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news
Near Miss of the Day 89: Tailgating driver leans on horn before close pass – and gets prosecuted
Today’s video in our Near Miss of the Day feature shows a motorist tailgating a cyclist in south west London, using his horn several times, before making a close pass on the rider. The incident was reported to police and resulted in a successful prosecution.
It happened on 26 June last year on Bushey Road, Raynes Park, which runs between New Malden and Wimbledon.
The incident was filmed by road.cc reader Mitch Spears, who told us: “I reported it to the Met Police via their online reporting service on the same day.
“Three days later I received a response saying an investigation had been opened.
“I didn't hear anything until 6 December when I received an email to say the driver was being prosecuted for ‘Driving without reasonable consideration to other users’.
"On 25 January 2018, I found out the court proceedings had completed.”
The driver was fined £220 plus £130 costs and had his driving licence endorsed with three penalty points.
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.
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.
Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.
Latest Comments
- Rendel Harris 11 min 26 sec ago
Most of the minor crashes happen with touches of wheels within the peloton, often when they are not even going full tilt, just a moment's...
- Rendel Harris 17 min 32 sec ago
I am completely fed up with entitled motorists coming to a cycling website and creating an account solely in order to troll. Give it a rest!
- Pot00000000 38 min 31 sec ago
👍🏼 IMHO, one of the main things to look out for is butted tubes, double or even tripple butted. ride safe and have a great Christmas
- quiff 1 hour 40 min ago
Ah yes, just spotted where "performance line" is quoted on the website. Couldn't see any that fall into both 'evolution' and 'performance' line...
- Rendel Harris 1 hour 52 min ago
TRP cable-actuated hydraulic calipers, haven't tried them myself but reviews generally rate them as better than cable-only brakes such as Sora. I...
- wtjs 2 hours 5 min ago
And we can be sure that Police Scotland would be similarly disinterested...
- wtjs 2 hours 10 min ago
The self-professed cyclists are really self-claimed cyclists of the 'I'm a cyclist myself' variety
- slc 3 hours 21 min ago
They should read scampercraft and not exaggerate the danger of scuttling along. I discourage squirrel predation by acting like one.
- HalfDanHalfBiscuit 3 hours 31 min ago
You can get the Varia for £10 less from Decathlon.
- Geoff H 4 hours 5 min ago
Perhaps they should apply the same standard to dangerous, unsafe, poorly designed roads and COMPLETELY rip them out rather than "fix" or "redesign"...
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57 comments
I’d love to see some research on the psychological impact of car interior decor on driving behaviour like they have done with music. I have long suspected that the black and shiny chrome trim boy racer interiors of Audi’s fuels some of the bad behaviour.
Where as I, in my faux ash wood interior Mercedes with Classic FM gently trilling, can seemingly obey all speed signs and overtake cyclists with patience and due care.
“Mercedes drivers are just as bad!” I hear you say? Well.. if they will widen the range to the point where anyone can afford one ( like Audi did ) then they will fall into financial range of the emotionally stunted. That Mercedes have adopted some dreadful black and chrome interiors too only reenforces my basic premiss.
I feel a paper coming on... If we can waste money paying scientists to study why bees shouldn’t be able to fly someone can pay me to research why shiny high contrast car interiors subconciously cause rage behaviour in humans?
Thirdly he hasn't answered the question of whether he's an Audi driver, an Audi 4x4 driver, a 4x4 driver, a combination of or none of the above. We are delighted that he measures his importance on his pay packet though
It's a pretty clear one, looks like there's a half arsed cycle lane that the Audi driver thinks the cyclist should be in and he attempts to intimidate and endangers someone's life. He may be aggressive, stupid, arrogant, young, old, have had a 25% pay rise or be a lovely Audi driver who cares for rescued kittens...
@Don Simon
Firstly, you missed my wink emoji so there was no need to get so wound up
Secondly, if you come onto forums giving it the big' I am' about your salary, cars, suits or whatever then expect some banter back for it.
Thirdly, I like your - very recognizable -signature pic so probably why I'm more likely to remember what you've said in the past. Not a stalker honest
Would have loved to have seen the Audi driver's face when he was told it was on video, and then shown the evidence.
What is it with Audi drivers being A-holes? I have often pondered which of these came first- 1) The driver was an A-hole from birth so bought an Audi to reinforce the image or 2) the driver bought the Audi and became an A-hole by some weird form of osmosis.
More towards 1 I think - you choose your car according to your disposition. “Ugly cars for ugly people”, as I usually say around most models of Subaru and anything with sentiments like Avenger (not that you could do much avenging in an old Hilman), Outlaw or Barbarian written on it.
Or just crap if the number plate contains 666, or FUN, TOY or MUD (unless it’s a beat-up old Land Rover actually engaged in farming and not a prentious Range Rover with a load of extra roof lights, one of those snorkel exhausts and a massive roof rack, all topped-off by a ‘One Life Live It’ sticker, but it’s all legit and justified because (a) in 2016 they carried the camping gear for some scouts walking The Ridgeway and (b) they helped look for someone’s dog in a snowdrift in 2014. it’s Berkshire mate, not flipping The Serengeti or the North Pole.
And don’t forget if you have shelled out, or as seems more the case nowawadays are shelling out for your 18 reg Audi or whatever you did/do so on the basis of the adverts showing sunlit empty sweeping coastal roads, luminous city centres with gorgeous smiling company, or tearing-up some mountain trail (boo!) or maybe Terry at work’s got one - anyway imagine your horror at meeting the reality of traffic jams, municipal car parks and worst of all being burnt-up by cyclsists, who, I know it’s been said on here before pay no road tax, no insurance, are constantly killing pedestrians and generally being a danger to themselves and a menace everyone else on the road, just trying to get from A to B...
I own two bikes and am getting an Audi.
It simply down to what deals where available when the Mayor decided that he needed to encourage me to get a new car. In fact 4 out of 6 of my neighbours who were encouraged to change their cars by the London Mayor have Audis. The other two have SUVs though one of my neighbours was considering a van as he's a tradesman. The equivalent sized Mercedes are plasticiky inside and the BMWs have less technology as standard. This is probably one reason why you are seeing a lot more Audis on the road.
This driver is probably pissed off that his once luxury sports car is now as common as muck and then a cyclist dares to legally move under the speed limit in front of him. Anyone who lives in the area and uses that road knows that motorists in that lane frequently drive under 40mph for good reasons, so him ramming a cyclist is simply because he's an a-hole.
Give it a rest with the Audi-bashing, it's boring. I don't drive mine like this, nor does anyone else I know that owns one.
fakenews
No-one says that all Audi drivers are like this.
But unfortunately too many Audi owners do drive like dickheads and make out that they own the road (and quite a few of other people's houses, it seems). Hence the stereotype. If it bothers you then I suggest you either change your car or accept that the stereotype exists and isn't going to go away.
Let's put this in perspective. This is only a discussion on the internet, it's not as if we all live on your street and pelt your vehicle with rotten fruit or smear dogsh*t on the door handles.
The rider shouts out the registration when it goes past.
I’d quite like to hear Mr Audi’s side of the story - what was this all about in his world? Don’t worry,I’m not going all soft (social worker’s reaction to a burglary : “whoever did this needs help!”) - just curious is all. And I’m also clear that if you’re having any sort of bad day, enough to affect your driving, you. don’t. drive - it’s not ok to put others at risk or take it out on them - so juries, judges and magistrates please take heed.
The other thing I’m curious about is what else like this is going on in the driver’s life, in respectable south west London : as in is this the very first time (and maybe the last ever) he’s shown this level of aggression in a situation he doesn’t like, or are there other spheres of say family or work life where this behaviour happens?
finally Mr Audi and all the others others like you, one way this encounter on the roads today could go is that I get home safely, as do you, go to work the next day, celebrate my birthday and do all my normal things. Or I could, at the least worst end today in hospital for say two weeks, all my responsilbities cast asunder, perhaps undergo an operation or two with several weeks’recovery, at the end of which Work say “you know what, we managed fine without you...” Perhaps some minor short term consequences for you, some shock, some money lost, but basically your life goes on. There’s only a split-second to decide : Which is it going to be, eh?
I've just got around to watching this one.
Am I missing something, here? - the cyclists are in one lane of a dual carriageway. The clue's in the name: there are two lanes.
Why was Mr (presumably) Audi so keen to stay in that specific lane and intimidate the cyclist, when there was a whole other lane that he could have used? (and when he later demonstrates that both steering wheel and brakes do work, its not like he has a mechanical problem...).
there must be a connection between the P.L.G.C 's (prestige lifting german cars ) and the small number of IQ of the driver (most of the time close to an ork's iq or less) and the hatred for cyclists..
it can't be explained otherwise! The majority of the videos are held between an idiot with an SUV or sedan of these major brands, audi bmw mercedes plus some british SUV's. ok, we got the long vehicle driving orks (busses, white vans, lories and other big vehicles used as a terrorising aid against the cyclist.) but that is prety much a standard low IQ group of individuals. Where are we heading??
Yes it can, it's bollocks.
Having them, or speaking a load of them?
The latter - yer man here is basically making up stuff, perhaps to appeal the more foamy mouthed members ?... dunno. Still bollocks.
BTBS, it's not only blokes that drive Audis badly.
Of course they don't however the vast majority of those driving power sporty models AND driving like a dick are males. This is a fact.
Quite a few of them are Asian too. What are you trying to say?
The vast majority of any activity done in a reckless, thrillseeking fashion will be done by males. Some women drive quicker than others but it's rare that you get a woman taking balls to wall, brain out risks, especially in cars. That goes for cycling too. Ok, once in a while an Atherton comes along but anything daft , with risk of serious injury, is usually male dominated.
Women can drive 'badly' and aggressively at times but it's usually lower speed, range rover town driving in my experience, very rare for them to rage-follow you at 120 or whatever.
I never take notice of the car make tbh, you can have a really nice patient pass by someone in a feck off Range Rover and the next minute a really shit pass by someone driving a Nissan Micra. Simple fact is some cretins shouldn't be let loose with a wheelbarrow, a nice 3 month ban and a £1000 fine plus 9 points might make twats like this think twice about driving like a cunt.
Re the marqe, I think the fact that some sportier models tend to have a bit more power plus driven by a male that thinks he's the daddy of his domain and no-one shall get in his way is why certain types of vehicles come up more often in these incidents than others.
Even if Audi's are more likely to be driven in this manner, generalising all Audi drivers as dangerous drivers, or whatever, is a bit like saying cyclists always jump red lights, ride in the middle of the road, etc. I reckon we're probably all a bit bored with those sort of comments from the bottom of the internet.
If you say things like that, you really do appear quit under-informed and over-opinionated.
I'm fairly sure I don't get treatment like that from every Audi driver I encounter.
ymmv though, certainly my experience is the majority of close and fast passes I get around my neck of the woods come from Audis, Ive no idea if thats meaningful or not because I dont count the number of cars or car types per ride, so maybe the proportion of Audis on the local roads is right in line for the average number of close passes per ride count, and they are just as bad as other car types in other parts of the country, maybe its confirmation bias and I now only notice the Audis, and not the Toyotas or Hondas too
for sure its not every Audi driver. all I know is I can reasonably guarantee when I get that sixth sense feeling of a car bonnet closing in on me within an uncomfortably close margin and usually at speed, you never got a close slow pass curiously, it will turn out to be an Audi.
I drive an Audi. I own 3 bikes. I don't drive like this. Just saying, let's all grow up a bit
Proof, if proof were needed, that there's an exception to every rule.
Reading these posts made me wonder if Audis are generally worse driven than other cars or if it's just confirmation bias. Looks like the list of top 10 cars most likely to have been in an accident has one audi model in http://www.autoguide.com/auto-news/2017/05/top-10-cars-most-likely-to-have-been-in-an-accident.html
But can't find any info on accidents per mile. Presume audis tend to cover more miles than average because of use in company car fleets so are more likely to be in an accident.
So my 5 minutes of Google research are inconclusive, so we'll never know!
What a pr1ck, after the first beep it looks like he had a empty lane on the dual carriageway but chose to take out his anger at being delayed one second (probably in getting to the back of the next traffic jam) :-o
Yep, which, as a relative local, I would say would be here :
https://goo.gl/maps/3Atb4PhPppP2
a few hundred metres up the way. Note the driver undertakes a lot of other motors to make sure he's tailgating the rider.
A bit of a random contribution... A few years ago there was a great advert on the TV, where a really unlikeable city boy was tearing around in an Audi, talking into his phone about money and shares, and being generally obnoxious.
Then he pulls up outside an Audi showroom, gets out, hands the keys to the salesman, and says something like "nah mate, not my style".
A clever bit of reverse psychology at the time, as the brand had a touch of style and exclusivity back then. But it wouldn't make any sense today because now it would probably be that bloke's car of choice....!
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