View Single Post
  #8  
Old July 14th 20, 12:44 AM posted to uk.rec.cycling
JNugent[_12_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 805
Default Near Miss of the Day 440: Skip lorry driver undertakes cyclist

On 13/07/2020 10:36, Simon Mason wrote:
QUOTE:
Today's video in our Near Miss of the Day series shows a cyclist riding in the correct lane to go straight ahead - only for a skip driver, who also intends to go in the same direction, moving into the left-turn lane to undertake him, and making a dangerous close pass at the same time; the footage is about 2 minutes into the video above.

It was filmed by road.cc reader Peter, who also supplied rear-view footage (skip to 2 minutes 10 seconds), and who told us: “I'd been going around Clifton Downs and was aiming to follow the A4018 down towards Bristol (the hill is known by another name, but maybe that name should fall out of use).

“Usually when I go along there, I use the left lane though that is for left-turning traffic down Clay Pit Rd (the trick is to take primary before the turn to avoid left-turning traffic).

“This time, I thought I'd use the straight ahead lane and was basically keeping to the white line to allow overtakes (for some reason I really struggle to cycle that section - could be the head-wind or that it's towards the end of a ride or whatever other excuses I can think of).

“This left me feeling a bit precarious but I wasn't getting grief from drivers so I went with it. What I didn't expect was a skip-carrying lorry to undertake me using the left-turn lane and then move back into the straight ahead lane.

“Of course, the lorry driver didn't make any difference to his journey time as I filtered past him further down the hill (that must not be named).

“Meanwhile, a pedestrian was crossing right in front of the lorry, so I used my brakes as soon as I saw her, but she saw me and stepped back so I carried on in front of her. It's worth remembering to take care crossing in front of big vehicles and similarly whilst filtering past them,” he added.

https://road.cc/content/news/near-mi...-driver-275377


This is a genuine question.

Do you have any idea at all why, on a single-carriageway road with two
lanes in one direction (his direction) and one the other way, the
cyclist chooses to cycle along as precisely as possible *on* the white
line separating the two lanes going in his direction?

What was to stop him from being in the centre of the nearside lane and
allowing other road users the use of the offside lane to overtake him
without their having to cross onto the "wrong" side of the road or even
on the nearside?

Surely you can see that his positioning was effectively denying any
overtaking vehicle the use of either of the *two* lanes for that direction?

He claims "I thought I'd use the straight ahead lane and was basically
keeping to the white line to allow overtakes", but that is exactly what
he is *preventing*.

Ads
 

Home - Home - Home - Home - Home