Near Miss of the Day 546: A series of close passes in Richmond Park

Following a week in which there have been calls to ban motor traffic from Royal Parks for good - today's near miss video is a series of close passes in Richmond.

Youtuber, Changethetraffic, who posted the video, said: "I used to cycle regularly through Richmond Park.

"After lockdown though, for some odd reason, the traffic has become a nightmare. It feels busier and drivers are much more aggressive. 

"The concept of leaving distance when passing cyclists seems to not even exist for a lot of them. 

"For the first time, I recall having a whole series of close passes;  three to four cars in a row passing me, and sometimes my family, within touching distance.

"This worsening of traffic and dangerous driving seems to be common throughout London.

"I’m experiencing two or three times more dangerous incidents than before lockdown, including more abuse.

"Always while riding legally and considerately."

On Thursday, a cyclist was taken to hospital after a shocking crash in Richmond Park which left the rider with facial injuries.

The incident led to calls from the London Cycling Campaign and many others on social media for through traffic to be banned from the park.

> 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.(link is external)

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.