Near Miss Conclusion

[Bikermole]

Some of you may have seen a recent Idiot Van Driver video of mine. In case you didint

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ab3TyI5N8TI[/youtube]

I took it upon myself to email the company who runs the van

Dear Sir or Madam,
On the afternoon of Friday 13th April 2012 at around 16.25, As I was riding my motorbike down Cowdray Avenue, in the direction of North Station, I witnessed some terrible driving by one of your delivery van drivers.
I was sat at traffic lights, and when I moved off, at a steady and safe pace, I noticed your driver was very close to my rear end, tailgating me. This continued for about 200m when the driver undertook me at excessive speed ( I was travelling at 40mph-the speed limit for that road) and continued accelerating down Cowdray avenue. A friend, riding in front of me, indicated and moved into the left hand lane, after doing the appropriate shoulder checks, forcing your driver to take evasive action. I do not need to tell you the risk that was posed to my friend by your driver’s reckless driving.
As well as myself as a witness, I was wearing a helmet mounted video camera, which captured everything that happened.
Now I do not need to tell you how to do your jobs, but your driver could have seriously injured someone that day, and if allowed to continue driving like this, probably will cause a serious accident.
The Vehicle Registration Number is: PE10WRD And I attach a picture of the driver, as captured by my helmet camera.
I can provide a link to the video if required.
Thank you for your cooperation, and I hope this matter can be quickly resolved,
Stephen Young (Mr)

Here was their response

Dear Mr Young,

I was surprised and disappointed to read your email this morning. The driving that you describe is clearly unacceptable. At Majestic we do actually make all drivers complete a driving safely course and consider the vans to be one of our main forms of advertisement which makes me take this kind of complaint extremely seriously. May I take this opportunity to apologise sincerely and you may rest assured that the driver concerned has been reprimanded.
I hope that this is an agreeable solution to you.

Yours Sincerely

Alex

I think this is a fair result.

Would any of you contact a company if the driver was driving dangerously?

 

[thunderous71]

Majestic wines are shit anyhow, over priced plonk for plonkers. Driver didn't give a toss anyhow you could tell from is attitude. HE IS A WHITE VAN DRIVER FOR GOD SAKE THEY OWN THE ROAD DAM IT!

Nice for them to even reply

 

[extreme601]

Quite a decent reply I thought, nice one

 

[MysteriousVlogger]

I had this driver here....


[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ambSSakDe4[/youtube]


But I didnt do anything. I didnt think It would go anywhere.

 

[Friz]

Good job Bikermole! That's the right way to go about it. I'd probably have attached the video anyway.
Just hope something does actually get done about it.

I had this driver here....

I wouldn't go as far as saying "nearly killed" for that.

 

[Bikermole]

I had this driver here....

To be fair, your stopping and shouting at him, meant that you were holding up traffic, He did see you, but because you werent moving out at the opportunity given, he went round you.

 

[AZZ3R]

I had this driver here....

He did see you, but because you werent moving out at the opportunity given, he went round you.

Are you for real?

0.8-0.9 the yellow car was stationary (where was he going to go)?
0.10 the yellow car slowly pulls away, thus making it Lewis's turn to make his observation & move.
0.11 the van had already started his move up the outside + the white van on the otherside obstructed Lewis view of the oncoming truck.
0.12-0.14 the van had completly obstructed Lewis view of the road thus, NOT being able to move out.

Within them 6 seconds where did he get chance to pull out? If you are looking down the road at whats oncoming instead of whats infront of you God help you, when it's your turn to approach the junction then is it your turn to decide wether or not to move out.

The van driver was impaitent, end of. I wouldn't go as far as say almost killing, but it was a stupid move by the van driver.

Lewis did the right thing by letting him turn before he did. This was posted Jan 2011', Lewis was an inexperianced rider, & his road postioning may have prompted the van driver to edge closer to the junction. I'd like to hear where you saw the opportunity to pull out safely.

I don't really want to be posting alot on here anymore, but your comment above is daft.

 

[Chuckles85]

Would I notify the company.... No, I don't think I would, it could be the difference between the guy getting a quiet word in his ear to calm down or losing his job.

I do think however that if both riders had moved into the inside lane as soon as possible this could have all been avoided, he obviously felt you were holding him up and so wanted to get ahead of you guys. You friend could have checked his mirrors, saw he was flying up the inside and decided not to move into his lane.

All this said there were things all parties could have done to make this situation better. I always try when filtering to move away as soon as possible and get into the inside lane, so not to annoy anybody.

At least everyone is home safe.

 

[MysteriousVlogger]

I had this driver here....

To be fair, your stopping and shouting at him, meant that you were holding up traffic, He did see you, but because you werent moving out at the opportunity given, he went round you.

Again.. Are you for real. Go and re watch it and look at AZZ3R's comment.

 

[rickster303]

I had this driver here....

To be fair, your stopping and shouting at him, meant that you were holding up traffic, He did see you, but because you werent moving out at the opportunity given, he went round you.

Again.. Are you for real. Go and re watch it and look at AZZ3R's comment.

tbh i agree with bikermole you should have just gone when you had the chance to

 

[Trinith]

I had this driver here....

To be fair, your stopping and shouting at him, meant that you were holding up traffic, He did see you, but because you werent moving out at the opportunity given, he went round you.

Again.. Are you for real. Go and re watch it and look at AZZ3R's comment.

You had time to pull out, you chose to spend it yelling at the guy.

 

[rickster303]

plus its a bad idea to yell at someone because it will set you in a bad mood and more likely to miss things down the road

 

[MysteriousVlogger]

How did I have time to pull out I was looking to the right to see if it was clear and he comes up? Are you people blind?

 

[rickster303]

How did I have time to pull out I was looking to the right to see if it was clear and he comes up? Are you people blind?

you stopped when it was clear its on the video

 

[MysteriousVlogger]

How did I have time to pull out I was looking to the right to see if it was clear and he comes up? Are you people blind?

you stopped when it was clear its on the video

Erm hello there is a fucking car infont of me!

 

[Yarek]

Agree with Friz - nearly killed is a bit extreme, but there's no doubt the van driver was a complete tard and deserved a good shouting at.

 

[MysteriousVlogger]

Agree with Friz - nearly killed is a bit extreme, but there's no doubt the van driver was a complete tard and deserved a good shouting at.

Thank you! I over hyped the title for views when I actually cared not I dont!

 

[AZZ3R]

When did saying 'F'ing Hell' become 'yelling'

At what point did he have chance to pull out?

Put it this way, if a van had done the same to you, unexpectingly just appeard up next to you, would you still pull out? No. He was going to pull out wether Lewis was or not. So the smarter option was to delay his pull away, so the pillock in the van didnt put lewis under his bonnet.

So the 'yelling' comment is utter crap. He looked right, by the time he had looked forward the van infront had made his move & the van next to him decided it was time to pull away before Lewis had chance.

 

[Trinith]

At what point did he have chance to pull out?

Right before the van did (you know, while he was bitching at the guy.) If there's room for a van to go, there's room for a bike to do it too.

Put it this way, if a van had done the same to you, unexpectingly just appeard up next to you, would you still pull out? No.

Yeah, I would have known there was a gap big enough for me behind the car that was going by. The van sat there MORE than long enough for me to pull out, and so I would have done so.

So the 'yelling' comment is utter crap. He looked right, by the time he had looked forward the van infront had made his move & the van next to him decided it was time to pull away before Lewis had chance.

Wrong again. Twist gas rather than open mouth. There was plenty of space to get out from beside that van and be safe (I know this because a van pulled out into the same space and had a lot of room around it, and it's a LOT bigger than the bike.) If the rider didn't know there was enough space behind the car that was going by before the van pulled up then that would be his fault for not having proper situation awareness. I don't have to be able to see to my right when I make a left turn, I make it a habit to find gaps in oncoming traffic more than 1 second away from the intersection I'm at.

Yes, the van driver was impatient and certainly should not have done what he did. But all this "I had no time to go anywhere" bullshit is precisely that. There was room for a 15ft van a few seconds after the van pulled up, I'm pretty sure there was room for a wee little bike at the time the van appeared.

 

[MysteriousVlogger]

I don't have to be able to see to my right when I make a left turn

Erm the traffic is coming from the right... So yeh you do...