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'So close to cyclist never coming home': Ute's close shave

Author
Heath Moore, NZ Herald,
Publish Date
Tue, 3 Jul 2018, 9:57AM
​

'So close to cyclist never coming home': Ute's close shave

Author
Heath Moore, NZ Herald,
Publish Date
Tue, 3 Jul 2018, 9:57AM

A ute has been caught on camera almost wiping out a cyclist on a busy Auckland street during a highly dangerous manoeuvre.

On Friday lunchtime dashcam footage captured the hair-raising near miss on Auckland's Remuera Rd that could have left a cyclist for dead.

Video shows a blue ute in the outside right lane suddenly swerve and cut in front of a cyclist in the left-hand lane in an attempt to not miss his turn off fast approaching.

A ute has been caught on camera nearly wiping out a cyclist on Remuera Road on Friday. Photo / SuppliedA ute has been caught on camera nearly wiping out a cyclist on Remuera Road on Friday. Photo / Supplied

The vehicle comes inches away from colliding with the cyclist before carrying on to Green Lane East Rd.

The ute then pulls in front of the cyclist, crosses the lane and drives onto Green Lane East. Photo / Supplied
The ute then pulls in front of the cyclist, crosses the lane and drives onto Green Lane East. Photo / Supplied

The video has left viewers fearful, while others are furious at the ute driver's behaviour and lack of awareness.

"So close to that cyclist never coming home again," one person said.

Another wrote: "The worst design flaw is the ute driver's attitude, gonna take a lot to change this behaviour after a decade of slack enforcement."

"Got to love the ignorant left hook drivers who have no regards for the safety of cyclists!"

"I'm a fairly confident commuter cyclist but that's horrifying," one cyclist said.

The near miss comes just months after an Auckland cyclist suffered terrible neck and head injuries in a commuter crash that left her thinking she'd never walk again.

Ultra-marathon runner, solo mum and general manager Vicki Woolley, 49, of Laingholm in West Auckland has a titanium plate in her neck and a traumatic injury to her brain because of the crash on Titirangi Rd at just after 8.30am on May 9. She was on her way to work in Kingsland.

Cyclist and ultra-marathon runner Vicki Woolley was seriously injured after being hit by a car while cycling to work last month. Photo / Dean Purcell
Cyclist and ultra-marathon runner Vicki Woolley was seriously injured after being hit by a car while cycling to work last month. Photo / Dean Purcell

The mother of two boys, aged 11 and 14, Woolley said emergency services didn't at first know if she would survive the accident and still does not know if she will ever run again.

Wearing a helmet and fluoro, reflectorised gear and with lights on front and back, she had been riding downhill when a car came out frontwards from a driveway on the left of the road, beyond parked cars. She moved right to try to steer around the car, but it continued coming out, apparently for a right turn. Woolley braked and shouted.

"My left leg took the brunt of the impact. I flew over the bonnet without touching it and landed on my head, then flipped over twice before I came to rest."

Woolley has now penned an open letter to Auckland drivers, in which she questions how they seem not to see her and asks if their fragile egos are offended at being passed by a smaller "vehicle".

She is calling on Auckland drivers to drop the aggro, look for cyclists, and realise that they each represent one less car on the road, and one more carpark for a driver.

The number of people killed on Auckland roads in the past three years rose by 78 per cent, an increase more than three times the 23 per cent rise for the rest of the country.

Back in May, a Northland truckie released a near-miss video diary of idiot drivers on New Zealand roads that is being described as "like a horror film".

In a compilation video posted online, the footage highlights the life-risking decisions road users are making every day in an effort to overtake large trucks.

In incidents between 2015 and 2018, drivers can be seen coming just inches away from potential death.

The complication video has been described by viewers as a "horror film" and a "daily occurrence".

One driver was lucky to avoid a crash after the driver overtook a truck despite an oncoming car being just metres away. Photo / Facebook
One driver was lucky to avoid a crash after the driver overtook a truck despite an oncoming car being just metres away. Photo / Facebook
Yet another close call on our roads. Photo / Facebook
Yet another close call on our roads. Photo / Facebook

According to the New Zealand Transport Agency, there have been 391 fatalities on our roads between May 2017 and May 2018.

That's on average more than one death each day.

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