a little margin to duck into when the pass turns out to be  close.

psling - it's quite common for people who cycle to not support other cyclists even when they have been hurt by obvious bad driving. They may indeed "be driving on the road with that attitude" - plenty of cyclists do not drive motor vehicles in the way they should be driven.

The two posts immediately before mine  edit - Yorkshire Wallet's - scare me.

Two vehicles in front, one signalling left and the other not but it's suggested that it's not unreasonable to assume both are turning left. Why? You shouldn't 'assume' anything when driving, you should be watching what is actually happening and driving accordingly.

The cyclist hit is riding in a straight and steady line and is clearly visible (well before he may have disappeared momentarily behind an A pillar); why would you make excuses for inexcusable driving and putting blame on the victim by suggesting his road position is poor.

You can make as many excuses for the driver as you like, I'm sure she'll have a few of her own too but she is driving carelessly at best and arguably dangerously - she is driving below the standard that you would expect a safe and competent driver should.

ps - I'm not offended, I'm just worried that people see this as acceptable driving and that the cyclist has contributed to his own downfall. Like I said, it scares me that the above two posters may actually be driving on the road with that attitude.

I don't think it's nearly as clear cut as is made out

1) as EKS says above, the first cyclist turns left. wrong, but not unreasonable to assume the second will too

2) after the first turns left, the second is now largely hidden behind the car's A pillar. I see so many of these types of videos where the response is that the cyclist should have been obvious to the driver. well guess what, modern A pillars are thick and they aren't see-through. i learned the hard way about A pillars getting hit on a mini-roundabout with both of us doing 5mph...

3) as much as i hate to be critical of anyone who gets hurt, let alone seriously, the cyclist seemed as unaware of the car as the car was of the cyclist. in this situation you're going to have to either filter on the left ahead, in which case there's yards of tarmac to the left to be safe in while all the cars whizz past (before hitting their brakes), or better still if you're worried about being left hooked take primary position. the two lanes merge ahead anyway so you're not slowing anyone down. draughting a left-turning bike and then going straight is neither one thing nor the other

sorry if i'm offending anyone, but that's how i see it. hope the cyclist makes a quick and full recovery. never nice hitting the deck

I am going to chuck in a couple of (very minor) mitigating factors in this and of course jump to a totally uninformed conclusion.

There are initially 2 cyclists in the video, the first signals and then turns left while the victim is initially sitting on thier wheel before going straight on at the lights. I suspect the driver has made the assumption that they were riding together and would both be turning left. Further up the road the left lane is closed off and I suspect the driver is already focusing on the lane to thier right as they accelerate into a gap.

As to the faulty brake light - No    all 3 are working OK, in thier panis they appear to have engaged reverse for a moment after they stopped.

The only suggestion I would make to the rider would be to have been riding in the primary position to discourage any attempt to pass them within the lane. That way he could have said cheerio to his mate at the same time.

When I am riding with a group and we are splitting up, particularly at a roundabout I like to encourage everyone to signal seperatly.

I had almost the exact same thing happen to me last year. Eerily similar. Bike wrote off, elbow still bears the scarrs.

The police didn't bother to turn up to the scene, I merely received a letter a few days later explaining that they were busy with higher priority incidents at the time. No further action to be taken as details had been exchanged and insurance would be handling the matter.

It would seem that it is standard procedure...

With my incident the driver commented he did not see me as the sun was in his eyes...eyebrow raising seeing as at the time, the sun was coming from behind...even the Paramedic laughed and noted the excuse...Police not interested though.

It's another "nobody died" decision. On that note, nobody died in this:
http://www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/news/15105809.Drug_crazed_driver_high_o...

But the driver is being prosecuted, for many offences. Yep, damaged cars are worth more than damaged people

I'm amazed that the cyclist also shows a complete lack of awareness of the driver driving so close without any sort of reaction.

I would have been glaring back at her before she was anywhere close to my back wheel  and my fist would have been out in front of her windscreen if she went on to get closer with a healthy slap on the screen, wing mirror or roof  well before the right pedal made contact with the bodyside. Where was that guy's mind just to keep riding as the car literally brushed past hime for nearly 2 metres before the pedal clipped the car body.

Likewise where was her mind with the bike well visible to the left .. I think I can see that one slightly - distracted to focus on merging with the traffic in the right hand lane - looking in the mirror rather than checking what was in front, and then checking the view with a right hand side bias as the coned off lane approached.

Using a mixed traffic carriageway requires all users to have a clear awareness of what is happening behind them as well as in front, and one of the reasoned that a 5000 cyclist survey over a decade ago landed on the need to ensure all cyclists gained the confidence and competence to perform the 'lifesaver' and look back regularly, and perhaps the key road safety campaign to run with cyclists - not only on the road, but as that crazy crash on the Lower Thames Street cycle superhighway showed even in a mass of just cyclists flowing along you need to know a faster rider is about to attempt a passing move - and if they are as stupid as the person who then rode head on into an Eastbound rider the person in front should be blocking or warning off  the dangerous rider.

I think this has to be a case for a private prosecution if the police don't take any action.

Had something similar on my way to work this morning, managed to avoid getting hit by slamming on the brakes.

Until drivers lose their licenses for this type of driving they will keep on doing it.

Not necessarily THIS driver but fun seeing the MOT history. Taking a car into an MOT with almost worn through tyres.

https://www.check-mot.service.gov.uk/

Driver has nowhere to go after passing cyclist why overtake at all? You can see all the other cars with their brakes on pretty much at point of impact.

Needess close passes drive me mad. You can understand the temptation when stuck behind for a while with no gap in oncoming traffic to overtake properly, but people who put others lives in danger when there is no benefit to themselves are either out to hurt people or totally unaware of their surroundings they shoukdnt be allowed to drive in either case.

"Press charges" is not a thing in English law. Suspected law breakers are prosecuted normally, though not exclusively, by the Crown Prosecution Service. Bodies like the RSPCA and the Health And Safety Executive also prosecute and individuals can, if they wish, take out a private prosecution. But for the most part prosecutions are taken on by a statutory body if only for the good reason that victims of crime cannot then be pressed to stop the prosecution.

The vehicle has a faulty nearside brakelight, an offence under the Road Vehicle Lighting Regulations.  The police just don't care about law breaking motorists.  They would much rather target cyclists on the pavement who are there out of fear for their lives because...the police just don't care about law reaking motorists.  Ohh the heavy irony!

Maybe the cyclist didn't want to press any charges!!!

I think the nurse probably very appologitic and the cyclist just want to claim from insurance and not wanting the driving to be arrested. 

We weren't there so we shoudln't speculate or assume anything.