That was close.......

slowmart

So I'm riding along a A road when i enter a 30mph limit, I'm doing around 18-20mph according to my Garmin with heavy traffic both ways.

Next thing I know I take a hit to my right shoulder/back from a vans near side mirror. I wobble, sh1t myself but stay upright only for the van to disappear off without as much as a break light. I don't see how he could not have heard the impact.

I'm too old to consider myself indestructible but it's a polite reminder that we are all soft skinned vehicles out there and we share the road with some right ar5eholes. Both in terms of ability and attitude.

dj58

I think this happens more than gets reported, most likely he/she had no insurance, provisional liecence, banned, no mot, drunk/drugged up, defective eye sight, any combination of the above or talking on a mobile phone.

I hand similar incident last week riding along an well lit dual carriageway, I was lit up like a Christmas tree and every vehicle that overtook me passed leaving plenty of room, apart form white transit van man/woman.

He/she didn't hit me with the nearside door mirror, however passed to close for comfort, I did notice that the glass was missing from the mirror assembly, which indicates to me that he/she is poor at judging space/distance to objects. It made me seriously consider getting one of those rear facing camera/lights.

w00dster

Very similar happened to me last summer, I was clipped on the helmet by a Sainsburys Delivery van's wing mirror - he was on the wrong side of the road as well! He did stop and start with yelling at me for not being in the gutter.
There was parked cars on his side of the road so instead of waiting for me to pass he decided to move out to my side of the road and expect me to hug the kerb.
His wing mirror only brushed me but still pretty scary. I also considered a helmet cam but thought against it in the end.

ben@31

W00dster, did you report his dangerous driving to Sainsburys HQ? Van registration, time and location, etc. It may sound a bit extreme but otherwise he will not learn the errors of his ways and he will not change his attitude. If he wasn't breaking the law and potentially injuring cyclists then he would have nothing to worry about.

wishitwasallflat

Lucky escape OP and glad to hear you are ok. May I join what will no doubt be a long list to say sadly I have had several very similar experiences. Each day when I get to work unscathed I breath a little sigh of relief we have a long long way to go before we have a safe cycling culture in this country.

thegreatdivide

I had two close shaves today and I didn't have my bloody GoPro on the bike! Was out with a mate on a country road when an old codger shaved the two of us in his Micra. It was the closest car pass I've had for a long time - it must have been no more than a foot. Sadly we never caught up with him. Then when we'd parted ways I was cycling through the city when I started to get stalked by a Megabus. The fuxker wouldn't wait until the oncoming traffic had passed and overtook so close the left hand wing mirror actually went over my head. There's nothing can really do about the latter but I'll be 'tagging' the Megabus facebook page with a strongly worded post as I know the time of the bus and where it was coming from thanks to those digital displays they have on the front and back.