A cyclist who was close passed due to an oncoming vehicle and a driver’s impatience has been told by Welsh police they are “temporarily suspending taking action on evidence submitted by pedal cyclists” because they are “following national guidance from the Forensic Science Regulator”. The National Police Chiefs’ Council has reiterated that this position is incorrect, yet GoSafe – Wales’ ‘Road Casualty Reduction Partnership’ – is still refusing to take further action on close pass incidents captured on camera. 

The latest instalment of our Near Miss of the Day series, highlighting driving standards and the lack of consideration for vulnerable road users on UK roads, comes from Flintshire where road.cc reader Andy Duffield was on the receiving end of this close pass back in June.

Andy received a response from GoSafe, Wales’ ‘Road Casualty Reduction Partnership’ operated on behalf of all four Welsh police forces. He was told that GoSafe were “following national guidance from the Forensic Science Regulator”.

Andy tells us “Roads were quiet. I think a lot of people have been getting [this response from Welsh police]. Not sure it takes a forensic genius to work out this is close.”

road.cc has previously reported that the National Police Chiefs’ Council say there’s “no reason for police in Wales to stop taking action on cycling videos” and that it “…wants to enocurage the submission of footage as it’s a really valuable tool.”

Following Andy’s experience, road.cc approached both North Wales Police and GoSafe, and were told: “[GoSafe] cannot forensically analyse speed or distance but we did not discourage people from submitting possible offences.

“We have worked closely with our teams to ensure a consistent approach is used nationally when reviewing alleged offences and any aggravating factors, or corroborating evidence present.

“We are confident that our teams will continue to deliver a high standard of service and review each incident on a case-by-case basis to reach the appropriate outcome.”

A further statement on GoSafe’s website added that “other aggravating factors or corroborating evidence” was required to act on the evidence submitted. In other words, submitting ‘journeycam’ footage of dangerous driving is not enough for the police to take action. As the National Police Chiefs’ Council has repeatedly clarified, this is not the case. 

> 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