Cyclist gets in way of ambulance with sirens blaring then complains about near miss

Sorry, I know it’s conventional for the OP to post their opinion, but I’m quite opinionated so might just spoil the thread if I start off with that – I’ll chip in later. If you really want to see my thoughts then I’ve posted here: http://road.cc/content/news/236014-west-midlands-ambulance-service-rejects-cyclists-claim-emergency-response

He got it worng.

cyclist 100% in the wrong IMO. a car in front of the bike had already pulled over and the cyclist should have stopped behind it – instead he overtook the slowing car putting himself in a very dangerous position. the driver of the ambulance was a bit over eager perhaps

Can’t see what the ambulance driver did that the cyclist thought was endangering him. Also not sure the cyclist did enough to get out of the way though to be fair from just this angle it’s hard to know what options were availabe to them aside from ducking in behind the car he overtook which looks a pretty reasonably plan.

the driver of the ambulance was a bit over eager perhaps

To do what? Get home for a chippy tea?

Wrongity-wrong.

He pulled out to pass another car, cutting into what was then the middle lane. He’s lucky the ambulance didn’t collect him at that point.

I wonder if he was riding with headphones on?

Ambulances I have seen usually would slow down more at the junction even with blues and twos going but the cyclist should have stopped behind the slowing car.

Even if you look over your shoulder and see the ambulance a hundred yards from the roundabout in the outside lane – you have to be a knob to go “well, I’ll be all right on the inside going straight over, then”. Ambulance on blues and twos = get outta the way.

Doesn’t look like he was in any danger and the air horn appeared to be used as an extra warning as the cyclist didn’t appear to acknowledge he was there. Footage from the vehicle will be interesting.

yep cyclist was an idiot

I wonder if he was riding with headphones on?

I wondered that as well. sirens I find actually painful when on my bike they are that loud

Cyclist should have stopped. He didn’t, we can all make mistakes. But to then go onto social media and have a go at the driver and drum up some publicity outs him as a dobber.

He’s a dick

As someone said,I bet he was wearing headphones?

Which I think is mental in itself on the roads.

Well that’s a relief – you all seem to agree with my thoughts on it. Plenty of opportunity for him to get out of the way, and whatever he claims and thinks it’s perfectly normal for an ambulance to use the right lane to pass other traffic before turning left (in the reasonable expectation that everybody else will stop until it’s gone).

Any time I am riding in traffic and there’s an emergency vehicle I make myself scarce so the drivers can pull out of the way. I’ll hop onto a pavement or into a driveway and stop.

Well that’s a relief – you all seem to agree with my thoughts on it.

Wait until the morning.

Bike riding idiot.

Cyclists actions not ideal. However… I drive along that road regularly. For periods of years I have driven it twice a day. Some people in cars treat cyclists with incredible aggression on that road and having seen a cyclist trapped against the railings on the near side of the road – I’d be extremely cautious to pull over there. However, just sent this to a West Midlands Ambo mate (20 years service) and he thinks the driver of the ambulance is not driving to an appropriate standard. Make of that what you will.

Any time I am riding in traffic and there’s an emergency vehicle I make myself scarce so the drivers can pull out of the way. I’ll hop onto a pavement or into a driveway and stop

This is a wise move: I’ve been hit by someone who shat themselves and pulled straight into the kerb, not realising I was there.
Even though they were in the process of overtaking me 🙄

Wait until the morning.

I’ll do the contratian view now. We don’t know what happens before the start of the video but it looks to me like the bike is already in the middle lane at the start of the video. Without seeing the road markings that’s a road position I’d tend to use when going straight on if the left lane is going left, although I’d probably try to dominate the lane a bit more.

Now the ambulance rocks up. We don’t know how much notice there was beforehand but the siren isn’t audible right at the start. I make it three seconds from when the siren becomes audible to the junction, and the bike’s view is obstructed by the other vehicles. That’s not enough time to look over your shoulder, find a safe gap and pull over; and the bike can’t vanish into thin air.

Now the bike could have stopped at the junction, which would seem sensible but it’s not that unreasonable to carry on and anyone on blues should have expected it. Turning left from the rightmost lane without indicating is a fairly risky manoeuvre and would fail you your driving test, so is careless driving. Blues don’t stop you having to drive with due care and attention. It wouldn’t have hurt the ambulance to back off for a second just to make the whole thing much safer and the horn was, in my view, an unnecessary expression of frustration that tells you about the ambulance driver’s mental state.

If the bike had been an articulated lorry you can bet the ambulance driver wouldn’t have attempted to intimidate in the same way.

I guess it depends on whether you think the cyclist deliberately pulled out in front of the ambulance or not. To me the video is inconclusive.

The driver did back off for a second, hence why there was actually quite a decent gap between the back wheel of the bike and the ambulance – whatever the cyclist might think or claim, that didn’t look at all dangerous to me (and I’ve had my fair share of people driving dangerously when I’m cycling, I know what it looks like, that wouldn’t bother me at all if it happened to me – apart from wondering if I’d been a dick that is).

Cyclist is a **** who should have had his organs harvested.
He’s a loser that will do anything for attention.
Not getting hit by an ambulance?
I haven’t been hit by an ambulance all week, no need to shout about it.
This will result in a social media hate campaign, he won’t like the attention then, bedwetting ****.

I don’t think I’ve ever before watched a video from a cyclist’s onboard camera and thought they were definitively in the wrong.

Congratulations on finally acknowledging your prejudice though aracer.
🙂

ETA: WRT my first post, it’s not rude if it’s true. 😀

As a rule you can hear sirens way before the cars and have plenty of time to get out the way. Its the same on a motorbike. I’ve gad no end of grief from tin box steering wheel attenders when I have slowed to let an ambulance by.

This assumes the ambulance had his sirens on well in advance.

Seems a fuss over nothing. Ambo was driving a bit aggressily perhaps, but didn’t really do much wrong. Cyclist could have given way more gracefull but I can sort of understand how they came to be in that position. No one got hit or close to it. What’s the big deal?

The cyclist could have pulled over no problem imo- behind the last car they overtook that was already attempting to pull over themselves.

I can’t see what’s wrong with what the ambulance has done – I’d want them to hurry to pick me up as well if I was seriously ill.

Incidentally, the ambulance didn’t do anything that close to knocking said cyclist off – he cut behind him.

If he was aware there was an ambulance coming he should have slowed and pulled in. Looks to me like he was accelerating to get onto & through the roundabout.
He probably underestimated how quickly it would get to him.
Bit of a tattiepot to go online and twine about it though.
A part of my cycle commute is on a route to local A&E – I often do what molgrips says to let blues through.I even do the slowing down hand signal and everything! 🙂

Was it a slow news day for the metro?

Hard to see what the fuss is about

What’s the big deal?

I’m going to say entitlement. The video appears to show somebody on a bicycle who considers their own progress more important than that of, oh, let’s say for the sake of argument, a dying child*. Of course, as had already been pointed out, the rider may have headphones in or be totally deaf; but if awareness of the ambulance’s approach is assumed, then the one on the bike would probably be wise to question their sense of importance/entitlement. We do not know, however, if the rider was also on their way to tend a dying child**

*other emergencies are available.
** other emergencies are available.

Turning left from the rightmost lane without indicating is a fairly risky manoeuvre and would fail you your driving test, so is careless driving.

How exactly was it careless?

Loads of people driving cars react poorly when an ambulance is behind. Many don’t notice it, others seem to go into a blind panic and stop dead in the road causing more of a problem that if they had continued and slowly bulled pulled to the left.

The difference is they don’t video it and then report it as the ambulance drivers fault.

Should maybe post videos of the idiots I encounter when pressing my neeee naaaaw buttons

Cyclist in the wrong.

Ambulance driver then doing the usual “there’s a cyclist ahead, I can and must overtake him” and also in the wrong – looked reasonably clear that the cyclist was not turning left. Had his maneuver worked he’d have saved about 1 second?

However he didn’t really endanger cyclist.

It’s the drivers unthinking overtake I’d question – happens to me all the time – drivers with sirens on should do more thinking.

teamhurtmore – Member
Was it a slow news day for the metro?

Hard to see what the fuss is about

Potential for cyclist hate clicks.

Cyclist can be knobs too shocker

Drac – Moderator
Turning left from the rightmost lane without indicating is a fairly risky manoeuvre and would fail you your driving test, so is careless driving.
How exactly was it careless?

We’re taught to do that, I assume you are too?

Cyclists can be judgmental arseholes too.
There is absolutely no way from those few seconds of video that you can tell what is right and wrong. We’re seeing a rear view, the cyclist hasn’t got eyes in the back of his head. Yeah, he heard the sirens. Where are they?
Second or 2 to decide what to do, he went straight on, didn’t get hit, ambulance delayed by a split second maybe?
Unless you’re there, in that situation you don’t know what you would’ve done.

No-one seems to have commented on the white van pulling out as it’s being overtaken and almost crashing with the ambulance. At least one party there was worse than the cyclist…

How exactly was it careless?

Not “careless”, “careless driving”. The offense of “careless driving” has nothing to do with being careless or not.

Taking your hand off the wheel to make hand gestures is also careless driving and there have been convictions, including where it’s resulted in cyclist injuries. I wouldn’t trust the witnesses or Metro reporting to say whether that happened or not in this case.

Using the horn to intimidate other road users is also naughty.

Technically the cyclist did nothing wrong (I don’t think anything he did can be construed as obstruction), but the ambulance driver did bend a few rules. Technically; and the whole dying baby thing means we ignore the technicalities.

That’s why I find the Ambulance service statement a bit disturbing. On the one hand it’s great to see the management defending their employee / third party contractor providing services to the NHS but on the other they didn’t exactly cover themselves in glory.

So not a great example of professionalism or tolerance, but like others have said a bit of a click-bait article to stir up a flame war by the Metro. I suspect, but have no proof, that there may be some selective quoting going on.

Struggling to see what the ambulance has done wrong.

Approaches roundabout in outside lane as that has the least traffic. Anticipates / hopes / expects other traffic will allow him to turn left from the “wrong” lane. Cyclist doesn’t react as the ambulance driver would have hoped but is aware of the cyclist and is able to brake and make the turn behind the cyclist. Seems pretty much perfect from the ambulance driver to me.

It wouldn’t be that uncommon for a “normal” driver to pull a manouver like that if they’d made a mistake and got in the wrong lane but be far less aware of the cyclist.