Near Miss of the Day 746: "Any closer and I'd more than likely be in hospital"

"Any closer and I'd more than likely be in hospital," was how the road.cc reader who submitted the clip assessed this incident from Ockendon, in Essex.

Tony reported the driver to the police, but heard back that the motorist had only received a warning letter for their close pass.

"Had this happen to me last Friday, 8th April. Was out for an afternoon ride to unwind after work, had already had a few bad passes earlier on but then cycling through Ockendon, Essex, along a fairly quiet road at the time had this van driver pass dangerously close, made worse by the oncoming traffic in the other lane.

> Near Miss of the day 745: Impatient van driver waits...but only for a second

"Any closer and I'd more than likely be in hospital right now. Probably saved the driver no more than a few seconds overall. Reported this to Essex Police who felt it warranted nothing more than a pointless warning letter."

On last week's road.cc Podcast we asked if next month’s RideLondon-Essex sportive can help make the county’s roads safer for cyclists?

> Can next month’s RideLondon-Essex sportive help make the county’s roads safer for cyclists?

After the route announcement at the back end of 2021, Essex highways authorities and police were urged to tackle road safety as part of RideLondon’s legacy.

Essex Police then defended its silence over its RideLondon 100 plans after concerns over an apparent lack of road safety engagement prior to the event, citing traffic policing cuts and pointing to ongoing Vision Zero work to eliminate road danger.

> 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