Cycling 'near misses' – your stories
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Version 0 of 1. The Near Miss project, created by sociologist Rachel Aldred, set out to better understand the frequency and impact of cycling “near miss” incidents in Britain, recruiting nearly 1,700 cyclists to document their experiences. Last month we showcased a selection of the stories the project had collected – and invited you to contribute your own experiences. The fact that we received more than 1,200 comments is testament to how much this issue affects our readers – and how common near misses are. We’ve rounded up some of these experiences – from the dangers of the “sorry mate I didn’t see you” drivers to tales of more deliberate aggression. Over the last six years “near misses” became so commonplace when I was out riding, commuting to work, or riding for fun at weekends, that I thought I had become immunised to them. Then, one morning last summer, I was treated to such a “near miss”, from a car coming in the opposite direction which was overtaking a bus on a rural B road that I lost control and ended sprawled betwixt hedge and verge. He saw me. No doubt about that. He even flashed his headlights in a “get out of my way, and get in the gutter, fool” kind of way. There was no one behind me. He just didn’t care. He started his overtake and thought “It’s only a bike”. I’m ashamed to admit that when I locked the bike in the shed that evening, a dam within me burst. Every single close pass was like a grain of sand weighing me down, hundreds of them. Thousands. Every one required my to bite down on my emotions and suppress my fear. And I let go. Next morning, I walked to the station and bought a six month rail season ticket. I’ve not commuted by bike since. - workhard One evening last year I was cycling across Bishopsgate onto Camomile Street, which was undergoing roadworks at the time. Despite a sign saying “Do Not Overtake Cyclists” a tipper truck overtook me from the right at about 30 mph, leaving less than one foot from my handlebar. I was in a hi-vis jacket and had two rear lights flashing; I braked instinctively but can’t imagine what could have happened if I didn’t brake. - konnyaku There are numerous times I’ve had to stop because I’m shaking in fear. I’m just a person trying to get where I need to be using the means of transport that is best suited and yet other people feel that solely based on my mode of transport, they can bully me and threaten my life. We need to end the sense of privilege that motorists have that makes them feel that they can act in such a way. And while people are being let off with not even a slap on the wrist for killing people using their car, this won’t happen. - KT Everyone should be responsible and respect other road users, but drivers need to recognise that they are driving something significantly more dangerous than cyclists are. Being cross is not an excuse for committing negligent homicide. - InestableVacio I was heading along a reasonably quiet road on a cycle way adjacent to parked cars when a woman opened her door on me. I had less than 5 seconds to react, but react I did and just managed to avoid the leading edge. I came to a stop a few meters on and asked her how she thought I was feeling right now. I received apology after apology. Will she be more careful next time? Who knows! - t0nymod We are a family of three living in Bristol. We are doing all our travels on bikes, and it is a daily fight for survival. There are hardly any inner-city cycle lanes, except for a few flashy bits in the centre to show off the city’s supputed Green Capital credentials. Most lanes are a matter of sharing existing pavements with pedestrians, and it is assumed people in poorer areas do not even consider taking up cycling since cycle lanes stop in the middle of nowhere. Mind you, they’d be crazy to compete for space with the hundreds of trucks flying through the city at +40mph. The problem is that, politically, no one has the guts to state the obvious: before cycling can really take hold and make a change, everything must be done to get as many cars off the roads as possible. - Boris Kremer I was a top level cycle racer for years in Holland and Belgium, cycling 20,000km+ a year. Holland has separate cycle lanes, and in Belgium cycle racing is the national sport and people tend to be very respectful and supportive. I did visit the UK to do some races and was shocked to see that roads weren’t closed properly for races, and out training with my teammates we were threatened, beeped at and overtaken with deliberate close proximity. - blackflame79 Returning from shopping on the bike on a windy day, a car passed very close (~15 inches) and fast on a 30mph limit straight road with lots of pinch points. As the driver got out, I had a polite word. She was initially utterly bewildered. Then came up with ‘I’m sorry, I didn’t realise I was so close’. She probably wasn’t even aware that she’d just driven past a cyclist, never mind having done so while leaving no safe space. The number of cyclists is going to keep gradually increasing. A huge public campaign of public education is necessary to make the ‘I-didn’t-realises’ finally realise that they are responsible for bringing a potentially lethal piece of machinery into a public place populated by vulnerable others for whom they have a duty of care. - Chris Groves When I was 4 months pregnant, I was cycling home from work in a small town, wearing all the right high-vis gear, including bright helmet and flashing bike lights. I went onto a small roundabout, only to see a man in a Mercedes look me full in the eye, then decide to come on in front of me from the left. I couldn’t stop, smashed into his bonnet and came off my bike. He drove off at full speed; I ended up in hospital. - northernjools About 6 months ago I was cycling to work with my girlfriend in London. She stopped in front of me at a set of lights. There was a cab behind to her left. He was in the wrong lane and tried to jump the lights to get across the other traffic. He knocked my girlfriend off of her bike. I’ve cycled in London for about 5 years and have had a fair few incidents but it really scared me as was powerless to protect my girlfriend as I watched the cab hit her. She was ok just shaken up. - ID2578915 I invite the Guardian to come and speak to my kids who I’ve moved to the Netherlands last August. A month before we moved, my son wobbled off the pavement and bounced off the petrol tank of an oncoming HGV - we owe our life to the driver who saw my son on the pavement wobble and took action to avoid the worst. I don’t blame the drivers who are generally very good. I blame the way our roads are designed - and the bad eggs out there have free reign to do a Jeremy Clarkson - that man has a lot to answer for. Cycling is effectively banned for children in the UK and drivers have been led to believe that the roads are their domain - if you enter that domain on a bike, you are asking to die. I can’t live in a country that lets this happen, I can’t bring my children up in a country like this. - christabelaroo I have near misses every day. Today I was almost crushed by a bus on Holderness Road in Hull. I’ve had drivers overtake when I’m turning right, overtake and cut me up when turning left, shouted out for not using a cycle lane on the left hand side of a road when I needed to be in the centre lane to go straight ahead, had lorries push me into the kerb, and so on. I love cycling but hate the behaviour of some drivers and am always grateful when shown consideration by sensible drivers. - Maya Goia As a lifelong cyclist who has been riding for over fifty years, I’ve had hundreds, if not thousands of such incidents, including having cars driven at me, being threatened by drivers and their passengers and being knocked off. What is clear is that the vast majority of drivers are reasonable, there is a sufficiently large minority of unreasonable ones, and inattentive ones, to inspire fear in even the most seasoned cyclist. What is also clear is that the judicial system is grossly biased in favour of drivers and that dead cyclists don’t bother politicians. - burtthebike I was driving in the dark at rush hour (7.30ish London) yesterday and along major bus-routes. I passed 11 cyclists... Only 2 out of 11 were road legal w/r/t their lights. Only 3 out of 11 were immediately visible. One of the cyclists with no lights or hi-vis moved from the bus lane, in front of my car to turn right without either looking or indicating. If most of my attention wasn’t focussed on him prior to that manoeuvre, I could easily have not seen him and hit him and it would not be my fault because he was dressed head to toe in dark colours and had no lights. But had I hurt or killed him it would have ruined both our lives. Everyone using the road should obey the rules and behave considerately. I have great sympathy with cyclists being harassed when cycling safely, but some seem to have a suicide wish. - Hmmmph I always wear high vis and a helmet, but I’ve had the classic car pull out of a quiet side road in Holloway “without seeing me” and luckily the road was quiet so I could swerve to the other side to avoid. The two incidents that make me more angry are cycling from Islington to Ealing, in a bus lane in Shepherd’s Bush / Acton and a big, smart car in the lane next to me passes me, slows and just turns left straight across me toward a side road without even seeing me, resulting in me slamming on my breaks pretty hard; and cycling back in the dark from Ealing, seeing a waste collection truck behind me, I sped up so I could get a safe position and be seen at the red light / junction ahead, only to get the fright of my life when the truck pulled up right next to me with little space between us, at the lights, with the driver laughing and gesturing at me. I do everything I can to try to keep myself as safe as possible on the road, and behaviour like this just feels like an assault on those of us who are trying to get around using a non polluting, healthy and cheap form of transport, which can often be physically and emotionally hard work. - Lucy Watt I stopped cycling in and around Edinburgh some time after a bus nearly killed me. I was coming up to the traffic lights on a four-way junction, and could hear a bus coming up behind me. I glanced over my shoulder, saw that the bus was close enough to the kerb to run right over me, and realised that it wasn’t slowing down, at all. I yanked my bike off the road and fell off it on to the pavement, but picked myself up with no harm done as the bus passed by me. If I hadn’t jumped when I did I would be dead. - JCarnall The sad thing is that after years of cycling around London and Bristol I now see the danger and abuse as ‘one of those things’. I love my bike and cycle a lot, both to get around town and recreationally and must have at least one incident a week. Last week’s was pretty typical and involved me filtering through stationary traffic to the front of some traffic lights - something I always do as I feel it’s safer to be at the front and make sure you’re noticed. A couple of seconds after I reached the cycle zone the lights changed and I set off only to have the car that had been at the front of the queue lean on his horn and then roar past me, pretty close, at the first opportunity. - Justonge There are lots of cyclists who jump red lights, don’t signal, cycle dangerously etc. There are also lots of car drivers who jump red lights, don’t signal, drive while using their mobile phone etc. It’s not cyclists vs drivers. It’s arseholes vs everyone else. - Posadist |