The road.cc reader involved in today’s video managed to catch up with the motorist who’d nearly sent him into the hedges on a country lane in Kent, labelling the close pass ‘the worst I’ve ever seen’ to the driver before reporting him to the police.
It is one of the many close passes the cyclist has had to deal with over the years, like so many of you, prompting him to film his rides as potential evidence.
Kent Police received this footage but only issued the motorist with a warning letter, which the cyclist believes is ‘not a very satisfactory result’. What do you think upon closer inspection, does this driver deserve a tougher punishment?
> 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
86 thoughts on “Near Miss of the Day 669: Cyclist confronts driver after ‘worst overtake I’ve ever seen’”
Had the driver said I’m sorry
Had the driver said I’m sorry, I’d say that the police response would have been ok.
But the they didn’t. They doubled down even maintaining that the manoeuvre was actually justified (in spite of not even disputing it was piss poor)
This should have been a 3 pointer at least
BTW I am showing full empathy for the poor driver who must have been terrified, poor lamb.
Had the driver said “I’m
Had the driver said “I’m sorry” I wouldn’t even have reported it (which is a huge hassle here in Scotland) because he’d be acknowledging that he knows it was wrong.
This driver tried to defend his behaviour, clearly insisting that it was acceptable and indicating he plans to continue driving like that. It’s disappointing he didn’t get points and a fine for that offence.
IanGlasgow wrote:
I suspected that was the case, but didn’t want to put words in your mouth.
Thanks for submitting it to the police, and taking the time to post it here
Don’t think this is the
Don’t think this is the videographer Badg, Kent and Glasgow, Scotland are quite a distance apart. Think he is stating his actions in a similar situation following on from yours.
AlsoSomniloquism wrote:
Well spotted
Sorry Ianglasgow and anonymous poster….
And so you should. Driving
And so you should. Driving that close, if anything happened, they could have had to shout at the cyclist that they almost killed him.
I’d say he needs to be beaten
I’d say he needs to be beaten to near death for that, but I’d be blocking the overtake and establishing eye contact, that usually changes their tune
Same here.
Same here.
I’m not exactly a shrinking violet.
“You were in the middle of
“You were in the middle of the road mate” – a clear admission, on camera, that it was dangerous to overtake! Even if one (wrongly) doesn’t think the cyclist should’ve been there (I can hear trollish fingers tapping out, “All the cyclist had to do was pull over to the side courteously like I do and the driver would’ve gone past with a courteous smile and a wave and we would’ve all enjoyed our day”) it cannot be denied that the driver has openly admitted making a dangerous pass.
Yep, it wasn’t the most
Yep, it wasn’t a patictularly adroit ‘legal’ argument. ?
Nasty aggressive driving. Yet
Nasty aggressive driving. Yet another one where you wonder why they seem in such a rush. Is a Mini that awful you are compelled to drive like a lunatic to minimise time behind the wheel?
HoarseMann wrote:
Well he had to get to that layby, to, to , to get out of his car. The couple seconds that the rider cost him were really really important y’know
He parked up literally
He parked up literally seconds later – you could probably see that lay-by (and his house, I’ll wager) from where he overtook, so what on earth was the point!?!
brooksby wrote:
Cos.. reasons….
thats the thing that annoys
thats the thing that annoys me most about this style of overtake, its just a got to get in front of the cyclist overtake, theres no rhyme or reason or logic behind it, because we all know they arent remotely being delayed by the cyclist.
not sure Id have stopped to have a chat with them about it, theyd have certainly been glared at though as Id pass, and I might have held my drinks bottle in their general direction,and given it a squirt just to clean the drinking lid from all the crud on the road you understand.
brooksby wrote:
Classic “I’m so angry because I feel you wasted a few seconds of my time I need to waste minutes of my time explaining just that.”
brooksby wrote:
So loads of distance…
No distance would be slamming on a full emergency stop half way through the overtake and skidding past the turning into their driveway.
(yes, seriously I have had a driver so determined to overtake that they were unable to slow enough to make their turn… )
Yeah, see this often, I think
Yeah, see this often, I think many of the drivers who do this genuinely haven’t considered the speeds, and, therefore, the distances covered by fairly fast paced riders. For many I suspect it’s a lack of conscious awareness re their driving decisions, eg, they haven’t effectively evaluated the risk cost/benefit dynamic of overtaking.
Many driving decision take place on the edge of consciousness awareness – there is significant research on this subject. Raising people’s awareness to risk can often, facilitate, behavioral change, belive it or not. 🙂
Definitely have that with me
Definitely have that with me sometimes. They see bike so think “that will be slow” so I have plenty of time to get through the narrow section, make the left, cross in front.
One day on a quick 20 miler, I was stopped at some lights to go straight on and a car turning left pulled along side me and the driver stated “you know you were doing 25mph down that bit”. (I was actually touching 28 on my Wahoo but it was downhill 3-4% for parts of it). The road was 30mph so a bit puzzled about the comment and it turned out he was impressed I could do that speed on a bike.
At least the police did
At least the police did something, I suspect that would be NFA in some forces. What amazes me is the driver is willing to put a cyclist in danger in order to park his car a few seconds earlier.
As usual thank you to the OP for taking the time and trouble to submit the footage and share the results with us and to road.cc for publishing it. I’d like to see road.cc follow up more of these with the police forces involved. They used to do it but I haven’t seen it happen recently.
Agree, a warning letter is a
Agree, a warning letter is a start, better than nothing and helps raise awareness regarding safe overtaking – public opinion seems to be shifting, slowly, towards greater road safety – from the limited data I’ve seen.
Sending a warning letter is a
Sending a warning letter is a joke! You get £100 fine and 3 points for doing 35mph in a 30 limit. As we all know that is about money generation, not safe motoring…
That road is so narrow that
That road is so narrow that any overtake would be dangerous, no matter where the cyclist was riding, and he certainly wasn’t in the middle of the road. Definitely not an appropriate punishment.
Wasn’t there a survey recently that showed that BMW drivers are the most pyschopathic? And isn’t Mini owned by BMW?
The survey demonstrated
The survey demonstrated nothing re psychopathy – it was complete and utter garbage. Utterly Spurious.
As for the overtaking in the vid, I can’t see much room to the left of the rider – it was poor driving, imo.
A warning seems sensible.
Pretty much every road around
Pretty much every road around here is like that, and somehow I can manage to go for a ride and not get into these kind of confrontations.
The motorist is correct, the cyclist should have moved to the left to let the driver pass at a safe distance, as any sensible cyclist would have done in the circumstance. The road wasn’t so narrow to have to ride in primary to be defensive.
Instead, the cyclist decided to ride centrally to make a statement: “Keep behind me, and if you dare try to overtake I’m going to have some great Youtube footage to send to the police and my followers!”. The cyclist also moves *towards* the car as he overtakes, check the footage.
If anyone should have got a warning letter, for me it would have been the cyclist for careless cycling and obstructing a public highway.
Garage at Large wrote:
I can see little in that vid to suggest the cyclist was being careless, I doubt the police did either, would you care to elucidated your argument?
I already did. The cyclist
I already did. The cyclist moves towards the car as he starts to overtake, presumably hoping he’d be forced to brake sharply.
You’re serious? You think
You’re serious? You think your description demonstrates careless driving? Bizarre…
You are replying to a person
You are replying to a person who has been banned for 2 weeks, changed their username 6 times, lies, makes stuff up and whose MO is to bait and wind people up. Any other site, they would now be a PBU.
hirsute wrote:
Lol. OK, point taken ?.
Cycologist wrote:
I can only write what I see. The cyclist was careless because he moved towards the car which was already overtaking. We don’t see how long this brinkmanship was going on for before the start of the clip – would be good to see when the mini first approached the cyclist
Yeah, right.
Yeah, right.
Quote:
Simplistic nonesense that simple demonstrates your ignorance of objective evaluation. Prehaps you should familiarise yourself with the appropriate literature?
It’s unclear what you legal argument is here re Scottish law, you’ll need to elucidate you’re argument. Prehaps you could organise a legal challenge to test your arguments?
Although, I doubt you’ll be successful. I certainly, remain unpersuade by your arguments, thus far.
Stay safe. ?
Garage at Large wrote:
Hang on, how do you know the cyclist saw the car behind them? If the cyclist never saw the car then your arguement is flawed. The car was also tailgating on the rear camera video and not leaving a 2 second gap to the vehicle (in this case a bike) in front of it.
matt_cycles wrote:
Hang on, how do you know the cyclist saw the car behind them? If the cyclist never saw the car then your arguement is flawed. The car was also tailgating on the rear camera video and not leaving a 2 second gap to the vehicle (in this case a bike) in front of it.— Cycologist
Herr Garage doesn’t really do argument, more of a taunt. In a long proud tradition from Georgeous George (“A lot of people will pay to see someone shut your mouth.”).
He may be serious, but he’s
He may be serious, but he’s certainly clueless.
Stop
Feeding
The
Troll
Stop
Feeding
The
Troll
quote=Zebulebu]
Don’t Trolls have feelings? Prehaps he sees himself as having very little of value in his life, and therefore, uses these forums to gain a sense of power and importance inorder to prop-up his low self-esteem, or, may be not? Who knows. ?
Exactly. It’s called
Exactly. It’s called secondary gain. Do not respond
To be fair if he is
To be fair, if he is pathologically ‘trolling’ it’s likely there’s a number of psychological phenomena at play. :-;
I’m hopeful you’re the type
I’m hopeful you’re the type of troll that has refused vaccinations and natural selection will run its course.
Garage at Large wrote:
The front view does suggest that , however the rear view tells a different story with the rider appearing to move to the left and then back to right, probably in panic at the car virtually on his rear wheel.
Original poster hear. I
Original poster hear. I certainly don’t remember moving off line intentionally, but i certainly had a real fright when he started to overtake, I thought there was no room for me and the car and I was going to be hit.
I ‘talk’ to plenty of people
I ‘talk’ to plenty of people online or while not cycling (e.g. in pub) who proclaim they have never had any issues while cycling from cars and therefore that all issues must be due to the cyclists behaviour.
I have yet to ever meet anyone while cycling (or at cycling cafes, work, random strangers with interesting cargo bikes etc) who hasn’t had regular issues while cycling with aggressive/dangerous driving…
So it is only the people with no evidence they actually go for rides who don’t have issues… Funny that…
Haven’t been out for a week
Haven’t been out for a week as I’ve sadly been injured – I like to do a lunch ride when I work from home, never seem to have these issues, perhaps it’s a rush hour thing, who knows? Here’s my last ride
You stopped for ten seconds
You stopped for ten seconds in one hour? No junctions, red lights etc? Seems about as believable as your indoor trainer stats.
We don’t all live in London
We don’t all live in London Rendel.
Here’s one of my recent rides, can’t quite match Nige’s average speed mind.
Rendel Harris wrote:
This is going to blow your mind, but there isn’t a single set of traffic lights on any of my normal routes. There are a few junctions, but there’s rarely any traffic at them, being semi rural.
Garage at Large wrote:
You stopped for ten seconds in one hour? No junctions, red lights etc? Seems about as believable as your indoor trainer stats.
— Garage at Large This is going to blow your mind, but there isn’t a single set of traffic lights on any of my normal routes. There are a few junctions, but there’s rarely any traffic at them, being semi rural.— Rendel Harris
Lucky you! Actually many of my journeys don’t feature any lights for a fair distance either and I live in a city (in the north which turns out to be fortunate).
Apparently cyclists of all types and speeds quite appreciate this. Stopping and starting on a bike is an energy drain and you can also get cold waiting at a stop. Prioritising bikes at junctions or even better avoiding traffic lights altogether definitely makes cycling a more attractive option. After all traffic lights are motor vehicle infrastructure and are not needed for other modes *.
* Well, there are rail crossings but it’s a good idea to entirely separate people from railways with underpasses or bridges anyway. Signalised pedestrian crossings are also motor vehicle infrastructure – needed because it’s not safe because of the vehicles. Even in the busiest cycle tracks it’s possible to get pedestrians where they want to go. (This video appears to have signals on the cycle path at one point but I think that they are for the whole road – there are bus lanes).
Garage at Large wrote:
— Garage at Large This is going to blow your mind, but there isn’t a single set of traffic lights on any of my normal routes. There are a few junctions, but there’s rarely any traffic at them, being semi rural.— Rendel Harris
Well, I’ve been riding the narrow lanes of (mainly) Surrey, Kent and Sussex nigh-on forty years now and I reckon I could count on one hand the number of rides where I haven’t stopped multiple times either to let drivers behind through or to cede to oncoming drivers. Obviously I simply adhere to a rather higher standard of courtesy and empathy than yourself.
There We Are Then.
There We Are Then.
(No subject)
Not bad stats, imagine the
Not bad stats, imagine the speeds he could do in a chain gang. Of course weird that in one hours cycling (22 miles or so) and stopping for cars on roads that need to get past, only 10 seconds of stoppages showing. I wonder how many red lights were sailed through as well. Myself cycling home tonight and only doing 7.5 miles had 1m 30s of stoppages.
It’s really weird the way he
It’s really weird the way he keeps posting this nonsense, I think we’ve had pictures of his bike, power figure graphs, indoor trainer ride and several outdoor rides. It’s almost as though he doth protest too much…
Maybe he secretly lives in
Maybe he secretly lives in the Netherlands (often long distances between lights / needing to slow) and is deriving intense schadenfreude by pitying the UK cyclist while pretending to be one?
There’s loads and loads of
There’s loads and loads of routes with virtually no traffic lights in England. For example the now defunct Evans cycles Essex 100 mile route had (from memory) zero traffic lights in the whole 100 miles all the it way from Kelvedon Hatch to past Finchingfield.
But it’s not just Essex, when I go up to my hometown in the Northwest you can go all over the Trough of Bowland and further with zero traffic lights – you simply avoid the A6, although for some reason one of the frequent commentators here seems to spend the majority of his life on it. If you’re stopping and starting all the time, find a better route.
Garage at Large wrote:
Some roads around here are like that, and somehow I can manage to go for a drive and not get into these kind of confrontations.
The cyclist is correct, the motorist should have waited until it was safe for the driver to pass at a safe distance, as any sensible driver would have done in the circumstance. The road was too narrow to pass safely at that point.
Instead, the driver decided to push past without consideration: “I’m going to get past regardless of how little room there is, and if you dare to confront me I’m going to demonstrate his superior to you I feel!”. The driver doesn’t allow for can’t variation in the cyclist’s road position.
The warning letter was very much the least that should have been considered.
FTFY
If I’m in the lanes, and I
If I’m in the lanes, and I hear an engine gunning behind me, I’ll ride as “primary” as I can until there is a passing place, when I’ll slow right down and move left so they can pass safely. 99/100 they’ll wave their thanks or similar.
The odd one will get arsey but fuck em, I don’t care.
I live in the countryside and
I live in the countryside and this is exactly how I ride, take up as much of the road as you can, ride primary and force those with an infernal combustion engine to slow down and wait for a safe place to pass. When that comes I always make a point of shouting a ‘thank you’ and giving a cheery wave especially if I don’t mean it. As I may have said before, positive reinforcement works.
Yep, Ive had similar
Yep, Ive had similar experiences, I find most drivers very appreciative when I make room for them to get past.
maybe it differs in other
maybe it differs in other areas, but I had at least 4 if not 5 instances of this today, one of which was a borderline close pass too, each time I rode as prime as I could because the roads are wet muddy full of slippery leaf mulch and rubbish trailed out of fields, and some of the roads around here actually the centre line isnt where you want to be, but I pulled over in to gaps at the first opportunity I could. and not one of the b*****s did so much as offer any thanks for it, and these were designated “quiet lanes” they arent roads people really use to get from A to B much.
I believe you. I have
I believe you. I have friends whos’ experiences are considerably more similar to yours than mine.
I tend to ride in sparsely populated and low crime area and my experiences are relatively good with the vast majority of drivers.
Yesterday, for example, I didn’t have a single incident involving poor driving. I had a fairly high performance car behind me for a few hundred meters (he wasn’t tailgating), I was able to move over for him and let him past, he indicated his thanks with his hazards.
That said I think I only saw 10 cars, and most would have been ‘local’.
I would guess your right re geographic location being a factor.
I do the same. They wait for
I do the same. They wait for me, then I wait for them, I think that’s a fair trade.
Not sure it would have worked with this driver though. Looking at the rear footage, he seemed determined to force his way past.
I do wonder what these
I do wonder what these letters say? Do they stay on a drivers record at the DVLA? What happens if he does it again?
Tbh, these incidents are common place and with those wet leaves to the cyclists left I would definitely be riding in primary until I felt safe to let the car pass. In the conversation the driver exhibits his complete ignorance of the highway code rather than any deliberate maliciousness. There’s certainly no sign of empathy.
I would rather the driver was sent for re education. Half a day, at his expense, being taught to see the other side ? should do the trick.
They go nowhere near DVLA.
They go nowhere near DVLA. They stay on a driver’s record on the relevant police force’s database; if the driver pops up again with a similar offence in that force’s area then they’re more likely to be prosecuted. But no other force will be aware of the letter.
I have sympathy for the
I have sympathy for the police/CPS given the guidance they have to follow before charging and prosecuting. If the insurance companies made it mandatory to disclose receipt of such a letter when obtaining or renewing a policy (I would hope that this was already a thing) then that might make people think more before making mistakes on the road. Will not stop the true idiots but might educate the ‘surely not me’ brigade.
Never mind the close pass,
Never mind the close pass, this idiot should be prosecuted for tailgating the cyclist so close for so long. Is he too stupid to see the hazards; shitty broken road surface, woodland detritus, greasy leaf mulch, a vulnerable road user and a split second’s grace? Whatever happened to the “two second rule”?
A stray broken branch in the cyclist’s spokes and this driver would be protesting it was an unavoidable freak “accident” (and please, think of the poor driver who will have to live with this for the rest of his life), one of those things.
Didn’t see the cyclist coz
Didn’t see the cyclist coz the sun.
AlsoSomniloquism wrote:
Doesn’t need to. No other witnesses – he can just drive home. If tracked down he can say he didn’t notice. If challenged further just say he has no memory of the incident. I’d give good odds for an acquittal. Probably could only be charged with failing to stop. The court would see no reason why not, given that the cyclist could have thrown himself under the car, or fallen off after he passed, or have been hit by someone else. Excellent excuses, given that pleading your own incompetence is also a valid defence.
There’s no way he can
There’s no way he can overtake legally on that road. So much for “moving to the left”, even IF one were obliged to ride in the gutter. Which you’re not – cyclist is maybe 80cm out, normal distance to the road edge, i.e. where the dirt ends.
Curious to know more about
Curious to know more about the purpose of the driver’s journey, and was the stop anything to do with the rider? Who else might have turned up if we’d have waited around a bit??
For once, the driver, when confronted, wasn’t an all-out gammon.
Glad the police at least did something.
I thought he was going to be
I thought he was going to be a walker but not in those trainers. Is it a popular dogging location? Asking for a friend ?
David9694 wrote:
Apparently people who have contraband to sell may also do it outside town – or alternative a wholesaler may restock more local vendors.
Ah. I see. There’s a couple
Ah. I see. There’s a couple of country parking area we pass on summer evening walks where we see mainly young people sitting for no apparent reason.
David9694 wrote:
Well I wouldn’t want to cast aspersions on people just enjoying doing nothing much outside. However when enjoying the outdoors around the edges of the Leeds-Bradford connurbation we’d sometimes spot folks driving up to remote carparks and stopping but briefly to make furtive exchanges. Mind, there was probably dealing too…
Like many other video
Like many other video incidents that highlight inconsiderate, impatient, intolerant or dangerous driving, which I believe motorists need to be educated and punished for, I am always left wondering what action Roadcc, Cycliq or other similar cycling platforms or publications are taking to put pressure on politicians or the police to change the mindset of this dangerous ignorant minority of drivers; Or are these videos simply being used for entertainment purposes to increase viewing figures?
I have to say I agree. I
I have to say I agree. I posted similar comment some time ago. The fact is that road.cc do nothing to actively use these videos to highlight the problem to the powers that be and have this content just for cheap entertainment. Furthermore these videos attract many visitors to road.cc who are not cyclists and simply come here to troll.
As a keen cyclist who rides 200+ miles a week year round for pleasure, these videos actively discourage me from cycling some days. And they do nothing to encourage others to start cycling. I so often found myelf coming to the site and seeing the only new content to be another close pass video that I now only visit here infrequently. Road.cc should note the effect these videos have had on someone who should in their core demographic.
I dont agree, passes like the
I dont agree, passes like the one in this video are simply a fact of life for any cyclist on UK roads, if simply watching the videos puts you off riding, what on earth does experiencing this kind of stuff do to you ?
Road.cc publish the videos to highlight that its a problem, rather than blindly ignore it, which is beneficial in several ways, it allows people to debate and offer advice so that we learn from these incidents, how to better to place yourself in a situation, how to handle it better, maybe even identify the potential hazards before they develop, which makes us all better and safer riders.
and it makes you feel like you arent facing this stuff alone, its very easy to be on the receiving end of a close pass and feel like it was your fault, that you were the one that caused it, that you were responsible for it, because riding a bike doesnt come with an instruction manual or guide to how things are meant to be, and unless all your best friends are also cyclists, its not something people really discuss much, or how it makes them feel.
So just seeing someone else riding a bike via a video, in the same way you ride a bike and seeing actually they got close passed just like you did and it wasnt their fault, and it made them feel just like you do, is of great value IMO.
Whilst these videos are
Whilst these videos are uncomforable viewing, I don’t think they should be swept under the carpet. There are campaign groups like Cycling UK, LCC etc. that are putting pressure on government. Road.cc is at least publicising the issue, which will help raise the profile of the problem.
Road.cc have contacted police
Road.cc have contacted police forces for comments in the past and got some useful feedback. They haven’t done so for quite a while now and I for one would like to see more of it.
Quote:
What’s the ‘i’ for then? ‘Near miss idiocy of the day’?
Given the narrow lane, the
Given the narrow lane, the driver actually had his car as far to the right as he could go and the cyclist did move to the right as the car passed, I’ve certainly had closer passes where the driver had plenty of room to go wider; perhaps the driver should have given a short toot to alert the cyclist to his presence before passing but then some cyclists would take a toot as aggressive and move to the lane centre..
Or perhaps they should just
Or perhaps they should just have waited until they reached a stretch of road that was actually wide enough to safely pass.
If you had read the comments,
If you had read the comments, you would know that the OP said:
“I certainly don’t remember moving off line intentionally, but I certainly had a real fright when he started to overtake, I thought there was no room for me and the car and I was going to be hit.”
another comment
“The front view does suggest that , however the rear view tells a different story with the rider appearing to move to the left and then back to right, probably in panic at the car virtually on his rear wheel.”
grOg wrote:
When I can’t overtake safely I just wait until I can. Never occurred to me to force my way through blaring my horn.
S’funny thinking about those precious seconds of my life that I’ve wasted in ensuring that I don’t bully, intimidate hurt maim or kill people….. well… I must confess I feel a bit stupid now….
grOg wrote:
and if that doesn’t allow for 1.5m in new money (as much space to the cyclist as he would give a car,in lsd; where space is the road space the cyclist has, not the gap between them), then the car driver has enough information to know what to do next.
Cyclists will do that; it is one of the reasons drivers should give plenty of room, in case the cyclist has to move out for any reason
You’re right, that we should not assume a horn is an aggressive message. However, it often is. Moreover, it would be completely unnecessary in this instance. Does the cyclist not know the car is there? It’s not a city centre, the car’s engine will be clear enough. The car is behind the cyclist, and his presence there is essentially irrelevant, insofar as the cyclist’s duty of care is concerned. Unless he is setting some expectation that the cyclists should move out of his way. We know from the conversation afterwards that the driver had no other significant brain traffic other than to get past the cyclist; and no other expectation than that the cyclist should not be in his way.
[the cyclist is not in ‘your way‘; the cyclist is in ‘front of you‘]