The latest video in our Near Miss of the Day series features a driver making an aggressively close pass on a cyclist as they overtake them immediately after both turn right at a junction, with the same driver having been using his horn shortly beforehand as they found themselves in a queue of traffic.
This one happened to road.cc reader Lynton, who told us: “A friend of mine and I were headed north out of High Wycombe though Hughenden Valley.
“We heard some honking coming from about 200m behind us where there was a line of traffic, but this line of traffic was not caused by us cycling.
“One of the vehicles behind us turned left and we heard the acceleration of the white Citron C1 coming towards us – clearly he was the one honking.
“We signalled to turn right, and just after we began our turn his vehicle could be heard right behind us.
“As he passed us, crossing onto the wrong side of the road I touched by brakes to slow down and move towards the left, narrowly avoiding his vehicle.
“As he drove off, he displayed his middle finger and sped away.”
He added: “The incident was reported to Thames Valley Police, as I do with all incidents, however, I’ve been told in kind way by a police officer, unless I have been knocked off, the likelihood of an fixed penalty notice is slim to none.”
> 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.
14 thoughts on “Near Miss of the Day 311: Aggressive close pass”
That is utterly horrific.
That is utterly horrific.
How can they refuse to take action? If I shouted threats at someone and swung a sledgehammer at their head, narrowly missing them, the police would be at my door wihtin minutes, irrespective of the fact that narrowly missed with the sledgehammer. Why should attempted assault-by-car be any different? Sounds like a complaint to the local police and crime comissioner might be needed.
the little onion wrote:
Exactly. Many more people are killed and seriously injured by cars than by knives, but which do the police, judiciary and politicians pay by far the most attention to? Never mind, this “government” is going to build more roads so that we can drive more, but nothing for cycling or walking.
If the police are refusing to
If the police are refusing to do their duty, then raise a complaint. At least make their stats reflect on their performance.
A bit of preventative action
A bit of preventative action might stop the next cyclist he does this to from being hit. But nope, lets not bother.
AlsoSomniloquism wrote:
Unfortunately many of those police that left the force during the cull by the coallition were the one’s that wanted to do the job. Those that remain want to do nothing but sit on the internet all day defending their lack of action by bleating about how their numbers have been reduced by x and how the job’s just so dangerous they have to go mob handed to the few incidents they choose to respond to.
AlsoSomniloquism wrote:
No need. It won’t be long before he hits and injures/kills a cyclist and then, assuming there are witnesses, he’ll be procecuted.
Is there no way that these
Is there no way that these videos can be brought to the attention of their insurers? They might then adjust their premiums to take account of the heightened risk of the driver incurring an expensive liability claim from third parties. Better still, they might refuse to insure them, which would have a lovely impact on their next insurance quote.
Sriracha wrote:
This is a great idea, but how? I don’t think you can get any info via their registration…
Sriracha wrote:
Can you imagine if someone
Can you imagine if someone had pulled a knife on you and you had cctv and their name and address. Would the police say ‘well, did they actually stab or kill you?’, no harm done then.
I would like to think not, but I’m not sure what to think these days.
Regarding insurance: I’m
Regarding insurance: I’m seriously thinking of creating a website for reporting dangerous drivers and uploading video footage. Insurance companies could then log in to a private, secure area and run a check against number plates. Being reported once can be put down as a ‘bad day’, but if cars are consistently reported by different cyclists, they surely represent a risk?
dafyddp wrote:
there is already a website that allows you to rate drivers based on the registration.
AlsoSomniloquism wrote:
Can you give us a link please can you upload the video to confirm your rating?
If that’s a persons attitude
If that’s a persons attitude to driving they don’t deserve to. Amend the forfeiture act so that dangerous drivers can have their vehicle taken from them and sold, with the proceeds put into road safety measures.