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news
Close pass driver says he killed cyclist"I've killed one of you guys before": close pass driver who left cyclist fearing for his life gets police caution
This is the story of a road.cc reader who suffered a shocking road rage incident which left him fearing for his life after a close pass driver threatened he had killed and seriously injured cyclists in the past and got away with it.
The situation was so serious the reader told us that after the confrontation — once the driver had sped off — he recorded a message telling his wife he loved her, in fear of the motorist returning to attack him.
With the footage reported to Warwickshire Police it was decided the incident would be pursued as a public order offence, not a traffic offence, and the driver was cautioned for his behaviour.
"I genuinely thought he was going to drive at me"
The story began when the road.cc reader went for a weekend spin around some local roads in Warwickshire back in February.
"This particular road is one of my favourites," he told us. "It's not very busy so I ride it often. I was aware that there was a vehicle behind me, but I didn't know there were two vehicles.
"The white car overtook me and gave me a decent amount of space, as much as
can be expected on that road, that was completely fine. It was the guy after in the black car that deliberately came super close."
"I've killed one of you guys before, and seriously injured another, and I got away with it" brags close pass driver. pic.twitter.com/7qeqXmWM3b
— ETA Services Ltd (@ETAservicesltd) September 27, 2022
Having shouted out to the driver during the close pass, a roadside back-and-forth ensued in which the driver said the cyclist should have moved over before making the threat: "I've killed one of you guys before, and seriously injured another, and I got away with it."
"It all finished and he sped off and I genuinely thought he was going to go down the road, turn around, come back and drive at me. There's nowhere to go on that road. All it would take is for him to aim a little bit that way and I'm toast," he explained.
"At the very end of the original footage is me talking to the camera, speaking to my wife to say 'if I don't get back or don't survive this, I love you'.
"It didn't feel like an empty threat."
The cyclist called 999 and later on, with the help of cycling insurer ETA Services LTD, he was able to improve the quality of the video to give Warwickshire Police the best chance of taking action, uploading it via the Operation Snap portal.
The driver was invited to speak to the police voluntarily, told officers he had changed medication which caused mood swings, and was ultimately cautioned for a public order offence. As it was not treated as a traffic offence no penalty points or fine were applied.
"I wanted him to go on a course," the road.cc reader continued. "If he walked away with an appreciation for what it's like to be a cyclist and see how close passes feel, then that would have been great."
Although many will undoubtedly view the caution as lenient considering the seriousness of the footage, the road.cc reader said he was content with the outcome and had to weigh up whether it was worth going through a lengthy court process in the hope of a sterner punishment.
A caution, unlike the warning letter for a traffic offence often seen in our Near Miss of the Day series, can be used as evidence of bad character in future court appearances and shows on standard and enhanced Disclosure and Barring Services (DBS) checks, standard in most employment processes.
"If we took it through court we'd have to go through the full legal system, with a massive backlog. God knows how long it would take when it gets there, and even then you don't know what's going to happen," the cyclist said.
"I was content with the outcome. Warwickshire Police were in touch regularly and my case was picked up by a sergeant who called me a couple of times to talk through the process."
"Not acceptable"
PC Ken Bratley said: "This shocking piece of footage was brought to our attention when the cyclist submitted it to Warwickshire Police following the incident in Cathiron Lane, Rugby on 27 February 2022.
"An officer reviewed the footage and found the behaviour of this driver was not acceptable and he received a caution on 18 August 2022 for the public order offence.
"Road safety is a shared responsibility and we are asking drivers to look after our more vulnerable road users such as cyclists by leaving at least 1.5 metres when overtaking cyclists at speeds of up to 30mph, and give them more space when overtaking at higher speeds."
Warwickshire Police encouraged riders to submit video footage of dangerous driving and close passes via the Operation Snap portal.
Dan is the road.cc news editor and joined in 2020 having previously written about nearly every other sport under the sun for the Express, and the weird and wonderful world of non-league football for The Non-League Paper. Dan has been at road.cc for four years and mainly writes news and tech articles as well as the occasional feature. He has hopefully kept you entertained on the live blog too.
Never fast enough to take things on the bike too seriously, when he's not working you'll find him exploring the south of England by two wheels at a leisurely weekend pace, or enjoying his favourite Scottish roads when visiting family. Sometimes he'll even load up the bags and ride up the whole way, he's a bit strange like that.
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50 comments
Those of us that cycle are not THAT surprised by this, even if it is at the far end of the scale in terms of what he claims. I've had drivers reverse at me, turn round in a rush and come back at me, stop dead in the middle of the road and jump out with the door open. Sometimes they run after you too. I'm not saying it happens every day, but it is not once-in-a-lifetime either.
Those that drive probably think the cyclist made it up, or exaggerated it, or did something to "deserve" that behaviour. And complain that there is a war on motorists, that cyclists want it all ways.
If you have changed medication that is making you irrational, angry and making rash angry and aggressive choices don't fucking drive your car!
I am feeling psychopathic today, time to take my gun for a walk, hope nothing goes wrong....
In all fairness, I sometimes get that when I haven't eaten a Snickers...
I wouldn't have stopped, when that car pulled over.
Well I'd not be stopping to have a roadside chat, but would you really want the clearly triggered driver behind you again at this point ?
Nope !
Fair point...
Stop far enough behind the car that if he gets out and runs or walks all the way to your bike, you can sprint back to the car behind him and borrow his keys.
Just a caution? Only when will the Old Bill start charging idiots properly will these instances start to fall.
Tbf a caution is pretty serious outcome for it, remember as it says in the article it can impact employment opportunities that use DBS checks as well as foreign travel if the country you are visiting insists on a police certificate to show you're a good citizen , as well as counting against you in future court appearances or prosecutions.
If this guy ends up being reported again for a close pass, it's far more likely he'd then be taken to court to be dealt with, than simply sent on a course or given a warning letter.
Would have been better if the caution was conditional on the driver taking an anger management course.
An unconditional caution would be "spent" immediately and won't show up on a Basic DBS check (a conditional caution would be "spent" after 3 months). An employer needs a valid reason to run a Standard or Enhanced DBS check - e.g. working with children or vunerable adults.
Pubic order offence rather than traffic offence was the right decision but he should be in jail. Threatening to kill.
Could've launched bike into the adjacent field (for safe retrieval later). Proceed to spike a tyre with bar bag tool and then progress to break his nose, skittle a few ribs and go from there (self defence). Launch his phone into Woods and ride off. Over in seconds.
Could've gone all "dead man's shoes" on him with those awful comments.
His time is coming.
Now take a deep breath, fignon. In... and out... In... and out...
And then everyone clapped.
The reality is that it is easy to type something like that behind a keyboard but in real life, even if you are a violent enough person to try something like that, he is in a protective metal box capable of killing you easily and you are a fleshy bag of brittle bones. *IF* he gets out of the car you might be on an even footing but you are still trying to fight someone of completely unknown background while wearing bike shoes. You are probably coming off worse 9 times out of 10. The drivers know this and that's why they behave the way they do, all you are suggesting is giving them the excuse of self defence to hurt you and get away with it.
No.
He is going to get banged.
And yes. I'd twat him with my keyboard if I had it on me at the time. And yes. His door or window would be open.
Not all of us ride away! I hope the cnut is reading. Some of us don't ride away.
Fancy joining me on my morning commute, I've lots of 'friends' I'd love you to meet
I'm of the same opinion.
I'm ex-military and more than capable of standing my ground and sparking a twat out and more than willing to if needed.
The most handiest of 'bar bag tools'...
"It's for punctures, officer"
What IS that?
Automatic centrepunch.
That is an automatic centre punch.
Great for helping "escape - via shattered auto-glass", if one finds oneself trapped (within a car, of course).
I also believe it can aid in the deflation of some inflated rubber items that adorn those round wheely things attached at each corner of a drivey metal death cage.
Oh right, so like those seatbelt-cutting-window-punching-escape-tools that you can buy (and that all cyclists should carry just in case they ever encounter a road traffic incident and have to help someone escape from their vehicle)?
There's never been a better time to be a criminal. The justice system is underfunded. Unless you commit crimes that are either, very violent, or, against very rich people - who can afford to take you to court- you're good to go.
I'm confident that the coward in the car will tangle with the wrong rider at some point. Quick as a flash. He'll have nowhere to go.
Fark. I'm glad there are drivers this nice and considerate, not like the horrible ones in Australia as the person posted about the other day.
Nigel Garage... That you?
Clearly a twat who can't drive safely, likes to boast and to top it all he really doesn't know what he's talking about. "It's against the law for you to hold the.. traffic up... you can't stop the flow of traffic...You're supposed to pull in".
and delivered without the self awareness of the position he had then stopped his car in.
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