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Colerne close pass

Near Miss of the Day 358: Close pass while cycling with kids

Our regular series featuring close passes from around the country - today it's Wiltshire...
by Simon_MacMichael
Fri, Jan 17, 2020 12:49
10

Experiencing a close pass when you’re out riding on your own is bad enough – but imagine how it feels as a parent when you have your kids cycling with you?

That’s what happened to road.cc reader Robert in the latest submission to our Near Miss of the Day series – and he says they “constantly” encounter similar incidents.

It was filmed in Colerne, Wiltshire as Robert returned home with his two sons, aged eight and 10, behind him on their own bikes.

He said they were “very visible in reflective and dayglo clothing and with lights all over.

“We ride this every day twice. This happens constantly hence I’ve started with the GoPro.

“They are always with either my wife or myself, we ride close because some of the cars will attempt overtake and then cut In between us,” 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

Near Miss of the Day
NMotD Wiltshire
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

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HoarseMann | 4 years ago
1 like

A poor overtake made worse by the approaching red car failing to reduce their speed given the road conditions.

I hate it when approaching vehicles on narrow roads contine barrelling along when vunerable road users are coming the other way. They would probably have slowed down for a horse, or a wide vehicle like a tractor.

Avatar
bikeman01 replied to HoarseMann | 4 years ago
7 likes

HoarseMann wrote:

A poor overtake made worse by the approaching red car failing to reduce their speed given the road conditions.

I hate it when approaching vehicles on narrow roads contine barrelling along when vunerable road users are coming the other way. They would probably have slowed down for a horse, or a wide vehicle like a tractor.

Or in my case a mobility scooter. Yesterday I was coming up behind a guy on a mobility scooter on a single carriage way 60mph road (not a road I would necessarily choose to ride but it can't be helped around here). On my half mile catchup to him along this arrow straight road I mused as to why anyone would ride a mobility scooter on such a fast road. But over the course of the 5 minutes it took to catch up with him, I observed that whilst almost every single car close passed me without any slowing of their speed , when they got to him they practically stopped, and then passed with a good 3 metres like they were passing a horse.

Why would they do this? He didn't occupy any more road space than me, he wasn't being buffeted by the side winds and he didn't have to avoid minor potholes. Somehow, all the drivers gave him space but treated me like I was a major inconvenience to their progress. 

Looking on the bright side, when one day a car puts me in a mobility scooter, my road trips will be a lot safer.

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Hirsute | 4 years ago
1 like

Who is eburthebike and why is growingvegetables channeling btbs ?!

Avatar
growingvegtables | 4 years ago
2 likes

I have no adequate  words for the vile cucking funts who pull this cr@p on kids.

And make no mistake - there's an extraordinarily vile subset of drivers who do pull this sh!t ...

- on kids riding to school;

- on kids out for a ride;

- and, FFS, even on kids out on a ride with parents/guardians.  DAMHIKT.

 

Kids don't count; kids don't complain; kids ... it's their fault.  And their parents/guardians are fucking terrified.

Avatar
eburtthebike replied to growingvegtables | 4 years ago
3 likes

growingvegtables wrote:

I have no adequate  words for the vile cucking funts who pull this cr@p on kids.

And make no mistake - there's an extraordinarily vile subset of drivers who do pull this sh!t ...

- on kids riding to school;

- on kids out for a ride;

- and, FFS, even on kids out on a ride with parents/guardians.  DAMHIKT.

 

Kids don't count; kids don't complain; kids ... it's their fault.  And their parents/guardians are fucking terrified.

Basically, kids are even less of a threat than an ordinary cyclist.  Drivers have realised that many cyclists now have cameras and the could get reported and prosecuted and even lose their licence if they do it one too many times.  But kids, they don't have cameras, so no threat, no risk, let's just terrify the little ****s.

Anyone who deliberately does that to an adult should be banned, but those who do it to kids, well , I'm not in favour of capital punishment, so maybe we could just cut a few bits off instead.

Avatar
vonhelmet | 4 years ago
7 likes

Guaranteed the driver wouldn't let their own children ride on the road because it's too dangerous.

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dassie | 4 years ago
4 likes

I've lost count of the number of times a motorist overtakes when they should have waited, giving me some space, but nearly having a head-on with approaching vehicle.   They just can't be bothered to slow down, and wait a millisecond.

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hampsoc | 4 years ago
7 likes

I would ride along side the rearmost child, effectively taking primary forcing overtaking cars to use the other lane.   Should the road become narrow, as it seems in the video, then I might pull back to single file, but only once the vehicle approaching from behind has slowed to walking pace  (I will usually wave to thank them and hopefully avoid any confrontation).   Having done this for a few years now I've found almost all motorists see the child and understand why I'm doing it.   The thank you wave as I let them past means they can't really get upset.

I've also tried riding behind the child single file, but that usually means the drivers can't even see the child, and they go for overtakes that aren't on.

Avatar
eburtthebike | 4 years ago
3 likes

A crass, incompetent, dangerous driver.  Unfortunately it appears that the reg is not readable, otherwise I'd be suggesting that it is reported to the police.  If Robert rides this route frequently he may well see the same car again and be able to get the reg, in which case he should report it, even if out of time for a prosecution; they could always send a warning letter.

Avatar
Hirsute | 4 years ago
4 likes

Usual incompetence where a driver cannot look beyond the end of the bonnet.

Had something similar yesterday with a driving instructor and pupil. 

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