A decent overtake followed by a punishment pass features in today’s video in our Near Miss of the Day series, filmed by road.cc reader Matt in August as he rode up Cheddar Gorge in Somerset.
“There were a couple of cyclists ahead of me (including one wearing a road.cc top!). Obviously, progress up the Gorge can be slow, but the car behind me was courteous and patient, whereas the car behind him was not.
(Being based in Somerset ourselves, we asked around the office – well, the virtual office these days – but haven’t been able to work out whether it was indeed a member of the road.cc team in that jersey, with one saying, “That road attracts the whole range of idiot driver.”)
“Another cyclist overtook the queue of cars, which obviously enraged the second car driver. The first driver gave a nice overtake (thank you, whoever you are!) but the second swerved towards me as he was overtaking. What’s not shown is that he did the same thing to the cyclists ahead of me.”
“It was a scary experience at the time,” he added. “I submitted the footage to Avon and Somerset Police and got the standard response.”
> 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.
> What to do if you capture a near miss or close pass (or worse) on camera while cycling
-1024x680.jpg "“Clear anti-cyclist bias”: Lawsuit filed against Toronto police after cop doored cyclist… before ticketing rider over incident")
35 thoughts on “Near Miss of the Day 478: Cheddar Gorge punishment pass”
Unfortunately the video doesn
Unfortunately the video doesn’t really catch what was described much. However the worst offender on the road for the video was the cyclist who overtook the cars. For one, he wasn’t sure one of the cars wasn’t going to overtake as a gap came up, and he appears to cause the vehicle coming down to brake and toot.
AlsoSomniloquism wrote:
There is no evidence in the video that the overtaking cyclist did anything wrong or to suggest the overtake was a the reason for use of the horn… Given that the horn occurs before the overtake! Drivers should signal before changing direction to overtake… It’s a bit of a giveaway if you’re not sure whether they are about to overtake 😉
On 7 seconds you can just see
On 7 seconds you can just see the orange shirt appear past the drivers side mirror as the cyclist is about a foot or two wider and about to overtake, he suddenly darts in as the vehicle going down obviously appeared around the corner. But how far in did he go as he is overtaking the car (with a blind bend coming up) within a split second of the passing vehicle going past. That is why I surmised that the car coming down tooted at someone on his side of the road and staying very close to the central lines on a narrow road.
If the silver car had overtaken the cyclists on that bend even giving plenty of room, we would be classing it as a dangerous overtake so why not for the bike? In theory it was only dangerous for him but still dangerous in my eyes.
AlsoSomniloquism wrote:
The video is not good enough to see that. I really don’t believe you’ve seen what you think you’ve seen.
Seems to be missing Doppler effect and descending amplitude. Seems much more likely the horn comes from the tailgating silver vehicle with full beam headlights on during a sunny day. The driver also encroaches into the oncoming lane, seems impatient so more likely to use the horn as frustrated by the cyclist being able to overtake safely. My point was, you don’t really know who was using the horn or why so it doesn’t add weight to anything.
— AlsoSomniloquismWhataboutery/conjecture, comparing apples to oranges… and irrelevant.
I don’t know if you are being
I don’t know if you are being deliberately obtuse, blind or what but you have your opinion and if watching that video doesn’t make you see any different, that is what you want to see then you won’t change your mind with anything I will type here.
AlsoSomniloquism wrote:
My opinion comes from watching the video repeatedly to establish facts and what most likely occurred. I don’t want to see anything in particular, I was just pointing out that your claim of the cyclist being in the wrong isn’t at all supported by the video evidence.
If what you type is unconvincing, it simply won’t convince me.
FWIW in the 34 seconds I
FWIW in the 34 seconds I viewed, the Land Rover going the opposite way was tooting the cyclist in orange (chapeau! Sir, btw) “for” pulling out around silver – I don’t know whether that was appropriate or not. I’m not sold on the Doppler piece as the distances aren’t long enough – someone must know what sort of horn Landies normally have? A marp or a meep?
I didn’t think the silver car did anything untoward.
But when the facts are not
But when the facts are not actually facts it does look like you are being deliberately obtuse for the sake off it. (Full beams, tailgating, no biker at 7 seconds), then I see you being deliberately obtuse. Look up daylight running lights, and the two second rule for example. As for the no sign of the cyclist at 7 seconds….
The facts according to the cyclist is the silver car was fine, the following focus decided to punishment pass him and the cyclists ahead of him. From the video it looks like the focus does come closer but not easy to tell how close due to the distortion from the video and only being the rear. I don’t disbelieve him though.
My comments are I thought the orange cyclist put himself in a more dangerous position then he needed to. As a faster vehicle then the slower cars and still being within the speed limit, there was no law breaking involved from him overtaking though. Although my opinion is still that the Landie coming down was he one who used the horn. I’m impressed how well he was climbing though. Quite rapid uphill.
I don’t want this to descend
I don’t want this to descend into another debate on Highway Code technicalities, and I do agree (not that this justifies a close pass) that the cyclist overtaking was bound to enrage the drivers. But if one of those drivers was about to overtake, they should first check they are not being overtaken themselves, and signal.
I think both you and Chris
I think both you and Chris think the cars coming up used their horn. For me it was the car going down rounding a corner and seeing a bike in his lane performing an over take and riding on the central lines of a narrow road.
And then overtaking on a semi blind bend as well. (not knowing the climb I don’t know how tight that bend is but the road goes out of view reasonably fast on the video of a slow bike.
Yeah, does seem to be the
Yeah, does seem to be the landie warning the ‘dutch’ cyclist not to overtake.
hirsute wrote:
I thought it was the Focus beeping. I would have expected to hear a change in tone (doppler effect) if it was the 4×4 coming down the hill.
Plus they were clearly in a radge, you can see in the shadow cast on the verge of the Focus, trying to close the gap to prevent the overtaking cyclist pulling in.
AlsoSomniloquism wrote:
even with your assumptions, they could have been beeping at the silver vehicle driving on the central lines of a “narrow road”.
Semi-blind bend? It’s either blind or it isn’t… And even then more so for the land rover than the overtaking cyclist. Which is worse, cycling into a blind bend uphill or driving down it at far greater speed in a heavy vehicle not known for it’s manoeuvrability?
As I said to your other reply
As I said to your other reply, if that is your take, I’m not going to change it anyway and whatever I type will be construed totally differently.
AlsoSomniloquism wrote:
If you say so ??♂️
I wasn’t expressing a view on
I wasn’t expressing a view on who used their horn – I was just replying to your point that the overtaking cyclist didn’t know if drivers in front of him were going to overtake, by pointing out that it is the driver’s responsibility to check they are not themselves being overtaken before they pull out.
Nice that the first motorist
Nice that the first motorist was so considerate but he/she had plenty of time to overtake and didn’t. Their dithering frustrated the following motorist who Instead of venting on them vented on the cyclist. Happens frequently.
Not sure if you are having
Not sure if you are having ago at the original driver there but as we can’t see what was ahead of him it is a bit disinegnous. We know there is at least one bend that he wouldn’t have known what was coming down, and the OP did mention there were several bikes ahead so without knowing how they were spaced. Should the driver have forced themselves into non potentially non existent gaps?
Maybe you’re right, maybe not
Maybe you’re right, maybe not. It’s more of a general comment on the effect of dithering motorists that hang behind cyclists for ages refusing to pass and the repercussions for the cyclist.
In this clip, I see mainly a straight road, with little on coming traffic and a motorist who themseves was even overtaken by a fellow cyclist. I think we can assume that there was a gap ahead because he did eventually pass.
One (bike) man’s dither is
One (bike) man’s dither is another’s patient wait for a safe opportunity. I’ve driven and motorcycled that road in the distant past and it’s not at all easy – narrow, short sight-lines, lots of natural beauty to look at, corners for nutcase drivers, etc.
On the orange-clad cyclist… My crystal ball doesn’t predict a long and peaceful life. If that had been a motorcyclist I think most of us would thought they were a total idiot.
For narrow roads through
For narrow roads through tourist spots. Why, when possible, don’t they just make the road wider?
I’d guess it’s a busy route. In 20 years or so the road will either be as narrow, or probably narrower. Due to the council letting the grass and trees encroach onto the road.
The road seems to be built for horse and cart, or when cars weren’t as obese as now.
Britain’s road inferstructure is pi55 poor.
The trouble is it is classed
The trouble is it is classed as an AONB so I suspect that there are lots of extra rules to jump through to widen roads. Plus to widen it you would have to widen the gorge in some areas or then it will be wide/ narrow/ wide / narrow going down which might be more dangerous.
I dunno where to start,
I dunno where to start, another troll?
visionset wrote:
The video looks to me like it was shot on a road before or after the gorge.
That’s why I wrote “when possible”. I don’t expect them to blast the walls of the gorge.
I’m not familiar with the location. But I’d put in some long passing lanes for the ascents, as a minimum “effort” of road safety.
My main point is that Britain
My main point is that Britain’s infrastructure is impeccable, okay the Swiss is the best. There are so many roads, probably the most dense in the world. More roads or less cars, mmm tricky! And yes they could be better maintained, but that will do nothing for congestion. Cars have mysteriously got bigger. Well erm no, the twats that buy big cars have become more twattish – market forces. The ultimate power lies with the consumer in this god forsaken political model.
you’re *really* not familiar
you’re *really* not familiar with the location, are you 😀
the only people on this road
the only people on this road are generally tourists. they get to wait. you can’t drive fast up it -narrow, the odd herd of goats and the like
it’s the the most scenic route in the area. it doesn’t need passing places. generally on the way up cars can pass -looks like that day there was a bit of a queue. that’s the “middle” stretch -after the narrow bit, still in the gorge. it will open up to the top of the mendips soon
if you do want to ask a question about the road: why is it open to cars at all? if you want to get a car over the mendips -the A38 to the west does that. want a direct route to the top -to the east of cheddar is “new road” -which isn’t fun to cycle at all, but being straight, not a hard drive.
the road is usually closed for a few weeks in february to clean loose rocks off the cliff. do that all year round and you can have a walking/cycling valley where tourists can still park at the bottom, but need to walk a bit to see the gorge
failing that, let’s add a 20 mph sign throughout, and limit the rest of the mendips to 40. it’s up top where i’ve had my near misses -worst one by a motorbike which must have been doing 100+
Agreed – it would be far
Agreed – it would be far better if they made this into a dual carriageway and, if necessary, cut into the Gorge to do so. Ideally cyclists would then be banned from using the road along with pedestrians, on safety grounds. It will need suitable 24hr lighting and crash barriers on the bends, and will then be perfect…
Crazyhorse wrote:
Rather lacking in imagination if I may say so. The obvious solution is to fill it in and run a motorway over the top.
Crazyhorse wrote:
but what about the goats?
wycombewheeler wrote:
One of the trolls had them for supper
One of the trolls had them
ghg
Simple solution – just make
Simple solution – just make the whole route one way. One lane for motor vehicles, the other for cyclists and pedestrians. Easy to build a short clockwise loop back to the A371.
On a slight aside – i went to
On a slight aside – i went to college with a bloke called Robert Cheese from a village near Cheddar Gorge. (This is true m’lud) Anyway, one night we’ed had a bit of puff and we were stopped by local plod – this was a rural environment we’re talking here. What’s your name and where are you from son? I;m blah, blah and I’m originally from London, studying here blah, blah. And you? ‘Robert Cheese from Cheddar Gorge’ exlaimed a gurning Robert Cheese. “are you taking the piss son?” Now this was in the analogue days before mobile technology. So we were marched off to the local one room police station and many (land line) phone calls later and much time later we were able to prove that Robert Cheese was not taking the piss.
That’s excellent. He didn’t
That’s excellent. He didn’t have a lounge-singing brother named Richard did he?