VERY near miss with Sussex Lorry driver ...

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BigonaBianchi

Yes I can, Yes I am, Yes I did...Repeat.
Dear Mr BOAB



Further to your email on Monday and ...........’s reply, I wanted to come back to you as ........ is away on leave from today. As I have also been involved with following up this issue, I did not want to hold matters up until his return in 2 weeks time.



Firstly, thank you for providing your video footage which we have shared with the driver of the vehicle. We spent some time studying it together so he could appreciate what he should have done differently. He clearly misjudged the space available which is not something we would expect from any of our drivers and whilst he did comment that he had anticipated that you may have moved onto the cycle lane alongside this narrow part of the road, he wholeheartedly accepts the consequences (and potential consequences) his misjudgement caused. He has assured us that it was not a deliberate attempt to scare you and we apologise to you if that is how it made you feel. He has also committed to taking greater care and attention at all times.



This is not the standard we have come to expect from our drivers during our past 15 years of trading and as a consequence, I have dealt with the matter under the guise of our internal discipline procedures as appropriate. I wanted to reassure you that we have taken the matter very seriously and the driver is left in no uncertainty as to what this means for him personally.



To take this one stage further I have also ensured that ALL of our drivers are reminded of our Vulnerable Road Users Policy and how this links with their day to day activities out on the road.



Your help in providing the video is appreciated as this has supported the necessary discussions with our driver - so thank you. I hope we have demonstrated to your satisfaction that we have dealt with the matter effectively.



Kind regards





Eezehaul

West Sussex,





Dear ,

Thank you for your speedy reply. I accept your apology on behalf of your driver.

The main thing is that I am not physically hurt, and neither were other road users or your driver. This was incredibly fortunate given his driving. I am sure your driver is a decent guy just going about his job, however I am pleased to hear that you have highlighted his shortcomings regarding what you term ‘vulnerable road users’ and hope that he will be more mindful in future.

I am a very experienced cyclist. I have ridden the Lands end John O’ Groats end to end, the entire length of Europe to the Med and back, and coast to coast across America. I know what I am doing on a bicycle. I ride IRO 50 miles every day and that particular stretch of road is well known to me. I say this because of his comment about cycle paths.

His view that I ‘may have moved into the cycle lane’ is typical of impatient lorry drivers I see out there every day. I have the right to decide if using cycle lanes is the safer option for me or not. In this case it isn’t. The lane is usually covered in glass and road debris, it has several roads crossing it and it stops abruptly forcing cyclists out into fast traffic from the rear. In addition my speed on that stretch can be 25mph which I feel unsafe for pedestrians. In my opinion your driver felt aggrieved that I was on the road and he decided to make a point by passing so close, even when there was clearly an oncoming car and it would put my life and theirs at risk. He was travelling much too fast for the situation and opted to pass dangerously close rather than slow down and wait a few seconds for a safe moment to pass. In short , rather than assuming a cyclist ‘may’ use the cycle path, he should assume that they may not. He should read the Highway Code and drive accordingly.

I say this for his benefit as well as other road users. Had I been hurt, I would have sent that video directly to the police.

Hopefully the next cyclist he sees in front of him will have a safer experience as a result of the discussions you have had with your driver.

Thank you once again.

BOAB

 
OP
OP
BigonaBianchi

BigonaBianchi

Yes I can, Yes I am, Yes I did...Repeat.
I think that although nothing more is to be done that reporting such events to employers is worthwhile. Shame it comes to this though....but why the hell should I just allow somebody to nearly kill me without saying something!
 

GrumpyGregry

Here for rides.
im just angry...this was close enough that he clipped my arm...not just any close pass.
Your anger is justified and yet 99.99% of non-cycling drivers would be thinking "You weren't hurt, your bike is fine, what's the problem?"

(which is more or less what a Sussex (Lewes) plod said to me about four weeks ago)
 

subaqua

What’s the point
Location
Leytonstone
Can we see the video now that the problem has been resolved? I would like to know why you are so angry about the situation.
so would I.
 

Matthew_T

"Young and Ex-whippet"
A lorry brushed his arm. I don't really need to see footage to know why he is angry!
But it would be interesting to know if there was any reason the lorry might have passed so close. Opposing traffic, road furniture, badly planned manouvre... As has been agreed before, we all have different perceptions of a "close" pass. IMHO, if the lorry brushed his arm, then it must have been close by anyones standards.
 

Licramite

Über Member
Location
wiltshire
Not that I'm condoning the lorry driver who clearly got it wrong, but why didn't you move over into the cycle lane if there was one to go into ?

If a lorries coming up behind me I get out of the way pdq and as far away as possible. -
 

Licramite

Über Member
Location
wiltshire
I'm a big scardy cat and would have gone for the cycle lane even if had been 6" deep in cow shoot.
death by lorry is not my prefered way to go.
I have a very simple rule when cycling , I always give priority to things that will kill me.


but as he says he is a very experienced cyclist so must have known the lorry would assume he would go for the cycle lane - thats why its there - and once committed lorries can't exactly stop,slow down that easily so I would imagine the lorry drive was as suprised as he was. (I don't buy, the lorry driver was out to get me line) and were as he is perfectly in the right, being in the right isn't always the right thing to do in my chickenhearted opinion.
 

gambatte

Middle of the pack...
Location
S Yorks
But you don’t know the lorry’s there till it’s there, unless you’re shoulder checking every 10s. Would you cycle through 6” of cow shoot all the time?
 
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