Girl Almost Clipped By Car While Cycling Prompts Campaigners To Demand 'New Highway Code Rules'

By Margareth

Campaigners are on the rise in demanding for the new "Highway Code Rules" to be implemented after a video of an eight-year-old girl biking on a high-traffic road shocks them as she was almost clipped by a car that was trying to take over the lane.

The short clip showed that she was safe, but it was enough to prompt viewers to get the new Code Rules enforced for the sake of cyclists' (and horseriders!) safety.

The little girl was seen cycling without a helmet when a Range Rover raced to take over the vehicle before him.

 A user easily relates to the danger of cycling on the road, "I cycle behind my two children. Often my heart is in my mouth. For us, most drivers are courteous, but occasionally the boys have a wobble, wet brakes, skid on ice, and drivers don't give them any extra slack for poor weather. I wonder if it is because new cars aid driving so much?"

It narrowly missed the truck and slipped with very little gap between the girl and his car.

"To all those people moaning about the new Highway Code rules and they don't think they should give cyclists (or horse riders) space when overtaking, this is why," wrote Danny, who is an avid commentator when it comes to city mobility from London.

A number of users agreed with the tweet that has received over 2,440 likes. One wrote, "If you are cycling, you have certainly experienced this. It scares me to bits - I can't imagine how frightful it must have been for this child and their adult!"

A user pointed out that the Range Rover's driving was posing a danger to others and wrote, "RR driver overtakes into oncoming traffic forcing the van to virtually stop. Absolutely awful driving deserving of a formal police warning."

One agreed that the driver's dangerous driving deserves to be warned, and a new code wouldn't have stopped them. They commented, "To be perfectly fair, the behavior of the Range Rover driver is not going to be changed by the updates to the Highway Code. Anyone who overtakes cyclists into oncoming traffic is deranged and will simply ignore the new rules anyway."

Several users were commenting on how the girl was not wearing a helmet or was even driving out alone in the first place.

"I was more horrified to see such a young girl riding along a busy road like that without even a crash helmet! What are you thinking would happen should she get clipped by one of those vehicles?" wrote one concerned user.

The Highway Code's Rule 72 instructions read: Ride in the center of your lane, to make yourself as clearly visible as possible, in the following situations:

  • On quiet roads or streets – if a faster vehicle comes up behind you, move to the left to enable them to overtake if you can do so safely.
  • In slower-moving traffic - when the traffic around you starts to flow more freely, move over to the left if you can do so safely so that faster vehicles behind you can overtake.
  • At the approach to junctions or road narrowings where it would be unsafe for drivers to overtake you."
Tags: #Campaigners #New Highway Code Rules #Car