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Near Miss of the Day 834: Punishment pass on cyclist lands driver in court

The defence solicitor unsuccessfully argued, as an experienced rider, the cyclist shouldn't have been on the road during rush hour ...

Today's Near Miss of the Day submission comes from across the Irish Sea and landed the motorist a €300 fine and a day in court for careless driving.

Righttobikeit recalls the van driver had been using his horn to try to pressure the driver of the black car, which waited for an appropriate gap in oncoming traffic, to pass before pushing through "aggressively" even with oncoming traffic.

> Near Miss of the Day 833: Oncoming driver forces cyclist to swerve

Moments later when confronted the driver denied ever being on the road, a defence which did not stand up in court...

"Mitigating, his solicitor tried to suggest that I was an experienced cyclist and shouldn't be on that road during rush hour. Judge had none of it," Righttobikeit explained.

> 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 is the road.cc news editor and has spent the past four years writing stories and features, as well as (hopefully) keeping you entertained on the live blog. Having previously written about nearly every other sport under the sun for the Express, and the weird and wonderful world of non-league football for the Non-League Paper, Dan joined road.cc in 2020. Come the weekend you'll find him labouring up a hill, probably with a mouth full of jelly babies, or making a bonk-induced trip to a south of England petrol station... in search of more jelly babies.

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35 comments

Avatar
diggler | 1 year ago
2 likes

I have a horizontal flag which extends 50cm beyond the tip of my handlebar.  This gives me extra space so this type of thing never happens to me.

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grOg | 1 year ago
0 likes

I'd put a rear facing camera behind the rider..

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diggler replied to grOg | 1 year ago
1 like

What's the point of that? It still doesn't stop the vehicle from passing too close. My horizontal flag stops people coming too close.

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Mybike replied to diggler | 1 year ago
0 likes

He means the person who took the vid should put his camara behind the rider so the camera is not being blocked by the rider Also if the car hits your flag then what happens it also make your bike wider so you also have a chance of hitting someone too

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diggler replied to Mybike | 1 year ago
1 like

My flag is retractable so I can lane filter and use bike paths. I have never hit anyone. The camera is completely useless in any direction because it doesn't stop the vehicle from being close in the first place but my flag does.

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PRSboy | 1 year ago
2 likes

Im always amazed anyone needs to overtake this fella, he absolutely flies!

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bikes | 1 year ago
6 likes

Such a tiny fine for risking someone's life. Also, why is it 'careless driving' when it's clearly intentional?

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antigee | 1 year ago
6 likes

Let's call a punishment pass what it is...a cowards pass...I'd live with "cowards pass AKA punishment pass" if helps transition away from a phrase that is dangerous both as an action and as a justification

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eburtthebike replied to antigee | 1 year ago
7 likes
antigee wrote:

Let's call a punishment pass what it is...a cowards pass...I'd live with "cowards pass AKA punishment pass" if helps transition away from a phrase that is dangerous both as an action and as a justification

Good, but perhaps "Bully's Pass" might be slightly more apposite?  Given that bullies are cowards with some power.

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antigee replied to eburtthebike | 1 year ago
2 likes

Think those drivers that intimate cyclists like these might be OK to be called bully's but being called out for what they are cowards changes th we narrative

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Awavey replied to antigee | 1 year ago
1 like

not sure I get the point you're trying to make.

its a punishment pass, because the driver is intentionally passing you closely to "punish" you, for daring to cycle in what they consider to be their way, yes its cowardly, but its still being meted out as a punishment.

so how is it dangerous to describe it as such ?

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hawkinspeter replied to Awavey | 1 year ago
8 likes
Awavey wrote:

not sure I get the point you're trying to make.

its a punishment pass, because the driver is intentionally passing you closely to "punish" you, for daring to cycle in what they consider to be their way, yes its cowardly, but its still being meted out as a punishment.

so how is it dangerous to describe it as such ?

Using 'punishment' can be interpreted (by carbrains) as meaning that it is in retalliation for the cyclist's behaviour although we know that most of the time it's due to the driver being aggressive and not actually understanding the rules of the road. There's also a hint of the driver policing the road and simply delivering justice when we know that's not the case.

"Coward's pass" doesn't carry any connotation of blaming the cyclist and also de-glorifies the driver's actions.

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antigee replied to hawkinspeter | 1 year ago
3 likes

Exactly

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Flintshire Boy replied to hawkinspeter | 1 year ago
1 like

.

Good points.

.

You've convinced me.

.

 

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hawkinspeter replied to Flintshire Boy | 1 year ago
6 likes
Flintshire Boy wrote:

.

Good points.

.

You've convinced me.

.

Happy to hear it although at the back of my mind is a little voice suggesting that you're being sarcastic - I'd best ignore it.

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Secret_squirrel replied to Awavey | 1 year ago
5 likes

Because it implies to some people that the punishment was "earned"

 

I'm agnostic to it personally but can see the point. 

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antigee replied to Awavey | 1 year ago
5 likes

Punishment makes it an entitled action ..cowardly describes it for what it is.

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Bungle_52 replied to antigee | 1 year ago
0 likes

I can see the probem but not sure about coward's pass.

How about deliberate dangerous pass, unnecessarily close pass or intimidatory pass.

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Oldfatgit replied to antigee | 1 year ago
2 likes

Not really sure I'm up there with 'cowards pass' either.

In todays aggressive society, it could be taken that the driver was a coward for not getting out and lumping the cyclist.

I can think of several names for it, but I'm assuming press and publishable names are preferred.

"Overtaking like a cunt" or a variation of would get a vote from me.

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hawkinspeter replied to Oldfatgit | 1 year ago
2 likes
Oldfatgit wrote:

Not really sure I'm up there with 'cowards pass' either. In todays aggressive society, it could be taken that the driver was a coward for not getting out and lumping the cyclist. I can think of several names for it, but I'm assuming press and publishable names are preferred. "Overtaking like a cunt" or a variation of would get a vote from me.

I would much prefer it if aggressive motorists decided to not use their vehicle as a weapon and instead got out to try to inflict harm. There's a helluva difference between getting a couple of bruises from some flabby motorist versus broken bones from their tonnes of speeding death metal.

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Oldfatgit replied to hawkinspeter | 1 year ago
0 likes

Yep ... but then we're back in the Utopia where everyone drives with care and consideration.
Unfortunately... that will never, ever happen.

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brooksby replied to Oldfatgit | 1 year ago
3 likes
Oldfatgit wrote:

Not really sure I'm up there with 'cowards pass' either. In todays aggressive society, it could be taken that the driver was a coward for not getting out and lumping the cyclist. I can think of several names for it, but I'm assuming press and publishable names are preferred. "Overtaking like a cunt" or a variation of would get a vote from me.

Careful on the language, OFG - there are certain individuals on here who get very het up about the use of the c-word.  It's like saying "wing mirror" or "Beetlejuice".

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hawkinspeter replied to brooksby | 1 year ago
7 likes
brooksby wrote:

Careful on the language, OFG - there are certain individuals on here who get very het up about the use of the c-word.  It's like saying "wing mirror" or "Beetlejuice".

I knew I'd find a use for this one day

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brooksby replied to hawkinspeter | 1 year ago
3 likes
hawkinspeter wrote:

I knew I'd find a use for this one day...

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Oldfatgit replied to brooksby | 1 year ago
2 likes

I'm not sorry for the language.
It is a word that seems to be particularly unpleasant to many people on an almost subconscious level.

It's almost as unpleasant as being passed with inches to spare by an arrogant fecker who thinks that their life is more important than yours.*

If it makes people think - and act - correctly, then I'm all for it.

Except around here in the Central Belt of Scotland. Here, it's pretty much a term of endearment and used as punctuation.

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Mungecrundle replied to antigee | 1 year ago
3 likes

How about calling it "dangerous driving" and prosecuting it as such?

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hutchdaddy | 1 year ago
5 likes

If I ever need a solicitor in Ireland I now know who not to use.

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antigee replied to hutchdaddy | 1 year ago
2 likes

Let's call a punishment pass what it is...a cowards pass...I'd live with "cowards pass AKA punishment pass" if helps transition away from a phrase that is dangerous both as an action and as a justification

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eburtthebike | 1 year ago
12 likes

Not one of that lawyer's most honourable moments, suggesting that a perfectly legitimate road user shouldn't be on the road because his client is incapable of driving safely.  Well done that judge, and if you're ever in the Forest of Dean, pop into the Nags and I'll buy you a pint.

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jaymack replied to eburtthebike | 1 year ago
3 likes

Not necessarily, it's usually just the advocate putting forward what the client wants the Court to hear. I've been there and you can tell your client it's a bad idea, you can tell them that it's not gonna fly and is likely to be counter productive but at the end of the day it's up to the client. And on far too many occasions they are their own worst enemy as seems to have been the case in this matter.

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