Aggressive driving by Waste Lorry

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Trickedem

Guru
Location
Kent
I would be interested to hear peoples opinions on this bit of driving.

I was keeping up with the lorry in front, but this driver kept trying to overtake me. Even as the road was narrowing due to roadworks he beeps me (please excuse my profanity!). I have tracked down the details of the company, so was considering reporting this to them. Is it worth going to roadsafe?
 

Matthew_T

"Young and Ex-whippet"
You did well to keep relatively calm. I would have probably got quite stressed by being intimidated by such a large vehicle.
I would report to the company, it isnt really a serious incident but the driver will need a lecture on why it was so dangerous (dont do this yourself).

That situation (the lorries) looked quite dangerous in itself, so I think I would probably take a different route to wherever next time.
 

compo

Veteran
Location
Harlow
I can't say much about the trucker overtaking you but the lorry in front's left turn was a perfect real life example of why we shouldn't overtake long vehicles up their nearside.
 

musa

Über Member
Location
Surrey
Having looked backed at the video, it is very hard to tell the lorry overtook you harshly, reality will say yes but on video the angle is difficult to tell, if any consolation report it on roadsafe and write a letter to drivers employer with a link to the video not youtube I'd say and leave it as that.
 

Ian Cooper

Expat Yorkshireman
The actual overtakes were not all that dangerous (except his first unsuccessful attempt), but the honking was intimidating. Clearly this driver doesn't want you on 'his' road.

Your lateral position throughout most of the video seems to be about 1/3rd of the way into the roadway - this allowed the lorry driver to try to squeeze by dangerously at 0:40. He fails because the close position of the lorry in front won't allow a successful overtake - which illustrates that the abusive driver is not thinking clearly. I mean, where did he think he was going? He seems to have 'Must Overtake Syndrome'.

The way to prevent this sort of motorist abuse is to ride farther out into the road (as you did coming up to the first left turn). If it had been me, as soon as I felt intimidated I would have taken primary position (or even farther right), thus preventing an unsafe pass on that very narrow stretch of road. This position sends a clear message that the cyclist will not yield his right of way.

Note that the bike lane at the start of the video lures cyclists into an unsafe road position (way too far left). This bike lane is of sub-standard width (2.5 -3ft max and wholly in the gutter/debris field) and should really be ignored by cyclists. this road is a perfect example of a road too narrow to share, which demands that we take primary position to control the lane - even when there's a bike lane.

I would report the incident to the company and to Roadsafe.
 

deptfordmarmoset

Full time tea drinker
Location
Armonmy Way
Was that lorry on the Woolwich ferry with you or did it come from the works going on by Albert Road? I only ask because it's a recycling company and I'd imagine much recycling is council funded. I wonder whether Newham council (?) would be happy to know that they may be paying for badly-driven, non-indicating, beeping bullies without sideguards to intimidate cyclists.
 
OP
OP
Trickedem

Trickedem

Guru
Location
Kent
Was that lorry on the Woolwich ferry with you or did it come from the works going on by Albert Road? I only ask because it's a recycling company and I'd imagine much recycling is council funded. I wonder whether Newham council (?) would be happy to know that they may be paying for badly-driven, non-indicating, beeping bullies without sideguards to intimidate cyclists.
I am not sure if he was on the ferry, although I suspect not as I was first away and I doubt it if he would have been able to catch me by that point, so he may well have come from the works on Albert Rd. Thanks for the summation of his driving, which was a lot more intimidating than you can see from the video and of course completely pointless.
 
+1 on reporting to the company the driver's lack of cycle-awareness -
- the failure to use indicators at 0:20
- that 30 seconds when he's sitting hard on your rear and trying to intimidate you out of the way
 

CopperBrompton

Bicycle: a means of transport between cake-stops
Location
London
The overtake of you didn't look dodgy to me, though his subsequent overtake of the lorry ahead looked a bit tight!

However, the honking and intimidation was definitely aggressive and worth reporting.

I do have to agree that your subsequent overtake as the lights were changing was less than ideal, though I appreciate that having put yourself in that position it was the easiest way out of it.
 

HovR

Über Member
Location
Plymouth
However tempting it may be to overtake a vehicle who has driven dangerously to overtake you, in an attempt to show them that it in fact got them nowhere, I would advise against it.

All you are doing it putting yourself back in front of a dangerous driver, and potentially back into the same danger you were originally in.
 

Electric_Andy

Heavy Metal Fan
Location
Plymouth
This overtake would have been borderline in a car, but in a vehicle that size it was much too close. The fact that he was sitting on your shoulder and struggling to overtake meant that it was not a clear, safe opportunity to overtake so shouldn't have been attempted. However, overtaking him at the lights is something that I would never do, as it would only achieve one thing and that is to make the lorry even more angry and desperate to prove his "point".
 

deptfordmarmoset

Full time tea drinker
Location
Armonmy Way
Well the trolling has now started on you tube. On the same day that I get an email from White Hare Aggregates saying that vehicle doesn't belong to them, I get negative comments from two individuals who have only just registered on youtube. What a surprise!

Strictly speaking the vehicle might not belong to White Hare. But Waste A way clearly does
http://whitehareaggregates.co.uk/index.php?f=data_wasteaway&a=0

Funny then that the White Hare and Waste A Way directors have the same surname - Whitehair. ( http://bizzy.co.uk/uk/04422716/wasteaway-recycling and http://www.cdrex.com/white-hare-aggregates-limited-3792952.html )
 
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