Near Miss of the Day 309 revisited: Points and fine for driver who overtook cyclist at speed

A driver we featured last September in our Near Miss of the Day series making a close pass at speed on a cyclist in Buckinghamshire despite traffic coming in the opposite direction has been fined and had points put on their licence.

The driver pleaded guilty in person to careless driving at Oxford Magistrates' Court last week and was fined £190 plus £85 costs and a £32 victim surcharge, and had their licence endorsed with five penalty points.

Steve, the road.cc reader who filmed the footage, provided us with an update on the case in which he gave a detailed explanation of how it proceeded through the system.

It's an eye-opener to the hoops the criminal justice system can make someone go through to ensure that a person who put their life in danger is held to account - but at least, in this case, Steve persevered and the motorist was held to account. Here's what he told us:

Personally, I don’t think the penalty is that harsh. However, the fine is calculated based on the person's earnings, with a starting point for someone on minimum wage of £120. So a £190 fine would indicate this individual has a modest income. Their insurance might take a hit too.

Certainly, I still feel I’ve come off worse from this as it put me off cycling to work; which was important for the management of a chronic health condition that has now deteriorated. But the hope is that the driver is more careful in future with points on their licence.

A few weeks prior to this incident, I’d fitted gravel tyres to the bike so I could use the bridleway network as much as possible for my commute - which I had done the day of the incident, with a good portion of my route being off-road. It was just this stretch that didn’t have a suitable alternative to the tarmac. With this route choice, high-viz jacket, day-bright lights, helmet, mirror etc, there was not much more I could have done for my own safety.

Previous to this I really thought I had a good awareness of what was going on around me on the bike, but this was so fast that I didn’t observe the approach in my mirror. If and when I get back out on the road, I’m considering adding the Varia radar and head unit to the bike. This would have given me advanced warning of the vehicle approaching at high speed and I might have been able to take evasive action into the ditch. Ironically, it will cost me more than the drivers fine.

After a bumpy start, I am satisfied with the way Thames Valley Police dealt with this. I hope this will encourage other cyclists to report similar offences. But be aware, it’s not a fire-and-forget process; I had to engage quite a bit and there are several layers to get through before you find an officer who can help, so be selective with what you submit:

 - reported via online tool

- called 101 and chased up after 10 days, assured a NIP (notice of intended prosecution) had been issued 

- chased up and informed NIP had been returned as 'not known at address', tracer sent out and NIP re-issued

- chased up again, informed no response to tracer, admin team to look into it

- police called to say they are dropping case as no response to NIP’s and fault with their IT system meant they couldn’t prove they’d sent one out anyway. I said that was unacceptable and I would complain   

- filed an official complaint with IPCC for systematic failure to adhere    to document handling process

- TVP called back to say there had been an admin error and they had found the response to the NIP. They would deal with it via a driver awareness course and did I file a complaint? We agreed to close the complaint as the computer system problem had been fixed and I asked them to review the footage again. They agreed it was more serious and would look at the possibility of a criminal charge of dangerous/careless driving.    ]

- police called back to say they had calculated the car’s speed from the video footage and it was significantly above the limit, which would be a contributing factor. Ball-park lower end dangerous, upper end careless, but more chance of a conviction with the careless charge.

- asked to submit DVD with original footage for the court

- received a letter with the details of the court case and informed I could view from the public area if I wished (I declined - it’s well over an hour's drive away)

- received a phone call from the police with the outcome shortly after    the court case.

> 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.