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news
Houston close pass (via Facebook).jpgNear Miss of the Day 9: Houston driver gets a little too close to a cycling police officer
Here's what happens when a driver makes a close pass on a cyclist who turns out to be a police officer riding a bike equipped with radar for enforcement of the passing distance law.
The C3FT device uses an ultrasonic detector on an adjustable arm. Measurements are immediately displayed on a numeric display and it also buzzes when a vehicle passes within a preset threshold.
Here it is in action.
Houston Public Media reports that the local police department has been using the device since March.
“We’ve worked out all the bugs. It’s ready to go and it’s certified for use in court,” said Police Chief Art Acevedo. The penalty is a fine of up to $500.
Here in the UK, those forces taking active steps to tackle dangerous close passes of cyclists are typically reliant on cameras to identify culprits.
They have been following the lead of West Midlands Police, which reported a 50 per cent drop in poor overtaking in just four months following the launch of their pioneering scheme.
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 contact us via the road.cc Facebook page. Please also let us know where it took place and whether or not your local police force took any action.
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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21 comments
Wtf at that first bus pic?! Unless it's badly done and is supposed to be an example of a close pass how the f**k can that get approved and stuck on the back of a bus (at taxpayers expense no doubt)? Whoever created it needs educating, whoever approved it needs firing.
Whereas this kicks butt
IMG_0309.JPG
This is probably really old news, but I saw one of these on the back of a bus yesterday. If that car's giving enough room, I'm Donald Trump and I'm here to claim the hair.
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Please stop with the Face-plant videos, it's a waste of time for people like me who 100% block that site because they use sophisticated spying on even non-members! It'd be nice if the video could be hosted/re-hosted on much a less spying site.
Anyone using big 'social' media sites is product, because that is the cost of using these 'free' services.
In my neck of the woods the anti-social and careless driving reporting site https://www.contacthertspolice.uk/Report/AcDriving.aspx specifically says "evidence of provocation or disproportionate reaction will mean that no action is taken". So you are probably not helping by shouting at everyone if you want the police to act, even though it is personally satisfying at the time.
Actually I kind of learned that for myself when I discovered that simply explaining, quite loudly if necessary, but not angrily, why that piece of driving was poor and how it put me at risk, works better than shouting obscenities, which simply escalates the situation.
Embarrassing when cops in bloody Houston are getting it right when the ones here simply don't care. I don't know if UK cops are genuinely bad/lazy or how much of it is simply that this country keeps voting in the people who don't fund them properly.
Both, I think. They've been so poorly funded for so long that it's affected the type of candidate that applies for the job. Either altruistic, power-tripping or simply couldn't get another job... and I suspect a good proportion of the altruistic few get that worn out of them early on in their careers and are more exhausted than we are at things not being progressed.
If the police officer wont look or entertain your requests, then make a formal complaint to their seniors. Remind them about close pass initiative that virtaully all forces are running. Until the police act upon these bad examples of driving then nothing will change
I would reccomend writing/emailing the Police & Crime Commissioner. It is their job to hold the Chief Constable to account for the actions/or lack of of their officers and improve proceedures so they don't happen again.
Confirm what close pass initiative they are running, one with enforcement (eg WMP's version) or for awareness (eg Cycling UK's with the mat).
My local force are only doing it for awareness, they'll publicise it in the media/social media & come to events but no police on bikes, radioing ahead to get colleagues to pull dickheads over. sad.
aye.
It's his own fault for riding on the wrong side of the road.
Isn't it amazing how certain types of people gravitate to certain jobs; ignorant and self obsessed people seem to drive buses, lazy and power hungry cretins join the police force.
bus companies just aren't interested - I sent Carousel buses this, the 2nd one in 10 days: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6wVjpYqw65k - refused to see anything wrong with it at all. I've had a couple of close passes from the same driver on the Slough hospital bus run, the bus company there also give precisely zero fucks. It's in stark contrast to how other hgv/fleets react, I often take down videos now because of how quickly and convincingly sincere the fleet managers react
why not bus companies? Do they think by acknowledging complaints, they'll be open for some kind of liability? It just doesn't make sense, when other fleets of similarly sized vehicles are starting to take this more sincerely
That's ace.
Why can't UK police employ this equipment in detecting and prosecution of punishment drive by?
Because they don't give a fuck, simple as that!
Today i had a callback from plod re a ridiculously close overtake by a bus driver (@50mph) which i reported last week. when i caught him at the back of a queue of traffic and confronted him I banged on the side of the bus (very hard on the toughened glass bit) and asked him what kind of shit driving was that. he gets off the bus with phone in hand after admitting to not even seeing me and approached me in a threatening manner and then said he'd put me (back) in hospital (I had a bandage on my arm after having blood tests not 15 minutes previous). I'd called him a prick and not fit to drive a public service vehicle and that i would report him to the police.
Plod states that they could do me for public order because I willfully disclosed that i banged on the bus and called him a few choice words. I said, okay, let's go that route then because if you want to go that way then surely his swearing and threat to put me in hospital and his attack on me with his 10 tonne weapon would trumpt that. she then backed down and said well i don't want to do that, so i replied well why make a threat over it then knowing full well I'd written in my report that my adrenaline was going after he had threatened my life.
She emphasised they wouldn't do him for careless even if there was CCTV from the bus video.
As i said, they don't give two fucks for the most part!
Somehow I think there is more to your story than you're letting on!
Oh no. That sounds perfectly realistic. If you don't believe that story you have no experience of reporting a driver using cycle camera evidence.
Yeah because bus drivers are always so respectful of people cycling.
In fairness to London bus drivers, they're usually pretty good. Quite a few people on here have said the same, so it's not just me!
By contrast, bus drivers outside London can be less considerate IME.
You're calling me a liar then?
Please do fill in the blanks sonshine!
You made up and went behind the bike sheds together?