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news
BN08 RZJ extreme close pass - Five points plus fine 0-9 screenshotNear Miss of the Day 775: Two videos highlight inconsistency in close pass enforcement
Two videos submitted by a road.cc reader highlight the inconsistency that often arises in sentencing motorists when it comes to close passes on cyclists.
Filmed in Almondsbury, South Gloucestershire close to junction 16 of the M5, the first video resulted in the taxi driver who made a close pass on road.cc reader Jim receive 6 penalty points on his licence.
“This ‘professional’ driver chose to pass me rather too close as I rode to work. I tried to discuss the matter with him but he rudely ignored me. Therefore it was inevitable that the poor driving would be reported to the police.
“He contested whatever action the police took and the case went to the Magistrates' Court. Court Result 6 points £620 Costs £44 Victim Surcharge £440 fine
“As well as the conviction, Licensing Authority may choose to take further action. If a taxi driver amasses 6+ points they're required to appear before a Council committee to review their licence.”
The second incident, which Jim said was “Far worse from my point of view,” however, only saw the driver, who was also fined, receive five penalty points, although certainly from the footage it appears to be far closer.
In a comment on that incident on YouTube addressed at the driver, Jim said: “Because of your reckless impatience I very nearly didn't get home from work to my family this evening.
“Your driving has been reported to the Police and I hope you seriously change your ways before you kill someone.
“I understand that you will receive a warning, fixed penalty or prosecution for this terrifying close pass.
“I am not on the road to be terrorised by impatient incompetent drivers like this. I am merely trying to stay fit and get to and from work without putting another polluting car on the roads.
“Driving like this puts people off cycling and leads to more people in cars clogging up our local roads. From 2015-2020 2 cyclists were killed, and 83 seriously injured every week, 94.5% of these cases involved at least one motor vehicle.
“I do not want to be a statistic. I do not want my death mentioned in a local paper as a caring father, husband son and brother. Up your game now. This is your opportunity to learn to drive safely the easy way,” he added.
> 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.
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26 comments
Just came across this on twitter - Adam Reynolds
I still do not understand why blackbox insurance is not a mandatory requirement for drivers if you have 6 or more points on your license. Many companies won't employ drivers with 6+ points on their license.
Seems a great idea to me.
Clearly can't work - we'd either have to re-scale the points system so people rarely every got 6 points or things would start to break down - people wouldn't be able to get in for work, take their kids to school, help out their elderly parents...
Heaven forbid people should actually take responsibility for their actions and *gasp* drive properly...
First off, I think South Gloucestershire comes under Avon and Somerset Police, please correct me if I've got this wrong. It's importatnt to me because if you look at some of the NMOTDs for Gloucestershire I'm not sure these would have received any action at all.
If I'm right then I'd like to thank Avon and Somerset for taking action against what should be completely unacceptable driving around a vulnerable road user as well as to Jim for taking the time report them and helping to make the roads a little safer for all of us.
Secondly, shouldn't these be 776 and 777. 775 was Newport.
Yes you're right, Avon and Somerset covers Somerset plus Bath, Bristol and south Gloucestershire.
And yet they don't cover Avon
[/quote]
And yet they don't cover Avon
[/quote]
Avon was formed from the county boroughs of Bristol and Bath, together with parts of the administrative counties of Gloucestershire and Somerset. In 1996, the county was abolished and the area split between four new unitary authorities: Bath and North East Somerset, Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire. The Avon name is still used for some purposes.
Fixed that for you. (I'll allow it when talking about the River Avon though despite "Avon" meaning "river" anyway).
It snaps my cranks when websites get you to enter the county for your address and then have "Avon" listed, but not "Bristol".
For years i thought the Avon (Stratford-upon-Avon) up here in the Midlands was the same river that exited in Bristol. In my defence it kind of does but only as the Severn.
There's quite a few River Avons around: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/River_Avon
In a way, every river is an Avon.
Well, in English speaking countries anyway (e.g. Canada, Australia, New Zealand). I don't know if the Welsh "afon" is from the same root or not, but it certainly looks similar.
Indeed. The Guardian has a list of such things but they're missing the rumoured origin of Nome however. Or the multilingual reassurance of "Breedon on the Hill".
Yes South Glos is Avon & Somerset Police. Confusingly!
The first, on the A38 at Almondsbury, is well know to me as somewhere that drivers will close pass, so well done for making at least one of them think twice next time.
About ten years ago, two of us on the council's cycle forum independently surveyed the A38 through it's length in SGlos, and submitted reports to the council. They rang me a year later as they had lost them.
The second is on Perrinpit Road just before the S-bends.
Funny/Not funny.
Isn't the main inconsistency here that 2 submissions were BOTH prosecuted?
A&S do prosecute a good proportion of uploaded incidents. I have been to court three times and given statements in 2 other cases, including in the taxi case shown.
Wasn't this one on country file last night ?
Well spotted, indeed it was.
Second video is where exactly?
Edit: Second is now added.
Yes second one was definitely worse but I do wonder if the extra points were put on because the Magistrate had to rule on it in court rather then the driver getting them directly on Police advice.
I see one at the top (in place of a lead image), and then one about halfway down, under the para starting 'The second incident...'
Yes, appeared between my post and yours but only the one at the top when article first went live.
Both would have been mag court, but if the second driver chose to plead guilty then it would have been a single justice deciding by themselves.
A sentencing hearing in a magistrates' court will still have 3 magistrates.
If it is more serious (potential jail above 6 months) it gets kicked upstairs and then sentencing is by a single judge.
There can also be a Newton Hearing where the defendant pleads guilty but wants to argue the facts of the offence against the prosecution version, which could make a material difference to the sentencing (e.g. yes I was speeding on the motorway but it was only 95 not 105 as the police claim)
Perhaps. I would wager that the second driver already had 6 points and they didn't want to ban them. If you tell them you need to drive for your job they tend to be more lenient...
As long as you need to drive to work its cool if you put other peoples lives at risk.