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Near Miss of the Day 84: 4x4 driver in close pass - but police take no action

Our regular feature highlighting close passes caught on camera from around the country – today it’s Leeds

In our latest Near Miss of the Day video, a cyclist in Leeds was subjected to a close pass by the driver of a 4x4 vehicle - but initially police took no action. That may change thanks to the persistence of the cyclist, with officers now requesting a copy of the footage.

The footage was submitted by road.cc reader Steve Watters, who was cycling along the A64 York Road in Scarcroft, Leeds.

As Steve approached a junction on the left, a motorist pulled out and turned right onto the A64.

At that very moment, the driver of the 4x4 behind Steve decided to overtake the cyclist, not only passing him with minimal room, but also leaving very little space between their vehicle and the car coming in the opposite direction.

Steve told us: "This one was reported and shown to the West Yorkshire Police but no action was taken and no copy of the video was made.

"I have formerly complained but no response.

"I have a friend cyclist who works in the police, she was able to make some phone calls and today, eventually, they have responded and requested a copy of the video."

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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35 comments

Avatar
peted76 | 6 years ago
3 likes

Bit scary that one. Glad someones doing something about it. 

Avatar
burtthebike | 6 years ago
15 likes

Why the hell should justice depend on who you know? 

For those of us without a mate who is police, this is a bit double edged.  Grateful that some action is being taken about a dangerous driver, but wondering how we can get the same treatment.

Avatar
severs1966 replied to burtthebike | 6 years ago
1 like

burtthebike wrote:

Why the hell should justice depend on who you know? 

For those of us without a mate who is police [...]

Standard for West Yorks cops. They will try quite hard to NOT help anyone who was a victim, if they know the victim was on a bicycle. It's a deeply ingrained institutional prejudice.

Avatar
dassie | 6 years ago
3 likes

A very close and dangerous pass.  I hope that the police make contract with the idiot driver.   I do tend to cycle in a more prominent secondary position which 'helps' some drivers think twice, and then wait.

Avatar
scouser_andy | 6 years ago
0 likes

The vast majority of collisions are caused by either innatentiveness or impatience.

 

May I offer up Exhibit A please your honour...

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