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NewsCommunityNear miss after panicked learner jumps red

Near miss after panicked learner jumps red

A DASHCAM captured the hair-raising moment a flustered learner driver jumped a red light and almost crashed head-on into an oncoming car.

The learner experienced a driving lesson from hell at a one-way system in West Lothian on Monday.

The Fiat 500 stops at the red but appears to stall and takes so long to get moving once the light turns green that it switches back to red before the car reaches the light.

The rookie approaches the other end of the roadworks between Bathgate and Livingston and appears to have got away with it until a black car is seen coming in the other direction.

The driver of the black car is forced to brake and reverse to let the learner through.

A man in the car from which the video was taken shouts: “Oh s***! Oh, f****** hell!”

 

Helen Fern, the instructor in the video, insisted no-one had been placed in danger by her panicked pupil.

She said: “In situations such as these, some learners can be very flustered and need to be calmed to continue when safe, so in my position of ‘in control of the vehicle and the driver’ means making split-second decisions.

“Once clear of the incident, which I would not describe as even close to ‘almost having a head on collision’, I discussed with the student and confirmed that a decision to stop would have been the correct decision.”

Neil Greig, a spokesman for the Institute of Advanced Motoring, said: “Clearly the new driver has experienced some level of ‘panic’ when stalling on approach to the temporary traffic lights.

“We all need to be patient around new drivers and allow them to gain experience in as wide a range of traffic conditions as possible.”

In October, dashcam footage of a white van man driving too close and honking his horn at a learner driver on her test in Edinburgh went viral.

And in September, instructor Chris Barnett was assaulted and left with a fractured elbow after an attack by a Range Rover driver in Essex.

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