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Near Miss of the Day 506: “The wing of the car brushed against me”

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

Today’s near miss is a ‘miss’ only in the sense that it didn’t result in something more serious, the driver’s car having brushed the cyclist and the wing mirror clipping his arm. Kent Police didn’t respond when it was reported to them.

The incident occurred in Eynsford on November 3 last year.

Mike said: “Fortunately, the wing brushed against me and I more or less slid down the side of the car.

“The wing mirror clipped my arm but there was no real impact as such. I suspect the glass was a stick-on replacement from a previous collision because it came out very easily.

“He had plenty of space to pass safely as can be seen later with the oncoming car.”

The incident was reported to police later the same day, but Mike never got a 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 [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

Alex has written for more cricket publications than the rest of the road.cc team combined. Despite the apparent evidence of this picture, he doesn't especially like cake.

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16 comments

Avatar
OldRidgeback | 3 years ago
2 likes

I know that stretch of road. It's very narrow and the surface is rubbish, so nobody should be driving along there quickly. There are plenty of passing places. A proper driver wouldn't have been so impatient as to put others at risk. And since you can only drive along there slowly anyway, this incident highlights to what degree the driver prioritised shaving a few seconds of his/her journey time over the safety of another road user. 

Avatar
squidgy replied to OldRidgeback | 3 years ago
0 likes
OldRidgeback wrote:

I know that stretch of road. It's very narrow and the surface is rubbish, so nobody should be driving along there quickly. There are plenty of passing places. A proper driver wouldn't have been so impatient as to put others at risk. And since you can only drive along there slowly anyway, this incident highlights to what degree the driver prioritised shaving a few seconds of his/her journey time over the safety of another road user. 

I ride that road regularly and often in the dark. I wouldn't say its particularly poor surface but it is narrow along much of it, particularly the part in the video which is why the car ahead had to wait .There are several passing points along there. Not many drivers use it because it's a bit of a pain to negotiate and it does not save much time over using the A20, unless there are traffic problems at junction 3. That being said, there would be more than enough space to pass cyclists safely at that point, I think a car passed me at the same point only this week without issue.

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alexuk | 3 years ago
0 likes

Total HUNT* - there I said it.

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Rendel Harris replied to Lance ꜱtrongarm | 3 years ago
6 likes

Nigel Garrage wrote:

"Thanks for your video submission. Since the footage was shot on a camera which took blockier footage than Minecraft on ultra-low resolution, we couldn't see a number plate and therefore aren't going to take any action."

Kind regards,

Kent police

Thank you for your comment. Since you are a highly unpleasant rightist sock puppet of another troll account, we are not going to take any notice of it.

Kind regards,

99% of Road.cc readership

Avatar
Rendel Harris replied to Lance ꜱtrongarm | 3 years ago
2 likes

Nigel Garrage wrote:

Dry your tears love 😭

Well golly, that stings, ooh I'm wounded. If that's the best you've got, give up and fuck off back to Autocar and the Daily Mail where you belong.

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hawkinspeter | 3 years ago
11 likes

**checks watch**

He should be here by now

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andystow replied to hawkinspeter | 3 years ago
3 likes

Cars don't have wings, planes have wings!

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hawkinspeter replied to andystow | 3 years ago
13 likes

Are you sure?

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hawkinspeter replied to andystow | 3 years ago
6 likes

Are you really sure?

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ChrisB200SX replied to hawkinspeter | 3 years ago
4 likes

hawkinspeter wrote:

Are you really sure?

That's got wheels, it's clearly a car, not a plane.

Avatar
zero_trooper replied to ChrisB200SX | 3 years ago
1 like

ChrisB200SX wrote:

hawkinspeter wrote:

Are you really sure?

That's got wheels, it's clearly a car, not a plane.

 

Yeah, but no tax disc… 

Avatar
Aberdeencyclist replied to andystow | 3 years ago
0 likes
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Captain Badger replied to andystow | 3 years ago
6 likes

andystow wrote:

Cars don't have wings, planes have wings!

*ring ring*

"yes, hello. Andystow? yes he's here - [hands over receiver] - Andy, it's a Mr Bond. He begs to differ...."

 

 

Avatar
AlsoSomniloquism | 3 years ago
13 likes

So an actual collision occurred without the driver stopping and the Police still never bothered replying?

And I await Swixydixy with bated breath. 

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zero_trooper replied to AlsoSomniloquism | 3 years ago
2 likes

Well apparently a none reportable collision under the RTA; but yeah some police acknowledgment would have been nice.

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squidgy replied to zero_trooper | 3 years ago
1 like

Tried it myself, Kent police are not interested.

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