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news
Near Miss of the Day 222: Close pass driver ignores road markings and Highway Code
Solid white lines in the middle of the road aren't there for decoration. They're there to tell drivers that they must not overtake, and typically appear at places where it is unsafe to do so – something the motorist featured in today’s video in our Near Miss of the Day series ignored.
Rule 129 of the Highway Code says:
Double white lines where the line nearest you is solid. This means you MUST NOT cross or straddle it unless it is safe and you need to enter adjoining premises or a side road. You may cross the line if necessary, provided the road is clear, to pass a stationary vehicle, or overtake a pedal cycle, horse or road maintenance vehicle, if they are travelling at 10 mph (16 km/h) or less.
Clearly Darren, the road.cc reader who filmed the clip, was riding at more than 10 miles an hour, meaning the motorist was not allowed to overtake at all. And besides making a close pass on the cyclist, the illegal manoeuvre also took the driver very close to traffic coming in the opposite direction.
And in making the close pass, of course, the motorist also ignored Rule 163, which says that drivers should give at least as much space to cyclists when overtaking as they would to a car.
The incident happened yesterday afternoon on the the B489 in Buckinghamshire.
Darren, who apologised for his swearing during the clip, told us: “I was wearing a hi viz jersey, crash helmet and gloves, with my Moon Nebula rear light on as well.
"lt’s been reported to the the police, but i won’t hold my breath."
> 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.
Latest Comments
- imajez 6 hours 56 min ago
Nothing new about zebra [or light controlled] crossing on roundabouts. Sheffield has had them for decades, possibly since the 1970s.
- David9694 8 hours 26 min ago
Herefordshire man fined after throwing parking ticket...
- OnYerBike 9 hours 46 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 9 hours 51 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 10 hours 15 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 11 hours 29 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. 12 hours 1 min ago
Yes, sleep apnea produces more CO... I'm not aware of any doping effect but what do I know....
- Gd29 14 hours 9 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 14 hours 40 min ago
In all fairness, it almost certainly NEVER happened…
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24 comments
Yes, he sometimes does seem a tad angry, but is good to read and well informed. Unlike that bloke who just seem to get angry about a rear light. He ventured into something else, left one comment, but mainly it was the rear light thing.
Is it me, or is a bit of a subtext developing btl on some of the more recent stories...?
BTBS may be the angriest person I've encountered, but they also IMO make some good points.
YMMV
I've been close passed by police cars, hopefully not the highly trained traffic units but you never know. One I remenber one was on an urban dual carrigeway over a bridge, they just couldn't be bothered to move into the right hand lane.
The officer that came to talk to me when I got out of hospital after being run over on the clockhouse roundabout, Farnborough, told me that he knew how I felt, as he had once driven into a kid on a bicycle whilst coming out of the police station in Farnborough, which exits onto a roundabout. He really didn't understand how I felt.
Just to demonstrate that so many drivers don't have a clue about overtaking safely or the law, both the previous and following car broke the law and drove dangerously, overtaking on a bend with double white central lines. If either had met oncoming traffic, there would have been a collision, and innocent people would have suffered.
The one who didn't cross the white lines also broke the law, but a different one, and seems to be following the general drivers law of "if the car in front passed him, I can too" never mind that the circumstances are different.
All of them should be prosecuted.
I can't wait for the government's comprehensive review of road law.
I think that you may be waiting quite a while...
"the motorist also ignored Rule 163, which says that drivers should give at least as much space to cyclists when overtaking as they would to a car"
They did, wing mirror was not clipped!
And again, another moron status lifting usual suspect car brand in another close pass...
The law should state that a bike has to be given more space than it would be if passing another car!! cars are not vanuerable, bikes are!!
" which says that drivers should give at least as much space to cyclists when overtaking as they would to a car."
and here we have the problem, those words are super vague... really the overtaking driver should completely cross into the other lane... that's what they'd have to do when overtaking a motor vehicle
Nasty indeed. X5 didn't cross the double whites - but should have slowed down and waited to overtake due to oncoming traffic. Going that close at speed is just dangerous driving in my book.
Nasty indeed. X5 didn't cross the double whites - but should have slowed down and waited to overtake due to oncoming traffic. Going that close at speed is just dangerous driving in my book.
Nasty indeed. X5 didn't cross the double whites - but should have slowed down and waited to overtake due to oncoming traffic. Going that close at speed is just dangerous driving in my book.
Typical German car driver attitude.
I'm generalizing, just like motorists do to "cyclists"
Your generalisation is far too specific for comparison. That would be like a motorist saying 'typical Italian steel-framed Campagnolo-equipped cyclist'. Unfortunalely, the actions of one person on a bicycle can be used against anyone else who uses pedal power.
I don't think I can recall a police car ever NOT overtaking because of double solid lines, so I'm pretty confident what the police's response will be.
I was close passed in the summer by a police motorcyclist, not solid lines however, he going circa 60mph and buzzed me keeping well within the lane dividers. At a guess he was on the border of 1.5m from my centre wheel, but at that speed and accelerating it was not particularly pleasant. His co rider was wider out not quite halfwheeling. There was good vision to see ahead so should have used the opposite lane, they simply don't give a shit unless it's one of their own.
It gets to a point where you just give up because of the response by police to incidents and by the way they behave with respect to cyclists themselves.
What you should ask Father Christmas for is a decent camera so that you can supply some evidence for all the allegations you make.
I've got a camera thanks, I don't use it, interpretation by plod is at best suspect but clearly you think that all the incidents I and many others have are all made up. Whatever.
This is the world we live in, folks are so used to seeing images that they've forgotten how to think. If they can't see it, it didn't happen. Unless it suits their argument to have it the other way...
"That's one of the reasons why I'm skeptical that this happpened as the rider said, there was enough publicity for the serious cycling world to know about it (even the ones here that struggle to understand what they read, good to see a few of them in this thread). If the rider has footage, then let's see in its full context. It would be awful to discover that the horse has a history of being spooked/difficult or the rider not having the skill/experience to have controlled it properly."
don simon
https://road.cc/content/news/247228-woman-suffers-punctured-lung-and-bro...
You'll have to explain that one, petal. There's a world of difference between healthy skeptisism based on current info and butting into a conversation to demand that participant of that conversation has a camera because you need proof of all their antics. That link was a good one as it shows a) how quick you are to throw out the unprovoked insults at folk who you have differing opinions from, and b) that you flatter me with the level of interest you have in what I write (don't be offended if I don't reciprocate, and I won't read your response to this either, like most it'll be uninteresting and not adding any substance).
It seems like some of the forces are improving, but it can still be a bit of a lottery. I'd encourage you to use a camera as there can be a knock-on effect of making some drivers take care around cyclists in case they have a camera (though if they are thinking about their driving then they're probably not the dangerous drivers). Each driver that gets a police letter just for "overtaking that bloody cyclist" is likely to complain about it to their mates.
YMMV of course.
"Were you there, are you taking the side of someone without any evidence, you know which is exactly what the police don't do?
Too many bullshit stories about how a cyclist did this and that have made me and many others wary of accepting one persons version of events with no other witness/other party chiming in."
BehindTheBikesheds
https://road.cc/content/news/247228-woman-suffers-punctured-lung-and-bro...
Nasty close pass, MGIF.
Wait until they can see the road ahead is clear ? Not likely!