UPDATE 19 January 2026: See our follow-up story here, West Yorkshire Police telling us it does take cyclists’ footage seriously.
A cyclist who narrowly avoided a crash when a driver was “too busy checking their phone” was told by West Yorkshire Police that “no crime had been committed.”
Today’s instalment of our Near Miss of the Day series happened on the morning of Wednesday 14th January, on Moorhead Lane, Shipley. Our road.cc reader, who wishes to remain anonymous, takes up the story.
“As I descend this road, I signal to turn right into the side road, and move out. As I approach the junction to make that turning, the driver of the taxi at the back of the queue suddenly decides to make exactly the same move, but without using their indicators nor presumably checking their mirrors – it’s not visible on the video, but I can see they were too busy checking their phone!
“A sudden stop – not an easy feat on wet slimy icy roads – prevented me from going into the side of their taxi.
“This seems to me like a cut-and-dried example of careless driving. Making a turn without indicating, without looking, and putting a vulnerable road user at risk.”
Our reader submitted the footage on the same day to West Yorkshire Police as part of Operation Snap, but tells us that the police response is “interesting”.
“In their ‘wisdom’, and alleged full knowledge of the highway code, the police decided that no crime had been committed.
“This isn’t the way to meet the Mayor’s commitment to zero road deaths by 2040. Go figure.”
road.cc have approached West Yorkshire Police for comment. In the meantime, here’s hoping our reader, one day, won’t be having to nervously brake from ignorant drivers.
> 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@road.cc">info@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
22 thoughts on “Near Miss of the Day 944: “A cut-and-dried example of careless driving””
Narrator: Nothing happened.
Narrator: Nothing happened.
No evidence of phone use so
No evidence of phone use so the police can’t do anything about that but pulling out suddenly after waiting so long when nothing has canged on the road, ie it has been clear for some time, and inconveniencing a cylist should be driving without due care. The only thing I can think of is that the positioning of the car suggests that the driver may want to turn right but in my opinion that should not make any difference in this case. I look forward to hearing West Yorkishires reasons for dismissing this.
The taxi’s position in the
The taxi’s position in the road suggests they always intended to turn, at the very least I would have been very wary of passing them to the right. From the video, it turns approximately 3 seconds after the white van in front makes the turn. I would have wanted to ensure the road was clear once the van had gone so I would say half that was reasonable, any more was a bit slow given the road was totally clear. Three seconds supports it being a pretty standard WhatsApp Gap pull away. Shame the camera didn’t pick up the phone usage.
Positioning is at least 50%
Positioning is at least 50% of the information available when judging what happens next.
I could force a situation like this video on every single ride if I was minded to.
Still, if this is as bad as it gets for the submitter, things aren’t so bad.
Overtaking at, or approaching
Overtaking at, or approaching, a junction. ☹️
Let he who is without sin, etc..
ChrisA wrote:
Highway Code Rule 163: “Cyclists may pass slower moving or stationary traffic on their right or left and should proceed with caution as the driver may not be able to see you. Be careful about doing so, particularly on the approach to junctions.” Be careful, not you should/must not. One of those instances where there are different rules for cyclists and for car drivers.
“. . . should proceed with
“. . . should proceed with caution as the driver may not be able to see you. Be careful about doing so, particularly on the approach to junctions.”
ChrisA wrote:
Which is exactly what the cyclist did and managed to avoid a collision. The point here is that the cyclist was clearly visible unlike some filtering situations, either the driver didn’t check or they saw the cyclist and set off any way. Most of us would have avoided a collision but that doesn’t excuse the inconsiderate driving.
I’m not excusing the driving,
I’m not excusing the driving, although such behaviour is fairly common these days. My point is, as has been mentioned, the taxi’s position should have suggested even more caution, than the caution suggested by the Highway Code.
“I’m not excusing the driving
“I’m not excusing the driving”
Really? Because it sounds a whole lot like you’re attempting to do that. The cyclist WAS proceeding carefully – if they hadn’t been, they’d have been pancaked.
ChrisA wrote:
Which is exactly why the police need to take action on driving like this.
ChrisA wrote:
To the letter what the cyclist is doing, so no “sin” involved.
The whole point of Operation
The whole point of Operation Snap is to get reports into the bin as quickly and painlessly as possible, while pretending to be ‘considering the case’. What they especially don’t like is cast iron evidence, so then they follow the Lancashire example and refuse to respond at all.
https://upride.cc/incident/kd10wer_porsche_mobilephone/
In the NMotD case they leapt onto the excuse that there is no evidence of HHMP use, and binned it. In my case, they had the GPS evidence that she was on the phone at exactly 12:36:59 (accurate to about 2 seconds and noted in my report), so they coud and should have obtained the phone records, but this is a toff in a Porsche and they also didn’t want to enter into corresponcence that shows them up for what they are so they just ignore it. They really are hopelessly inept, unprincipled liars
Illegal plate too!
Illegal plate too!
Illegal plate too!
Illegal plate too! You don’t need to be told what the Lancashire Organised Offender Protectors did about one other member of this Offending Family (you have to think that in the voices of Godfather Brando and Pacino) https://upride.cc/incident/cd10wer_audiq7_closerpass/
CD10 WER again
CD10 WER again
This is of no interest to anybody but me, but this car has now changed from grey to white, so it must be a different car, although it seems to be the same Audi SQ7 model. I wonder why?
wtjs wrote:
Unless it’s an Ineos team car.
Errr, the sky is falling?
Errr, the sky is falling?
A good example of why cars
A good example of why cars should be prevented from turning unless the indicators have been used.
I’ve had a similar incident where a driver pulled out from a line of stationary traffic without looking or indicating whilst I was filtering on the outside (I got a slightly bruised finger out of it). What annoys me is the simple procedure of “mirror-signal-mirror-manouvre” provides three opportunities to avoid it, so these kinds of drivers are clearly not fit to be on the road if they can’t folow the simplest rules.
This driver didn’t pull out
This driver didn’t pull out from a line of traffic, they stopped a few feet behind a queue of traffic and took up a road position with their nose angled towards the centre line, that much is clear from the video. That screams I am about to turn right or even worse I am sizing up going down the outside of this queue. Doesn’t matter which of the two, I have seen all I need to know, I won’t be passing on the right of this car. I have cycled regularly on UK roads for very close to 50 years. The one thing that keeps me safe more than any other thing is recognising the cues of other road users and reacting in a way that maximises my safety. I would love to rely on drivers to keep me safe by following the guidance in the Highway code about mirror use, signalling etc, but they didn’t in the 1970s when I started cycling and they still don’t now so if I want to avoid injury then I have to apply roadcraft and look at the clues given by road position and such like.
Having said all that, if the driver had signalled or used their mirror as they will have been taught when they learned to drive then the cyclist would have had a much easier job or interpreting their intentions. Also, as they didn’t, I would argue that falls below the standard expected of a careful and competent driver which is the very definition of careless driving.
LeadenSkies wrote:
I agree, though I think that maneouvre is still pulling out from a line of traffic.
As far as anticipation goes, it’s well worth considering side roads/junctions when filtering/overtaking, but in the same situation, it would be 50/50 as to whether I was filtering on the inside or outside. Though the driver was pointing their car as if to turn, they were sending ambiguous signals by appearing to slow and join the traffic queue and then appearing to change their mind and start turning.
If only there was a device that a driver could use to either check that it’s safe to turn or communicate that they intend to turn.
Oh fully agreed on the use of
Oh fully agreed on the use of indicators and the lack of use of the mirrors, as my last paragraph in your quote says. And on my phone at least it is difficult to be sure whether they join the queue or stop just short so I could be wrong in my initial belief that they stopped short.
For me, when I ride on the roads, every conscious decision comes down to the assessment of “Are my actions likely to put me at significantly increased danger?”, and in this case passing that vehicle to the right would have been answered as a yes. Yes, the vehicle should have signalled and should have checked mirrors before turning but experience tells me they don’t so I can’t rely on a lack of a signal.
Also, I admit we all make mistakes, ask the poor car driver I pulled out in front of on my bike when I misjudged his distance (fortunately he was paying attention and stopped abruptly). I still have plenty to learn.