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Near Miss of the Day 231: Driver overtakes cyclist on country as car approaches from other direction

Our regular feature of close passes from around the country - today it's Wiltshire...

Today's video in our Near Miss of the Day feature shows a very dangerous overtake by a driver on a cyclist, with the motorist cutting in before completing the manoeuvre due to an oncoming vehicle.

It happened to road.cc user Mike yesterday as he rode home from work between Lacock and Melksham.

He told us: "May upload to Nextbase portal but have done a few to Wiltshire Police and never heard a thing so hardly worth bothering."

> 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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17 comments

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Fish_n_Chips | 5 years ago
0 likes

There are idiots everywhere and some are drivers or cyclists. Thing is a mistake or impatient attitude could end up killing someone.

They should use this in road safety ads.

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burtthebike | 5 years ago
2 likes

What I would like is for some undergrad to do their dissertation on why motorists drive like that around cyclists, mainly focussing on talking to the drivers to find out what they were thinking when they did something so utterly obviously dangerous.  We need to understand why so many drivers are quite so totally incompentent and don't give flying F*** about other people's lives.

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hawkinspeter replied to burtthebike | 5 years ago
1 like

burtthebike wrote:

What I would like is for some undergrad to do their dissertation on why motorists drive like that around cyclists, mainly focussing on talking to the drivers to find out what they were thinking when they did something so utterly obviously dangerous.  We need to understand why so many drivers are quite so totally incompentent and don't give flying F*** about other people's lives.

My personal opinion is that it goes back to some mammalian territorial behaviour. When people are driving, their "personal space" expands to encompass the car/vehicle (e.g. people will say things like "they almost hit me" when they should more correctly say "they almost hit the car"). As someone's personal space increases, they probably feel more important and become really indignant when cyclists challenge their need for space on the road.

 

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CygnusX1 replied to hawkinspeter | 5 years ago
2 likes

HawkinsPeter wrote:

burtthebike wrote:

What I would like is for some undergrad to do their dissertation on why motorists drive like that around cyclists, mainly focussing on talking to the drivers to find out what they were thinking when they did something so utterly obviously dangerous.  We need to understand why so many drivers are quite so totally incompentent and don't give flying F*** about other people's lives.

My personal opinion is that it goes back to some mammalian territorial behaviour. When people are driving, their "personal space" expands to encompass the car/vehicle (e.g. people will say things like "they almost hit me" when they should more correctly say "they almost hit the car"). As someone's personal space increases, they probably feel more important and become really indignant when cyclists challenge their need for space on the road.

 

As you are someone quite clearly in touch with their furry mammalian self, I suspect you may be onto something there. 

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jthef | 5 years ago
1 like

Just run of the mill stuff.

Now that is a sad statment! cut in on had to break to avoid a colision. and police don't respond.

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peted76 | 5 years ago
1 like

Horrid and far too common a move. Glad you're okay.

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Johnmoz | 5 years ago
2 likes

What do the police want someone dead before they do anything,keep trying mate they might do something about it and it may make the driver think next time,it may save someone's life.

 

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KeithBird | 5 years ago
2 likes

As so normal for these dreadful overtakes, the driver hardly pulls away after either.

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shay cycles | 5 years ago
3 likes

The end of first paragraph is a bit misleading so I've fixed it for Roadcc as follows:

"Today's video in our Near Miss of the Day feature shows a very dangerous overtake by a driver on a cyclist, with the motorist cutting in before completing the manoeuvre due to impatience and stupidity."

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vincenslo | 5 years ago
4 likes

Exactly the same happened to me a year ago. Uploaded front and rear videos to Lancashire Police who then called me in for a chat. Driver was offered the option of an awareness course or some points. Police never told me which option driver took but good to know that our local force takes this sort of thing seriously.

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bike_food | 5 years ago
5 likes
Quote:

Is that squeal on the sountrack from you braking or is it the sound of gases escaping from an extremely clenched sphincter?

A bit of both, if I hadn't braked I'd have been in the hedge at best. There's a rear view in amongst my other videos, you'll see the van driver behind the overtaking car drop back as it happens expecting the worse.

If you look at the tree just round the corner you'll see shoes hanging from it which has become a memorial for a young lad who was killed in a car crash a few years ago (with another car), it's not a great spot to be with traffic behind you as impatience often kicks in and you end up in this situation with nowhere to go with another car coming the other way on the opposite side of the road.

Quote:

It might be worth chasing up with a complaint if they don't respond within 10 days

 
I will do for this one. Wiltshire police do apparently accept video footage but you have to mail it on a disc according to the only source I could find on the internet. I emailed them yesterday asking if they are able to accept uploaded files directly or of I should use the nextbase portal as they don't seem to respond to uploads, they haven't replied yet.

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danhopgood | 5 years ago
6 likes

My take on that left indicator is "Get over to the left you pesky cyclist".   Looked to me like your road positioning was as it should be.

Drivers like that should be made to repeat the experience from the cyclists' angle. That'd learn 'em.

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ClubSmed | 5 years ago
1 like

That is a very scary moment, I am not sure I could have carried on at that pace afterwards. kudos!

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Capercaillie | 5 years ago
5 likes

Unfortunately this happens all too often and in some cases it causes fatalities, as in the case a few months back where a tractor driver towing a trailer hit a cyclist, while attempting to overtake in similar circumstances.

I often get nervous cycling on fast A roads with blind bends for this very reason.

As I also drive on the same roads, what I have found interesting is the attitude of some drivers behind if, as a driver, I do hold off from overtaking a cyclist in these circumstances.

I was once behind a cyclist on a blind bend on a steep hill, so the cyclist was very slow.

I held back and got furiously beeped at by the white van man behind me.  I could see he was probably also mouthing obscenities.

In another case, someone actually attempted to overtake both me and the cyclist and nearly had a head on with a car in the opposite direction.  Fortunately both drivers did manage to do an emergency stop in time!

 

 

 

 

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hawkinspeter | 5 years ago
3 likes

I would expect a response for any video uploaded to the police.

It might be worth chasing up with a complaint if they don't respond within 10 days as they'll then rush to do an "early intervention" to prevent it becoming a formal complaint (providing that you're happy with what they plan to do).

I had one video dismissed because they claimed that the video didn't show the junction as being right turn only (a car tried to turn left through me and my bike), so I raised a complaint along with a still from the fottage clearly showing the right-only traffic light and the mandatory right-turn sign below it. They quickly replied saying that they were going to review it again (which is exactly what I wanted) and in the end they sent the driver a warning letter.

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Mungecrundle | 5 years ago
6 likes

Not sure wether to be shocked or appalled. Possibly appalled but not shocked, or maybe a little bit shocked because that is the acceptable stated response or shocked that this sort of thing is not a shock.

Obviously mitigating circumstances of indicating to pull back in. Because using the indicator makes the driver free from blame. Still, the real lesson, here is to not buy a cheap brand motorcar. Get one of those expensive usually German models. Many round my way appear to come fitted with special technology that allows the driver to overtake on the approach to bends and junctions where normal physics prevents a direct view of what is coming the other way.

Glad you are OK Mike. Is that squeal on the sountrack from you braking or is it the sound of gases escaping from an extremely clenched sphincter?

 

 

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iandusud replied to Mungecrundle | 5 years ago
1 like

Mungecrundle wrote:

Get one of those expensive usually German models. Many round my way appear to come fitted with special technology that allows the driver to overtake on the approach to bends and junctions where normal physics prevents a direct view of what is coming the other way.

You forgot to add, "and also disables the indicators".

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