How often do you have a 'near miss'?
TheEnglishman
Posts: 587
I have a moment just about every other day where I think 'If I hadn't been paying attention they'd have run me over' Usually either cars trying to squeeze past, not leaving enough space for me, or cars/vans/other cyclists turning left at a junction.
Is this everyone else's experience? Talking to a guy at work he only seems to have a 'moment' once a month.
I don't think I'm an aggressive rider - perhaps I am?
Is this everyone else's experience? Talking to a guy at work he only seems to have a 'moment' once a month.
I don't think I'm an aggressive rider - perhaps I am?
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In general very rarely - two or three a year maybe but then there's loads of times I see something before it happens and avoid it. However, I've had two in two journeys on a certain route (both appalling driving of the highest order). So called 'deprived' areas seem to have the worst driving.
I think every near miss I've had has been on the way home - people in more of a rush I guess.0 -
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about once a month, I am sometimes invisible though, it would seem.
4 offs in 3 years0 -
Not many. Usually a car or van going to close when passing or the road being squeezed by some stupid road furniture(onece or twice a month).
But the morning had a bad one.
I’m keeping up with the traffic and a bus try’s to pass but then decided to pull in while I'm in the middle of his bus. Not good as he was trying to squash me off the road :x0 -
Hardly ever. Fewer than, say, 10 in more than 30 years riding on the roads. Maybe my definition of a near miss is different from others; I only count anything where I genuinely feared for my safety.0
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Well by 'near miss' I mean having to brake/swerve or worse, shouting at a driver. I find 'Oiiiiii' works better than a bell.0
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TheEnglishman wrote:Well by 'near miss' I mean having to brake/swerve or worse, shouting at a driver. I find 'Oiiiiii' works better than a bell.
Varies.
4-5 a week?0 -
Agent57 wrote:Hardly ever. Fewer than, say, 10 in more than 30 years riding on the roads. Maybe my definition of a near miss is different from others; I only count anything where I genuinely feared for my safety.
I guess that's the difference between rural Lancashire and inner London?0 -
TheEnglishman wrote:Agent57 wrote:Hardly ever. Fewer than, say, 10 in more than 30 years riding on the roads. Maybe my definition of a near miss is different from others; I only count anything where I genuinely feared for my safety.
I guess that's the difference between rural Lancashire and inner London?
Not really. I lived & rode in London and Kent as a child, and have cycled in many towns, including Manchester, where I used to live and now work. Lancaster isn't rural as far as the daily commuting through the city centre went; but yes, once a few miles out of town the roads are quieter. In fact it might be possible that drivers in central London behave better around cyclists, because they encounter far more of them on a daily basis.
But anyway, in terms of shouting at people, that happens at least once per week on average, if that's your definition of a "near miss". Not just motorists, either. Also people walking off footways into the carriageway, and the like.0 -
Close pass? Or heart in your throat?
Heart in your throat = You're left not understanding how you missed the vehicle.
Close pass - every other day.
Heart.... - don't like to think about it. But not often.Food Chain number = 4
A true scalp is not only overtaking someone but leaving them stopped at a set of lights. As you, who have clearly beaten the lights, pummels nothing but the open air ahead. ~ 'DondaddyD'. Player of the Unspoken Game0 -
TheEnglishman wrote:Agent57 wrote:Hardly ever. Fewer than, say, 10 in more than 30 years riding on the roads. Maybe my definition of a near miss is different from others; I only count anything where I genuinely feared for my safety.
I guess that's the difference between rural Lancashire and inner London?
Not really: I have one of these about once a year, if that.0 -
In 9 years of commuting around London, four of any note. Three of which would not have happened if I'd been driving a car, and one of my own doing because I cycled into the back of a stationary van.0
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On the Englishman's definition, about once a week. My commute is rural, if it was more urban I'd expect that to be more. Depends how much you tolerate poor driving, I suppose.Ecrasez l’infame0
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I'd say about ten 'holy shit' moments in three years, mostly scarily close passes. One scary incident with another cyclist.
Situations where 'if I'd not been paying attention I'd be in an accident' are pretty common - but since almost all of these are predictable, I can do something about them. Useless overtakes, where I'm doing 14mph not because I'm weak but BECAUSE OF THE FREAKING BUS DIRECTLY AHEAD OF ME, are the most annoying feature on my commute. Seconded by herd-mentality pedestrians (far more annoying than iPod zombies for some reason) and cyclists for whom bike control is an alien concept. Especially if they think this deficiency is somehow funny. Grrrr.0 -
nearly got squished last night
taxi over took then drifted into my lane, then realized i was there an moved back out - think he came within about 4" of me
does that count as a near miss?Keeping it classy since '830 -
mudcow007 wrote:nearly got squished last night
taxi over took then drifted into my lane, then realized i was there an moved back out - think he came within about 4" of me
does that count as a near miss?
OO I dunno - did you have anywhere to go and time to react? If so it was just a "close encounter" ...
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since I started cycling back in march I'd say one - when I bought my hybrid and rode it back from the shop, nearly got doored by a black cab...I've not made that mistake again (it was his mistake, but I didn't have to be so close)
I try to ride defensively and not like a total dick...dont always work, but I try to learn from my mistakes and not do them again.
Of my 36 mile daily commute 12 miles is on an off road cycle path, probably another 6-8 is on road cycle paths of varying quality and the rest just on the road including small sections of bus lane. Not the most dangerous commute in my opinion, other routes in london would be far worse and would probably bring me into conflict with cars a bit more.0 -
Cycled 25 miles yesterday:
- One emergency skidding stop as a lemming ped pushed the front wheel of a mtb out into the road directly into my path
- Two slightly panicked swerves onto RHS of road to avoid cars suddenly pulling across my path
- One slightly more panicked shout at a moped who, without looking, suddenly strayed into the cycle lane to undertake a right-turning car (our handlebars entwined at about 25mph).
Just an average day in L-town.0 -
Once in a blue moon usually, a few close shaves, but I've usually spotted that.
Although most recent was about two weeks ago, I was turning right off a dual carriageway (A34 Parrs Wood Manchester for the locals) - hear a police siren, see police car a few hundred of metres away, then suddenly notice a 'stolen' car coming at speed towards me on the wrong side of the dual carriageway - he'd swung over the carriageway at the traffic lights where I was entering the right hand filter lane. Somehow brain engaged 'get out of way' and I swerved to the left as the car passed me with inches to spare at high speed. Got off the bike and walked it through the junction as more police cars were coming. Close !0 -
About once a month someone produces a piece of driving that has me almost involuntarily shouting "Heyyyyyy" or "Whooaaa". I wouldn't regard those as real near misses but could include very close passes or dangerously silly overtakes. The ones that get the adrenaline going? A couple a year?
I think part of the difference in poeple's experience is definition of a near miss but TBH I think a lot of it is the degree of anticipation and risk management that people use. I think I am sufficiently alert to stupidity that I don't let a lot of situations get to the point of a near miss (adjusting speed, road positioning, shoulder checking, etc). We've had wildly different experience of near misses with pedestrians discussed here - some people have them every week, others hardly at all, rding on very similar roads in the same city - and I think that's all about riding style.0 -
Very true. In terms of stuff that genuinely scares me, pretty rare. I can think of the M&S lorry that I had to jump on the pavement to avoid, a lorry that overtook me at 60+ with a few inches of space and not much else.jedster wrote:I think part of the difference in poeple's experience is definition of a near miss
There are plenty of times that I have to slow down/steer to avoid a numpty, but I tend to see them coming and while I might shake my head in disappointment at them,I'm not sure I'd call it a near miss.0 -
I'm another in that clearly you get folks stepping out, or driving out with out looking etc, and get the odd that was a little close but, near misses I'm struggling to think of any to be honest.0
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I think part of it is experience based. The more you cycle the more you anticipate problems and compensate both in terms of awareness (I check every junction as I come up to them and look behind me regularly) and in riding more defensively (if it's too narrow to overtake me, in my opinion, then I'm likely to assume the primary position) all of which reduce the number of WTF moments. Added to which your stock of WTF moments will grow so you're less likely to rate them so highly unless they really are heart stoppers.
So, how often for me? I'm doing 40 to 60 miles a day in Manchester and Cheshire at the moment (they drive like sodding maniacs in Cheshire as well, genuine scary nutjobs) and I've only had one heart stopper in the last month where I only just avoided tanking into a 4WD on a lane (anticipation kept me in a position where I could squeeze by). A few WTF and scoring drivers 0 out of 10 for close passing (the 0 being visibly raised and waved at them) in that time as well, but nothing really really scary.0 -
TheEnglishman wrote:I have a moment just about every other day where I think 'If I hadn't been paying attention they'd have run me over' Usually either cars trying to squeeze past, not leaving enough space for me, or cars/vans/other cyclists turning left at a junction.
Is this everyone else's experience? Talking to a guy at work he only seems to have a 'moment' once a month.
I don't think I'm an aggressive rider - perhaps I am?
exceedingly rarely, once every 4-6 months.Le Cannon [98 Cannondale M400] [FCN: 8]
The Mad Monkey [2013 Hoy 003] [FCN: 4]0 -
Near miss in terms of having to do an emergency stop? Probably once every few months, they are pretty infrequent although I could still improve my cycling. I cycle fast, but I like to think not aggressively or stupidly.
Usually my own fault through getting too close to the back of other vehicles.
How many motorists/cyclists/pedestrians do stupid/annoying/dangerous things around me? Plenty, but I cycle assertively, take the lane where necessary and anticipate well enough in most cases that smidsys/left hooks/close passes are not a serious problem.0 -
This year I can think of two major ones (one on an A road where a car coming from the other direction overtook the car in front of him at speed and came close enough that I had to stop because I was shaking so much, and one white van who pulled out straight in front of me and made me do an emergency stop), plus one that didn't miss and sent me flying over the car.
If you expand it to the sort of incident where I roll my eyes and think bad things about the driver but I'm able to avoid it without drama, pretty much every ride.0 -
My usual training run yesterday - some twunt in a SUV towing a horsebox pulled past me coming up to a junction and then turned left across me - I was somewhat irked0
