Near Miss of the Day 420: Instant karma as driver makes close pass on cyclist - and immediately gets pulled over by police officer following him

Double white lines seem to bring out something special in some motorists, and not in a good way.  They might be remembering something is a bit different, there might be special rules, but cannot for the life of them remember what they are.  Sometimes they really don't like crossing them.

There is a bit on my hourish loop, worst 100m on the whole ride.  There was a bit on my commute, twisty too.  What with sometime low sun and noticing bad sleepy driving in the mornings (alternative better and harder route on the way home), I managed to find a much longer route that went over a common and meant I wasn't riding into the sun.

Double white lines, traffic calming pedestrian refuge pinch point encounters and painted SLOW 5 foot lettering, all seem to encourage bad overtakes, don't know why.

Double white lines are ignored by me when driving, and I expect cars overtaking me when cycling to ignore them too.  Most roads are wide enough for a bicycle, a car, and another car.  But then I keep to the left when cycling and don't take up a full lane.

scarletmacaw wrote:

Double white lines are ignored by me when driving

Then you shouldn't be driving if you won't obey the rules of the road.

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Most roads are wide enough for a bicycle, a car, and another car.

No they're not. On most roads giving sufficient space to pass a cyclist requires straddling the central lines.

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Slow traffic needs to be overtaken.

Wanting to overtake it does not mean it needs to be.

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There's nothing bad about overtaking

...when there is time, space, and lines of sight to do so safely, which a solid central marking indicates there isn't.

I fear I may be feeding the troll, but can I recommend a good read - The Highway Code. Have a look at Rule 163 (and the picture accompanying it, although I wish the Audi was another foot away to really make the point) and Rule 165. And if you're not sure why you need to give cyclists any more room than they are physically occupying (or why you, when cycling, should want it), then see Rule 213. I imagine many roads are physically wide enough for three cars, but you might reasonably object to someone trying to create a third lane by squeezing between you and oncoming traffic.    

And I bet you love causing a tailback when the cop is there.  Slow traffic needs to be overtaken.  There's nothing bad about overtaking.

I think the solid white line on his side of the road and the oncoming vehicle may have something to do with the decision from the cop there

This video makes me very happy

Yes I think you're right - definitely its him overtaking into the path of an oncoming vehicle.  Very bad driving. 

The pass itself looked OK  - I've had passes where the car hasnt even pulled out of the lane.

Excellent.  And a careless driving charge.

Chapeau Lanarkshire Police!

dodgy wrote:

..

To me it looked like going over the solid white was the real reason the officer pulled him?

A lot of drivers seem to know that it's legal to cross double white lines to overtake a cyclist but didn't read the next bit where it says "...if they are travelling at 10 mph (16 km/h) or less." Highway Code Rule 129

(And in this case "...provided the road is clear..." is relevant as well.)

dodgy wrote:

It didn't look *that* bad, which perhaps shows how anaesthetised to every day close passes we've become.

To me it looked like going over the solid white was the real reason the officer pulled him?

Unfortunately that was my 1st thought as well. I feel sure we've all had much much worse.

Nice to see justice for once though.