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news
Near Miss of the Day 250: Cyclist overtaking badly parked car gets very close pass from impatient driver
Today’s video in our Near Miss of the Day series shows the moment when a cyclist who is passing a car parked partly on the pavement and partly on the road is subjected to a very close pass by a motorist who cannot wait a couple of seconds until it would be safe to overtake.
It happened last Tuesday on Chorlton Road in Walton-le-Dale, Preston to road.cc reader Jon, who said: “They have a good view of the parked cars and oncoming traffic but just keep coming, passing very closely!
He said the motorist “just didn’t care and did a bad, unsafe SMMGIF [sorry mate must get in front].
“It looks like they didn’t alter their speed and were just going to squeeze past wherever it happened, oncoming traffic or not,” he added.
> 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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We would all refer M'Learned Friend to Replies Made Every Other Time They Make This Snark
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13 comments
Reading the comments on this thread & living in Lancashire looks like I'm wasting my time reporting a ridiculously close pass I had yesterday.
Wiltshire is the same, unless there is contact they aren't interested, they told me this.
As per the 2nd comment if it isn't reported then nothing will change but it seems like even if you do report you're wasting your time.
Can't help but feel I'm wasting my time.
Hi All
I've reported it but I Lanc's are not the best for chasing stuff up.
Last 2 incidents nothing happened and they never got back to me when I chased it up.
Phil I saw and recognised your video.
CXR94Di2 I won’t do that unless there is a reason for it, as this just makes some drivers even more bitter. And here I was in the middle of the road.
By all means report it, very poor driving indeed. Also when riding on narrow section of road take a central position so as to block these ill tbought out passes.
I started riding centrally down all roads last year and instantly it stopped the close passes. Most of these are done by drivers who have poor driving standards.
The punishment passes will always happen no matter of your position .
Riding centrally also slows all traffic behind you, so drivers are broken out of their auto pilot mind fog of maintaining a set speed.
Yes, that 'parked' car is essentially a pinch point - shoulder check in good time and take the lane; is what I tend to do. A very poor pass by that driver though.
I agree, ride defensively, taking primary position.
As a cyclists, I'm amazed at how many of us think it is safe to ride within about 30-50cm of the side of parked cars and vans.
If we are expecting other road users to give us at least 1.5m of space when passing, why do cyclists not position themselves 1-1.5m from other hazards?
Please see my recent near miss of the day, number 227, a white audi cut me up on the roundabout. This happened 150 yds further up this road, Chorley road. I travel along here every day, the morning commute is far and away the worst time to travel, people put plenty of 50p's in their dickhead meters in the morning before they leave home. I have found the roundabout near the petrol station around the corner is bad, people travelling towards Higher Walton have tunnel vision and don't seem to realise that they are on a roundabout. Btw dont bother reporting it to Lancs Police, I have given up now, I have waited four months for a response to one incident, and they then say it's not in the public interest to pursue. Basically they can't be arsed any more, and blame cutbacks. I recently reported a driver for texting behind the wheel whilst moving, I recorded it all and asked the woman behind the wheel, (another white audi) to put her phone down. I received a torrent of abuse and a feeble excuse why she had to text, before being told to f*ck off, an admission of guilt caught on camera, plus video evidence. When I showed it to the Police, I got the same response. It's not in the public interest to pursue, after all she wasn't going fast and she wouldn't have hurt anyone badly if she had hit them. And the police officer had much more important things to see to, etc etc etc. That was when I gave up reporting them.
Please tell us if reported, that's atrocious driving, but if the police don't know they can't act. If they choose not to act, go back at them and create.
Please.
Even as a seasoned London cyclist I flinched at that one.
If you choose to submit it to the Police mute the sound or they will be more interested in warning you about your language than dealing with the driver.
Ditto that.
Nothing will change if it's not sent to the Police.
See my previous post, all the officers at Lancs Police who cared and took the time to pursue these incidents have all retired now, the current batch can't be arsed.
You reported this then ?