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Near Miss of the Day 347: Yet another needless close pass

Our regular series featuring close passes from around the country - today it's Somerset...

The latest video in our Near Miss of the Day series – indeed, the final one of the decade – shows yet another needless close pass, this one happening in Tickenham, near Bristol, this week.

It was sent in by road.cc reader Dave, who told us he had had “no interaction with the car before or after the close pass.”

He said: “Whilst this is an 'A' road and I accept that people get closer than they should at busy time.

“With no cars coming on the other side of the road, this is unacceptable.”

The video above is a cropped version, and Dave added that the full video, showing 2 minutes of footage before and after the incident, is being forwarded to Avon & Somerset Police.

> 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.

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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5 comments

Avatar
ktache | 4 years ago
3 likes

Dave, I think you may be lucky they didn't hit you, looks to me like panic swerving to get around you, not noticing you until the very last possible moment.  If you'd been taking the lane they may not have managed to miss you.  I wonder what the distraction might have been, or perhaps just awful unaware driving.

I do hope the police take this one seriously, that driver will hurt or even kill themselves or someone else driving around like that.

Avatar
alansmurphy replied to ktache | 4 years ago
2 likes

ktache wrote:

Dave, I think you may be lucky they didn't hit you, looks to me like panic swerving to get around you, not noticing you until the very last possible moment.  If you'd been taking the lane they may not have managed to miss you.  I wonder what the distraction might have been, or perhaps just awful unaware driving.

I do hope the police take this one seriously, that driver will hurt or even kill themselves or someone else driving around like that.

 

 

Hmm... the rider is definitely closer to the kerb than I ride but if it's a panic swerve from not seeing them then surely another foot wider and he'd be dead. The driver should be able to see the width of the road therefore an alternative position would have made no difference...

Avatar
PaterAnt | 4 years ago
0 likes

Unnecessary. If a cager passed me that close on my Harley, I would be catching back up with him to give him a severe talking to.

Avatar
burtthebike | 4 years ago
5 likes

Most probably on their phone, or changing channels on the radio or turning up the heating; all far more important than looking where you are going.  I hope the police take appropriate action against someone who could have killed Dave if there had been a gust of wind or a pothole.

Avatar
brooksby replied to burtthebike | 4 years ago
1 like

burtthebike wrote:

Most probably on their phone, or changing channels on the radio or turning up the heating; all far more important than looking where you are going.  I hope the police take appropriate action against someone who could have killed Dave if there had been a gust of wind or a pothole.

Exactly. Either they were seriously not looking where their car was going or else they really didn't give a sh!t. One or t'other, and either should attract some sort of criminal charge. IMO.

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