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news
Near Miss of the Day 66: Close pass "still makes me flinch when I watch it," says cyclist
Today's submission in our Near Miss of the Day feature shows a close pass in London on a cyclist who, even more than 12 months later, says it "still makes me flinch when I watch it."
It was sent in by road.cc reader Tony, who told us: "This happened just over a year ago, I pulled up to some lights making my way between two stationary cars and waited at the red light.
"The lights changed, and sure enough the car that was to my right caught up and passed so close I might as well have been sat in their passenger seat.
"I passed the details and link to the video to the Roadsafe team at Met Police who judged it to be sufficiently careless that the driver was ordered to attend a driver awareness course. The Met Police kept me informed including notifying me when the driver had completed the course."
He added; "It's still one of the worst overtakes I've ever experienced."
We have to agree with him on that - and it's not helped by the fact it happened so close to that bus stop on the left, which could have made a bad situation even worse.,
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.
Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.
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42 comments
Obviously the close pass is undefensible. Now the rider has THREE chioices when approaching this situation - and I think he chose the worst of the three.
i) He could wait behind the last car in the AHEAD ONLY lane and inhale the damaging fumes as they all move off infront of him and the delay in relation to stopping where he did in the video. However he will also be amongst heavy traffic when crossing the junction and his visibility will be reduced compared to stopping at the line.
ii) Stop where he did but the filter was too tight for safety - if the lights had changed as he was alongside ther cars he could have been hit. So if the gap was wider I may have stopped where he did but it wasn't.
iii) Stopped behind the car in the left-turn lane and traveled ahead at green. This is perfectly legal as the 'left turn lane' arrow is advisory (unless accompanied with a (LEFT/RIGHT/AHEAD ONLY sign or road mark) and would have given him lot's of road space - UNTIL he gets to a certtain point where drivers may think he is doing something wrong and try to punish/beep him.
BTW nobody has mention that he stopped ACROSS the red line AND went on RED/AMBER. You go on GREEN not on RED/AMBER.
He went on RED/AMBER for self preservation reasons.
He needed to get across and into the right position BEFORE the cars did.
There are some junctions - and yes I am female - I delibrately cross on RED/AMBER for that reason.
1. This happens ONLY because he did a MGIF to the front of the queue and positioned himself badly, if he sits 3 car lengths behind, there is no need/required.
2. He doesn't NEED to get across before the cars at all, this is an utter BS statement, if he'd showed a little patience and thinking regarding safety and how traffic works he'd know that what he did was the worst thng to do and the outcome here and elsewhere proves this time and again.
3. Doing something to justify points 1 and 2 makes it a BS reason to do so and isn't really provable, in fact given what happened quite the opposite.
We also saw this recently where morons on bikes all pushed ahead in the left turn only lane then moved across from the left to the right back into traffic then tried to blame the lorry that had held its line throughout and was correctly positioned.
Doing a MGIF that saves you ZERO time and puts you more in danger is patently stupid and selfish.
Utter bollocks.
Hmm, some interesting comments here some surprising, especially those where it's being implied it's my fault (yes that's my cam footage) for daring to filter through stationary cars rather than sitting behind them breathing in their toxic fumes.
This is a junction I know very well, and at the time this video was recorded had been cycling through it twice a day for the past year, having previously driven through it thousands of times. My positioning was such that I had left enough space for both vehicles in the lanes going straight across to be able to pass me safely through the junction, perhaps my position should have been better as I came up to the bus stop, but by the time I could hear and sense this car behind me and for my own self preservation moved closer to the kerb than I'm normally comfortable with. I would also add, that as I do know this junction very well, if as a cyclist you don't filter to the front when the lights are red you are more than likely going to find yourself squeezed out by any other traffic queing behind you as go across.
The fact is, the MPS made no citicism of my riding/positioning and the driver was punished, though how effective a driver awareness course is I have no idea.
That is a pretty terrifying punishment pass.
Definately a punishment pass - none of the other cars felt the need to pass so closely, plus that carriageway is easily wide enough to pass safely and still stay in the lane. It's an act of agression, not incompetence.
There are plenty of people out there with massive egos and tiny brains. Unfortunately most of them drive cars. Some of them even use their x tonne metal box as a weapon to vent their misplaced anger - in a truly civilised society they would have the right to use UK roads taken away from them (just as you would take a toy away from a petulant child).
At least this nobhead was busted this time, but there are too many second chances given to pond-life like this.
More importantly, that Garmin / Garmin mount looks pretty worn and will soon be flying off the handlebars. Sad times.
Rubbish pass granted, but to echo the others, why did he feel the need to get infront? Red rag to a bull and really gained nothing.
A close pass, no doubt but as a couple of people have already said, we complain about car drivers doing stupid things to save a few seconds but we do it too. Sometimes it's better just to let traffic clear as we all know some nobbers take great offence at being passed by a bike, even if stationary.
Maybe this is a shit junction with a mix of straight on/left-turning traffic, with lane-hopping, jostling knobs... like much city traffic during a commute.
On those junctions it's safer to get out of the mix of lane-hopping, impatient pricks, so get to the front or hang back. But, if you hang back, there's a chance that you'll end up in the mix anyway, as other traffic joins the queue behind and around you.
So, I'm not a MGIFer, but there are a couple of junctions where I'll get to the front just to get clear. Seems pretty judgemental to assume the cyclist is MGIF for the sake of impatience only, on the strength of one video. The clear infraction here is the twat doing the punishment pass, yet some folk here are devoting way more energy to having a pop at the cyclist.
Be-fucking-have.
but he can't get clear as the junction is too wide, he also has to cut back across because of his piss poor position and still fails to correct it at any point.
pointing out what people on bikes can do much better and also when they demonstrate the same negative traits as some motorists is totally acceptable, some like yourself want to ignore his failings or simply can't see it.
1. He could've been further forward.
2. He should have been in primary, not just stopped where he landed.
It's possible to say that in that many words, instead of 'yeah, pass was bad, but here's War and Fucking Peace on what an inferior cyclist to me did, the twat'.
I know if my cycling was filmed, by me or someone else, there'd be plenty of less-than-ideal-riding *per ride* for armchair instructors like you to wet yourself over. Whoever won't admit to the same is full of shit.
The bit that deserves our attention is the wanker in the ton of metal thinking it appropriate to buzz this cyclist for what, basically, is perfectly reasonable road use.
This. All the rest of the commentary is deflecting from behaviour that shades into criminality IMO. What do you want to discuss? His choice of handlebar tape?
I have a Toyota Yaris from 2005 , one of it strong point was visibility ; i recently tried the latest model, and was surprised by how much the visibility has been ... reduced. Between tinted glasses, all the gadgets, screens and the dashboard being higher my estimate is roughly 30%. Unbelievable.
And they are asking us to wear hi-viz clothes !!
The reason for the decreased visibility in all cars is to meet the Euro safety standards in crashes.
Whilst what happens after is no excuse he clearly does a MGIF beforehand, just why, why would you put yourself in that position for the sake of 3 car lengths? Why wouldn't you simply wait in the centre of the lane behind the car in front because you've saved no time whatsoever by pushing to the front and putting yourself at more risk.
I really don't understand the thinking of the rider here, oh wait I do, impatient and entitled, he also fails to take the correct position and is clearly on the wrong line away from the lights and is far too close to the kerb.
As I said it doesn't excuse the close pass but why the fuck would you do exactly what you would insist a car driver doesn't do and not bother to position yourself correctly at any point, all for what, precisely ZERO gain!
I hate these,can we have some more good passes of the day.
I cant believe he cycled between those two stationary cars, why?
The vehicle on the left is turning left anyway. .. perhaps your observation skills need some work...?
The point is he should have either stayed behind the first car going straight ahead in primary position, or got right in front of it again in primary. If you take the lane no driver can use the excuse SIDSY. Though you may still have to tell them to f*** off if they beep at you.
It's not a close pass, it's a deliberate punitive action ; it could have sent the rider through the bus stop, with frightening consequences. In such a case, the camera recording is very very helpful...
Personally, i don't start ahead of cars at the red light... i wait quietly behind the front cars .
Shocking, hope he at least gets points on his licence for that. I have given up filtering unless there is an ASL box at the front, as I know it just sets them off
Yes, if there is no ASL, I tend to join the traffic so that I'm cycling across the junction, fully asserting my road space, from the off. That was a bad punishment pass.
Not always worth filtering even with an ASL box.
One near me where you cross the junction and due to a row of parked cars on your right you just end up with impatient drivers sitting on your back wheel. They actually can't overtake for the entire road as it's too narrow so some of them start gesturing and banging their horns if you don't take the first right.
On the other hand drivers coming in the opposite direction always wait for you to go pass.
Threatening behaviour... nothing earth shattering here. Same attitudes different day.
Wonder what hat would have happened to the driver if he/she has decided to knock the cyclist off? £50 credit and a kitkat?
Until people are seriously challenged for their use of cars as intimidating weapons, what’s the point in even getting angry anymore.
If the agenda is to stop people Cycling - it’s working personally.
If anybody sees this vehicle on the road be even more wary as it hasn't had any tax or MOT since July.
That looks like what folk call a 'punishment pass' :-o
Definitely. He moved in deliberately there and then back out again for no reason. Glad he got punished.
That is 'very' close! Horrible.
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