Cyclist nearly knocked down by dangerous driver

QUOTE:
A shocked cyclist has released footage of the moment he was nearly knocked down by a car on a busy Plymouth road.

The rider feared for his life when the vehicle changed lanes and struck him in Outland Road.

The 49-year-old man wobbled as the car brushed him as it pulled in towards the kerb – but he stayed upright and escaped injury.

Footage from the camera under the seat shows the woman driver stopping and beeping at the cyclist as if he were the one to blame.

The Plymouth rider, who does not want to be named, sent the video to the police who took up the case under a dedicated scheme, Operation Snap.

He spoke out to warn drivers to take care and make them aware of the ease in which cameras can catch them out.

The man, who pedals about 6,000 miles a year, said: “The vast majority of motorists are courteous and give you plenty of room. I can drive to Tavistock or Princetown without any problems. “Then there is just the one person who wants to gain a few seconds at a red traffic light. It is just senseless. They are in a two-ton killing machine.

“I was just shocked. I just thought how foolish. It was mindless behaviour.�

The man and a friend were cycling into Plymouth along Outland Road at about 9.45am on that Sunday morning in January.

He added that there were near the kerb on the inside lane, with himself in front as they passed the petrol station.

The rider said that the white car passed his friend in the outside lane and then crossed to the inside lane, with the side of the vehicle brushing his arm.

He added: “You can see the camera wobble. I did not think she was going to stop, that was what really frightened me. “It only takes a second for a driver to put a cyclist under the wheels and kill them.

"The driver then beeped at me, which I thought was bizarre."

The man rode on but the driver stopped in her tracks and sounded horn as if he had come out of nowhere.

He added that he was wearing a similar orange top to his friend and had a light in the rear of his bike, even though he recalls the weather was good.

The rider said: “People need to realise that cameras can be linked to phones and you can quickly download and send footage to the police. She tried to gain a couple of seconds and all she got, I am assuming, was a fine and/or points.�

Devon and Cornwall Police runs Operation Snap which allows road-users to send in footage of traffic incidents.

The Snap team wrote back to the rider to say the issue had been resolved but could not disclose what had happened due to data protection. The case did not go to court.

They told him: “Options to successfully resolve a case when drivers or riders accept they have committed a Road Traffic offence include paying a fine and surrendering their driving licence for endorsement or paying for and attending a National Driver Offender Retraining Scheme (NDORS) course..

“I would like to thank you for the time you have taken to participate in Op Snap and helping to make our roads a safer place�. Operation Snap has been set up by Devon and Cornwall Police and is an online facility which enables members of the public to upload video and photographic evidence of traffic offences. The tool has been produced with the support of the Department for Transport and encourages anyone who witnesses a driving offence to report the offending driver through the new tool.

Parking offences and road traffic collisions cannot be submitted through Operation Snap and any footage from anyone under 18 will not be accepted and instead you should report the incident by calling 101.

The website warns that anyone who uses the tool to report an offence "should be prepared to sign a witness statement and possibly give evidence in court".

The registration of the offending vehicle needs to be visible, otherwise the footage cannot be used.
What offences are included in Operation Snap?

Operation Snap will investigate road traffic offences such as dangerous driving, driving without due care and attention, careless driving, using a mobile phone handheld, not wearing a seat belt, contravening a red traffic light and contravening solid white lines, however this is not an exhaustive list.
What if I’ve been involved in a road rage incident?

If there has been a serious physical or verbal act of violence following a driving incident then Operation Snap should not be used. The incident should be reported to Devon & Cornwall Police by contacting 101 email as more serious offences may have been committed. If the threat is happening now call the police emergency line by dialling 999.

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