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news
Close pass driver says he killed cyclist"I've killed one of you guys before": close pass driver who left cyclist fearing for his life gets police caution
This is the story of a road.cc reader who suffered a shocking road rage incident which left him fearing for his life after a close pass driver threatened he had killed and seriously injured cyclists in the past and got away with it.
The situation was so serious the reader told us that after the confrontation — once the driver had sped off — he recorded a message telling his wife he loved her, in fear of the motorist returning to attack him.
With the footage reported to Warwickshire Police it was decided the incident would be pursued as a public order offence, not a traffic offence, and the driver was cautioned for his behaviour.
"I genuinely thought he was going to drive at me"
The story began when the road.cc reader went for a weekend spin around some local roads in Warwickshire back in February.
"This particular road is one of my favourites," he told us. "It's not very busy so I ride it often. I was aware that there was a vehicle behind me, but I didn't know there were two vehicles.
"The white car overtook me and gave me a decent amount of space, as much as
can be expected on that road, that was completely fine. It was the guy after in the black car that deliberately came super close."
"I've killed one of you guys before, and seriously injured another, and I got away with it" brags close pass driver. pic.twitter.com/7qeqXmWM3b
— ETA Services Ltd (@ETAservicesltd) September 27, 2022
Having shouted out to the driver during the close pass, a roadside back-and-forth ensued in which the driver said the cyclist should have moved over before making the threat: "I've killed one of you guys before, and seriously injured another, and I got away with it."
"It all finished and he sped off and I genuinely thought he was going to go down the road, turn around, come back and drive at me. There's nowhere to go on that road. All it would take is for him to aim a little bit that way and I'm toast," he explained.
"At the very end of the original footage is me talking to the camera, speaking to my wife to say 'if I don't get back or don't survive this, I love you'.
"It didn't feel like an empty threat."
The cyclist called 999 and later on, with the help of cycling insurer ETA Services LTD, he was able to improve the quality of the video to give Warwickshire Police the best chance of taking action, uploading it via the Operation Snap portal.
The driver was invited to speak to the police voluntarily, told officers he had changed medication which caused mood swings, and was ultimately cautioned for a public order offence. As it was not treated as a traffic offence no penalty points or fine were applied.
"I wanted him to go on a course," the road.cc reader continued. "If he walked away with an appreciation for what it's like to be a cyclist and see how close passes feel, then that would have been great."
Although many will undoubtedly view the caution as lenient considering the seriousness of the footage, the road.cc reader said he was content with the outcome and had to weigh up whether it was worth going through a lengthy court process in the hope of a sterner punishment.
A caution, unlike the warning letter for a traffic offence often seen in our Near Miss of the Day series, can be used as evidence of bad character in future court appearances and shows on standard and enhanced Disclosure and Barring Services (DBS) checks, standard in most employment processes.
"If we took it through court we'd have to go through the full legal system, with a massive backlog. God knows how long it would take when it gets there, and even then you don't know what's going to happen," the cyclist said.
"I was content with the outcome. Warwickshire Police were in touch regularly and my case was picked up by a sergeant who called me a couple of times to talk through the process."
"Not acceptable"
PC Ken Bratley said: "This shocking piece of footage was brought to our attention when the cyclist submitted it to Warwickshire Police following the incident in Cathiron Lane, Rugby on 27 February 2022.
"An officer reviewed the footage and found the behaviour of this driver was not acceptable and he received a caution on 18 August 2022 for the public order offence.
"Road safety is a shared responsibility and we are asking drivers to look after our more vulnerable road users such as cyclists by leaving at least 1.5 metres when overtaking cyclists at speeds of up to 30mph, and give them more space when overtaking at higher speeds."
Warwickshire Police encouraged riders to submit video footage of dangerous driving and close passes via the Operation Snap portal.
Dan is the road.cc news editor and joined in 2020 having previously written about nearly every other sport under the sun for the Express, and the weird and wonderful world of non-league football for The Non-League Paper. Dan has been at road.cc for four years and mainly writes news and tech articles as well as the occasional feature. He has hopefully kept you entertained on the live blog too.
Never fast enough to take things on the bike too seriously, when he's not working you'll find him exploring the south of England by two wheels at a leisurely weekend pace, or enjoying his favourite Scottish roads when visiting family. Sometimes he'll even load up the bags and ride up the whole way, he's a bit strange like that.
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50 comments
The car pussy deliberately pulled into the verge to avoid the rider arriving directly at the driver's window.
AKA. The driver narrowed the opportunity in receiving a little rough justice for those awful comments.
I hope this cowardly driver's local riding community assist with his penitent rehabilitation.
Sometimes if I'm helping with the cooking at a friend's house I might take my favourite pair of kitchen knives with me - well wrapped up and tucked away in a bag, of course. I know that were I to pull one out and threaten somebody with one of them their status would change from legally-carried kitchenware to a weapon and I would be punished accordingly, with a lot more than a caution for a public order offence. Is there any reason the law can't be changed so that a car stops being a legally held object and becomes a weapon if its owner decides to threaten somebody with it?
Kinda with you - however because there are elephants everywhere and we don't see them this won't go anywhere. The analogy would be if you were riding around on your knife - like a majority of adults do, every day, having passed a knifing test and taken out knife insurance - and you then rode your knife towards someone after a contretemps / making threats. (For all I know that could be close to the truth depending on your saddle choice!)
And of course cars are for driving. So there's a higher bar to clear than "he pulled a knife on me". You could argue about why you drove your car - that you were already driving. (Even if we'd find it laughable.) I don't think "But I was just going to offer to trim his fingernails / remove a price tag from his coat" works in the case of a knife.
Spot on. As we all know, if you want to kill someone and get a light punishment or even none at all, do it in a car. Even if it is a young child on the pavement you'll be OK.
Does the law need to change? And if so do you have any suggestions.
This was clearly possession of an offensive weapon. If I were to suggest any changes, it would be to change the sentencing guidelines to make it clear that a car is a highly dangerous weapon, when used (including threat) as a weapon.
I don't know if it would require a change in the law or just a change in guidance, but as I suggested above, it should be recognised that as soon as someone attempts to injure another person with a car, or threatens to do so, the status of their vehicle should change from legal to illegal, in just the same way that my innocently-carried kitchen knives would change their legal status if I took one out and threatened somebody with it.
A caution for gloating about killing people? Well that will get him to change his ways. Fucking entitled cunt.
"he had changed medication which caused mood swings, and was ultimately cautioned for a public order offence"
Do the police simply take his word for this, or does it have to be verified by his doctor. I don't think there is any confidentiality issues as he has provided the information.
And is this defence an admission to driving while unfit due to medication
Surely a reportable medical condition. I don't believe that the police do anything to cross reference these claims with the DVLA.
I'd have hoped for a stronger punishment.....He got off lightly.
Warwickshire Police encouraged riders to submit video footage of dangerous driving and close passes via the Operation Snap portal
So that they can decline to do anything about the dangerous driving and close passing- as in this case
So will the police look into the previous cases he refers to? His boasts might cast them in a new light.
Exactly. If he has killed and seriously injured cyclists, then it was no empty threat to knock him off, and he should be charged with assault, as I understand that making someone fear that they will be attacked is considered assault. If his disgusting boasts were true, then those cases should be re-examined in the light of this latest threat.
As for his changing his medication and this making him not competent to drive, then he should be informing the DVLA and handing his licence in to them.
Yet another driver in too much of a hurry to give proper room, but then has plenty of time to stop and argue with the person they just threatened.
I'm wondering if this was sent to the local media?
I did see one of the replies on the original Twitter post that suggested the Police had checked, and there was no record of any previous such incidents on his file. The implication being that he was talking shit just to scare the rider. Maybe he was talking shit, or maybe he has literally got away with murder in the past?
Changed medication that caused mood swings, clearly not fit to drive then. License revoked and surely a threat of violence.
Yes. His doctor should be able confirm if his excuse is valid and if so his license should be removed on medical grounds. If not then it should be taken away by the courts.
LICENCE.
*You should totally not install Grammarly*!
You missed 'behavior' in NMofTD.
I don't have one so don't really know, having said that I don't have a virginia either and I can spill that corectly!
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