Support road.cc

Like this site? Help us to make it better.

Near Miss of the Day 100: No space for driver to overtake ... but they try anyway

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

The 100th entry in our Near Miss of the Day feature won't be getting a telegram from the Queen  ... indeed, it got scant attention from Cambridgeshire Constabulary when the footage was submitted to them.

It happened to road.cc reader Sam just before 6pm on 9 February on Mingle Lane in Stapleford near Cambridge.

He told us: "No space for him to overtake into but has a go anyway."

However, police told him that they would not be taking it any further since they did not consider it to be "dangerous."

Sam asked us if there was any way he could take it forward and while in most cases once police have said they will take no action, we do see a big variation in the approach taken by different forces, and we're aware of one case in Surrey where officers from the roads policing unit asked a cyclist to submit footage to them after his initial submission was rejected.

With Cambridgeshire Constabulary now considering launching a close pass operation - something it previously rejected - we've suggested Sam contact the roads policing unit the force runs jointly with colleagues in Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire to see if he has more success there.

> Police in Cambridgeshire make u-turn on close pass operation

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//info [at] road.cc" target="_blank"> 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.

Latest Comments