I seem to be sending lots of letters at the moment! Here is my latest, to Clockwork
Dear Sir/madam,
Unfortunately I am writing to you about a driving incident that occurred
on the morning of the 27th January with one of your drivers.
I cycle to work most morning and cycle south on Milngavie Road as part
of my journey. This particular road has a cycle lane, which I use for
certain sections. In other sections I chose not to use it. There are
number of reasons that I don't use it which include, the fact that it is
poorly designed, poorly maintained, often filled with debris, etc. As I
am fully entitled to use the road as I see fit, I do so. Despite this in
the section where the incident occurred, I am still towards the left of
the lane.
As I was approaching Hillfoot a Clockwork HGV registration number
(BV57KFD) started overtaking me. This was not a problem at first as the
driver appeared to be giving me lots of room, and there were no issues
with oncoming traffic. However, as the overtake progressed the driver
appeared to swing his trailer towards me and came close to side-swiping
me with the very rear of the trailer. There was no justification for
this. Due to the proximity of the trailer I felt the need to swerve out
of the way.
As is often the case, I caught up with the HGV and the driver later on.
I asked the driver why he had driven so close to me. He did not deny
that he had done so, and when I pressed further he aggressively asked me
why I had not been in the cycle lane. I asked him if he felt this
mattered or not.
I film my commutes on camera for safety reasons, thus you can view the
footage of the incident and the following discussion, here
(www.youtube.com/watch?v=gasTH5AQ1lg).
In my opinion the driver's reaction suggests that he was annoyed with my
road position and felt the need to make a point with his HGV. This is
totally unacceptable. Even if this wasn't the case, there is no excuse
for the the HGV coming as close as it did. A driver of an HGV should
leave plenty of room for vulnerable road users and only overtake when it
is safe to do so.
I would be grateful if you could investigate the matter, and I would be
interested to hear the drivers side of the story. Please could you also
ensure that all of your drivers are reminded of the importance of
driving safely around cyclists, as we do not have a a protective cage.
Many thanks for your help in this matter.
Best regards
Dr David Brennan
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