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news
Near Miss of the Day 676: Very close pass into oncoming traffic
One of our readers decided to buy front and rear cameras for his bike after studiously following our Near Miss of the Day series – and very quickly captured a classic of the genre as a driver made a very close pass on him despite oncoming traffic, putting not only the cyclists but also other road users, as well as themselves, at risk for the sake of saving a few seconds.
Neil, the road.cc reader who filmed the footage on his new cameras, told us: “After viewing most (if not all) of the previous submissions on your website, and after having experienced more than my share of poor driving whilst cycling, I eventually decided to invest in a Cycliq Fly12 and Fly6 camera set.
“After a long wait, these finally arrived last Friday and I set out on Saturday for a local ride to check that they worked and that I’d set them up correctly (I realise I’ll need to move my Garmin out of shot in the future!).
“Suffice to say that I wasn’t particularly aiming to capture any poor driving that day but, true to form, I managed to capture a particularly frightening close pass/MGIF by the driver of a Chrysler Grand Voyager (LT05ORP).
“The close pass/MGIF occurred between the Bulkington and Poulshot turnings on the national speed limit section of the road linking the A361 and A360 in West Wiltshire,” he continued.
“The driver was obviously keen to get past me before being prevented from doing so by oncoming traffic, and they went past me at between 50 and 60mph at a distance of not much more than half a metre.
“That distance can be best evidenced on a large screen with the footage stopped just as the car gets ahead of me. Note that I had the Fly12 on the left hand side of my bars, and that I’m riding an XL-sized bike with 44cm bars.”
Neil added: “I’ve muted the sound on the video because it contained a degree of shouting from me, which made full use of a number of Anglo-Saxon terms!”
> 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
Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.
Latest Comments
- chrisonabike 3 min 48 sec ago
Exactly - people have got the message obviously calling someone on your mobile while driving is seen as a bit naughty. But if you're using...
- David9694 13 min 45 sec ago
Calling car 237, come in car 237 ...
- quiff 20 min 25 sec ago
I'm hoping I've just missed the joke - you're not really suggesting this was a mistake?...
- quiff 40 min 3 sec ago
That's not how it's commonly understood. Primary is usually used to describe centre of your lane. Secondary is somewhere to the left of there (but...
- Eton Rifle 1 hour 6 min ago
Then why do they all own cars, if the infrastructure to use them is not there? ...
- ktache 1 hour 28 min ago
I've been carrying the big heavy butyl for over five years...
- quiff 1 hour 35 min ago
I have a Shazam mini and love wizard works, but it's a bit chicken and egg - the Shazam does look quite a lot like the bags Carradice have been...
- ktache 1 hour 32 min ago
But then why would an otherwise law abiding driver need to react to a speed camera, real or imitation?...
- Simon E 1 hour 40 min ago
I too wondered why Giant want to recruit 4 highly paid with bullshit-speak sales & marketing experience, not real hands-on R&D knowledge ...
- Nobski 3 hours 5 min ago
100% agree, it's nothing to do with them, how public opinion is split.
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15 comments
I thought that road looked familiar and not surprised by the behaviour, cars are always in a hurry there and never like to slow-down unless absolutely forced to as that video unfortunately demonstrates.
Morning all,
This is my video - it was filmed in West Wiltshire so I'm not sure why the title states Surrey.
As mentioned already, I certainly wasn't riding in the gutter, but I wouldn't want to have been any further over to the RHS on that road.
Unfortunately, it was just a case of another impatient driver putting lives at risk. The speed of the pass doesn't really come across in the video but, trust me, it was scary!
I expect they use the same template, but forgot to change the subtitle.
Did you submit it though ?
No - I haven't submitted it yet as I'm not clear on the process for Wilts police.
However, I'll see if I can track it down and send it in (I can create a longer video for the police if they need 5 mins either side, for example).
Its here :
https://www.wiltshire.police.uk/ro/report/rti/rti-beta-2.1/report-a-road...
And 1 min either side is sufficient.
Thank you Mr Squirrel.
I can create a longer video for the police if they need 5 mins either side, for example
Don't! They only make demands like this to discourage people from submitting evidence- especially if it's irrefutable. The idea is that compressing it to get it through their file size restrictions makes it so bad they can then reject it. There is no 'rule' about the length of video- I refused to comply at Lancashire because of their 60 MB limit- a 10 minute video under 60 MB when they can't even work out how to view HEVC files?!
When the cyclists seen the oncoming car he should have moved closer to the white line separating the two lanes.
Keeping as close as possible to the grass verge is almost "asking for it" if there is even a slight chance someone is going to risk your life you need to block that lane and stop that car from overtaking you until it is safe for them to do so.
You may Delay the driver by seconds and they may beep at you, but for your own safety take the lane.
When the cyclists seen the oncoming car he should have moved closer to the white line separating the two lanes.
In this situation, all it would have lead to is a severely injured or dead cyclist. The rear video starts with the considerate car waiting behind for traffic to pass and then making the safe overtake. The next two are probably at the 50-60mph limit for the road. At the time he see the traffic, it is when the merc is overaking. Now unless the cyclist is aware of how far that car is over already, it wouldn't be a manouvre I would have pulled whilst a car is already overtaking. If he had then done it in the 2 seconds between cars, the chrysler probably wouldn't have time / wherewithal to slam on the brakes.
I would also argue cyclist is not riding as close as possible to grass verge. His camera is on the left of the bike (I'm assumung both front and back) so he looks closer but looking at location of Garmin he is in secondary which is why close pass still had two wheels a foot or so over the dividing line and not trying to fit both the car and bike in the same lane if verge cycling.
The actual video shows the lemming behavior of the traffic. Chrysler sees Merc make the manouvre at speed and is pretty much only staring at the back of the car in front so makes the same manouvre then realising the cars in front so comes in closer to the cyclist.
Yes, primary is oftent he right place to be, but not necessarily the right move to make. Too often it's described as an isolated thing, but it is part of the toolset.
Moving to primary is part of a chain of events: assessing the road, observation, negotiation, move. The observation and negotiation are usually combined, but most importantly, the observation is crucial and would have indicated that it was not a manoeuvre to do at this point.
Manoeuvring to primary should be a non-aggressive move in response to the prevailing road situation, not usually in response to a particular motorist.
Victim blaming much?
from the rear camera, it doesnt half look like they steer in towards the cyclist after initially taking a still not acceptable overtaking line, but from the front the oncoming traffic is not a factor at the point they choose to do that IMO.
Yeah, apart from the junction/gateway on the right, I thought that the Merc's overtake was ok. Pulled out in plenty of time, good view ahead (with the above proviso), lane discipline.
The Chrysler just blindly followed and failed to see the oncoming traffic, therefore having to come in way too close on the cyclist once they realised the risk of a head on.
I'm unclear if you have submitted this.
The driver had plenty of time to look beyond the end of the bonnet.
Yes indeed, this needs to be given to the cops.