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news
Bristol cyclist who submitted near-miss video to police told he won’t be prosecuted for swearing
Avon and Somerset police have said that no action will be taken against a Bristol cyclist for swearing. Matt Trevers can be heard employing some colourful language in a video of an alleged near-miss that he submitted to police in the hope that the driver would be prosecuted.
The Bristol Post reports that Trevers was riding down Gloucester Road, taking a position in the middle of the lane to avoid a potential dooring by one of the parked cars. He says a driver then beeped and passed him without leaving sufficient room.
Believing this to have been a deliberate and aggressive manoeuvre, Trevers submitted helmet cam footage of the incident to police.
He was told that they would not be investigating, so he put in a complaint. He received a call six months later in which he was told he would not be facing prosecution for swearing in response to what happened.
"After I initially asked for a review of the decision, I had a fairly unfriendly call from an officer, in which he mentioned that it wasn't in the public interest to prosecute me for my 'offence'. It wasn't an official warning, but there seemed to be an implied threat that he could."
A spokesman for Avon and Somerset police said:
"No action was taken against the car driver as there was insufficient evidence to support the offence of driving without due care and attention. Officers also decided not to take action against the cyclist for his use of bad language.
"Subsequently the cyclist made a formal complaint about the lack of action from officers, which has been investigated by the force's professional standards department.
"It was confirmed that the criminal allegation did not meet the threshold for prosecution and a detailed response has been provided to Mr Trevers, who may appeal the decision if he is not satisfied.
"We encourage all road users to treat each other with courtesy and follow the recommendations of the Highway Code."
Trevers said he was disappointed in the response, but understood that police “often have their hands tied.”
“I had hoped that at the very least, the driver might have learnt a lesson about safety and reflected on his actions. However, immediately after leaving the station, he uploaded his own footage to YouTube blaming me for the incident. He doesn't realise or care that he put me in a lot of danger."
Duncan Dollimore from the Cycling UK's Cyclists' Defence Fund said: "The initial response from the investigating officers was completely inadequate. They should have fully investigated this and failed to do so, seeking to apportion blame upon Matt for his road position when he was riding towards the middle of the road to keep clear of possible opening car doors from the parked cars on his left."
Alex has written for more cricket publications than the rest of the road.cc team combined. Despite the apparent evidence of this picture, he doesn't especially like cake.
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45 comments
The cyclist appears to be taking a wide clearance to the bus which is indicating to move out and then moves back to the middle of the lane. Which seems ok to me.
The driver chooses to overtake into the face of oncoming traffic, which the police would be trained not to do.
Motorists are required to drive in a manner which is considerate to other road users. It's probably not serious enough to result in a conviction for careless driving but the police could perhaps have resolved this by giving advice to the driver. Poor public relations, if nothing else.
I think the bus was quite some distance off. I've cycled that route myself hundreds of times and would never cycle in the middle of the road like this moron. I would also brake and wait behind the bus as the odds are he hasn't seen you if you are on a bike and can't judge your speed in his wing mirror, if at all (this is due to bikes being tall and skinny - we have binocular vision and cannot judge the speed of bikes as well as cars, that are wider and so easier to gauge their speed).
Not as skinny as a tennis ball and people can judge the speed of those well enough to hit them. More a case of glancing and assuming bike=slow
No matter what the road position of the cyclist here the timing of the overtake was outrageously selfish and relied on the oncoming car braking to avoid a collision.
Out of interest, was any comment made about the scooter rider filtering down the cycle lane to access the ASL zone which I believe to be reserved for cyclist
This guy is cycling up the centre line at one point and filming it. I have to wonder sometimes if these guys with cameras are looking for things to be outraged by. The cycling equivalent of Social Justice Warriors. I don't condone close passes, but he is virtually guaranteeing that any pass is a close one. By all means ride in primary position and avoid doors, but this guy is putting himself in danger he is so far right. Clear example of Passive-Aggressive behaviour, if you ride like that you will definitely meet the aggressive dick of a driver soon than later.
You know there's no such thing? It's just a caricature used as an insult, invented by angry 15 year olds who spend all day playing Call of Duty and wanking (another caricature).
If memory serves, he gave a very simple explantion of why he was in the middle of the road, he made a mistake. If you want to come up with theories about "guys with cameras", join the ranks of Internet bellends. The people who are obsessed with outgroups and stereotypes, whether that be lycra louts or white van man.
I was in the US this summer and saw people become offended just because other people were having a conversation near them. You might say it is a lazy stereotype or an inappropriate analogy to this video, but it exists. I have also seen the cycling vigilante channels; they share a similar mentality. The internet has entered its second age, the age of outrage, and this video is just one small part of it.
I just believe that there is a danger that camera use can validate this guy's choice of riding style and put him into unnecessary conflict with dangerous drivers, who will exist regardless.
Causation vs correlation.
Police wankers. It is a 20 mph zone too
Why is the cyclist not on the left side of the road? No excusse for the BMW but the cyclist could give him some more space.
don't cycle in the door zone.
http://road.cc/content/news/159991-video-doored-cyclist-falls-path-black...
http://road.cc/content/news/208595-taxi-driver-who-fatally-injured-cycli...
http://road.cc/content/news/199940-leicester-teacher-killed-after-taxi-p...
But I think there were a little further to the right than they should be, centre of lane should be adequate he was almost on the centre line, meaning even when there is no oncoming traffic the overtake would be too close. Clearly the moment chosen by the driver would never be safe.
Inclined to agree - yes, avoid the door zone but he did look to be too far out to the center.
What offence are they saying is committed? Section 5 POA?
If so, who's offended? The public at large at the time of the incident? Or the police officer to whom reported?
Neither are likely to meet the requirements of section 5(1) and to even suggest that they might is pretty outrageous.
The car driver's video is even worse. Really dodgy driving.
I must admit to having to remove the audio from some of the vids I've taken because of the same problem, but for the police to even hint that they would prosecute a cyclist for swearing in the heat of the moment is just wrong.
That said, I've had some good support from A&S police.
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