The latest video in our Near MIss of the Day series shows a driver making a close pass on a cyclist – then cutting across him and stopping to berate him for swearing at her.
It happened in North Bristol on 31 August and was submitted by a road.cc reader who wishes to remain anonymous.
“Bit sweary, I’m afraid, as these things seem so much worse in the dark.,” he said “I was quite scared, as you can hear from my voice.
“Reported to Avon & Somerset police and apparently resulted in a warning letter to the driver.
“Responding officer claimed that there were no ‘aggravating factors – swerving into the path of the cyclist you have just close-passed and braking apparently does not count …”
> 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
47 thoughts on “Near Miss of the Day 194: Close pass at night (includes extreme swearing)”
Bristol seems to have more
Bristol seems to have more than problem with cycling going by the stories I’ve come across on this site.
She was compeltely clueless
She was compeltely clueless as to what she had done wrong. It’s a good example of where Cycling UK’s VR initiative would work.
a1white wrote:
It seems to me that this ^ is the point to take away from this clip.
The driver clearly didn’t understand what she’d done wrong at all, meaning that she’ll almost certainly go on to do it again and again.
This whole thread seems to have got very diverted onto dreamy’s objections to the use of a swear word under stress.
brooksby wrote:
100% agree. I’m partly to blame. Like I said the reverse was worse than the over take.
dreamy wrote:
It seems to me that this ^ is the point to take away from this clip.
The driver clearly didn’t understand what she’d done wrong at all, meaning that she’ll almost certainly go on to do it again and again.
This whole thread seems to have got very diverted onto dreamy’s objections to the use of a swear word under stress.
— brooksby 100% agree. I’m partly to blame. Like I said the reverse was worse than the over take.— a1white
Solely, really, which is why so many are arguing with you, I suspect. It is for me.
It’s muddying the issue of some really stupid, inconsiderate and dangerous driving. That has real consequences. Being offended at words just doesn’t.
The rider has said it was used as a general purpose ‘cunt’, so isn’t representing the misogyny you’re seeking. Misogyny should rightly be challenged, but crying wolf doesn’t half undermine legitimate challenge.
She was also pure trash.
She was also pure trash. Women going round making threats like “I’ll knock you out” seem have been watching too many silly tv series or movies with women beating up 200lb men.
Awful word.
Awful word.
dreamy wrote:
Awful pass. Which was more dangerous?
vonhelmet wrote:
Yep terrible pass. No doubt.
I’ve had few just like it.
The word cunt though. Awful.
and then she turned right !!
and then she turned right !!
Stupid bint. More concerned
Stupid bint. More concerned with hitting the cushion at the right angle.
Surprised she heard him.
Surprised she heard him.
I’m sure she’ll get over it.
I’m sure she’ll get over it.
vonhelmet wrote:
Not to bothered about her feelings. This is a video posted by road.cc. it’s of bad driving. I think the reversing is worse than the over take.
It’s also of a man calling a women a cunt. I think it tarnishes the road.cc brand.
dreamy wrote:
I’m sure she’ll get over it.
— dreamy Not to bothered about her feelings. This is a video posted by road.cc. it’s of bad driving. I think the reversing is worse than the over take. It’s also of a man calling a women a cunt. I think it tarnishes the road.cc brand.— vonhelmet
They put an ‘extreme swearing’ warning on it. The swear is in the context of a pretty extreme interaction: it isn’t solely of a man swearing at a woman.
How should they have censored it?
dreamy wrote:
I’m sure she’ll get over it.
— dreamy Not to bothered about her feelings. This is a video posted by road.cc. it’s of bad driving. I think the reversing is worse than the over take. It’s also of a man calling a women a cunt. I think it tarnishes the road.cc brand.— vonhelmet
As the rider involved, I had no idea of the sex of the driver at the time I swore. All I saw was a large black car looming up very close to my right elbow. My exclamation had NOTHING to do with the fact that she happened to be a woman so reel in the white knighting.
Eton Rifle wrote:
I was hoping you would comment. Because it’s not about you. Road.cc posted this on the internet. They are aligning this to their brand. Yet they post Chris Hoy saying we should stop the us v them culture.
Which one is it here? Us or them.
Cyclist Vs motorist?
Men Vs women?
dreamy wrote:
I’m sure she’ll get over it.
— dreamy Not to bothered about her feelings. This is a video posted by road.cc. it’s of bad driving. I think the reversing is worse than the over take. It’s also of a man calling a women a cunt. I think it tarnishes the road.cc brand.— Eton Rifle
As the rider involved, I had no idea of the sex of the driver at the time I swore. All I saw was a large black car looming up very close to my right elbow. My exclamation had NOTHING to do with the fact that she happened to be a woman so reel in the white knighting.
— dreamy I was hoping you would comment. Because it’s not about you. Road.cc posted this on the internet. They are aligning this to their brand. Yet they post Chris Hoy saying we should stop the us v them culture. Which one is it here? Us or them. Cyclist Vs motorist? Men Vs women?— vonhelmet
I am struggling to see what your point is. Road.cc has posted this in News – y’know, the factual reporting of actual events. Do you want them to only report on things that ‘align to their brand’ (whatever that means)?
Chris Hoy’s daft comments have nothing to do with it. I doubt the guy even rides regularly in the UK. I do – every day – and, like many other riders, am getting thoroughly fucked off with cunts in cars endangering my life on a regular basis. That stupid cow turned right a few yards after passing me. Why even bother passing me at all? What the hell was she thinking?
The only reason I have a camera is because this sort of shitty driving is far too common in Bristol. It actually seems to be worse in the suburbs than in the centre, ironic for a city that prides itself on being cycle-friendly.
dreamy wrote:
I’m sure she’ll get over it.
— dreamy Not to bothered about her feelings. This is a video posted by road.cc. it’s of bad driving. I think the reversing is worse than the over take. It’s also of a man calling a women a cunt. I think it tarnishes the road.cc brand.— Eton Rifle
As the rider involved, I had no idea of the sex of the driver at the time I swore. All I saw was a large black car looming up very close to my right elbow. My exclamation had NOTHING to do with the fact that she happened to be a woman so reel in the white knighting.
— dreamy I was hoping you would comment. Because it’s not about you. Road.cc posted this on the internet. They are aligning this to their brand. Yet they post Chris Hoy saying we should stop the us v them culture. Which one is it here? Us or them. Cyclist Vs motorist? Men Vs women?— vonhelmetI guess that makes sense in your head; it’s not making a lot of sense to any readers.
dreamy wrote:
I’m sure she’ll get over it.
— dreamy Not to bothered about her feelings. This is a video posted by road.cc. it’s of bad driving. I think the reversing is worse than the over take. It’s also of a man calling a women a cunt. I think it tarnishes the road.cc brand.— Eton Rifle
As the rider involved, I had no idea of the sex of the driver at the time I swore. All I saw was a large black car looming up very close to my right elbow. My exclamation had NOTHING to do with the fact that she happened to be a woman so reel in the white knighting.
— dreamy I was hoping you would comment. Because it’s not about you. Road.cc posted this on the internet. They are aligning this to their brand. Yet they post Chris Hoy saying we should stop the us v them culture. Which one is it here? Us or them. Cyclist Vs motorist? Men Vs women?— vonhelmet
What’s your point? Chris Hoy’s comments were kind of stupid, in my opinion. What’s the relevance to this issue?
Don’t post it. It’s misogyny.
Don’t post it. It’s misogyny.
dreamy wrote:
Don’t watch it. It’s voyeurism.
dreamy wrote:
You miss the point of the clip, drama queen.
Sorry to interrupt the circle
Sorry to interrupt the circle jerk boys.
I really like this website. It should better than this.
dreamy wrote:
circle jerk is OK but supposed misogynistic comments are not. OK.
hirsute wrote:
Lol. Oppressed white man?
dreamy wrote:
circle jerk is OK but supposed misogynistic comments are not. OK.
— hirsute Lol. Oppressed white man?— dreamyJust pointing out your contradictory stance.
It was obvious that the rider had no idea who was driving the time of the incident which has subsequently been confimed by the rider in the comments.
hirsute wrote:
True, what are the chances?
dreamy wrote:
And yet it *was* an appalling piece of driving, so certainly meets the NPOTD criteria.
How would you suggest they show it, if you find the language to be problematic? It loses its point if you silence it.
dreamy wrote:
When someone nearly runs you over you can call them whatever you want, you cunt. Only joking.
In my experience, there are
In my experience, there are loads of cunts who are actually offended by the word ‘cunt’. This thread is an illustration.
davel wrote:
I guess everyone needs a place where they find themselves accepted with like minded others, this is your place. Enjoy it.
dreamy wrote:
In my experience, there are loads of cunts who are actually offended by the word ‘cunt’. This thread is an illustration.
— dreamy I guess everyone needs a place where they find themselves accepted with like minded others, this is your place. Enjoy it.— davel
I only come here to challenge all the stereotypes.
davel wrote:
I think “cunts” should be banned.
Post pics Dreamy, I want to
Post pics Dreamy, I want to see your tits.
Only joking
I do think it would be
I do think it would be misogyny if shouted in the knowledge that the driver was a woman. But I expect it was just yelled at a generic dangerous driver of unknown sex.
My experience is that, generally, in this country the word is almost always directed at men (very much unlike in the US where it seems to be a more distinctly misogynist term used at women).
Maybe I’m sheltered but to me it seems rare for a man to knowingly direct it at a woman. (Though I hear women chuck it at both men and women quite often – my neighbour screams it at her boyfriend and others on occasion – am I supposed to go have a word with her and explain that it’s misogynist? I suspect she’d not take it well).
I’m might get slated for it, but I agree It’s a questionable term, and I try not to use it myself (my ex- used to use it all the time, but my rationale is it’s like black people and the n-word, women have c-word privileges!). But people are imperfect and under pressure (like nearly being hit by a car) the word is going to slip out, becuase it’s inculcated in us that it’s the word for expressing extreme feelings.
Can’t call a driver a cunt in
Can’t call a driver a cunt in case they’re a woman.
Can’t call a driver a bastard in case their parentage is unknown.
Can’t call a driver a fucking idiot in case they have an IQ of under 25 and are engaged in sexual activity.
What’s with all the hiding
What’s with all the hiding behind ‘road.cc’s brand’ as reasoning for objection. Road.cc will probably be loving this we are all ‘engaging’ and ‘driving traffic’.
If road.cc had a brand it would be aligned with recycling given most feature articles are rehashes.
I would like to think this is all poor quality trolling but these days you can never really tell if some crybaby is actually offended. You could imagine them watching some war footage in middle of a battle and objecting to the soldiers swearing or something daft. “John’s had his legs blown off but they didn’t have to swear about it”
Yorkshire wallet wrote:
Funnily enough, when the veterans whose experiences were depicted in the Band Of Brothers miniseries saw the show, the one thing many of them objected to was the foul language they were depicted as using. They strongly disapproved of it and insisted they didn’t use such unnacceptable words.
That’s despite that dialog partly being based on contemporaneous accounts written by some of their own. Either those accounts were spiced up by the soldiers writing them at the time, or it was a case of their older selves being disgusted at their younger selves for swearing in response to being shot at.
im not sure if its a good
im not sure if its a good sign or a bad one that this is the only aspect of the video being most hotly debated, but fwiw imo hearing the actual swear word used really doesnt add much to the purpose of the video, it was showing a close pass, the rider reacted perhaps using stronger language than most of us would instantly resort to, but the car driver hears it (miraculously) and a debate ensues.
but ultimately its a video showing a close pass and poor driving, not a how colourful can our use of language and is it better than Ryan Reynolds use of the word in Blade 3 style video
Id have bleeped it personally as theres enough context there to understand what happened. others may have different attitudes or views on it
What suprises me is dreamy’s
What suprises me is dreamy’s use of the word when they object so strongly to the word. We can infer the word, it’s easy, I’ve just done it 3 times. We all know what I’m talking about.
The motorist is displaying that massive impatience and self importance, which upon the slightest critisism evaporates and they then waste their ever so valuble time objecting that anyone could find fault in their awful behaviour.
It is my belief that Eton Rifle was entirely justified in using whatever description of the motorist he wished upon the initial egregious actions, the brake test and the threatening reverse by the miscreant just proves the point.
ktache wrote:
True. Me using the word was trying to highlight how vulgar it is. It was a error in judgement and I apologize.
Welcome to the circle. Likes to follow
Is today’s near miss number
Is today’s near miss number 194 or is tomorrows near miss number 194?
https://road.cc/content/news/249962-near-miss-day-194-driver-pulls-out-cyclist-because-he-assumed-he-would-stop-let
Quite surprised the officer
Quite surprised the officer dealing with this didn’t speak to the cyclist about his language, not the choice of words. When I had a deliberate close pass the driver changed from lane two into lane one where I was and has he passed he made excessive use of the horn and the officer dealing with it did warn me for calling the driver a w^^^%$ when he was a good 2 seconds away in his car with all windows wound up. The officer said he could have heard me adn reacted to such language. FFS
Redvee wrote:
In the report to the police I did actually apologise for my language. In the heat of the moment, one does not generally mentally sort through all the available swear words in order to select the one that suits the political correctness of the day. Happy to help.
Like dreamy, you seem to be focussing on the wrong thing. It’s a bit like complaining that the Wehrmacht weren’t kind to animals when they occupied Poland.
I had to fill out a big form
I had to fill out a big form to report on getting hit by a car. There’s a bit where it asks what was said between the people involved in the crash. I had to write The driver said “I’m so sorry”, and I said “You fucking well should be.” So far the police have sent the driver on a driver improvement course. No word on a public order charge against me for my use of foul language.
It seemed the motorist cut
It seemed the motorist cut back in to avoid going over the middle of the speed humps. Very poor driving.