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CS7 NMOTD

Near Miss of the Day 330: Cyclist on CS7 locks up when driver turns across his path

Video contains strong language
by Alex Bowden
Fri, Nov 08, 2019 12:27
39

Today’s near miss took place on London’s Cycle Superhighway 7 in July when a driver travelling in the opposite direction turned just after one cyclist and right in front of another.

Toby, who sent us the video, said the incident occurred northbound on the A3 at the junction with Union Rd, between Clapham North and Stockwell.

“I put the anchors on fairly aggressively and locked the rear up, so apologies for the swearing,” he added.

Toby was commuting at the time, “on my trusty 15 year old Orbea, which batters every day through rain, sleet, snow, and almost BMWs.”

He says his journey’s only about seven miles or so from Tooting to St Paul’s, but near misses are fairly regular – “Perhaps every other week. They tend to be more of the close pass/squeeze against the kerb/changing-lanes-without-looking type of near miss rather than the blatant pull across like this one.”

> 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.

NMotD
Near Miss of the Day
cs7
Alex Bowden

Alex has written for more cricket publications than the rest of the road.cc team combined. Despite the apparent evidence of this picture, he doesn't especially like cake.

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39 comments

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Argus Tuft replied to TriTaxMan | 5 years ago
0 likes

craigstitt wrote:

Pigeon wrote:

That's not a near miss. When the car started turning he was at the box where cyclist stop on red.

A smidge of anticipation from Toby and he would have freewheeled a bit and scooted to the right of the car, instead he kept on pounding the pedals.

Can't agree with you there.  That was a near miss, purely the fault of the driver.

The cyclist in the clip begins braking hard as soon as he crosses the first of the Advance Stop Lines (showing good reactions for realising the car was going to make a dickish move).  You can see that from the way that his hands move on the bars to the brakes.  

The driver either didn't care about the cyclist or wholly failed to realise the speed that the cyclist was travelling on the road.  I'd be willing to say its a combination of the two factors there.

Not arguing that the driver was wrong-only that you ccould see it coming a mile off.

Avatar
quiff replied to Argus Tuft | 5 years ago
3 likes

Argus Tuft wrote:

Not arguing that the driver was wrong-only that you ccould see it coming a mile off.

 

Yeah, I could see it coming too. Problem is, on the road it's more difficult to anticipate because there's no  headline saying "near miss - driver turns across cyclist". 

Avatar
Argus Tuft replied to quiff | 5 years ago
1 like

quiff wrote:

Argus Tuft wrote:

Not arguing that the driver was wrong-only that you ccould see it coming a mile off.

 

Yeah, I could see it coming too. Problem is, on the road it's more difficult to anticipate because there's no  headline saying "near miss - driver turns across cyclist". 

More the fact that he was already into the turn,not stopped with his front wheels pointing straight ahead as a good driver would do.When you've been a Driving Examiner for 15 years you can almost smell a dickhead.

Avatar
quiff replied to Argus Tuft | 5 years ago
3 likes

Argus Tuft wrote:

quiff wrote:

Argus Tuft wrote:

Not arguing that the driver was wrong-only that you ccould see it coming a mile off.

 

Yeah, I could see it coming too. Problem is, on the road it's more difficult to anticipate because there's no  headline saying "near miss - driver turns across cyclist". 

More the fact that he was already into the turn,not stopped with his front wheels pointing straight ahead as a good driver would do.When you've been a Driving Examiner for 15 years you can almost smell a dickhead.

My point (possibly made a bit more sarcastically than called for) is that when we watch these videos, we're already primed for what's going to happen; whereas in Toby's position I wouldn't have been looking only at that car and deciding whether it was going to turn, I would also have been scanning other things like: are the lights about to change, what's the road surface like, do I need to avoid potholes etc. 

Avatar
Argus Tuft replied to quiff | 5 years ago
0 likes

quiff wrote:

Argus Tuft wrote:

quiff wrote:

Argus Tuft wrote:

Not arguing that the driver was wrong-only that you ccould see it coming a mile off.

 

Yeah, I could see it coming too. Problem is, on the road it's more difficult to anticipate because there's no  headline saying "near miss - driver turns across cyclist". 

More the fact that he was already into the turn,not stopped with his front wheels pointing straight ahead as a good driver would do.When you've been a Driving Examiner for 15 years you can almost smell a dickhead.

My point (possibly made a bit more sarcastically than called for) is that when we watch these videos, we're already primed for what's going to happen; whereas in Toby's position I wouldn't have been looking only at that car and deciding whether it was going to turn, I would also have been scanning other things like: are the lights about to change, what's the road surface like, do I need to avoid potholes etc. 

I hear you,but the main object of your attention in this situation should be a right turning car not showing intent to stop.Priorities.Priming has nothing to do with it.

Avatar
AlsoSomniloquism replied to TriTaxMan | 5 years ago
3 likes

craigstitt wrote:

*edit*

Re-watching that, it is only by sheer good luck that there wasn't an accident involving the cyclist ahead of the cammer.

The BMWanker starts to turn as soon as he passes the van, never breaking his momentum.  If the cyclist ahead of the cammer was 5m further back they would have been a bonnet ornament

*end of edit*

I was looking to see if anyone else had posted that as it was my take as well. He didn't even see the first cyclist, just saw space after the van and was going to swing across no matter what. I don't know if the OP can confirm if there was another car close by anyway which could have indicated the reason to jump across as fast as possible or he just thought "lets get across ahead of that 'slow' cyclist".

Avatar
ktache | 5 years ago
2 likes

BMW driver, their urgent journey is worth so much more than the health and life of any mere cyclist.

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lukei1 | 5 years ago
2 likes

I hope this was reported, as it was in the Met's area? Should be able to make out the front plate

Avatar
markw replied to lukei1 | 5 years ago
0 likes

lukei1 wrote:

I hope this was reported, as it was in the Met's area? Should be able to make out the front plate

Not with the resolution uploaded to YouTube. There is next to no detail in that video 

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