On our Near Miss of the Day feature today, we have another close pass on a country lane, with a Peugeot driver overtaking a cyclist with just inches to spare.
It happened to road.cc reader Simon, who told us it took place in “West Cornwall, between St Just and Sancreed, between Leswidden Farm and Grumbla.”
“It’s actually stand-out rare in this neck of the woods – even the couriers are careful as horses are as common as bikes,” Simon told us.
“You see this twonk haring off towards a blind bend – imagine a horse around that corner.”
He added: “No report to the police because I thought he might be local – and findable! No such luck!”
> 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
43 thoughts on “Near Miss of the Day 529: Driver in close pass on country lane (video includes swearing)”
“No report to the police”
“No report to the police”
I know it’s frustrating but if we don’t report we’ll never get any improvement. Look on it as making things better for our children.
Exactly – that driver needs
Exactly – that driver needs to be caught. Another cyclist or a horse and its rider for that matter could easily be badly hurt, or worse, by that idiot behnd the wheel.
But even if you do report it,
But even if you do report it, theres no improvement, and the police arent interested at all at the moment,so what’s the point?
In this specific case – there
In this specific case – there is no point
But if you take a wider view – the more reports the Police recieve the more the pressure builds up to do something about it
Each report makes ALMOST no difference – but if 5000 reports are filed and nothing is done then it starts to look bad.
e.g. a journalist could issue a freedom on info request about how many reports have been recieved – and how many have been actioned and then ask higher ups – maybe as far as an MP – why this area is sooo much worse then the area next door
Anyone can apply for this
Anyone can apply for this information under FoI Legislation.
I did exactly what you suggested from Cheshire Police and found that about 1/3 of videos submitted were acted upon. Better than I expected
stonojnr wrote:
If you give up nothing improves. Only persistence and pressure will help bring the change that’s needed. Whether by more forces treating close passes as a serious crime or by what my suggestion is, setting up a specialist centralised video evidence bureau. The change we’re hoping for is moving at an appallingly slow rate but we must continue to do whatever we can to hold these ignorant and often dangerous drivers to account.
Agreed.
Agreed.
I’ve simply lost faith in a
I’ve simply lost faith in a process that is resulting in no greater feeling of safety or protection whilst out on the road riding, and that no longer even seems to want to prosecute drivers for these types of offences anymore.
I can sympathise massively. I
I can sympathise massively. I will sometimes do really dangerous ones where I have had to brake hard or swerve violently to stop me becoming a statistic. But with the process of transferring, converting, editing, form filling and uploading taking upto 2 hours, and WMP deciding they will only contact you if it goes to court (never been contacted on a portal upload), I have stopped uploading the “lesser” ones that make up alot of the NMotD ones.
2 hrs?? Really?? It takes
2 hrs?? Really?? It takes me maybe 15-20 mins for a report. 20 mins if i have to patch together front and rear footage – just drag and drop into shotcut and leave it processing while I go eat some dinner or something.
I file one for every deliberate and life endangering incident. Because what’s 15 mins compared to a life?
If it’s not then it’s weighed up based on how dangerous it was and how much time i have to spare.
Depends on your upload speed
Depends on your upload speed and file size. Maybe they included the waiting time.
But even if you do report it,
But even if you do report it, theres no improvement, and the police arent interested at all at the moment,so what’s the point?
He’s quite correct- the police aren’t at all interested, but you have to keep going in order to hurt the b******s. The main aim of the police is to do nothing at all about anything at all. I have rcently concentrated on offences where there is no doubt or ‘interpretation’ possible, but the police still aim to do nothing. This case shows the extent to which the police will go to deceive, mislead, lie and cheat about how little they are doing to punish offences, and how much they do to assist the offenders. The photo below is of Chevrolet MF09 HYK crashing through a busy A6 traffic light 1.5 seconds after it turned red, on 19.7.20- it was reported with full video and analysis the following day. I waited a couple of months and then started inquiring. I am now sure that the report was filed immediately in the bin, but it has taken until today to find out. It was not until 1st December that I was told by a PC I was not given the Chevrolet (MF09HYK) as this incident was forwarded to the neighbourhood policing team NPT and therefore I cannot comment on the outcome. I could tell from those words that no action had been taken, and the PC knew that, so I wrote to Lancashire Force Control Room. Several letters later, in which I was told that the NPT was very busy but was ‘dealing’ with the case, I have today been told . In relation to the 1st picture of the Chevrolet below it appears that the Neighbourhood team have unfortunately been unable to deal within time limits due to operational demand. As such we will not be taking the below reports any further. The decision to do nothing was taken back in July when no NPT as sent out within 2 weeks of the offence.
They have still declined, despite my requests, to tell me the name of the officer(s) concerned with filing the case in the bin so that I can make the complaint. I have to write again and if they still refuse, I will go straight to my MP. The outcome of any complaint to LC’s totally ineffectual Professional Standards Department is not in doubt, but you have to follow these things through in order to have something done about what is undoubtedly an organised policy of not recording offences. Greater Manchester was caught out ‘not recording’ 40,000 offences in one year- I think Lancashire have them outclassed.
EDIT: it gets worse and worse- Lancashire Constabulary have now written to say that if I want to find out which officer dealt with the offence report, I have to submit a FoI request! This is, of course, bollocks and is a clear attempt to obstruct a complaint.
Not to report such dangerous
Not to report such dangerous driving is to admit defeat, something we should never do.
All are bad, but close passes
All are bad, but close passes on country/rural roads seem worse. Often narrow, unsighted roads with anything around the next corner; cyclists, horse riders, walkers, farm machinery, etc
The country roads should be an escape from the mad main roads – sadly, they’re often not, and are sometimes worse. I’ve thought that once you drive into the country, you must expect to be inconvenienced by slower ‘traffic’, be that cyclists, livestock, etc
If you can’t accept this, then stay away from these roads.
I would agree most think
I would agree most think country lanes should be safer than main roads but contrary to popular opinion, it’s not the motorway, main road, or the city centre that is the most dangerous. The most dangerous place to drive ride cycle is on a country lane or rural road.
The number of people killed on country roads is nearly 11 times higher than on motorways. 60% of all fatalities occur on country roads; that’s an average of three a day. Country roads carry 30% of the cycling traffic but account for 50% of the fatalities.
What makes rural roads so dangerous?
The danger on rural roads is that drivers tend to drive fast on the bits where they can see a good distance and then don’t adjust their speed appropriately as they become unsighted corners dips etc. They are lulled into a sense of believing their speed is appropriate right up until they are suddenly confronted with an obstruction or in the worst case the accident.
That doesn’t make it right that country lanes should be dangerous in fact we should all do our best to make them safer but every road user should be aware that they are not to be thought of as safe and in fact if we got everyone to think of them as dangerous it would help to make them safer.
Several other factors.
Several other factors. Emergency services are closer on the motorways both in terms of geographically and speed. Therefore victims are more likely to be seen in the golden hour following a crash so chance of survival increases. They are more likely to get to a hospital with the injured party after the crash.
Velophaart_95 wrote:
Unfortuantely in the eyes of most drivers while it is acceptable to be inconvenienced by horses, tractors, learners, people parking in stupid places, deliveries or crashes caused by stupid driving. It is not acceoptable to be delayed for 30seconds by a cyclist. I honestly don’t know why that is, other than persistent media campaigns vilifying lycra louts.
How many times have we recieved abuse because a single driver is behind for 30s? Have you ever seen any abuse for the drivers who caused a crash on the motorway who have delayed tens of thousands of people for half an hour?
I still think that this
I still think that this article summises the reason why some motorists hate cyclists so much: https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20130212-why-you-really-hate-cyclists
Interesting article, could it
Interesting article, could it also argued the other way that motorists are freeloading by travelling with no physical effort at great cost to society? the challenge is how to change the perception of these misguided motorists.
A bit of a flaw in that
A bit of a flaw in that motorists are unaware of the laws they have to follow or don’t care about following them.
Although on a superficial level, insurance does fit the category of free riding .
I have been known to be very
double posted sorry
I have thought very
I have thought very uncharitable thoughts and may have vocalised them about those who crashed.
I’ve had lots of abuse while driving a tractor. A cousin sees how big a queue he can collect, I think he got to 70! I always pull over if I can when I get to 5-10. There is a highway code bit about this rule 169 do not hold up a long queue of traffic especially if you drive a large or slow moving vehicle. Failure to do so can lead to a charge of inconsiderate driving.
I’ve not noticed abuse when I’ve been cycling probably happened but I haven’t noticed. Had many close passes but two will live with me forever.
Typical entitled Motorist –
Typical entitled Motorist – “A few seconds of my time are worth more than your life”
I sometimes play a childish game on narrow roads. If a motorist comes up behind me, I pull into the first farm gate to let him pass. If he then overtakes aggressively I don’t pull over for the next one.
Sorry, I don’t understand the
Sorry, I don’t understand the logic of your “childish game”. So when you get a close pass, you punish some other random driver who might not even know the first one and who is staying patiently behind you? How does that help anybody?
I believe the writer woud
I believe the writer would have us understand that childish logic is an oxymoron.
hirsute wrote:
Logic doesn’t have to be sound I suppose. It can be any set of formal reasoning made in relation to predefined axioms. They don’t have t be valid I guess……
Captain Badger wrote:
Exactly. It doesn’t matter whether your axioms are true or not, so long as the correct logical arguments are generated from them.
Like theology, for example… <ducks!>
brooksby wrote:
Won’t be standing near you in a thunder storm….
There is no logic in it. It
There is no logic in it. It is a childish game.
Both motorists and cyclists have equal right to use a country lane. There is no legal requirement for the cyclist to get out of the way of the motorist, he probably has enough to do avoiding potholes. If the cyclist was using the road first then he should have priority.
If I pull into a farm gate then I am delaying my journey by a small amount, I will get my wheels and shoes muddy, I may even fall off.
I am being subservient to the motorist, or maybe I’m just being a nice guy.
If ALL cyclists ALways got out of the way of ALL motorists then it would not be long before All motorists believed they had a “right of way” on the roads. If you do not use your rights then you will lose them.
So start my I ride along the country lanes as a nice guy, but if I get aggression I exert my rights. Maybe not totally childish?
Incidentally, has anyone noticed that when you have a slightly impatient driver behind you on a narrow lane, if you slow down, move into the very centre of the lane, then wave them through as you pull into a farm gate to let them pass, it annoys them even more? They do not like being told what to do by a cyclist.
Sure, you don’t have to pull
Sure, you don’t have to pull in for any driver and have any right to be on the road, but that’s not what I meant.
Or perhaps I totally misunderstand what you’re doing.
I understood your game as follows: if driver 1 endangers you, you, in return, try to annoy the next one, i.e. some totally different driver 2. Driver 2 normally is not responsible for what driver 1 has done, so what exactly is the point of that?
Whether you want to let driver 2 pass or not is up to you and the situation, no problem if you can’t or don’t want to let them pass, but why do you make your choice dependent on what different driver 1 has done to you before?
I’d understand if you’re trying to teach the same driver, but why a different one?
How about, “i don’t want that
How about, “i don’t want that to happen again”
“I don’t want that to happen
“I don’t want that to happen again” is your message for driver 1, but he won’t ever hear it because he’s long gone while you’re trying to teach driver 2, who probably knows nothing about what driver 1 did and might have a totally different personality and might be a very careful driver.
I’ll try again. “I don’t want
I’ll try again. “I don’t want that to happen to ME again”
You are taking the motorist’s point of view, I am taking the cyclist’s point of view. Both may be valid, but my safety is paramount (to me) and I am entitled to ride accordingly.
I think it’s the same logic
I think it’s the same logic that means I get a punishment pass because the driver once saw a cyclist go through a red light. Driver 2 surely understands he is part of a wider community and has to accept punishment for the infractions of other members of that community.
IanMK wrote:
A lot of the time I suspect it’s more like “I get a punishment pass because the driver was told by someone that they once nearly saw a cyclist go through a red light”…
Last weekend I got the finger
Last weekend I got the finger from a driver. I suspect it was because, going in the opposite direction, there were 2 cyclists riding abreast and he actually had to slow down to overtake me. Obviously felt that I should be taking more responsibility for members of my community.
There is a huge difference
There is a huge difference between holding someone up for a few minutes and endangering someone’s life.
Having said that I usually wait till I hear the following car slow down and then let them pass at the next opportunity. If its muddy I stay on the road and let them get their car dirty. A short toot to say I’m here is OK but agressive use of the horn gets a different response.
Well, yes, I do something
Well, yes, I do something similar (check in the mirror what the driver behind me does and react appropriately), but here you actually communicate with the same driver.
What I don’t get in Cycloid’s “childish game” is that they are trying to teach a different driver while the original one, the one who endangered them, is long gone.
Stephan Matthiesen wrote:
To some extent that makes sense, but peoples reactions are not always logical.
E.g. when cycling on urban roads in traffic I will often take the centre of the lane and hold my place in the queue at lights, however if driver 10 pulls alongside me and herds me to the kerb because they think I am stopping them from making more progress, then I will filter up to the front of the queue. I have clearly been instructed by a driver that I am not part of the traffic and therefore I am not constrained to wait for the traffic. Also pulling away beside a car is less safe. The result is that drivers 2,3,4,5,6,7,8 and 9 are now behind me and possibly inconvenienced, and my own journey is improved. Driver 10 gains nothing of course.
If I ride reasonably and am treated reasonably by drivers then all good, but if drivers do not treat you reasonably then you have to alter your own behavour for your own protection.
In te OPs case perhaps blockin all drivers because of a single aggresive pass is extreme, but if riding considerately ends wiht more dangerous passes than safe ones, then clearly a different approach is required.
I see what you mean, but I
I see what you mean, but I think that is somewhat different as you also send the message to the correct driver (driver 10, the one who bullied you), so they hopefully notice that they didn’t gain anything. And in an urban setting the “holding up” part is quite different than on narrow country roads; typically in town some drivers might be annoyed by cyclists in general, but in reality nobody is held up for long by cyclists.
And I would think (hope) that drivers 1 to 9 don’t have any problem with you filtering to the front if it is safe, as this is the normal thing to do in a city.
WTF is it with people that
WTF is it with people that they forget we’re mums, dads, sons, brothers, daughters? Why are they so unconcerned about their safety that they think it’s OK to drive like this? Where’s the protection from the Police? It makes me furious.
MattieKempy wrote:
Driving is a privilege, not a right. Somehow the police, courts, media, politicians have got the opposite impression – that driving is a right, and not a privilege.
PS I should have stated the
PS I should have stated the obvious- this NMotD is very close, fast and very bad.