Support road.cc

Like this site? Help us to make it better.

Near Miss of the Day 690: “Driver came flying by me at high speed” – with car coming the other way

Our regular series featuring close passes from around the country - today it's Cornwall...

This year’s first Near Miss of the Day picks up where 2021 left off, with a motorist overtaking at high speed up a hill – only this time another car was approaching in the opposite direction.

While Gloucestershire Police didn’t feel the need to prosecute our final close pass of the year, the speed, proximity and downright dangerous nature of this one from Cornwall – which caused the driver on the opposite side of the road to brake sharply – led Devon and Cornwall Police to take unspecified action against the motorist.

Rob, the road.cc reader who sent us the clip, hopes the offender was sent on an awareness course, “as I like to think of the irony that saving five seconds with a dangerous pass will in fact cost the driver a few hours of their time.”

In a damning indictment of our roads today, Rob even told us that “this wasn’t one of my worst close passes”. At least this time around the driver received some kind of 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 [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

Ryan joined road.cc in December 2021 and since then has kept the site’s readers and listeners informed and enthralled (well at least occasionally) on news, the live blog, and the road.cc Podcast. After boarding a wrong bus at the world championships and ruining a good pair of jeans at the cyclocross, he now serves as road.cc’s senior news writer. Before his foray into cycling journalism, he wallowed in the equally pitiless world of academia, where he wrote a book about Victorian politics and droned on about cycling and bikes to classes of bored students (while taking every chance he could get to talk about cycling in print or on the radio). He can be found riding his bike very slowly around the narrow, scenic country lanes of Co. Down.

Add new comment

16 comments

Avatar
Billy1mate | 2 years ago
0 likes

One should be able to cycle on all roads but for me, the speeds on that road would lead me to avoid it at all costs, the closing speed is too great to feel safe.

Avatar
TriTaxMan | 2 years ago
5 likes

Well the comments on Facebook about this video are interesting.

Apparently one genius thinks that Rob should be about 1 meter further into the left to prevent the close pass......  Which if my calculations are right would put him about half a meter onto the grass verge at the edge of the road.

Avatar
pasley69 replied to TriTaxMan | 2 years ago
1 like

Well, why do you think the verge is grass instead of rocks?

Seriously though I would suggest that all drivers be tested annually to see if they remember where the brake pedal is.

Avatar
Fursty Ferret | 2 years ago
0 likes

I think it's unwise to report anything like this to the police, because in the event that the car is damaged in the future (because the driver has already made it clear they're a thoughtless cock and will probably park blocking a driveway / illegally etc), your name is already associated with the car as a likely suspect. 

Given the police invariably don't act unless someone is both killed and a serving officer, it's just not worth the hassle. 

Avatar
hawkinspeter replied to Fursty Ferret | 2 years ago
2 likes

Fursty Ferret wrote:

I think it's unwise to report anything like this to the police, because in the event that the car is damaged in the future (because the driver has already made it clear they're a thoughtless cock and will probably park blocking a driveway / illegally etc), your name is already associated with the car as a likely suspect. 

Given the police invariably don't act unless someone is both killed and a serving officer, it's just not worth the hassle. 

The police are going to need a lot more than just a vague connection between a victim and a dangerous driver to pin car damage on them. I'd bet a substantial amount (well, maybe some slightly stale mince pies) that the police have never just gone after a previous victim without something a lot more substantial.

Avatar
chrisonabike replied to hawkinspeter | 2 years ago
3 likes

Depends. I think the general rule for police investigations is "start at the nearest point" e.g. if a child disappears first check out the family. However if it was the ones responsible for the Steven Port investigation then you could be loitering next to someone's vandalised car with your keys out, holding a pot of paint stripper and arouse no suspicion whatsoever.

Avatar
GMBasix replied to hawkinspeter | 2 years ago
3 likes

hawkinspeter wrote:

Fursty Ferret wrote:

I think it's unwise to report anything like this to the police, because in the event that the car is damaged in the future (because the driver has already made it clear they're a thoughtless cock and will probably park blocking a driveway / illegally etc), your name is already associated with the car as a likely suspect. 

Given the police invariably don't act unless someone is both killed and a serving officer, it's just not worth the hassle. 

The police are going to need a lot more than just a vague connection between a victim and a dangerous driver to pin car damage on them. I'd bet a substantial amount (well, maybe some slightly stale mince pies) that the police have never just gone after a previous victim without something a lot more substantial.

Such as some stale mince pies and a generously-poured glass of Baileys*?

(* or [sniggers into cuff] should that be Old Bailey's? [/sniggers into cuff])

Avatar
Hirsute replied to Fursty Ferret | 2 years ago
1 like

Any evidence to support this claim?

Avatar
wtjs replied to Fursty Ferret | 2 years ago
3 likes

I think it's unwise to report anything like this to the police
It's not unreasonable to be suspicious that the police practice of 'going after the victim to intimidate him out of the hated practice of reporting offences', but even I wouldn't consider this a feasible case for police retaliation. However, the principle applies and the police are more stupid than you think. I was threatened with prosecution by Lancashire's Sgt. Lavin, now in charge of OpSnap Lancs, with prosecution for impeding a car by being in his way ('being further out into the lane than I needed to be') and thereby forcing him completely over the double unbroken white lines in a dangerous position just before a right hand bend. Such a prosecution would have been a godsend and I urged him to do it, but he then completely disappeared from the airwaves for 2 1/2 years until he re-emerged leading his glorious new department.

Avatar
cmedred | 2 years ago
1 like

Wouldn't that first pass qualify as a "punishment pass?'' It's the sort of things dipshots do here in the U.S. all the time express their displeasure for "share the road.'' It's sort of like why "share the road" is a very bad joke. 

Avatar
Hirsute replied to cmedred | 2 years ago
1 like

That's just a cyclist term, not an offence term.
It would come under careless or inconsiderate driving.
"driving too close to another vehicle"
according to cps guidelines.

Avatar
wtjs | 2 years ago
2 likes

Unspecified action means probably 'words of advice', which is why they won't tell you. The worst it can be is the joke driving course, which he probably doesn't even have to tell the insurance company about, never mind anyone else. Deterrent effect almost nil.

Avatar
STiG911 replied to wtjs | 2 years ago
0 likes

wtjs wrote:

Unspecified action means probably 'words of advice', which is why they won't tell you. The worst it can be is the joke driving course, which he probably doesn't even have to tell the insurance company about, never mind anyone else. Deterrent effect almost nil.

And by a junction. 

Avatar
HoarseMann | 2 years ago
4 likes

Both those were terrible passes. Mondeo doing about 74mph, Audi about 67mph. Glad the police did something about it.

Avatar
Jem PT replied to HoarseMann | 2 years ago
2 likes

Exactly! Did the Police take action against both drivers?

Avatar
Flintshire Boy replied to HoarseMann | 2 years ago
2 likes

Unfortunately, 'something' amounts to - effectively - nothing. As such, am struggling to feel any New Year 'gladness' towards those meant to protect us.

Latest Comments