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Near Miss of the Day 135: Cyclist's new action camera gets its first close pass

Our regular feature highlighting close passes caught on camera from around the country – today it’s Stoke-on-Trent

As our Near Miss of the Day series and many other stories here on road.cc demonstrate, more and more cyclists who regularly ride on the road are buying action cameras pure;y and simply so they have evidence of poor driving, rather than it being their word against that of the motorist.

One recent purchaser is road.cc reader Matt, who just a week after buying his Fly6  camera filmed a very close pass  from the driver of a Honda as he commuted home on 1 May in Stoke-on-Trent.

Matt said: " This is just before a pinch point as the road goes under a bridge and becomes very tight so i was looking behind starting to pull out into a primary position but this didn't stop the driver trying to squeeze past me on this road between Hanley and Milton in Stoke-on-Trent,nearly touching my handlebars. Luckily I was able to move over slightly to avoid contact.

"I have only had the Fly6 over a week, it was brought as this kind of thing happens on a regular basis. This is maybe the worst pass you may have seen but it's the firstthat I have been able to show how close drivers do get."

> Near Miss of the Day turns 100 - Why do we do the feature and what have we learnt from it?

Over the years road.cc has reported on literally hundreds of close passes and near misses involving badly driven vehicles from every corner of the country – so many, in fact, that we decided to turn the phenomenon into a regular feature on the site. One day hopefully we will run out of close passes and near misses to report on, but until that happy day arrives, Near Miss of the Day will keep rolling on.

If you’ve caught on camera a close encounter of the uncomfortable kind with another road user that you’d like to share with the wider cycling community please send it to us at info [at] road.cc (info [at] road.cc) or send us a message via the road.cc Facebook page.

If the video is on YouTube, please send us a link, if not we can add any footage you supply to our YouTube channel as an unlisted video (so it won't show up on searches).

Please also let us know whether you contacted the police and if so what their reaction was, as well as the reaction of the vehicle operator if it was a bus, lorry or van with company markings etc.

> What to do if you capture a near miss or close pass (or worse) on camera while cycling

Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.

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11 comments

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StraelGuy | 5 years ago
1 like

The drivers that really puzzle me are the ones who wait behind you and then do a proper pass using the other lane... ON BLIND BENDS! What is the actual logic of taking the time to pass me safely and not waiting a few more seconds to ensure you don't smash head first into something coming in the opposite direction?! Motons baffle me, they really do .

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Kadinkski | 5 years ago
0 likes

Is there an editor in the house?

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BehindTheBikesheds | 5 years ago
0 likes

Advanced planning for most motorists is non existant, as is positioning, lane discipline and a host of other stuff.
Many drivers say they were 'held up' for ages when the reality is it was a few seconds, even in extreme cases it might be 30 seconds. At the end of the day you wait and accelerate into the gap which is why hanging back and not being up someone's trumpet is actually quicker and gives you more opporunity to pass when a gap to do so arises.
If you position yourself well to the offside and indicate early you can still give 1.5m crossing the centre of the road but not going completely into the opposite lane and still be safe for oncoming traffic. There aren't too many roads but they are often higher limit sections, there's a single lane bypass road near me which allows this easily. Also in these situations just simply slowing down when doing the overtake means if the space is there anyway you have a bit more chance to react ifsomething out the norm happens. The old pony of there was nothing I could do when a cyclist loses control or is hit by another vehicle and they are going too fast to take avoiding action is not acceptable. You give margins for error and the unexpected, both for yourself and other road users.
It's why when I see MGIF cyclists inbig cities going at relatively high speed with exactly the same attitude as if in car and no allowance for other users it winds me up when they say peds etc are dangerous, they want a totally uninterrupted jpurney when it's about give and take. After all the actions are often identical to those in motors that they criticise themselves.
Obviously a person on a bike does less harm but to make an environment more harmonious and safe we all have to pitch in, and yes motorists are the worst culprits by far and need addressing first and foremost and why the calls for stricter cycling laws is absolute bullshit

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TonbridgeJon | 5 years ago
3 likes

Also on the subject of close passes, it occurred to me today that a lot of drivers don't actually wait until it's safe to pass, instead they wait for as long as it takes for them to get frustrated, then pass. On the lanes around Tonbridge where I ride, I've lost count of the times a driver has tailed me for a minute or so, then when the pass actually comes it's on a blind bend/approaching brow of a hill/directly into the path of an oncoming vehicle. 

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don simon fbpe replied to TonbridgeJon | 5 years ago
0 likes

TonbridgeJon wrote:

Also on the subject of close passes, it occurred to me today that a lot of drivers don't actually wait until it's safe to pass, instead they wait for as long as it takes for them to get frustrated, then pass. On the lanes around Tonbridge where I ride, I've lost count of the times a driver has tailed me for a minute or so, then when the pass actually comes it's on a blind bend/approaching brow of a hill/directly into the path of an oncoming vehicle. 

Agreed, it's almost as if they're waiting for you to stop and let them pass, then think "fuck it" and pass anyway. But it isn't saved for cyclists alone, drivers act like tits towards other drivers too, and as I experienced in the 4x4, size (or the amount of road tax one pays) doesn't matter either. UK people seem to have become very selfish in most aspects of life (there are exceptions).

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ktache replied to TonbridgeJon | 5 years ago
0 likes

TonbridgeJon wrote:

Also on the subject of close passes, it occurred to me today that a lot of drivers don't actually wait until it's safe to pass, instead they wait for as long as it takes for them to get frustrated, then pass. On the lanes around Tonbridge where I ride, I've lost count of the times a driver has tailed me for a minute or so, then when the pass actually comes it's on a blind bend/approaching brow of a hill/directly into the path of an oncoming vehicle. 

A minute or so....!

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cbrndc | 5 years ago
1 like

"This is maybe the worst pass you may have seen..." Watched 3 times, I didn't see a particularly close pass!

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Fifth Gear replied to cbrndc | 5 years ago
0 likes

cbrndc wrote:

"This is maybe the worst pass you may have seen..." Watched 3 times, I didn't see a particularly close pass!

0:26

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TonbridgeJon replied to cbrndc | 5 years ago
0 likes

cbrndc wrote:

"This is maybe the worst pass you may have seen..." Watched 3 times, I didn't see a particularly close pass!

I think it's meant to say this may not be the worst pass you have seen?

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richiewormiling | 5 years ago
2 likes

just spent the week in Mallorca where they are fantastic drivers. Really made me compare to the monkey drivers on our roads with this 'must be in front mentality' - even if there's lights that are on red, down the road.

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nappe | 5 years ago
2 likes

That's a lot of cars parked on the footpath.

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