Today’s video in our Near Miss of the Day series shows a driver making a close pass while overtaking a cyclist on an otherwise empty road.
It was filmed by road.cc reader Paul as he commuted home on Tuesday 1 October in Bleary, County Armagh.
He told us: “I appreciate it’s not as close as some on here or even some I’ve been on the receiving end of, but it’s more the fact the road is completely deserted and the driver still barely crosses the white lines.
> 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@road.cc">info@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.
14 thoughts on “Near Miss of the Day 312: Close pass on empty road”
There is something wrong with
There is something wrong with the text here.
And the awful pass, just why?
I hate drivers who do this.
I hate drivers who do this with no one coming the other way.
Camera angle was a bit odd.
Html or BB code or whatever syntax is bust.
Stupid rather than malicious
Stupid rather than malicious I think.
Judge dreadful wrote:
Yeah I reckon your right. Most of the close passed that I am on the receiving end of are ignorance rather than malicious.
Judge dreadful wrote:
For my sanity I like to think the majority of passes I get like that are as such, there must be a small element that’s malicious though 🙁
I know the rider turned left
I know the rider turned left shortly after the pass. Ive found from my personal experience by riding central to carriage way, the driver has to move over the white line, this usually means the driver will fully move over because they no longer accept they can perform the pass whilst staying left of the painted centre line. Ride more central, for me 1-1.5 metres from the kerb
CXR94Di2 wrote:
Top advice, and my observations also. If you ride in the gutter you’re just making it easier for some gimp to try and squeeze past, although in this instance there was no need to do it in the first place.
That’s what used to be a one
That’s what used to be a one in 5 pass for me, though since metre passing laws were introduced it’s improved to about one in 8. Happens so often it’s just normal driver behaviour. There’s probably no malice, just stupidity. There’s decades of ingrained behaviour from road laws requiring keeping within a lane to overcome, coupled to attitudes that see you as an obstacle not a person. I’m more troubled by those that do it deliberately to intimidate.
Philh68 wrote:
Hence the need for better driver education. We’ve had “Clunk Click every Trip” and “Belt Up” media campaigns, so why not some close passing campaigns explaining the reasons for giving room and the ilegality of not doing so.
iandusud wrote:
Inconvenience decent law-abiding motorists just to help out some bl00dy cyclists who don’t even pay road tax? Tut! – are you quite mad?
iandusud wrote:
The govt’s centre for road safety ran an extensive campaign following the introduction of the passing laws called Go Together, which clearly explained the rule changes. There’s been no shortage of publicity. It’s made some difference, but of course being aware of the rules doesn’t mean drivers will change their behaviour. It’s so difficult to enforce that there’s little incentive for compliance.
In the year since they were formally introduced (following a 2 year trial) I have had just one driver comply to the letter of the law, a provisional driver who not only used the opposite lane but correctly indicated the manoeuvre. The majority are giving enough room when passing but not indicating. At best the education campaign has had limited success.
I hope that the date shown on
I hope that the date shown on the video is correct and this was 2013. Unlikely considering that not many of us had cameras back then.
I have noticed that most drivers are giving more room these days but this is a really annoying situation on an open road, no need and it does only take one bad motorist to cause us cycling pain.
Hopefully things are better than 2013.
I know each close pass is
I know each close pass is dangerous and that oncoming traffic is no excuse, but these ones annoy me the most !!!
I mean why ? the road is empty the driver can see far ahead why not move into the other lane ? why ?
scu98rkr wrote:
I imagine that they’d registered that the long straight road was empty, so took the opportunity to check their FB…