UKH

I really thought I was going to be in a nasty today. I was driving west bound on the A55 doing about sixty in the nearside lane. There was a slower vehicle in front and I noticed another, appeared to be some sort of road contractor's pick up about to join the carriageway from a slip road.

I eased into the offside lane to allow him to join the carriageway and also so that I could overtake the slower vehicle.

The pickup vehicle, having joined the carriage way then forced its way between me and the vehicle I was overtaking, "cutting" me up in the process.

Thankfully, by rapid braking, I avoided a collision but it was probably the scariest moment on the road I've ever experienced.

Unfortunately I had no dashcam and was unable to identify the vehicle.

All exacerbated by the fact that I was in Mrs Bojo's car. If there had been a collision she would have gone ballistic. Needless to say I don't intend to tell her about it.

Genuinely shaken by the experience

Unless you drive like an idiot - just buy a dash cam. £50-100 once every 3-4 years with the potential to save a lot of money. 

Or live in the Highlands.

This. Very useful when the other driver claimed I was on their side of the road and driving too fast. Dashcam showed me almost stationary right up on the grass verge as the other car, in the middle of the road, clipped my rear wheel arch.

Only problem is the batteries get knackered fairly rapidly and you need to break into a sealed unit to replace them.

I would also recommend a cheap dashcam.  There's been a spate of crash-for-cash incidents near me (the scam with the disabled brake lights) and I figured that £50 was a worthwhile investment.

Mine runs off one of the car's 12V ports, and turns itself on and off with the ignition.  I literally don't have to do a thing and can't even see it tucked behind the mirror.  But it's reassuring to know it's there.

What make is it?

This one, or at least very similar: https://www.halfords.com/technology/dash-cams/nextbase-122-dash-cam-158846....

You can pay a lot more for bells and whistles (like rear and side view, recording if impact is felt when the car is turned off, better image quality...) but this does the basic job just fine.

Thanks for that

I was riding up hill (bicycle) last week on a narrow country lane (slightly wider than single track, but two cars have to stop to squeeze past each other.  A driver decided to overtake me, despite there being no sight line worth speaking of.  Two cars came around the corner in the opposite direction.  The overtaking driver had three choices - stop and have an awkward eyeball to eyeball moment with the driver coming the other way.  Drive into the other car and let the insurance sort it out.  Punt me into the hedge, squeeze past the other cars and fk off smartish.  No prizes for guessing which.  The driver of the first car drove off smartly too.  The other stopped, asked if I was OK and called the other driver a lunatic.  The battery on my camera ran flat ten minutes earlier.    Getting seriously pissed off with this now (two hit and runs, one side swipe, one left hook, one T-bone from the right, one pot-hole on a roundabout, and one all my own work, in 45,000 miles - three trips to A&E, including a full-strength 9-hour stint in St Georges.  

That happened to us in a group of motorcycles going at 50 mph in a 60 limit because we had some learners with us, the car overtook going up hill crossing a double white line and pushed oue of the lads in to a ditch when a car came the other way.

He didn't reckon on some of us being on faster bikes though and the driver ended up with a very sore nose, hus keys in a field and more than a few boot marks on his car. 

I got swiped 6 years ago outside a shop in Silsden - I had no camera. Bike written off, I had a witness, police not interested even when I dropped my trousers in Keighley police station to show the bruise that went from my hip to my knee. The driver started to make noises that it was my fault when British Cycling's legal people got in touch with him. So I went to the shop in Silsden and hey presto - the CCTV covering their front door had picked up the whole incident. The driver then paid up. The police still weren't interested!

This sounds probably like you were in their blind spot the entire time? Obviously not your fault, they should of checked, but still something to be aware of.

The only blind spots in a car/pick up are the places that it is not possible to see at all from the driver's seat - that's essentially the immediate perimeter.  The rest is visible if you move your head and look.

The bigger SUVs get the bigger that immediate perimeter becomes, which makes them even more of a nonsense as a school run family car

That is not always the case, I drive a Range Rover when towing and  Peugeot 206 most of the rest of the time.

The Peugeot has far bigger blind spots due to it's small mirrors and windows.

How far in front of you does a four-year-old child need to be standing before you can see them in the Range Rover?

The average 6 month old lamb is pretty much right up against the front bumper before I lose sight of it and have to get out to ensure that it has moved.

The average 4 year old is considerably taller than the average 6 month old lamb.

Sadly all vehicles have blind spots and small cars are not necessarily any better than larger ones in this respect.