21.5.07 Tailgating by taxi PN56 TXX At around 1615 on Monday I was riding into town via Four Lamps. Along Short Street and Emmanual Road I approached the bollards (in a primary position) with the lights set for a pedestrian cycle, with a bus waiting at bollards in front of me. I sensed a vehicle close behind me and on looking found that a large black taxi was driving behind me far too close. I gestured for the driver to keep back: arm outstretched to the rear, angled downwards slightly, hand and palm flat and tilted back up in the universal `stop' sign; I gently made `pushing' motions. I also shouted `keep your distance', `you're too close' and/or `keep back'. As I approached the stationary bus I decelerated gently and stopped behind it. (I could have snuck round the side of the bus via the cycle bypass lane. However, that lane is not generally useable as it is very narrow, the metal post separating it from the main flow is often bent into it, and using it risks coming into conflict with vehicles emerging from the bollards when the bike bypass ends and the lanes re-merge.) When the lights changed and the bus moved, I pulled away and rode at approximately 20mph (the speed limit there) until approaching the bus station mini-roundabout; after that my speed was limited once more by hazards such as the mini-roundabout itself, the bus station entrance, manoeuvreing buses, traffic waiting for the Grand Arcade lights, and so on. I was constantly checking over my shoulder for the behaviour of the taxi. I thought it was still uncomfortably close at times but it generally didn't seem so close that I should gently stop and arrange for the driver to pass me. On reviewing my video footage, however, I see that each time a hazard in front of me causes me to coast or slow down, the driver comes up behind me far too close. Obviously at these times I wasn't checking behind me often because I was concentrating on the situation ahead of me. As we come up to the zebra crossing at the end of Emmanuel Street, I noticed pedestrians waiting to cross. I slowed and stopped for them, but was slightly puzzled by their reluctance to cross. Normally if moderate my speed to give them a clear feeling that there will be time to cross and that I will give way, pedestrians in this circumstance will go. However in this case both people - one one each side - decided to wait for me to stop completely, because there was some doubt in their minds. This puzzled me slightly at the time. On reviewing the video a cause suggests itself: the taxi behind me was not driving as if it was expecting me to give way, or indeed to give way itself. In my opinion the driver was consistently driving too close behind me. There were many periods when if I had had to do an emergency stop for any reason (for example, an insect in my eye or a mechanical failure, or an unanticipated hazard on the road) the taxi would have collided with me from behind. The Highway Code suggests a stopping distance of 12m at 20mph and the formula it uses gives 4.5m at 10mph and just under 2m at 5mph, which is about 2x to 3x as much as I was given. Also, with hindsight it seems to me that the driver was discourteous towards the pedestrians waiting at the Emmanuel Street zebra. ---------- 23.5.07 Reported to Council Taxi Licensing Office ---------- 29.5.07 Driver given `words of advice' One of the Taxi Licensing Officers has written to me as follows: Dear Dr Jackson, I have made a record of your complaint and the driver has attended an interview at the Taxi Licensing Office to view the video footage taken by your cycle camera. Although the video evidence does show one point where the hackney carriage vehicle appears to be uncomfortably close to the back of your cycle the footage is taken in an area of the city which restricts traffic to 20 miles per hour. When viewing the footage I took in to account that the area is heavily congested and also that the traffic is actually travelling slower than 20 mph as vehicles approach the bollards. I also noted that when you both come to a standstill the driver puts a safe distance between you before he starts his vehicle. In your camera description and subsequent discussions on the cam.transport discussion group you comment that: ''I think the biggest problem is the narrow field of view. It makes everything seem much closer than it is. Even the tailgating taxi is not as bad as it looks in the video.'' For this reason I have closed off the complaint and issued the driver with words of advice, a copy of all correspondence will now be placed on the driver's personal file and would be used to substantiate similar incidents if they were to occur in the future. Thank you for bringing this matter to my attention, please feel free to contact me if you would like to discuss the matter further. I have confirmed with the officer that they're happy for for me to publish this reply.