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news
Near Miss of the Day 173: Aggressive close pass accompanied by driver sounding horn (contains swearing)
Today's video in our Near Miss of the Day series features something that, worryingly, we are seeing more and more of in our readers' submissions - an aggressive close pass on a cyclist, accompanied by the driver beeping the horn as they overtake.
This one happened to road.cc reader Ian on the A730 in Rurtherglen, Glasgow as he made his way home from the European Mountain Bike Championships earlier this month.
You may want to mute the sound on this one if you're at work or in a cafe or whatever, since it contains swearing.
> Near Miss of the Day turns 100 - Why do we do the feature and what have we learnt from it?
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.
> What to do if you capture a near miss or close pass (or worse) on camera while cycling
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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26 comments
I agree that it's a close pass and have had lots like that including that very stretch of road.
However, the impact of this feature runs the risk of being diluted if it posts pretty standard close passes like this one. We've all had them.
imho road.cc should stick to the ones that show a risk to life; a car that needs to be identified; a stretch of road that cyclists would do well to avoid.
I presume the suspicion is that the cyclist ran or jumped the light and was then treated to a punishment pass and a beep. It doesn’t excuse it, though it does give context to explaining it.
Beeped at yes, but that's not what Id call a punishment pass, as the car gets two wheels over the centre line,punishment passes are much closer & more deliberate than that. Absolutely they could have used more of the width of the road,but without leaning on the horn I don't think it would be viewed as anything other than a 'normal' overtake.
whether 'normal' should be acceptable is another matter, but I must get on average 15 of those style of 'close passes' per commute
I don't see anything wrong with this pass....
Based on the camera shot behind, he does look to be miles away form the curb though.....
What is wrong is that the car driver had ample opportunity to observe, anticipate and make use of the outside lane to overtake properly. Yet failed to make any effort to do so. It matters not one iota where in the lane the cyclist was positioned, it is a single lane not wide enough for both a cyclist and a car with 3ft clearance.
At best poor driving, but looks more like vindictive.
I don't know what video you're watching but on the video in this article, at approx 3 seconds he passes to the right of a drain cover then to the left of a manhole cover. There are more drain covers at about 4 and 7 seconds then at about 16 seconds, when the overtake occurs, he once again passes to the left of a drain cover and to the right of a manhole cover. The manhole covers are in the middle of the lane, the cyclist appears to be about a quarter of the way into the lane and it looks to me as if he maintains a steady line.
"...miles away"? He's barely a yard away.
Actually, he's not far out enough, and certainly not "miles". Not even metres. And it's kerb.
IAM, does that stand for institute of adanced motoring by any chance? I really hope not because if you can't see what is wrong here then I'd suggest you go back to them to tell you.
What bike ya got, buddy?
Welcome to this prestigious cycling forum, but I must say that it's a bit of an odd first post. First posts are usually questions about kit or bike, there's some good advice here and BTBS.
I do look forward to you joining in the Shitmano/Campagnolo debates, it'll be great fun. Or indeed whether the stretchy shake dry GoreTex top is too expensive and a favourite of mine is the Team SKY are cheating bastards threads... Honestly, hours of fun and much better than being an anti cycling wanker.
Welcome and please make yourself at home.
Cycling close to the kerb is a bad idea - if you've done bikeability or read Cyclecraft you'll know that.
There's two lanes here so no need to keep left, adopting the primary position is entirely the correct thing to do as motorists overtaking should be in the other lane, not sharing the lane with a bike, a horse, a car or anything else they're overtaking.
Keeping left actually encourages close passing.
https://www.cyclescheme.co.uk/community/how-to/how-to-road-positioning
Be interested to know how Ian got so far in front of the traffic before the lights changed...
Yes it is a worthwhile question, he may have come a semi off road route away from the MTB course and come out of one of the 2 junctions that are visible (one at the lights and one just after them. Knowing the road layout, if he has come down the main road straight through the lights then he will have been able to carry a lot of speed down the hill which he may have carried through the junctions by either using the footpath/verge/opposite carriageway. He may even have jumped the red light.
BUT and it is a big BUT no matter what the actions of the cyclist have been, the driver of the car has no responsibility or duty to suddenly become Judge Jury and in the worst sceanario Executioner
He could have turned on to that road at the lights? Why so suspicious?
I know the road and where he says he's coming from. But maybe he got lost and came out one of the side roads. Need to view the previous 30" of footage.
But why do you “need” to view it? How would that affect your conclusion? Is there something he might have done, tortured a few kittens or something, that would make the driver’s actions justified?
He's just putting the 'car' into 'karma'.
It would affect my conclusion of knowing whether or not he came out the side road.
Riiiiight. Kinda limiting the scope of your research, don’t you think?
It would affect my conclusion of knowing whether or not he came out the side road.
[/quote]
I look forward to reading your Masters Thesis on the subject. Perhaps you could explain why you would find it useful to know this utterly irrelevant fact?
I look forward to reading your Masters Thesis on the subject. Perhaps you could explain why you would find it useful to know this utterly irrelevant fact?
[/quote]
(*Sigh* - why do so many on here resort so quickly to patronising and derogartory comments?)
As per my original post - wondered how he was so far ahead of the traffic at the start of the clip.
(*Sigh* - why do so many on here resort so quickly to patronising and derogartory comments?)
As per my original post - wondered how he was so far ahead of the traffic at the start of the clip.
[/quote]
Because so many people post irrelevant and misleading posts that they are unable to justify and deserve nothing but derision?
Because so many people post irrelevant and misleading posts that they are unable to justify and deserve nothing but derision?
[/quote]
*Double Sigh*
Nice attempt at victim blaming there, implying that I must've cycled through a red light.
Knock yourself out with the full video - links below - if you want to check out whether I did anything to antagonise the driver.
Perhaps I cycled on a pavement in a previous life?
https://1drv.ms/v/s!AmwgEOQzi2qDju5fQDuKJoJoZENqvw
https://1drv.ms/u/s!AmwgEOQzi2qDju5eGtL3PcYDsLn1Aw
Nah - must have tortured kittens.
Thanks for posting!
completely failed to properly plan the overtake... just squeezes on past... I get this a bit in Gloucester... tosspots caught out by a cyclist in front of them...
What a prick. Report it to the police and pressure them to prosecute - don't accept a nice little warning letter as punishement.