Near Miss of the Day 794, updated: Police say driver should have been prosecuted after passing cyclists signalling right

A Traffic Unit manager at Gloucestershire Constabulary has said that a driver should have been prosecuted for overtaking a group of cyclists who were signalling to turn right, after one of his colleagues chastised the riders for not turning quickly enough.

“I would not prosecute this as you had slowed to a virtual stop to talk with your friend after you had signalled rather than continuing to go round the corner,” the police originally told road.cc reader Andy, who submitted the above footage of the incident (which can be viewed from 1:30 into the video).

However, after we got in touch with Gloucestershire Constabulary following the publication of Monday’s Near Miss, the force’s Traffic Unit manager Robert Vestey confirmed that the driver in the video “should not be overtaking at a junction” and that they should have been prosecuted.

“These cases often get sent out to area constables to deal with and, as a result, their response is inconsistent,” Vestey told road.cc.

“We have now set up a dashcam unit to try and bring some consistency to what we proceed with. I’ve viewed the video and checked our systems, annoyingly this case was not put through our process but probably sent out to an area team.”

He continued: “In my view an offence of due care could have been proceeded with if we’d received the footage and were able to send out a notice of intended prosecution to the registered keeper within 14 days of the offence.

“It is these types of cases that can cause cyclists to believe we are not taking their plight seriously, but I can assure you we are. That vehicle should not be overtaking at a junction.

“We proceed with about 50 percent of cases reported and the most common reasons why we don’t relate to the time since the footage was taken being too long, the close pass allegation (bearing in mind a close pass itself is not an offence but due care is), not being clear enough to show how it affected the rider, or the video itself just not sufficiently evidencing/proving the offence alleged.

“These are a mine field which is why consistency is so important and I hope we manage to reduce the cases that slip the net. We would ask that the best way for these to be reported is via the single on-line home and we then should be able to pick them up. We hope to have a dedicated on-line portal up and running in the next few months.

“We don’t always get it right, but we need to be upfront when we don’t and try and explain what we are trying to do.”

You can read Monday’s original Near Miss of the Day article below:

Gloucestershire Police started a Near Miss of the Day debate after NMotD 763 when the force said the driving wasn't "poor enough" despite the motorist pushing past a cyclist on a tight bend into oncoming traffic.

That caused plenty of discussion, and following some extra questions from us, the force doubled down, saying: "While the car driver could have waited until both them and the cyclist had turned the corner, in this instance the manner of driving did not appear to cause the cyclist any raised risk."

Anyway, the point is we're back in Gloucestershire for today's submission, which starts just after 1:30 into the video above.

road.cc reader Andy explains: "This was on the evening of the 8th June, about 8pm, in Minchinhampton — a small Gloucestershire town, very quiet and rural. Local cycling club outing. About eight riders. I happened to be at the front chatting to a mate.

"We both checked behind and began signalling ahead of the junction, we started to slowly turn but the car driver appears to have started to overtake the main group further back so just carried on. I was clearly signalling the entire manoeuvre. 

"Fortunately I was hesitating and cycling slowly as I sensed the driver wasn't going to wait. The PC from Gloucestershire Police dismissed outright initially as the wrong date on the video. I offered witnesses to confirm, including the local vicar, so he then replied that I had come to a virtual standstill after signalling. Not sure how that gives the driver the right of way, my track stands are not that good."

Here's the exact police response: "I would not prosecute this as you had slowed to a virtual stop to talk with your friend after you had signalled rather than continuing to go round the corner."

"I was clearly signalling the entire time, but as I didn't barrel round the corner to get out of the drivers way, it was my fault. Must ride faster," Andy concluded.

> 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