A motorist excused her poor driving by telling a cyclist “You don’t pay road tax” – even though no such thing exists, and if people on bikes were required to pay Vehicle Excise Duty, as it is correctly known, they would do so at the same rate as drivers of electric cars, ie zero.
The clip, filmed in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, was sent in by road.cc reader Lyndon, who said it happened on his commute home from work.
“The lady in the vehicle came up very, very close to me at a red light,” Lyndon said. “Her reasoning became clear later when she explained since I don’t pay road tax, her behaviour is justifiable.
“I doubt the police would even send her a warning, even with video of her justifying her own bad driving.”
A couple of days earlier, Lyndon had sent us a compilation of close passes, telling us: “I went out for a ride today for 3 hours, and the following clip shows what happened during that ride.
“It’s becoming clearer to me that a small minority of drivers actively attempt to pass as close as possible, or intentionally put cyclists into dangerous positions with their driving.
“I rarely react anymore, I don’t bother telling drivers to be more aware at traffic lights. Today I cycled alongside a man driving with his elbows while eating a Big Mac. I tapped my helmet to say ‘what are you thinking’ to which he accelerated and sped off.
“It’s a feeling of being numb, this is what’s not only acceptable, but normal. I’ve been hit twice by cars, and hospitalised once, with countless near misses.
“Is it a matter of time before i am seriously injured or worse, just so a driver can check their phone or get to the red light three seconds faster?”
“It’s utterly dumbfounding that during a national lockdown there is so much ‘essential’ bad driving,” 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@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
48 thoughts on “Near Miss of the Day 534: Motorist justifies bad driving by telling cyclist “You don’t pay road tax””
The phrase “You can’t argue
The phrase “You can’t argue with an idiot” springs to mind.
They’ll drag you down to
They’ll drag you down to their level, then beat you with experience?
Ha!!
Ha!! (above)
She has the idea that because she thinks cyclists don’t pay road tax
she can endanger their lives?!
I would’ve done Police complaints about all of those drivers.
Here in NZ it’s easy to do a complaint on the net but they only get a letter. At least it’s something formal.
Formal complaint need a visit to the Police station etc.
Formal complaint need a visit
Formal complaint need a visit to the Police station etc.
Lancashire Constabulary are ahead of you there! The police stations have mostly been closed down to reduce access by the public with their annoying complaints.
I’ve got a complaint in with
I’ve got a complaint in with Lancs plod at the moment, after being very nearly flattened by a maniac in an X5 last month. I’m waiting for the police to write to them to ‘ask’ them who was driving it at the time. I fully expect the driver will have a senior moment and forget, plod will then say case closed, no futher action, to the worst near miss I have had in almost 40 years of cycling. Once I get a result I’m hoping to post it on here.
Good work BP! That means 2 of
Good work BP! That means 2 of us at least, harassing them. You will recall that I always say ‘keep going’, and I (as you may have seen elsewhere on here) am on and on and on at them about a gross red light offence that they decided to quietly bin back in July but have been claiming ‘the neighbourhood policing team are aware and dealing’ until last week when it changed to ‘case closed, no action’ and then refused to tell me who had made the decision. I will post somewhere when something happens.
Sadly i received a phone call
Sadly i received a phone call today to tell me that after viewing the footage, PC thinks that I am in the wrong, not the X5 which passed me with no inches to spare. Apparently I am in the wrong and am fortunate that I am not being charged with driving without due care, on a bike. (Shakes head)
I truly give up.
A not uncommon dodge.
A not uncommon dodge. Blackpool’s comedy turn Sgt Lavin wrote the following to me, threatening to give me a good ‘going over’:
The second set of images regarding the White Fiat PJ64 VZS has once again completed the overtake safely although has come over to the opposite side of the carriageway more than the Honda. This does appear to be as a result of you coming over to the middle of the road more than would appear necessary.
I would like to draw your attention to the offence below which does carry a fine of up to Level 3 (£1,000):
Section 29 of the Road Traffic Act 1988 creates the offence of cycling on a road without due care and attention or reasonable consideration.
S. 29 If a person rides a cycle on a road without due care and attention, or without reasonable consideration for other persons using the road, he is guilty of an offence.
As I have mentioned previously in correspondence with you, The role of the police is to keep the public safe and investigate fairly and impartially any offences reported and as such I suspect that an offence has been committed by yourself but I would need to see the full footage to determine what offences have been committed by any parties.
You see, it was me who forced this fine upstanding driver to illegally cross the double white line in a dangerous position! I offered the footage again, as I had done previously. I never heard from him again. The LC complaints procedure concluded that he hadn’t threatened to prosecute me! LC is indeed as bent as a nine bob note, but it’s still worth aggravating them. Don’t doubt yourself!
How are LC suggesting that
How are LC suggesting that the Fiat can make a safe pass on that road? If you’re in the gutter then there isn’t 1.5m to give you without crossing the lie!
“like trying to play chess
“like trying to play chess with a pigeon — it knocks the pieces over, craps on the board, and flies back to its flock to claim victory”
In before the misplaced
In before the misplaced pedantry about “It’s not a tax, it’s a license!”
I thought it was a Duty ?
I thought it was a Duty ?
It’s spelled “licence” in UK
It’s spelled “licence” in UK English.
A change of strategy of your
A change of strategy of your pedentary, hmmm…
ktache wrote:
Probably more a change of tactics, though
I’m wondering if the effects
I’m wondering if the effects of isolation in the lock down are affecting the attitudes of drivers?
I’m wondering if the effects
I’m wondering if the effects of isolation in the lock down are affecting the attitudes of drivers?
No. They couldn’t care less about hitting a cyclist, and they couldn’t care less now- that’s setting aside those who deliberately run into cyclists knowing that even if they are filmed and caught, the penalties are minimal. I assume most of you saw the loathsome fat b****** in the white vest swearing at the cyclist on the video in the last couple of days. What has happened to him?
He tripped over his flips
He tripped over his flips flops but his fat gut saved him from any facial injuries.
hirsute wrote:
How could you tell?
wtjs wrote:
It says under the YouTube video “charged with Common Assault and Public Order offences and was sentenced to a Community Order, three months curfew at his home from 8am – 8pm, and ordered to pay £85 court fines.” Minimal indeed.
“charged with Common Assault
“charged with Common Assault and Public Order offences and was sentenced to a Community Order, three months curfew at his home from 8am – 8pm, and ordered to pay £85 court fines.”
Thanks, RH, but was the curfew 8pm-8am? I can see some logic in either!
wtjs wrote:
I C&P’d that from the video, that’s what it said, now one thinks about it the overnight curfew would be more common! Perhaps he was a night worker (might explain why he was such a ratty git!) and so that allowed him out for work but no socialising?
it feels more like we are
it feels more like we are targetted for close passes, or mgifs at the moment, if thats what you mean, almost like drivers are taking out their frustration about lockdown on things they perceive as having more freedom.
Was that a school at the end
Was that a school at the end ?
I hope you reported it though
I hope you reported it though……
What a hateful human – hope
What a hateful human – hope karma hits her hard and slow!
This is the occasional
This is the occasional downside of taking primary. The ignorant driver who thinks they need to educate a cyclist about their road position with vehicular intimidation.
That was not intimidation..
That was not intimidation.. she pulled alongside the cyclist at a red light.. the fact that she went over the line to do so may be a breach of road rules but to construe that as ‘intimidation’ is ridiculous.
Why are you so defensive of
Why are you so defensive of this woman.
Is this the standard of driving you’d be happy for around yourself, children, mother on a shopper? Is this the standard of driving that would be acceptable on a driving test?
So what’s your line of defence exactly?
grOg wrote:
And why did she do that? Would she have done so to any other road user?
It may be my failure of imagination, but I cannot fathom why you would take that aggressive action if it were not to intimidate.
Not exactly dangerous and I
Not exactly dangerous and I would have let it pass, but then I’m not wearing a camera and trying to get footage.
As for the woman, to retort ‘you don’t pay road tax’ as some sort of justification for her attitude towards cyclists just displays how probably ill suited she is to teach our children.
bikeman01 wrote:
Parking in a school doesn’t make her a teacher . . .
Chances are though that she
Chances are though that she is..
Even if she is support staff,
Even if she is support staff, she has some (limited) responsibility for the image of the school and a duty of care. It would be interesting if the cyclist is a parent of a child at the school!
Does the school really want someone with such disregard for others being in a position of dealing with minors?
Schools are very big on
Schools are very big on “Safeguarding”, which is essentially about protecting the vulnerable from abuse by those who would exploit their vulnerability. And as any school will tell you, it is everyone’s responsibility, be they a cleaner, HoD, TA, teacher, whatever.
Of course this is a different field of play, but the parallels are there – vulnerable road users and those seated in a position to exercise their power, for good or ill, over the vulnerable.
Quite honestly, if I was a school principal or governor, I would be wary of employing anyone who abused their power over the vulnerable, in whatever sphere. Knowingly doing so, as evidenced by them giving a rationale for it, I’d say summary dismissal.
What a ridiculous screed..
What a ridiculous screed.. her employer has no reason to get involved with a complaint about her driving; if her employer did follow ‘cancel culture’ and sacked her, she would have an excellent grievance for unfair dismissal.
grOg wrote:
Sacking is not the only involvement an employer can exercise…
In addition, it doesn’t take too much reflection to recognise that a school’s interest in its employees’ conduct does not stop at the school gates
First of all let me say I
First of all let me say I share your pain and I agree with everything you say. Drivers do think they can get away with intimidating cyclists because they don’t get prosecuted and no physical harm will come to them. I suspect most of them think its OK because they are god’s gift to driving and their judgement is impeccable so they can intimidate by driving closely without colliding. I’ve given up trying to argue with them I just submit footage and I think that it is beginning to pay off. I don’t expect prosecutions, unlike others I feel that a warning letter from the police or an offer of a driver awarenesss course is a good result because I really believe that they think they are doing nothing wrong.
Having said that I wouldn’t submit the first video. The second video is a lot more worrying. Firstly failure to give way by the flatbed. I would definitely submit this because I see it as bullying driving. Next cutting in and then a close pass. I would submit the close pass but I wouldn’t expect any outcome other than a letter. Next an overtake near the brow of a hill. Potentially very dangerous but s/he got away with it so I wouldn’t submit it, not because it’s not attrocious driving but because I wouldn’t expect to get a result and there are better ones to submit. Finally an overtake before turning left at a roundabout. This is specifically addressed in the highway code and I would submit it.
It will be a long struggle but we have to start somewhere and if enough of us submit footage the police and law makers may realise it’s less work to deal with the problem rather than all the submisssions.
Finally, in the days before I saw the light, my answer to “you don’t pay road tax” was “I pay nearly £300 a year, how much do you pay?. The puzzled look on their faces was priceless.
“How much do you think they
“How much do you think they should pay?” works quite well. It stumped someone in a ‘cyclists should pay road tax’ conversation I had last year…
It’s a real slap in the face
It’s a real slap in the face having had to tolerate that driving to then have to listen to that, but as we all know, there’s a lot of drivers that think the “you don’t pay road tax” comment is fair justification of their driving.
This woman’s entrenched levels of self entitlement, ignorance, perceived superiority and utter whataboutery mean the chances for her to recognise and improve her standards in the future are probably quite low.
If that is where she works, I
If that is where she works, I’d be tempted to go in and speak to her employer
Her employer isn’t
Her employer isn’t responsible for an employee driving her personal vehicle on her own time, whereas your attempt to compromise her employment by making various allegations about her, may put you at risk of civil legal action by her.
An employee’s behaviour in or
An employee’s behaviour in or around her workplace may impact on the reputation of the company. No allegations required, just show the tape of this vile individual.
grOg wrote:
“Allegations”?
“Civil action”?
Clearly you don’t know what you are talking about…until you do, keep off!
Before you start giving us
Before you start giving us your list of all the possible civil actions can I just get soem popcorn and a drink? There’s nothing that’s more fun to watch than a cavalcade of ignorance and if that’s what you’re offering, I’m up for it.
VED should be renamed
VED should be renamed Pollution Penalty or similar. This would also give the government options to apply it elsewhere such as gas boilers etc. It might stop people shouting how they pay for the privilege to spew child killing poisonous emissions.
The driver did not ‘almost
The driver did not ‘almost run him over at the lights’.. she pulled alongside the cyclist, which may have breached some traffic rule but she didn’t put the cyclist in danger – any rhetoric to suggest that is overblown nonsense.
But in setting off the rider
But in setting off the rider could well wobble or have an issue, what advantage does she get putting her tonne plus of metal so close to him?
And the aggressive way she pulled off at the lights was not in control.
Oh and she’s a complete drain on the world’s resources.
Apart from that, and every word she uttered, I liked her!