This year’s first Near Miss of the Day picks up where 2021 left off, with a motorist overtaking at high speed up a hill – only this time another car was approaching in the opposite direction.
While Gloucestershire Police didn’t feel the need to prosecute our final close pass of the year, the speed, proximity and downright dangerous nature of this one from Cornwall – which caused the driver on the opposite side of the road to brake sharply – led Devon and Cornwall Police to take unspecified action against the motorist.
Rob, the road.cc reader who sent us the clip, hopes the offender was sent on an awareness course, “as I like to think of the irony that saving five seconds with a dangerous pass will in fact cost the driver a few hours of their time.”
In a damning indictment of our roads today, Rob even told us that “this wasn’t one of my worst close passes”. At least this time around the driver received some kind of punishment.
> 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 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
16 thoughts on “Near Miss of the Day 690: “Driver came flying by me at high speed” – with car coming the other way”
Both those were terrible
Both those were terrible passes. Mondeo doing about 74mph, Audi about 67mph. Glad the police did something about it.
Exactly! Did the Police take
Exactly! Did the Police take action against both drivers?
Unfortunately, ‘something’
Unfortunately, ‘something’ amounts to – effectively – nothing. As such, am struggling to feel any New Year ‘gladness’ towards those meant to protect us.
Unspecified action means
Unspecified action means probably ‘words of advice’, which is why they won’t tell you. The worst it can be is the joke driving course, which he probably doesn’t even have to tell the insurance company about, never mind anyone else. Deterrent effect almost nil.
wtjs wrote:
And by a junction.
Wouldn’t that first pass
Wouldn’t that first pass qualify as a “punishment pass?” It’s the sort of things dipshots do here in the U.S. all the time express their displeasure for “share the road.” It’s sort of like why “share the road” is a very bad joke.
That’s just a cyclist term,
That’s just a cyclist term, not an offence term.
It would come under careless or inconsiderate driving.
“driving too close to another vehicle”
according to cps guidelines.
I think it’s unwise to report
I think it’s unwise to report anything like this to the police, because in the event that the car is damaged in the future (because the driver has already made it clear they’re a thoughtless cock and will probably park blocking a driveway / illegally etc), your name is already associated with the car as a likely suspect.
Given the police invariably don’t act unless someone is both killed and a serving officer, it’s just not worth the hassle.
Fursty Ferret wrote:
The police are going to need a lot more than just a vague connection between a victim and a dangerous driver to pin car damage on them. I’d bet a substantial amount (well, maybe some slightly stale mince pies) that the police have never just gone after a previous victim without something a lot more substantial.
Depends. I think the general
Depends. I think the general rule for police investigations is “start at the nearest point” e.g. if a child disappears first check out the family. However if it was the ones responsible for the Steven Port investigation then you could be loitering next to someone’s vandalised car with your keys out, holding a pot of paint stripper and arouse no suspicion whatsoever.
hawkinspeter wrote:
Such as some stale mince pies and a generously-poured glass of Baileys*?
(* or [sniggers into cuff] should that be Old Bailey’s? [/sniggers into cuff])
Any evidence to support this
Any evidence to support this claim?
I think it’s unwise to report
I think it’s unwise to report anything like this to the police
It’s not unreasonable to be suspicious that the police practice of ‘going after the victim to intimidate him out of the hated practice of reporting offences’, but even I wouldn’t consider this a feasible case for police retaliation. However, the principle applies and the police are more stupid than you think. I was threatened with prosecution by Lancashire’s Sgt. Lavin, now in charge of OpSnap Lancs, with prosecution for impeding a car by being in his way (‘being further out into the lane than I needed to be’) and thereby forcing him completely over the double unbroken white lines in a dangerous position just before a right hand bend. Such a prosecution would have been a godsend and I urged him to do it, but he then completely disappeared from the airwaves for 2 1/2 years until he re-emerged leading his glorious new department.
Well the comments on Facebook
Well the comments on Facebook about this video are interesting.
Apparently one genius thinks that Rob should be about 1 meter further into the left to prevent the close pass…… Which if my calculations are right would put him about half a meter onto the grass verge at the edge of the road.
Well, why do you think the
Well, why do you think the verge is grass instead of rocks?
Seriously though I would suggest that all drivers be tested annually to see if they remember where the brake pedal is.
One should be able to cycle
One should be able to cycle on all roads but for me, the speeds on that road would lead me to avoid it at all costs, the closing speed is too great to feel safe.