Today’s Near Miss of the Day video resulted in the driver being charged with driving without due care and attention and with a hefty court bill, including a fine and costs of more than £1,000 and six penalty points added to their driving licence.
The cyclist involved told us the punishment was handed down in the driver’s absence as they did not attend court, but they were given a fine plus costs totalling £1,074, as well the points.
It came after the incident shown in the footage during February of this year, the cyclist explaining how the road in question is quiet and rural, “but still has plenty of overtaking opportunities”.
“Despite that, the vehicle’s driver decided to overtake after a SLOW/ARAF section of road, and while going over a narrow bridge, and approaching crossroads,” they explained.
“The road narrowing meant the driver passed within inches of me, and he obviously had no care or awareness of me riding. The footage from the rear camera was sent through Operation Snap, and positive action has been taken by Dyfed Powys Police.
“While many cyclists are frustrated by their local area policing, I have found Dyfed Powys Police to be very responsive. The vast majority of any footage submitted has had positive action taken against the driver.”
It’s the second footage from the cyclist we have used for Near Miss of the Day in recent times. Last month, a video showing an impatient driver overtaking a tractor before close passing a cyclist and narrowly avoiding an oncoming HGV made NMotD 873.
> 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
10 thoughts on “Near Miss of the Day 877: Driver ordered to pay £1,074 for close pass on cyclist”
£1,074: that’ll mean they’ll
£1,074: they’ll have to use Lidl instead of Waitrose for a week or two. Excellent result.
It would be really useful to track down the driver, show them the video and ask what the hell they were thinking. And will they do it again.
The most likely reason they
The most likely reason they didn’t attend court is that they HAVE already seen the video and realised they stood no chance of winning the case.
Probably thought they were being clever by not attending but probably made the outcome worse for themselves
6 points may help concentrate
6 points may help concentrate their minds, the uplift on insurance premiums is likely to sting more than the fine. We just don’t need some future magistrate letting him off a ban because he needs to visit his ‘aged mother’ when he tots up a further 6 points!
This is very much standard
This is very much standard behaviour from some motorists, which is why I like to ride in the middle of the lane on sections of roads with restricted overtaking opportunities, such as this.
We should do what the Finns
We should do what the Finns do and enforce ‘day fines’ for driving.. punishment is income based and stacks depending on the severity of the crime and any previous incursions /behaviour. It all sounds very sensible.
whilst in prncipal I agree
whilst in prncipal I agree with you, we all know that too many peolple with a decent accountant would be able to prove that they have a very low income despite a high net worth
Don’t know exactly how the
Don’t know exactly how the Finns do it, but it’s already the case in the UK that if you go to court, fines are based on income, and relevant previous convictions are an aggrevating factor that is meant to be considered in adjusting the sentence.
https://www.sentencingcouncil.org.uk/offences/magistrates-court/item/careless-driving-drive-without-due-care-and-attention-revised-2017/
It’s good that the driver has
It’s good that the driver has been fined. I’ve still seen plenty of people trying to defend the driver in this incident. It is appalling that some people are so dumb they think this was acceptable.
It did not look that bad. The
It did not look that bad. The driver started off OK, almost nearly entirely in the other lane. I have had far worse close passes and not even blinked. Always hard to tell from these videos.
It’s the “they did not attend
It’s the “they did not attend court” bit that pisses me off. It demonstrates that the driver doesn’t respect the process of law and the monetry fine & consequenses mean little to them.