A motorcyclist in Essex had a near-miss after a lorry drove at them head-on while on the wrong side of the road. The incident occurred on July 16 near Lakeside, towards the Dartford Crossing, where traffic had come to a standstill for several hours. The road in the opposite direction was empty, leaving the rider shocked when they had to perform an emergency stop to avoid the oncoming lorry.
Rider's Account
The motorcyclist, known as @motocasperuk on TikTok, said: 'As an experienced rider, I always expect the unexpected, and I expected cars doing U-turns. But this wasn’t something I expected. It wasn’t a pleasant moment, I locked the rear wheel. It was an emergency stop for me. I was pinned against the curb, I left a black mark from my tyre all the way down the road from braking.'
The rider added: 'If worst came to the worst, I would’ve had to pull the throttle and go into the fields. It wasn’t an “oh my God, I’m going to die” moment, so much as a “what are you doing?” moment.'
Footage and Police Response
The rider shared footage on social media, showing the lorry and a Subaru appearing on the empty road, which was a 50mph zone. The motorcyclist, traveling at 40mph, narrowly avoided a head-on collision by pulling over as far to the side as possible. 'When I stopped, the truck was an inch or two from the corner of my bike,' they said.
The incident was reported to Essex Police, who confirmed the report of 'driving without due care and attention' is being processed. In a comment on their post, the rider added that Essex Police had confirmed 'positive action was taken' and are attempting to identify the driver.
Impact on the Rider
The motorcyclist said: 'I’ve been around bikes my entire life and accidents on and off the tracks don’t scare me much but that truck coming at me made me question what I was seeing. If it had been a new rider on the road, it might have been a different situation or outcome. I always have a bike camera filming because of incidents like this. I’ve actually not been out on my bike since. I felt anger and disbelief, I was appalled. I want to make awareness for drivers, that us motorcyclists, we are watching, we do record, and we will share it.'
