Near Miss of the Day 907: Close pass driver gets police visit

An Edinburgh cyclist who received a close pass from a driver on a road close to the Scottish capital's beachfront in Portobello says he is satisfied that police paid a visit to the perpetrator's home to educate them on how to overtake cyclists, rather than taking the matter further.

Stewart, the road.cc reader who captured the footage of the close pass, told us: “This happened a few weeks ago while I was cycling along Portobello High Street.

“It’s a busy suburb of Edinburgh, with several sets of traffic lights, lots of shops, bus stops and cars parked on either side.

“I’m maintaining a good speed between lights and am closed passed by the white car. I’m assuming primary to protect myself from drivers on this stretch of road, but this one insists on passing.

“The driver stopped at the queue of traffic at the red light within 100m which gave me a chance to have a chat,” Stewart continued.

“I suggested, politely, to him that he had passed me too closely. He stated he had waited for ages before passing safely. I mentioned that this was too close but he continued on his view that he hadn’t. His perception of ‘waiting ages’ can be seen in the rear view camera footage.

“I said that the amount of time he’d saved was a lot less than sitting in the queue at this red light talking to me. He ended our conversation telling me to ‘fuck off’. Which was a little shocking as he had his two kids, under 10, and partner in the car.

“I called 101 when home and the police attended to view the footage. They determined, and I agreed, that they would visit the driver and if he responded well to an educational chat then no further action would be taken. They called me later that evening to say the driver was apologetic and would be driving according to the Highway Code of allowing 1.5m when passing cyclists in future,” added Stewart.

“Some might see that as an unsatisfactory result, in that no official action such as a warning letter being issued, far less a prosecution being brought against the driver, was taken.

But Stewart explained: “My strategy with these incidents is not to see drivers punished just educated as to the affect of their driving on other road users. And if a visit at their home by the police accomplishes this then it’s a success that makes the roads safer.”

> 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’ve 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 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