Near Miss of the Day 704: Two abreast group close passed by impatient driver who almost hits front rider

Today's Near Miss of the Day will probably be familiar to any of you who regularly head out into the lanes with a club or group of mates. You are riding two abreast, as is perfectly safe and allowed, when an impatient driver just has to get past.

In this case Oxford Cycling Club, who also sent us NMOTD 682, were on the receiving end of a close pass back during the balmy September late summer.

Dave Nash tells us the driver sounded his horn as he sped past, almost brushing the arm of the lead rider, and members of the group are certain the pass was intentionally close.

Thames Valley Police sent the driver involved a letter of advice, providing guidance in line with the Highway Code.

Dave told us he was pleasantly surprised by Thames Valley Police's response to "a couple of suggestions we offered", and that assurances were made that 'Rule 66' of the Highway Code, detailing cyclists' rights to ride two abreast would be included in future letters.

"The club also had the opportunity to impress upon Thames Valley Police the catastrophic consequences if one or more of the cyclists in the group had moved to the right to avoid a pothole or detritus on the road," Dave told us. 

"We are hopeful that motorists cautioned for close passes by TVP will, in future, be advised that their actions could have resulted in serious bodily harm or worse, especially if the cyclists had deviated from their line of travel."

> 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 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