Near Miss of the Day 903: Driver's punishment pass while blaring horn at two-abreast cyclists earns £300 fine and six penalty points

Charged with careless driving.

Thanks for the question. EK Spinner's comment below explains why riding 2 abreast is advisable. We do it more now as a protection and to create a shorter 'vehicle' to ovetake. We find riding single file requires more space for cars to overtake at times so adapt according to the road.

Even riding on my own I would be out in primary on this stretch, if a road is wide enough to have a white line down the middle then the correct place to pass is in the next lane (it is just as wide as this one). In this instance highway designers have calculated that this is not safe in this area and have marked it that way therefore the driver is required to wait until it is safe to execute the pass safely (by crossing over the line)

Riding in at the left facilitates only one thing, a dangerous close pass.

I'd agree with a lot of that, but with the exception that I don't think road planners think about bicycles at all when choosing where to put solid white lines - I think they put them primarily (if not exclusively) in places where overtaking another motor vehicle would be unsafe

As such there are quite a few places where overtaking an e.g. 40mph motorist would be unsafe, so there is a solid white line - but overtaking a 15mph cyclist at the beginning of that stretch could be quite safe.

As such I would only tend to place centrally when I reached the point (e.g. approaching a bend) that it would be unsafe for driver to overtake me

Velo-drone wrote:

I'd agree with a lot of that, but with the exception that I don't think road planners think about bicycles at all when choosing where to put solid white lines - I think they put them primarily (if not exclusively) in places where overtaking another motor vehicle would be unsafe As such there are quite a few places where overtaking an e.g. 40mph motorist would be unsafe, so there is a solid white line - but overtaking a 15mph cyclist at the beginning of that stretch could be quite safe. As such I would only tend to place centrally when I reached the point (e.g. approaching a bend) that it would be unsafe for driver to overtake me

the law does allow for crossing the line to overtake of cyclists and horse riders at <10mph (cyclist going at 10, not overtaking vehicle going at 10) maybe this could be changed for a slightly higher speed, like 15.

If visibility does not allow crossing the line in safety, then overtaking a cyclist there would be wrong, so cycling in secondary or even further left only accomodates a dangerous pass.

This was one of a number of incidents ive reported via 101 with officers attending at my home. They have all considered the evidence and offered to visit the driver and have a educational chat, if this is not received positively officers then proceed with attendance at a driver awareness course or in this case due to the severity straight to points and a fine. Stewart

First up. Thanks for your tenacity in reporting. I am confused though, when you mention the offer of a driver awareness course. Unless this has changed in the last year this option isn't available in Scotland. It's either the friendly chat and reminder of their responsibilities as a driver or the fine/day in court. Various legal bodies have been pressurising the Justice Directorate to introduce this option and consistently been stonewalled. Much in the same way as the reporting portal and presumed liability. All of which have been booted into the long grass. All of these, if and when implemented would actually take the pressure off the sheriff's courts as they would mean justice is being handed out at a different level except of course for the presumed. Though this would mean people would curtail their poor driving knowing that their insurance will take a hit if a claim was being met. It sometimes feel like PS and the Fiscal don't want to take ideas off other people

Thanks for the info, confused though as to what officers told me. I'll check, next time, as there's bound to be another incident.

No problems. I usually show up at the police station rather than try and arrange a time that suits me and the officers. Especially when they've cancelled due to a more serious crime occurring. More often than not I get the doesn't meet the Fiscal's guidelines so they pootle off and give the driver some earache. Even then it seems to be fleet cars and the company clams up about the driver. 

Can you share the location of this police station? I assume that it's open and you can go in, and there will be staff there. None of the stations near me have this kind of service - it's like the bank branches except there's no online service either.

None of the stations near me have this kind of service - it's like the bank branches except there's no online service either

The only function of Garstang police station is as a bolt-hole in a relatively crime-free (except for MOT and VED evasion) area of the county, where they can hide away

TheBillder wrote:

Can you share the location of this police station? I assume that it's open and you can go in, and there will be staff there. None of the stations near me have this kind of service - it's like the bank branches except there's no online service either.

Last time that I went into a bank branch, there was a gaggle of staff (3 or 4 maybe) just standing around to help customers which wasn't of much use to me as I only went in to use the automated cheque paying in machine.

I made the mistake of attending the police station to report a crime, and they just told me to do it over the phone.

I will maintain my position that we should call a "punishment pass" a "cowards pass" or "...AKA cowards pass" that is truly what it is and words count a lot towards changing behaviour

Good idea, but not strong enough, in my view.

impotent rage pass?

difficult to disagree, punishment pass does make it sound like the victim has done something wrong when that is very very rarely the case.

Could I suggest "sociopath pass", due to the sociapathic behaviour being exhibited.

Typically a sociapath will be prone to fits of anger and rage with impulsive and often illegal behaviour. They also lack empathy and will not feel remorse for the things that they have done.

This pretty much nails it for me.

I'm pretty sure you mean sociopath and spot on if you do!

Corrected, thanks!

psychopass

Excellent, this should now be the default term...

That's good and snappy.