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Super Close Pass

Near Miss of the Day 174 revisited: What happened next after this "super close pass" ... ?

Cyclist saw "little point" in reporting very close pass to police - but changed mind thanks to fellow road.cc readers' comments...
by Simon_MacMichael
Tue, Mar 26, 2019 16:49
10

A road.cc reader who saw "little point" in notifying police of a very close pass changed his mind after he was encouraged to do so in comments to the video when we featured in our Near Miss of the Day series - and has been in touch to tell us what happened next.

Last August, we posted a video from the cyclist, David, of three close passes in the space of just 10 seconds as he rode through Croydon. 

> Near Miss of the Day 174: Three close passes in 10 seconds

At the time, he told us: "Three in a row through central Croydon. The last one is really close. You can see just how close it is just after he goes past.

"The camera makes it look further away than it was but it's only a few centimetres of space (and at high speed)."

David told us: "Not often I feel they're close enough to endanger me but this guy was centimetres away and going pretty quickly.

"I didn't report it (seems little point) and didn't catch him up again," he added.

Today, we received another email from David, who told us: "I thought it would be good to follow up on the result of the prosecution, which I was notified of last week.

"The owner didn't provide details of the driver and was prosecuted for that offence. They got 6 points and a £600 fine, plus £166 costs.

"It goes to show how valuable the series on road.cc is. Without the advice in the comments I wouldn't have reported this. Hopefully the punishment will give them pause for thought on the quality of their driving."

It's always good to be notified of a result, and it's also worth noting that in this instance, the fine was significantly greater than it would likely have been had the owner identified the driver - whether it was them, or someone else.

> 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

Near Miss of the Day
NMotD Croydon
Simon MacMichael

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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10 comments

Avatar
Deeferdonk | 5 years ago
2 likes

Derbyshire police have a new online system where you can upload camera footage, called "Derbyshire Capture" I usually get a very scary close pass or incident about once a week that i can never be bothered to report so was pleased to hear about the new system. I've reported a couple now and you just  get the following automated  response.

Dear XXX,

Thank you for your submission. We will now process the information accordingly, we will not be in touch with you from this point unless we require clarification or further details. 

Please ensure your footage is not published on social media, including YouTube. If it is already published, please remove it immediately.

Kind Regards,

Derbyshire Constabulary

Words in bold are in bold in their email.I think i'm going to have to submit a FOI request just to see if they actually do anything apart from send a bossy email back to thervictem of the crime.

 

 

Avatar
cycle.london replied to Deeferdonk | 5 years ago
5 likes

Deeferdonk wrote:

Derbyshire police have a new online system where you can upload camera footage, called "Derbyshire Capture" I usually get a very scary close pass or incident about once a week that i can never be bothered to report so was pleased to hear about the new system. I've reported a couple now and you just  get the following automated  response.

Dear XXX,

Thank you for your submission. We will now process the information accordingly, we will not be in touch with you from this point unless we require clarification or further details. 

Please ensure your footage is not published on social media, including YouTube. If it is already published, please remove it immediately.

Kind Regards,

Derbyshire Constabulary

Words in bold are in bold in their email.I think i'm going to have to submit a FOI request just to see if they actually do anything apart from send a bossy email back to thervictem of the crime.

Good luck with that.

I have made several FOI requests to the Met, to try to find out how many of my reports had been acted upon.  They refused to provide the information, since apparently, it would have meant cross-referencing two different databases, so there's some exemption in the Freedom of Information Act which allows them to refuse, if it would cost over a certain amount.

This opacity is entirely by design.

Avatar
John Smith | 5 years ago
1 like

Unrelated, but those tram lines are poorly thought out. Crossing them at that angle looks frightening, and following the bus lane, which is where the cycle lane seems to go (although it is hard to see due to the cyclist looking at the car) looks like it would be suicide to follow.

Avatar
grumpyoldcyclist | 5 years ago
4 likes

Good that the police took it on, good they stuck with it. So the keeper of the vehicle lost almost £700, gained six points and potentially some  more expensive insurance premiums. Excellent.

That might actually make them take more notice next time.

Avatar
Master Bean | 5 years ago
0 likes

Croydon. Nuff said.

Avatar
Legs_Eleven_Wor... | 5 years ago
8 likes

It would be good to see a change in the law.   In the majority of successful s. 172 prosecutions in which I have been even peripherally involved, there is no doubt that the driver or the registered keeper knows only too well who was driving.   There can be few of us who don't actually know who is driving at any one time.  

Refusing to reveal who was driving - and taking 'on the chin' the subsequent points and fine - is almost always done to ensure that the person who was actually driving, does not accrue more points on his or her own licence, because that would almost certainly result in a ban. 

Time to bring this particular loophole under the 'umbrella' of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice. 

Avatar
StuInNorway replied to Legs_Eleven_Worcester | 5 years ago
3 likes

Legs_Eleven_Worcester wrote:

.... There can be few of us who don't actually know who is driving at any one time.  

Refusing to reveal who was driving - and taking 'on the chin' the subsequent points and fine - is almost always done to ensure that the person who was actually driving, does not accrue more points on his or her own licence, because that would almost certainly result in a ban. 

Time to bring this particular loophole under the 'umbrella' of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice. 

Or simply ensure that the offence of failure to disclose driver details carries enough of a penalty that people don't want to take that hit.  More points, a heavy fine and automatic flagging in the ANPR database to ensure regular checks on who is driving......

Avatar
hawkinspeter replied to Legs_Eleven_Worcester | 5 years ago
4 likes

Legs_Eleven_Worcester wrote:

It would be good to see a change in the law.   In the majority of successful s. 172 prosecutions in which I have been even peripherally involved, there is no doubt that the driver or the registered keeper knows only too well who was driving.   There can be few of us who don't actually know who is driving at any one time.  

Refusing to reveal who was driving - and taking 'on the chin' the subsequent points and fine - is almost always done to ensure that the person who was actually driving, does not accrue more points on his or her own licence, because that would almost certainly result in a ban. 

Time to bring this particular loophole under the 'umbrella' of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice. 

Unfortunately, it'd be very difficult to prove that the owner did know who was driving at the time.

I'd recommend a different penalty - charge the owner with the full extent of whatever the driver was accused of and additionally the owner loses the vehicle as they are not being responsible with it.

Avatar
Legs_Eleven_Wor... replied to hawkinspeter | 5 years ago
4 likes

HawkinsPeter wrote:

Legs_Eleven_Worcester wrote:

It would be good to see a change in the law.   In the majority of successful s. 172 prosecutions in which I have been even peripherally involved, there is no doubt that the driver or the registered keeper knows only too well who was driving.   There can be few of us who don't actually know who is driving at any one time.  

Refusing to reveal who was driving - and taking 'on the chin' the subsequent points and fine - is almost always done to ensure that the person who was actually driving, does not accrue more points on his or her own licence, because that would almost certainly result in a ban. 

Time to bring this particular loophole under the 'umbrella' of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice. 

Unfortunately, it'd be very difficult to prove that the owner did know who was driving at the time.

I'd recommend a different penalty - charge the owner with the full extent of whatever the driver was accused of and additionally the owner loses the vehicle as they are not being responsible with it.

There are many other 'strict liability' offences which a first-year law student learns.  For example: driving whilst under the influence.   It doesn't matter whether you wanted to be drunk, or even whether someone spiked your drink.  

The same principle can apply to the above.  It shouldn't matter if you genuinely cannot remember who was driving.  If you fail to identify the driver, you should be automatically guilty of the common law offence of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice. 

And that's punished somewhat more severely than the current s. 172.

Avatar
Jetmans Dad replied to Legs_Eleven_Worcester | 5 years ago
5 likes

Legs_Eleven_Worcester wrote:

Refusing to reveal who was driving - and taking 'on the chin' the subsequent points and fine - is almost always done to ensure that the person who was actually driving, does not accrue more points on his or her own licence, because that would almost certainly result in a ban. 

Time to bring this particular loophole under the 'umbrella' of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice. 

Just increase the penalty to 12 points and, therefore, an immediate ban for not revealing the driver's identity ... with no "extreme hardship" defence. That should focus the mind. 

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