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Driver pulls out on cyclist

Near Miss of the Day 777: Driver chatting with passenger pulls out on cyclist

Our regular series featuring close passes from around the country - today it’s Hampshire
by Simon_MacMichael
Fri, Jun 03, 2022 20:17
8

A driver who pulled out on a cyclist they had not seen because they were chatting to their vehicle’s passenger features in the latest video in our Near Miss of the Day series.

The incident was filmed in Havant, Hampshire, by road.cc reader Jim, who told us: “A driver too busy chatting with a passenger pulled out in front of me, luckily I wasn’t travelling at high speed .

“It happened in Havant, I was on the road at the Hulbert Road roundabout and had the right of way having just come through a set of traffic lights onto the roundabout.

“It was clear on the video footage the driver didn’t look and was chatting to her passenger at the time .

“If the traffic light had been green when I was coming down the hill I would have been going quicker and wouldn’t have had time to stop,” Jim said.

“When the lights changed I entered the roundabout and then the driver pulled out in front of me.

“I gave her a blast of my Hornit which was when she and her passenger both looked round.”

He added: “I didn’t report it to the police as they don’t bother unless you actually have an accident.”

> 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

Near Miss of the Day
Simon MacMichael

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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8 comments

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Chris Hayes | 2 years ago
0 likes

Have to agree with Grumpus and perhaps we need to create a new noun from the verb [to be] negligent to create 'a negligent.' I even had an OED definition:  'an unfortunate incident, typically resulting in damage or injury, which could have reasonably been forseen and prevented had the perpetrator been applying appropriate levels of diligence.'

Avatar
IanMSpencer | 2 years ago
4 likes

I was nearly hit on a roundabout where the only thing that saved me was the passenger warning the driver.

As I gathered myself up from my evasive stop, my interpretation of the look from the driver was "How dare you embarrass me in front of my passenger" rather than the "sorry" look I got from the passenger. I think it was mum and daughter.

Avatar
ktache replied to IanMSpencer | 2 years ago
7 likes

Never understood the need for some drivers to look at passengers when talking to them.

What is happening outside those big windows will always be far more important.

And they can hear you whichever way you are looking.

Avatar
eburtthebike | 2 years ago
9 likes

“I didn’t report it to the police as they don’t bother unless you actually have an accident.”

I find this attitude hard to understand; next time she might kill you or another cyclist.  At the very least I would report it, not in the expectation of the driver being fined or getting points, but that she would at least get a letter which might make her reflect on her behaviour.  As it is, five minutes down the road they will have forgotten all about it and will therefore do it again, but maybe with rather more serious consequences.

Avatar
Clem Fandango replied to eburtthebike | 2 years ago
8 likes

I don't know, I've been on the end of similar instances & despite the driver ignoring a give way line and pulling out into me causing me to take severe evasive action to avoid a collision (all on camera) plod took no action when I reported it. Not the only time either. You do get to the point where you wonder why you bother, you end up just accepting that you need to end up actually hit & injured for plod to act. So report it or not, the driver doesn't learn shit or change their behaviour until it's too late.

Avatar
Awavey replied to Clem Fandango | 2 years ago
4 likes

totally, Ive got to that point where I feel Im tackling such a huge problem, like literally a 3hr ride today Im easily in double digits on 1.5m close passes, and a handful of actually quite scary ones, but even if I report them and the police did something, Im having no impact whatsoever on those drivers, or the drivers around them, I can go out next week on the same ride and get to experience it all over again.

And the reality is currently the police really arent doing anything anyway with close passes anymore, its lowest of the low priority crime for their stats, so really what is the point reporting it ?

Avatar
wycombewheeler replied to eburtthebike | 2 years ago
1 like

eburtthebike wrote:

“I didn’t report it to the police as they don’t bother unless you actually have an accident.”

I find this attitude hard to understand; next time she might kill you or another cyclist.  At the very least I would report it, not in the expectation of the driver being fined or getting points, but that she would at least get a letter which might make her reflect on her behaviour.  As it is, five minutes down the road they will have forgotten all about it and will therefore do it again, but maybe with rather more serious consequences.

if the police don't action, you might as well write a report and throw it in the bin, it has no impact on the driver or any other driver.

The only hope would be that in any case where the defence tried the momentary lapse defence, the polcie could pull out a plethora of evidence that this driving was a habit. of course then the open the,selves up fromcriticism for doing nothing to prevent it, so it might not be in their interests.

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grumpus replied to eburtthebike | 2 years ago
0 likes

eburtthebike wrote:

 I find this attitude hard to understand; next time she might kill you or another cyclist.

Indeed - I thought we'd got past calling this sort of potentially lethal constructive negligence an "accident".

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