Frightening footage captures the moment a white van narrowly avoids a cyclist at a busy Edinburgh junction.
Sam Whyte, 35, was cycling to work on Thursday February 23, over the A700. While making his way down Earl Grey Street in Tollcross, a van suddenly cut in front of him.
The road, as the media manager explains, has its challenges as the cycle lane with bollards stops at a junction where cars can only make a left turn. However, while Sam checked over his shoulder as he approached the end of the cycle lane, the van next to him fails to slow down to let him pass and nearly catches him.
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And worse still, as he passed the van, he noticed the driver was on his phone.
Speaking to Edinburgh Live, Sam said: "It was about 7.50am - ish. I live in the north of Edinburgh and my office is in the south side. I cycle in three days a week but to be honest that whole road layout is just ridiculous.
"So I could have almost forgiven the driver for having to cut in front of me - though he should have waited. He explained: "I wasn't going very fast, maybe 12 miles per hour. I looked behind me, I could see the van, he then decided he would cut in front of me and then just stop. At that point you can hear my brakes screeching when I'm slamming on them.
"But when I went past him, I thought he was giving me the finger but he was on his phone. I thought, 'that's just ridiculous'. How can you drive in front of somebody while driving one handed? He had one hand on the wheel and the other holding his handset.
"There's no way he couldn't see me. I have a bright yellow helmet, bright yellow coat and three rear and two front lights on the bike. Some people are just selfish.
"I don't like to name and shame people but I think the only way to change behaviour is to shine a light on it. If you're on a handset while driving, your automatically in the wrong."
He added: "But the road layout is a really bad design, it was only done a year ago, where the bollards on the cycle lane stops is right at a waiting queue of static traffic and they are waiting to turn left only. You are then forced as a cyclist to swing out across two lanes of traffic."
Councillor Scott Arthur, Transport and Environment Convener, said: "Careless driving risks the safety of vulnerable road users and should be reported to the police. The current layout on Lothian Road allows the Tollcross junction to operate efficiently, however medium term we will be redesigning Lothian Road as part of City Centre Transformation.”
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