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Near Miss of the Day 765: Driver almost causes collision overtaking cyclist on blind bend

Our regular series featuring close passes from around the country — today it's Yorkshire.....

Today's Near Miss of the Day is a really close call, with an impatient and dangerous driver — refusing to wait until after the bend to overtake a cyclist — almost causing a collision with the van driver coming the opposite way.

road.cc reader Pedro was riding out of Wakefield towards Royston along the B6132 when the driver sped past, despite oncoming traffic, causing the van driver to brake to avoid a collision.

> Near Miss of the Day 764: Fixed penalty notice for driver overtaking cyclist despite oncoming traffic

The Highway Code, backed up by the 1988 Road Traffic Act, says that when there are double white lines where the nearest to you is solid:

This means you MUST NOT cross or straddle it unless it is safe and you need to enter adjoining premises or a side road. You may cross the line if necessary, provided the road is clear, to pass a stationary vehicle, or overtake a pedal cycle, horse or road maintenance vehicle, if they are travelling at 10 mph (16 km/h) or less.

In all honesty we probably did not need to dig out the Highway Code to see that the driving was not safe... 

Anyway, Pedro told us: "The number plate, make and model of the car cannot be distinguished. I have to increase the quality mode of the camera as I am still testing it. I didn't report it to the police because of this problem."

> 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

Dan joined road.cc in 2020, and spent most of his first year (hopefully) keeping you entertained on the live blog. At the start of 2022 he took on the role of news editor. Before joining road.cc, Dan wrote about various sports, including football and boxing for the Daily Express, and covered the weird and wonderful world of non-league football for The Non-League Paper. Part of the generation inspired by the 2012 Olympics, Dan has been 'enjoying' life on two wheels ever since and spends his weekends making bonk-induced trips to the petrol stations of the south of England.

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22 comments

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rjfrussell | 1 year ago
0 likes

That one is an absolute shocker.

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Jenova20 | 1 year ago
1 like

The Reg is EU18VZR - A Black Hyundai Tucson. I'm surprised you couldn't make that out.

https://www.checkcardetails.co.uk/cardetails/EU18VZR

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IanMSpencer | 1 year ago
2 likes

Yesterday we had a van pass us which forced an oncoming car to stop.

What was really bad is then a following car used the car cowering at the side of the road as an excuse to pass too. I don't think the wave I got back as I indicated they were still too close was a cheery one.

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brooksby replied to IanMSpencer | 1 year ago
0 likes

IanMSpencer wrote:

Yesterday we had a van pass us which forced an oncoming car to stop. What was really bad is then a following car used the car cowering at the side of the road as an excuse to pass too. I don't think the wave I got back as I indicated they were still too close was a cheery one.

People do that all the time, when cars pull over to let police or ambulances pass...

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Jem PT | 1 year ago
0 likes

Really bad driving - must be reported.

Was the horn from the overtaking Hyundai or the silver Sprinter?

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Oldfatgit | 1 year ago
5 likes

*Always* read out the numberplate - if you have time and you know it - using the NATO phonetic alphabet.
This will help ...
A) to help reduce the chance of you swearing and potentially inciting the pillock to do something else
B) makes it easier when you hand it in as it helps remove any "ambiguity" ...

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Eton Rifle replied to Oldfatgit | 1 year ago
0 likes
Oldfatgit wrote:

*Always* read out the numberplate - if you have time and you know it - using the NATO phonetic alphabet.
This will help ...
A) to help reduce the chance of you swearing and potentially inciting the pillock to do something else
B) makes it easier when you hand it in as it helps remove any "ambiguity" ...

Daft advice.
a) most people don't know the current phonetic alphabet and;
b) why spend time articulating superfluous syllables as the twat who's just endangered you disappears over the horizon, taking his numberplate with him?

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TonyE-H replied to Eton Rifle | 1 year ago
0 likes

It's easy enough to learn, and really does make it a lot easier to pick out the licence plate you call out. The video can't always be trusted to have picked it up (low light, bumpy surface).

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Rendel Harris replied to Eton Rifle | 1 year ago
6 likes

Eton Rifle wrote:

[ Daft advice. a) most people don't know the current phonetic alphabet and; b) why spend time articulating superfluous syllables as the twat who's just endangered you disappears over the horizon, taking his numberplate with him?

It's not daft at all, it gives you the evidence to be able to identify the vehicle if your camera doesn't pick up the plate or only picks up part of it and using the phonetic alphabet ensures that it's easy to hear exactly what you've seen when you play the video back. Most passes like this end with "the twat who's just endangered you disappears over the horizon, taking his numberplate with him" and one then relies on the police/CPS to find and charge them, what's "daft" about making sure one has the clearest possible evidence of who the offender was?

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Awavey replied to Rendel Harris | 1 year ago
0 likes

its not the thing Id advise myself as the number 1 priority in these situations though, I dont know anyones ever claimed the police acted solely on audio and not visual confirmation of the number plate, or where the audio provided the decisive evidence of vehicle identity when the video was in question, or thats it withstood challenge in a court setting as theres nothing to say you couldnt misread a plate.

 

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Rendel Harris replied to Awavey | 1 year ago
0 likes

I don't know about it holding up in court – my guess is that it would certainly be open to challenge – the reason I do it, as I said, is in case the numberplate isn't visible or legible on the video. Most people who don't employ Mr Poophole won't try the "You can't prove I was there" defence. I've certainly had an NIP sent where the numberplate evidence was my voice alone (close pass as I was turning left, so the video showed the front of the car skinning my right side but I was round the corner before the rear end came into view), though thanks to the Met's "Won't tell you anything else unless it goes to court" policy I don't know the outcome, as it didn't go to court I assume whatever sanction they imposed was accepted.

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Dicklexic replied to Eton Rifle | 1 year ago
1 like

Daft? Err nope!

There have been a few occasions when my camera hasn't quite captured all the characters of the plate, but you can still make out either part of the plate or at least the vehicle make/model/colour in the video. The lack of complete plate has meant that I haven't been able to report. If however I have called out the plate to myself, then I can still look it up after the event and confirm the vehicle details. If the details from the plate in my audio match the details when I do a search on the reg then I know I can report. The odds of me shouting out the wrong plate, but it still matching the vehicle type/colour are infinitesimally small. Use of the NATO alphabet is entirely optional of course!  3

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mdavidford replied to Dicklexic | 1 year ago
3 likes

Dicklexic wrote:

Use of the NATO alphabet is entirely optional of course!  3

I think I'll avoid it - I don't want to find Putin turning up on my doorstep to conduct 'special operations'.

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IanMSpencer replied to Oldfatgit | 1 year ago
2 likes

To be honest, just read out the number plate, no need for the zero x-ray alpha pappa. In the instant you have the combination of that, blurry video and the DVLA check will cover nearly all situations.

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Rendel Harris replied to IanMSpencer | 1 year ago
0 likes

IanMSpencer wrote:

To be honest, just read out the number plate, no need for the zero x-ray alpha pappa. In the instant you have the combination of that, blurry video and the DVLA check will cover nearly all situations.

It can save some hassle though, I took ages last year finding a lorry that nearly hit me running a red light in Battersea because I just shouted the letters and the plate was blurry and audio indistinct (very busy junction), I spent a long time trying various combinations of C, G, E, P and D on the DVLA website before I found him.

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Seventyone replied to Rendel Harris | 1 year ago
2 likes
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Rendel Harris replied to Seventyone | 1 year ago
0 likes

I'm rather fond of this one by the awesome (and cyclists) HMHB:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uqpJ6XYykHE

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IanMSpencer replied to Rendel Harris | 1 year ago
0 likes

Perfect is the enemy of good  3

Best to encourage people to do a straightforward method then if they get enthused they can advance.

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AlsoSomniloquism | 1 year ago
1 like

I was thinking the red car did really well to wait behind on the blind hump and wait to see if it was clear before slowly passing the cyclist with a reasonable amount of room. Then realised why 10 seconds later.

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Dicklexic | 1 year ago
11 likes

 "The number plate, make and model of the car cannot be distinguished. I have to increase the quality mode of the camera as I am still testing it. I didn't report it to the police because of this problem."

Errrm what? I could see the reg in the video even with Youtube compression!

Here you go, here are the details so that you can report it Pedro. It NEEDS reporting!

EU18 VZR
HYUNDAI TUCSON SE NAV B-DRIVE 2WD CRDI

BLACK
2018
 

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andystow replied to Dicklexic | 1 year ago
4 likes

Agreed.

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Sriracha replied to Dicklexic | 1 year ago
6 likes

Yup! (EDIT - Oops, Ninja'd)

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