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news
Updated – Near Miss of the Day 549: Cyclist “flabbergasted” as magistrates acquit close pass driver (video includes swearing)
A road.cc reader has said that the decision of magistrates to acquit a driver filmed making a very close pass on him at speed on a careless driving charge has left him “flabbergasted.”
We featured the video, shot by Rendel Harris while out on a bike ride with his wife in southwest London, on our Near Miss of the Day series back in February this year.
Rendel updated us on the outcome of the case after attending court as a witness on Monday.
He told us that the driver “was acquitted by the magistrates on the grounds that ‘there is insufficient evidence to prove the case of careless driving’.
“The defendant relied on a number of points to make his case, amongst them that I definitely made no checks behind me whatsoever, even though you can see from my shadow on the video (and the prosecuting solicitor pointed out) that I made at least three clear headchecks prior to signalling and carefully beginning to pull across the road (something the defendant chose to characterised as ‘veering wildly into my right of way’).
“The defendant also claimed that my (admittedly fruity, but then I get like that when people try to kill me) bad language after the incident proved that I was in ‘an aggressive state of mind and probably not fit to be riding a bicycle on the public highway’.
“But here's the real kicker,” Rendel continued. “He claimed that he was not, as I stated, at least 40 metres behind me when I began to pull out, apparently that was ‘completely untrue’ (he should have a word with Susan, who was 40 metres behind me at the time, and he was behind her), in fact I was ‘two to three metres ahead’ when I pulled out.
“Leaving aside the fact that I rather enjoy life and I'm not in the habit of attempting suicide, he admitted to the court that he was travelling at 30 mph. At 30 mph, a car covers 13 metres per second.
“As can be seen on the video, he passes me three to four seconds after I signal and start to pull out, so had I been 2/3 metres ahead of him when I pulled out, he would’ve had no alternative but to have hit me, it's literally a physical impossibility to (allegedly) dive in front of a car going 30 mph that is 2/3 metres behind one and for the car either to stop or evade one, he would've had to react in 0.25 of a second to do that.
“The fact that it took him four seconds to catch up with me and make such a ridiculous close pass proves that he was shamelessly lying. Unbelievable.”
Rendel added: “Many thanks to the Metropolitan Police traffic office for bringing the prosecution, and to the prosecuting solicitor who did a very good job of presenting the evidence, why the magistrates chose to ignore it in toto is a matter for them.
“It does make one wonder if it's actually worth sending in any evidence if this is going to be the result; I suppose I will have to invest in a rear-facing camera as well if magistrates are so incapable of judging on the clear physical evidence placed before them!”
Clearly it’s a frustrating outcome not just for Rendel and his wife, but also for the investigating officers who deemed the close pass bad enough to refer it to the Crown Prosecution Service, and for the prosecutors who took the case to court; another day, and another court, and we suspect the verdict may have been different.
Here's our original story, published on 28 February 2021 under the heading, "Near Miss of the Day 549: Cyclist nearly taken out by speeding driver desperate to overtake (video includes swearing)."
*WARNING: VERY STRONG LANGUAGE*
A cyclist launches into a string of expletives after he is nearly knocked down from behind by a speeding driver desperate to overtake him before he makes a right hand turn. The strong language is perhaps understandable seeing as the rider was just centimetres away from being wiped out.
Today's near miss video was submitted by road.cc reader Rendel Harris and shows him riding along Malden Road in Worcester Park, London with his wife.
Mr Harris explained what happened next and apologised for his choice of words but said "nearly being killed brought out some of my more robust expressions".
He said: "As I was riding along Malden Road, I prepared to move out in order to be ready for the upcoming right hand turn into Motspur Park Road.
"As can be clearly seen on the video from my shadow on the road, I made three separate head checks to ensure there was sufficient safe space for me to move out, and made a very clear hand signal.
"At this point my wife, who was approximately 50m behind me, seeing me signal, checked behind her to see if it was safe for her to start moving out as well.
"At this point the blue Peugeot was behind her; as soon as I started to move he floored the accelerator and swerved past me well in excess of the legal speed limit, missing me by a maximum of 20cm, probably much less.
"He also clearly put the oncoming car in danger as well. Sheer stupidity and spite.
"Apologies for the language, it turns out that being nearly killed brings out some of my more robust expressions."
Mr Harris said he reported the incident to the Metropolitan Police the same day and received a prompt reply saying the driver was being sent a Notice of Intended Prosecution.
However, when he tried to follow up on the outcome this month he said he was told 'no further details will be provided whether the case is active or not'.
> 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
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"Anything made from an old bike part"...
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As an urban commuter cyclist I really want a set of indicators that actually work....
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I've been to the Netherlands many a time: I spent a substantial part of my childhood living next door in Belgium and have enjoyed many visits since...
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Just get them to walk a treadmill - or better, ride exercise bikes to power path lighting.
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145 comments
"As I've said time and time again"
This is your first post in this thread. Or did you get muddled up with which username to login with?
Not heard of 'fight or flight' when confronted by a threat to person ?
He's Nigel Garrage having changed his username.
Thanks - I did suspect a connection but not that one !
Aww, y'kay hun?
For those who are unaware, YAC is our Nigel who has changed his username. Suspect from the chosen name and dummy-spitting that mods have told him to wind his neck in; if that's the case and he really doesn't come back, well done mods, worth the price of my subscription for that alone!
Really? Seems like only yesterday I was calling Nige out for being an attention whore. Wait, it was yesterday! I hope that wasn't the reason, because if it was I regret not doing it months ago 😁
I will reply to you finally now I know you have left us. Especially as you didn't keep yopur original promise of either blocking me or not replying to me.
There was quite alot of evidence in the video that supported Rendals account and disproved the drivers account.
Driver:- No check or signal and cyclist just moved out without warning.
Video:- Several obvious shoulder checks and hand movement reflected in the shadows on the floor.
Driver:- I was just behind the cyclist less then 2 metres away and he pulled out in front of me whilst i was only at the speed limit.
Video:- Cyclist moves across and doesn't automatically gets knocked off plus additional witness account of distance.
Still byeeee.
Shortest flounce ever.
Yep. Should have known it would be one of these "look at me" type things like most of his recent posts. Should have know as Boo was the same beforehand as well, started off nice, then got more and more like this to garner attention.
Thought you'd left 2 hours ago. Typical snowflake can't keep their word.
You still here hun?
I think the moaning about vile misogynistic insults from someone who has gone out of the way to praise and defend Dick L'Orange from America who likes to "Grab them by their pussies" is a nice touch.
He is - now as TT danger.......
Weren't on-the-road TTs a big bugbear of Boos?
Bye then.
Thanks Cap'n!
I guess the magistrates thought that the driver clearly was paying due care and attention - after all, they knew EXACTLY what they were doing! - hence the 'not guilty' on that charge (should have been a different f-ing charge, IMO).
Really sh!tty result.
Appalling decision. If this person is allowed to continue driving, with such clear evidence, the roads are a free for all. I'm glad you weren't injured or worse, Rendel.
Thank you kindly, every time I see the video I feel very lucky indeed!
Shame you/ the Police couldn't have gotten the driver of the following Ford to be a witness. After all they would have been close enough to know actual distances involved and blown the lying twats account away.
That was shocking. I have tried to think of why any driver would do that and there is no possible reason that I can think of. It was one of the stupidest overtakes I have ever seen that could easily have had tragic consequences.
Another example where road.cc, British Cycling etc. could do something positive for cycle safety. Help pick up the pursuit of action against these drivers, follow up with the police force, be a fly in their ear and ensure that the police would rather take action against the drivers than be chased through their complaints process. This one was nearly a cyclist death, one where the police would ask for witnesses and dashcam footage despite having hard evidence from the video and the cyclists wife...and then put it down as an accident due to cyclist not doing/doing something.
follow up with the police force
I'm doing it! I'm doing it!- as Basil says in Fawlty Towers. Make the complaint, watch them take months to come up with something really stupid (like 'we must have video from the offending vehicle'), then take it to the PCC, then your MP. It's the only way to fight police tactics of delay, victim blaming, pretending there aren't loads of similar complaints from other victims etc. etc. I will report the intermediate results- could take a while
Frustrating that it's difficult to spot thread updates on road.cc forum. Unless I'm missing something obvs!
Disqus (a proprietary forum software) and a lot of provincial newspapers' forums have an 'email me any updates' option.
We could then follow and support any updates, even if the pace is plate-tectonic
Some NMotD could be flagged as 'live' by road.cc until the OP has exhausted all lines of enquiry
Honestly wtjs I don't understand why the police are so opaque about this. It just makes them look like they are not doing their job. LOL. They might even be getting some great results, but not telling anyone. Least of all the complainant.
Please keep on plugging away.
Was it the Learner or the driver who beeped? Might be worth checking to see if you can trace the learner instructor as I would be surprised if they didn't use dashcam and could give a view down the road as well if needed (although I expect with the amount of time passed, it has long been over written).
Tarnation, that's a cracking idea - wish I'd had it at the time. As you say though, bound to have been overwritten by now if they did have footage.
I can't resist sharing this one, there's been some great abuse of me and my actions on RCC's FB page, but this one takes the biscuit:
I just don’t believe he could see behind enough from his over shoulder glance to see the car. He was also with his wife so should have allowed enough time for them both to make the manoeuvre. Not putting her at risk as well.
Leaving aside that apparently I make head checks but don't actually see behind me with them (!), how sexist and patronising is that! Mrs H is a skilled and experienced rider and always makes her own decisions on the road, as it should be. This guy apparently thinks she is some sort of middle-ages chattel who is bound to copy my every action!
That's hillarious
I suggest you mention that the children were just behind her.
Really you should have left her at home doing the ironing and dusting.
I remember one one video, someone claimed the cyclist did not look behind them as the helmet camera did not show the rear view - apparently a cyclist has to swivel their head 180 to see behind !
Yes I've been trying to explain to some of the oxygen thieves that humans have a visual arc of 120 degrees and thus don't actually need to swivel our heads like an owl to see behind us, but they're not having it!
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