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Now and again in our Near Miss of the Day series, we feature a video that doesn’t quite fit that description, because rather than a close pass, the motorist actually hits the bike rider with their vehicle … and that’s we have in this latest video, with the van driver involved smacking into a cyclist taking part in a time trial with such force that the vehicle’s door mirror broke off and was left on the road.
Several drivers gave road.cc reader Ooblyboo plenty of space before the van driver came up from behind and hit him, leaving him bruised but thankfully nothing worse.
“It was on 8 May,” Ooblyboo told us. “I was racing in a VTTA 10-mile time trial on the F11/10 course near Tring on the A41. It was a Sunday morning, about 9.30am – traffic was light and conditions were good. Overcast, no low light, warm and dry.
“I got one hell of a thump – the whole wing mirror came off. If you look closely in the video you can see bits of it bouncing down the road. I just heard a very loud bang and suddenly I was covered in bits of glass and plastic and I felt a sharp pain in my backside.
“I didn’t initially know what had happened to me but quickly realised I had been struck by the van’s wing mirror at what must have been at least 60mph.
“The driver just carried on and after I briefly checked myself over I decided to continue the race as it was the only way I knew how to get back to HQ (I don’t live in the area) and I didn’t want to stop on the dual carriageway. I had heavy bruising but didn’t require hospital.
“I reported it to the organiser who produced a thorough report for CTT [Cycling Time Trials] and were very helpful.
“I also reported it to police who took some time to investigate but I am pleased that they did follow through with the investigation and eventually I was informed that the driver was found guilty at court of three offences – driving without due care and attention, failing to stop at the scene of an accident and failing to report an accident.
“They didn’t initially tell me what the penalty was but after some back and forth they eventually told me that the driver received points and a fine. I don’t know how many/how much.
“I don’t know what the driver was doing but watching the video, it appears to me that they must have been distracted by something – we will never know,” Ooblyboo continued.
“As far as my feelings on this: I was incredibly fortunate that the mirror struck only my body and not the bike. A couple of centimetres further to the left and I might not be around to tell the tale.
“It shows how vulnerable we as cyclists are on the road and it also shows why it is crucially important that drivers remain focused and in full control of their vehicle at all times. Sadly the standard of driving in this country seems to be falling. I haven’t ridden an open-road TT since.”
Ooblyboo added: “As per the rules of the event, I had a flashing front and rear light and helmet, and I had only put the Cycliq Fly 6 on the bike on a whim, having only bought it about two weeks beforehand! They are well worth having.”
> Near Miss of the Day turns 100 – Why do we do the feature and what have we learnt from it?
Over the years road.cc has reported on literally hundreds of close passes and near misses involving badly driven vehicles from every corner of the country – so many, in fact, that we’ve decided to turn the phenomenon into a regular feature on the site. One day hopefully we will run out of close passes and near misses to report on, but until that happy day arrives, Near Miss of the Day will keep rolling on.
If you’ve caught on camera a close encounter of the uncomfortable kind with another road user that you’d like to share with the wider cycling community please send it to us at info [at] road.cc or send us a message via the road.cc Facebook page.
If the video is on YouTube, please send us a link, if not we can add any footage you supply to our YouTube channel as an unlisted video (so it won’t show up on searches).
Please also let us know whether you contacted the police and if so what their reaction was, as well as the reaction of the vehicle operator if it was a bus, lorry or van with company markings etc.
> What to do if you capture a near miss or close pass (or worse) on camera while cycling
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