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Two close passes in succession

Near Miss of the Day 123: Close pass immediately followed by driver hitting cyclist

Our regular feature highlighting close passes caught on camera from around the country
by Simon_MacMichael
Mon, Apr 16, 2018 13:42
6

Today's submission in our Near Miss of the Day series is from road.cc reader Ricky, who experienced two extremely close passes in a matter of seconds as he rode home from work last week - with his hand getting struck by the wing-mirror as the second driver passed him.

Ricky told us:  "The road where it happened is a narrow country road but with good visibility at the section the incident occurred.

"The first car passed very close which I protested at, the second car, a white Mercedes, then passed with oncoming traffic.

"The clip shows him approach fast and very close. With a car approaching from the opposite direction the Merc then cuts in and strikes my elbow with the wing mirror, this actually knocked my had off the bar, if I had been holding the bar more tightly this would have knocked me off."

And the time the driver gained by making such a dangerous overtake on the cyclist?

"200 yds up the road he sat at a level crossing for 10 min, this is where I took the photo, sat behind him," Ricky told us.

Despite the video, however, it seems no action will be taken against the driver.

"Police watched this footage and admitted it was dangerous driving but did nothing," Ricky explained.

"Seriously, what on earth do they want as evidence?"

> 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

Near Miss of the Day
Simon MacMichael

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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6 comments

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KINGHORN | 6 years ago
1 like

if the police admitted that it was dangerous, then they should follow it up. As they haven't, I would use this or threaten to use this https://www.policeconduct.gov.uk/complaints-and-appeals/make-complaint

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Paul J | 6 years ago
1 like

There was oncoming traffic when the white merc passed too.

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zero_trooper | 6 years ago
0 likes

burtthebike - You don't say where this occurred, but if the cyclist wants to take action, I'd be happy to help if it is local to me.

You don't need to live local to help sort this out.

Ricky/Simon - where did this occur and which police force was it reported to?

Were you injured, or your clothing damaged? If so, did you show the police?

Did you report it at a local station or upload? Who told you that it was 'dangerous driving'? Presumably the same person who fobbed you off 3

What were the police grounds for not proceeding further and were they put in writing? Was an 'incident' (or similar) created. There should have been and if so do have the incident ref. number?

I have a VRM of YK58 XHL (0:17) for the second car, a white Mercedes Estate. Did you ever lose sight of the car before '200 yds up the road he sat at a level crossing'?

There's no sign of the photo you mention in the text.

Sorry for all the questions, but we can make some progress here. NMOTD sometimes seems a bit click-bait and there doesn't seem many successful outcomes. Depending on your definition of 'successful' 

The first close pass from the Audi is bad, but the second from the Merc is butt-clenching. You can see the driver hesitate and then (inexplicably) go for it.

 

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Metaphor | 6 years ago
2 likes

If the Police are unable to enforce the law then I am obliged to take the law into my own hands.

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burtthebike replied to Metaphor | 6 years ago
5 likes

Democratic Cyclists' Republic of Oxford wrote:

If the Police are unable to enforce the law then I am obliged to take the law into my own hands.

If it is right to defy laws which are unjust, is it not therefore right to enforce laws which are just?  The law about dangerous driving is just, and is there to protect vulnerable road users, but if it isn't enforced, it is not effective.

You don't say where this occurred, but if the cyclist wants to take action, I'd be happy to help if it is local to me.

It happens quite frequently that if one driver passes you closely, then next will, and the one after that, as if they see that the first driver didn't knock you off, so it's ok for them to pass just as close.

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Daveyraveygravey replied to burtthebike | 6 years ago
3 likes

burtthebike wrote:

...

It happens quite frequently that if one driver passes you closely, then next will, and the one after that, as if they see that the first driver didn't knock you off, so it's ok for them to pass just as close.

 

This is why I always shout and gesticulate at a car that close passes me, I've noticed most times any more following cars really do give me space.  (Except for the one time some twunt went danger-close).

 

It looks to me like the Merc barely touched the white lines with his off-side wheels, no wonder he caught the OP.  I would not let the police get away with not following this up, keep on at them, ask to speak to the boss, get hold of your MP.  Driving like that is not acceptable.

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