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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.
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57 comments
I'm trying to make out the numberplate of the white wankermobile. Is it:
RY65 AUW ?
Blanket bashing of Audis, or indeed anything, is really quite sad.
I do not drive an Audi.
I do disagree with blanket generalisations, no matter who does it, as it make you look slightly thick.
I do drive a 4x4.
It does have a "Cyclists, stay awesome" sticker in the rear.
I won't look at the video, but I guess the driver was a cock. I also imagine that being a cock is the trait that would follow this person around irrespective of the sport that they follow or the car that they drive.
Selective editng is also a bit shit.
Indeed. No generalisation is wholly true, including this one.
Agreed, all wankers are indeed wankers! Etc...
I think you might be sensitive about the Audi bashing because..
7 months ago
don simon wrote:
I drive and Audi and have just ordered a larger more powerful one. What's your misguided point?
Have you sold it already due to their poor image? ! If so I don't blame you!!
http://road.cc/content/news/224622-near-miss-day-3-audi-caught-film-–-police-wont-act
Nice cars I'm sure they are, but you must admit they're becoming a magnet for a certain type of driver..
Jesus H christ! I've had more breathing space from some proper stalkers. That was indeed true at the time and you have, of course, missed the subtleties of what I said. I was as against sweeping generalisations then as I am now. You haven't included all the previous occasions that I've said that, have you? See what I also said about selective editing being a bit shit. If you're going to research me, do it fucking properly, or not at all!!
Rather than sell the A4 that was ordered because of image, I changed jobs (25% salary increase too, before bonuses which should get to superbike buying territory) and have another beast for eating the motorway miles. I included the brand of vehicle to illustrate that not all Audi drivers are anti cycling twats, but hey, if that's too difficult for you, I won't lose any sleep.
You can get the point, or not. At the moment, you don't.
Peace, love and stop following me!
When i tell others what i endure everyday on my bike, the best i have is they shrug their shoulders. There's nothing like these videos !
According to the Government website this car is currently untaxed.
https://vehicleenquiry.service.gov.uk/ViewVehicle
Might not ever be if he's now got too many points, lol
Was that a half-hearted brake check or did he suddenly realise he was speeding? I wonder?;)
What a w*nker that Audi driver is. He could have passed any time he liked in the empty outside lane - but nooo - let's harass a cyclist. Not fit to have a licence.
Result. More proactive enforcement like this is needed.
Nice camera setup.
The driver may have misunderstood the road junction - he seemed to start beeping when the bike rider was (correctly) in the straight-on lane at the lights. After that, perhaps it was too difficult for him to back down.
In any case, it's intimidating to have an angry person like that making aggressive manoeuvres behind and around you, in a machine which they could use to kill you.
But he didn't hit you and you didn't take evasive action.
Well done to the Met for dealing with this, although a charge of dangerous driving would have been much more appropriate.
Why are Audi drivers amongst the worst? (Of course not all Audi drivers are bad but Audis do seem to attract a lot agresive drivers).
My amateur psychology. There's no rational reason to buy an Audi: the underlying platform, engines, most of the switchgear are common across the VAG group so there's almost certainly an equivalent VW, Seat or Skoda which can be bought for less money. Any improvement in handling is irrelevant at road legal/sensible speeds.
So they're bought as status symbols by insecure people. I'm guessing those sort of individuals are sensitive to any perceived slight on them when driving and feel a constant need to 'get ahead' and an elevated sense of their own importance.
My bit of amateur psychology: Some Audis look aggressive. Aggressive people buy them.
You're correct in one respect. Your psychology is pretty amateur.
Can you buy one because some of them are fast and you like teararsing? Is that allowed or is that just another insecurity?
A bit like buying expensive bikes when you're not really any better than anyone else but a £6k bike looks nice, tells everyone you're got loads of disposable income. Bloody high-end bike tossers, riding around at speeds you could do on a £1k bike...etc., etc.
I've had a seat, a vw and an audi and I can tell you the audi is significantly quieter inside and is easily the nicest to drive. The seat was too harsh and the passat wallowed like a barge. The passat was very nearly as refined though.
Doesn't matter in then end as I'd rather travel by bike whenever possible anyway.
I think it's something similar to racists on twitter tend to be football fans. Not all fans are racists but pretty much all racists are fans. Weird.
For Audi's, the manufacture's adverts aren't about showing people sensibly driving around town giving pedestrians and cyclists plenty of room. Instead, it's all racing carefree across expanses of open road, pictures of racetracks, pumping soundtrack of rorty engine noise. I think the problem with Audi (and the other brands/products sold like this) is twofold. What sort of drivers are likely to be attracted to that message? and how will those drivers aspire to drive once on the road?
The stupidest thing here us the cyclists were clearly keeping pace with the traffic. Audiman clearly just objected to a cyclist being in front of him.
Oh! Good! I have a very similar incident reported to the Met that is going to court soon...
Looks to me that there are more than one driving offence going on there. Getting the idiot on just the one is something I suppose.
ooo an Audi, what a surprise
Well done for reporting the Knob. Shame he didn't get 6 or 9 points, that would of altered his behaviour
I doubt that it would. I suspect that for many bad driverts nothing short of an iron bar round the head would alter their behaviour.
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