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Near Miss of the Day 349: Cyclist squeezed between overtaking Jaguar 4x4 and parked car (includes swearing)

Our regular feature showing close passes from around the country - today it's West Yorkshire...

When you’re riding in flowing traffic with motorist coming up from behind to pass you, alarm bells start ringing when you spot a parked car on the street ahead – and that’s exactly what we have in today’s Near Miss of the Day series as the driver of a Jaguar 4x4 overtaking a cyclist who gets squeezed between that vehicle and the parked one he is passing.

The danger is increased by the Jaguar driver pulling into the left as they pass the cyclist due to cars coming the other way on the A657 Carr Road in Calverley, just outside Leeds in West Yorkshire, with the cyclist inches away from being knocked from his bike.

The road.cc reader who submitted the video, who wishes to remain anonymous, said: “This was a reckless close pass. As the swearing shows, the closeness happens just before the vehicle enters the camera's field of view.

“I glanced behind me and saw a large 4*4 approximately 2 inches away from my back wheel. They moved out very slightly as they passed, but it was far too close for comfort.”

He continued: “I've submitted this to West Yorkshire Police, who were considering this and said they were going to give the driver a visit. I don't know what outcome came from this, and the police aren't responding to my emails enquiring about the outcome since November.

“One possibility is that the police are so under-resourced that they don't have time to reply. Sadly, another possibility is that they just aren't taking cyclists' safety seriously and aren't passing this one on to the CPS.

“I have had some very positive experiences with West Yorkshire Police with regard to cyclists' safety, but also some very negative ones.

“The inconsistency is frightening – for the same incident, it seems that outcomes can range from prosecution for careless driving to 'it's not serious because they didn't hit you, and it's your fault anyway for cycling on the roads', depending on which officer is tasked with dealing with this.

“Some officers are fantastic, others appear to show distinct anti-cyclist prejudices,” he added.

> 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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12 comments

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Gary's bike channel | 4 years ago
0 likes

i just want to know why the jag driver and oncoming car driver were in the exact same space, and same time, on that road. It says its 11 19 inthe morning.   Weird time to both be on the road at exactly the same moment, is it not? you go cycling at that time youd expect most other people to be at work. Thats my over complicated brain thinking things through. Now if the oncoming car driver was at work, he wouldnt be there, so the jag wouldnt have hit him by driving past in the other lane. He wouldnt be anywhere near the cyclist. Thus the problem drivers have, is other drivers. The problem the cyclist in this video has, is that he is on the road when it should be very empty, yet it is not. Explain how those two drivers can be in the exact same space, time and location, rather than being at work, and I'll listen. Because right now, i reckon most people on the road in the day time are only working 16 hours a week. Otherwise how can they be on the road at these times? odd.  the only time i get to be on the road is one day a week. So when im at work for 50 hours, are these people just driving around aimlessly trying to kill people on bikes? certainly, from what i see on dashcam footage, very few people are ever at work these days. How else do you explain such high traffic volumes at times where you would expect to see very few vehicles? 

Avatar
FluffyKittenofT... replied to Gary's bike channel | 4 years ago
2 likes

david rides wrote:

i just want to know why the jag driver and oncoming car driver were in the exact same space, and same time, on that road. It says its 11 19 inthe morning.   Weird time to both be on the road at exactly the same moment, is it not? you go cycling at that time youd expect most other people to be at work. Thats my over complicated brain thinking things through. Now if the oncoming car driver was at work, he wouldnt be there, so the jag wouldnt have hit him by driving past in the other lane. He wouldnt be anywhere near the cyclist. Thus the problem drivers have, is other drivers. The problem the cyclist in this video has, is that he is on the road when it should be very empty, yet it is not. Explain how those two drivers can be in the exact same space, time and location, rather than being at work, and I'll listen. Because right now, i reckon most people on the road in the day time are only working 16 hours a week. Otherwise how can they be on the road at these times? odd.  the only time i get to be on the road is one day a week. So when im at work for 50 hours, are these people just driving around aimlessly trying to kill people on bikes? certainly, from what i see on dashcam footage, very few people are ever at work these days. How else do you explain such high traffic volumes at times where you would expect to see very few vehicles? 

 

They weren't in the exact same space and time, or they'd have melded into each other like some freaky teleportation accident!

 

But it is startling how relentless traffic is - the 'rush hour' seems to extend into a 'rush day' these days.  I often wonder where the hell they are all going.

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brooksby replied to FluffyKittenofTindalos | 4 years ago
1 like

FluffyKittenofTindalos wrote:

david rides wrote:

i just want to know why the jag driver and oncoming car driver were in the exact same space, and same time, on that road.

They weren't in the exact same space and time, or they'd have melded into each other like some freaky teleportation accident!

Its even worse if you do that when you have a CET as well - then you have to watch out for all the Mandrels!  3  4

Avatar
hawkinspeter replied to brooksby | 4 years ago
1 like

brooksby wrote:

FluffyKittenofTindalos wrote:

david rides wrote:

i just want to know why the jag driver and oncoming car driver were in the exact same space, and same time, on that road.

They weren't in the exact same space and time, or they'd have melded into each other like some freaky teleportation accident!

Its even worse if you do that when you have a CET as well - then you have to watch out for all the Mandrels!  3  4

Nice - I had to google that reference.

 

Avatar
Hirsute replied to Gary's bike channel | 4 years ago
3 likes
david rides wrote:

i just want to know why the jag driver and oncoming car driver were in the exact same space, and same time, on that road. It says its 11 19 inthe morning.   Weird time to both be on the road at exactly the same moment, is it not? you go cycling at that time youd expect most other people to be at work. Thats my over complicated brain thinking things through. Now if the oncoming car driver was at work, he wouldnt be there, so the jag wouldnt have hit him by driving past in the other lane. He wouldnt be anywhere near the cyclist. Thus the problem drivers have, is other drivers. The problem the cyclist in this video has, is that he is on the road when it should be very empty, yet it is not. Explain how those two drivers can be in the exact same space, time and location, rather than being at work, and I'll listen. Because right now, i reckon most people on the road in the day time are only working 16 hours a week. Otherwise how can they be on the road at these times? odd.  the only time i get to be on the road is one day a week. So when im at work for 50 hours, are these people just driving around aimlessly trying to kill people on bikes? certainly, from what i see on dashcam footage, very few people are ever at work these days. How else do you explain such high traffic volumes at times where you would expect to see very few vehicles? 

Not everyone works
Not everyone works full time
Even if you are full-time, you get leave.
Some people even use vehicles as part of their job and drive to appointments and meetings.

Are you stuck in the 50s with your idea if traffic volumes?

Avatar
Awavey | 4 years ago
1 like

but playing devils advocate here, if the silver car then concedes more space, that enables the Jag 4x4 to make the ill judged overtake, effectively theyve bullied the oncoming traffic into allowing an overtake which reinforces the Jag drivers belief people will get out of their way when they do stupid things,when without being afforded the space the Jag driver may have conceeded it was an ill judged overtake as they risked crashing their shiny expensive car into something hard and solid and held back till it was safer.

though Im not suggesting if any of that puts the vulnerable cyclist at more risk the silver car shouldnt have given space, but the whole thing is caused by the ill judged overtake of the Jaguar first and foremost, not by what the silver car was doing

and Ive been on the receiving end of a couple of similar "ill judged overtakes" where the driver doing the overtaking was only in a position to even consider overtaking was possible on the road,  because the oncoming traffic enabled them, by giving them that space to do so, had that oncoming traffic in my situations, held their perfectly legimitate line on their side of the road, those ill judging drivers would have had a choice of an almighty coming together with something hard and solid, or conceeding then wasnt the time or place to overtake.

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Mungecrundle | 4 years ago
4 likes

CyclingInBeastMode
"To be fair to the oncoming driver they haven't departed from their lane so they are not at fault here and I think Mungecrundle is wrong in their assessment. There's a reasonable expectation from the oncoming driver that the Jag driver isn't going to attempt a dangerous overtake at that juncture."

Call me a wuss, but if I see a car coming at me on my side of the road I don't play chicken however much "my right of way" it might be. I especially wouldn't play chicken when the bailout for my opponent is to put the life of a vulnerable road user at risk. Watch the video again, you'll see that the black 4x4 was comitted to an ill judged overtake and straddling the lane divider before the silver car decides to pull round the parked truck. Part of the reason the driver may have cut in far too close to the cyclist was to avoid a head on with it. Only person here who absolutely did nothing wrong was the poor bloody cyclist.

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CyclingInBeastMode | 4 years ago
1 like

No response from plod means no action, should make a formal complaint as clearly they've done fack all!

To be fair to the oncoming driver they haven't departed from their lane so they are not at fault here and I think Mungecrundle is wrong in their assessment. There's a reasonable expectation from the oncoming driver that the Jag driver isn't going to attempt a dangerous overtake at that juncture.

Could they have held back, sure, but there was enough space for them to get around the parked wagon, there was not enough space for the jag clearly.

As per my first sentence, rider needs to take this further as plod will continue to ignore email, go visit relevant station and ask to speak to the highest level person on site as an assault has occured and police have failed to act on their sworn oaths and are, you believe are perverting the course of justice, a serious criminal act in itself.  

Also demand to see any guidlines on the offence that's being reported.

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Hirsute | 4 years ago
2 likes

Excellent summary Mungecrundle (how are these drivers allowed on the roads ?)

 

I think the answer is more PPE though.

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Mungecrundle | 4 years ago
9 likes

Special mention has to go to the driver of the silver car coming the other way. Completely unable to read the situation and proceeds to pull out and pass the parked lorry whilst matey boy in the black 4x4 is heading straight for them.

Unfortunate that you came across a perfect storm of inconsiderately parked vehicles, 2 fuckwits at the wheel both apparently unable to look further than the end of their bonnet and / or unable to apply even a basic level of roadcraft to an obviously dangerous developing situation. Throw in the junction just after the parked car, the presence of pedestrians and the odds were definitely stacking up against you.

Avatar
Rik Mayals unde... replied to Mungecrundle | 4 years ago
1 like

Mungecrundle wrote:

Special mention has to go to the driver of the silver car coming the other way. Completely unable to read the situation and proceeds to pull out and pass the parked lorry whilst matey boy in the black 4x4 is heading straight for them.

Unfortunate that you came across a perfect storm of inconsiderately parked vehicles, 2 fuckwits at the wheel both apparently unable to look further than the end of their bonnet and / or unable to apply even a basic level of roadcraft to an obviously dangerous developing situation. Throw in the junction just after the parked car, the presence of pedestrians and the odds were definitely stacking up against you.

That's just modern day motoring for you. People seem incapable of remembering what they were taught on their driving lessons, one being that if the obstruction is on your side, you wait. It infuriates me when drivers force their way over the white line just because they are too impatient/incapable to read the road ahead, and ease off the gas for a matter of seconds. Again, modern day people, me, me, me. Nobody gives a shit about anybody else these days.

Rant over.

Avatar
brooksby | 4 years ago
2 likes

And that would be the parked car which has obviously been lifted onto the footpath by a crane, cos everyone knows its illegal to drive on the footway...

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