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news
Near Miss of the Day 120: Traffic island doesn’t deter driver from overtaking
Today’s near miss will feel familiar to many a cyclist. Looking to overtake, a motorist is not in the least bit deterred by a traffic island that effectively narrows the road and so just skims past the cyclist at speed instead.
The incident occurred on Shipton road in York yesterday.
Luke, who was sporting flashing daytime lights at the time, said the pass felt “very close” and he has reported it to police.
In a predictable denouement to the video, the motorist is later seen to be stuck at the exact same point in the exact same queue of traffic as if he’d waited a few seconds and instead passed safely.
We know this because Luke caught up with the vehicle and cycled past.
> 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 [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.
> What to do if you capture a near miss or close pass (or worse) on camera while cycling
Alex has written for more cricket publications than the rest of the road.cc team combined. Despite the apparent evidence of this picture, he doesn't especially like cake.
Latest Comments
- imajez 2 hours 39 min ago
Nothing new about zebra [or light controlled] crossing on roundabouts. Sheffield has had them for decades, possibly since the 1970s.
- David9694 4 hours 9 min ago
Herefordshire man fined after throwing parking ticket...
- OnYerBike 5 hours 30 min ago
I'm sure that sort of thing will come sooner or later. But presumably a key ingredient (and why you'd turn to a big brand like Fizik) is knowing...
- muhasib 5 hours 35 min ago
"the cost to rebuild the M25 junction 10/A3 Wisley interchange is £317 million. The project is expected to be completed in 2025. "
- mark1a 5 hours 58 min ago
I think they did, from memory back in the 70s/80s... haven't seen one for years though, our current milkman uses a standard van, albeit hybrid.
- kingleo 7 hours 13 min ago
I believe that straight forks that are used on carbon frames are more dangerous than the old steel forks because they are more rigid, the old steel...
- S.E. 7 hours 45 min ago
Yes, sleep apnea produces more CO... I'm not aware of any doping effect but what do I know....
- Gd29 9 hours 53 min ago
That's true enough. But doesn't address my point that the chainset you get as a replacement will not physically fit chainrings from the chain set...
- brooksby 10 hours 23 min ago
In all fairness, it almost certainly NEVER happened…
Add new comment
11 comments
I want to stand up and be outraged at this close pass too, but I can't.
I have seen and experienced way worse than this incident, (even just to weekend ago), and the many so called 'close passes' that have been posted on this blog. The London suburbs are awful for this kind of bad driver behaviour, but yet we still get on with our lives and our riding.
If we let this stop us we would never go out and ride, so we have to endure and enjoy as best we can. Lobby yes, but not waste our time posting videos, (of which there would be way to many), of outraged of Essex, Kent, Hertfordshire, Surrey or wherever else!
I think Road CC need to do better than this; it feels an awful lot like pandering to the crowd to me.
Yes we need to do something, but we need to do something about a whole heap of other things to change people's behaviour on whole a lot of issues. Obesity number 1.
Stake your claim on that road and get out and enjoy the ride!
OK, too many holes to deal with so let's just pick up a couple of the supermassive ones...
Nobody is saying it's stopping them going out, or even recommending that.
It is entirely possible that the people 'wasting their time posting videos' manage to do other things too. Like eat, sleep, go to work, AND campaign. About this issue, and probably other cycling issues. It's a hell of an assumption to think that the tip of the iceberg you see on YouTube or here is the entire extent of them drawing attention to issues that need sorting... And it's just plain wrong.
Your post is a call to apathy. You can shove that, if you can be arsed.
yup, when seatbelts were introduced for the front, rear passengers and vulnerable road users were negatively affected. All described in the isles report and covered up by government and the House of Lords.
Had a driver speeding up behind me once as I was just about to enter a mini-roundabout. His clear intent was to overtake me on the roundabout. Rather satisfying to then hear the squeel of brakes as he realised that there was a traffic island on the entry. The idiot never did pass me, so I can only assume he took a differnet exit anyway.
Yesterday a driver passed me, giving me loads of space, but the intant they were passed the left indicator came on and they cut across me to pull in to their driveway. What the heck were they thinking?
There is an attitude of "must get in front" regardless of whether it really makes any difference. You get the same attitude on motorways, drivers joining at junctions and their first concern is to move over into the "fast lane". No concern of how fast or slowly everyone else is going, just the presumption that they are the fastest so need to be in that lane.
As any regular cyclist will know, this is a frequent occurence, but since there is no threat to the driver, they ignore the danger to anyone else. We need a serious re-evaluation of the danger caused by drivers to vulnerable road users, cyclists and pedestrians, and for punishment commensurate with the risk that they impose on them. At the moment, there is little prospect of such behaviour being reported, or considered dangerous by the authorities, or even when it is, of any proportional punishment.
If the outcome of a driver's actions is possibly death or serious injury, then treat it as a serious crime, not just driving without due care. It should be seen from the victim's point of view, not the perpetrator's.
THIS btb, THIS! a great summary, you've written the close pass mantra
We should send this to all police forces, CPS offices, JPs and judges!
Drivers with more than 6 points on their licence (however they got them) should have it laser etched
onto their foreheadsonto the bonnet of their cars.....I'm blushing.
I agree with your whole comment but the lack of threat to the driver is an important point.
Over the last 100 years, we have improved the safety of cars, with seatbelts, crumple zones, airbags, collapsible steering columns, headrests, safety glass etc. not to mention, disc brakes, power steering, crossply tyres.
All of these things make drivers feel invulnerable and therefore their perceived risk is lowered, so they are willing to drive faster and risk more. There is a video somewhere of people being put on a seat without a seatbelt that “crashes” at 5mph, and they go flying. By making people safer, they are willing to risk more.
Arguably, by making cars less safe for the occupants, especially the driver, we might make them drive more carefully.
Risk compensation, a well documented phenomenon. You might like to read "Risk" by John Adams, it's still extremely relevant.
Great video as it shows cars overtaking safely, followed by some very poor driving. As identified in the the text, the traffic island is the difference. Either the driver didn't see the cyclist, or didn't see the traffic island, or is an idiot.
I actually know this road and it comes as no surprise that it all ends in stationary traffic, especially at that junction. Please keep us updated re police action taken.
Or (I suspect) all three.