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news
Near Miss of the Day 145: Same driver makes two close passes in two minutes (+ bonus oblivious mobility scooter rider)
The latest video in our Near Miss of the Day series shows the same motorist making two close passes on a cyclist in the space of two minutes.
It happened in the Little Stoke area of Bristol to road.cc reader Richard, who told us:: "The same driver passes me dangerously close twice in two minutes, with a mobility scooter pulling out in front of me in the middle.
"The driver had to take the longer route, but there is a cut through for cyclists, so I ended up ahead of them again."
He added: "Hats off to the white van driver, who gave me, and another cyclist, acres of room."
> 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
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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16 comments
Only a foo...
Yep, van is too close.
Mobility scooters are worst when they travel as a pack and decide to spread out and cover the entire shared use path.
The mobility scooter guy doesn’t even look before coming out in front of the cyclist. Terrible. They should all be licenced and Made to wear high viz and wear helmets instead of flat caps (or pirate hats, like the old bloke I see in Bristol city centre using a mobility scooter...).
The white van gives the bike plenty of room but is tailgating the car in front so is still a dangerous driver.
At circa 15mph, no they aren't tailgating, you think they should leave tw/three car lengths at that speed?
If that wasn't tailgating then I would never want you following me.
You don't understand stopping distances at slow speed then is that what you're saying? The DPD van was far from nose to bumper, not even close and they were going at a relatively slow speed at that moment so ample time to the vehicle in front to brake should it have done an emergency stop.
You need to have another go at doing some advanced driving lessons sonny as well as figuring out thinking/braking distances at 15mph. I bet you'd give much less when on a bike in a club run right?
You don't understand reaction time. Rewatch, see how close the van is to the car in the view from the front facing camera. If the car emergency stopped the van driver wouldn't even have his foot on the brake peddle by the time he went in to the back of the car.
Regarding advanced driving lessons, I was taught that if you are concentrating more on the car in front than anything else then you are too close to it. I like that rule and follow it.
Regarding club runs. I don't like riding that close to other cyclists, so I don't ride with a club. Also in a club at least you can all comminucate with each other. But then there are never crashes between cyclists in a peleton are there?
Vehicle lengths have nothing to do with it. The two second rule applys at all speeds, and should be increased if the vehicle in front is large, thus restricting the view past the vehicle more than a car restricts the view.
In a club run everyone can talk to everyone else, and the perosn in front is fully aware of the fact that there is a person following just inches behind, and so (hopefully) rides accordingly.
I have done some advanced rider training (motorcycle, which is way more involved that driver training) and that van is definately too close. It probably would hit the car as his positioning for most of the time shown in the vid may allow him to swerve to the side and certainly gives excellent view beyond the car allowing a certain amount of aniticipation ... but it's still too close and could be argued to be intimidating the car.
As for the passes on the bike ... really not that bad. The first becomes a problem purely due to the early cut back in (due to the cars in the other direction, meaning that the pass shouldn't have been attempted).
yes, only a fool breaks the two second rule
You have to take account of the vulnerable, this includes people on mobility scooters. It's a bloody shame when you have a DPD delivery van showing you how to overtake, well done to them!
That first one wasn't too bad, driver goes almost all the way into the opposite lane, but cuts in a bit soon. 4/10.
The mobility scooter is hilarious, but I don't know if its because I experience so many, but if that happended to me It wouldn't have even registered to me as a "close pass".
Although I do commute through a chelsea tractor suburb of london.
Mobilty rider needs hi viz and a helmet!
and a bell.
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