Near Miss of the Day 165: Close pass followed by dooring and angry exchange because motorist had then driven into hedge

Today’s near miss takes place on a Ruette Tranquille on Guernsey. Ruettes Tranquilles are a network of lanes on the island with a recommended speed limit of 15mph on which pedestrians, cyclists and horse riders have priority over motor vehicles.

Alex said: “Despite being over this recommended speed limit myself, the driver clearly had a serious case of MGIF (must get in front) that could only be cured by trying to run me off the road and then threatening me in the street because I’d made him hit the hedge as he tried to squeeze by me. Luckily a guy overheard them and came out of his house and coaxed them away from me.”

The incident occurred in February during Alex’s ride home from work. He said the dooring left him with a broken finger, “but luckily no damage to the bike.”

He said that after being treated at A&E, he went to the police station that evening to make a complaint and provided them with a copy of the video footage.

“After four months, and much chasing, I was informed by the police that they would not be taking any action against the driver as ‘seeing as I had time to hit the car as it passed me, I had time to move out of the way’.

“I immediately made a complaint, and after a further six weeks of chasing, have still to receive anything other than an informal remark that they’re happy with their investigation.”

Alex says that in May a local cycling group launched a ‘Stay Wider of the Rider’ campaign with the support of Guernsey Police, complete with a floor mat showing their recommended overtaking distance.

“I volunteered my time on a Sunday to man the police’s stall at a charity event to promote the initiative and talk to the public about it. And as treasurer of the local cycling group, I even wrote the cheque to pay for the floor mat and associated car bumper stickers. Guess I won’t be doing that again.”

> 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