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news
Near Miss of the Day 463: Close pass by driver on phone (includes swearing)
Today’s video in our Near Miss of the Day series shows a motorist who was on his phone making a very close pass, at speed, on a cyclist in Wiltshire – but police have refused to accept the footage because the incident did not result in a collision.
The rider, Josh, said that “Wiltshire Police have refused to take the footage as there was not a collision and they are not taking near miss footage,” and that he had sent it to us after being encouraged to do so by road.cc readers when he shared it to social media.
“I have emailed the footage to the Wiltshire Police road justice team and to the driver’s company and had no response from either,” Josh said, adding that “You can clearly see the drive on his phone at the time.”
He added that in a previous incident on the same road, a motorist had driven his vehicle at him and knocked him off his back, with that case going through court at the moment.
> 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
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.
Latest Comments
- Geordiepeddeler 8 min 55 sec ago
Why is it stupid? Please explain.
- redimp 20 min 26 sec ago
Can road.cc put in an FOI for the dossier on incidents involving motor vehicles and right an article on that, for balance?
- hawkinspeter 20 min 59 sec ago
You're right. I just use the main Long Ashton Rd to get between the A370 and Ashton Court/B3128. Looking at a map, Festival Way doesn't go far...
- eburtthebike 1 hour 22 min ago
This research is totally, completely, entirely bollards.
- hand0j1n 14 hours 38 min ago
Hopefully the new device is a big success, but wahoo do have a lot work to do in terms of convincing that their quality control has improved. ...
- chrisonabike 13 hours 28 min ago
Agree that the moaning comes from a place of priveledge and ultimately "if only there weren't so many other people driving"....
- Simon E 15 hours 14 min ago
Have added some clarification....
- Simon E 15 hours 23 min ago
I was tempted to try Galibier gloves but opted for Endura Freezing Point from LBS last year. Not cheap (£60, I think). I'd prefer a shorter cuff...
- Simon E 16 hours 1 min ago
I can't wait that long! Here's a series that any good vlogger / 'grammer would surely recognise....
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55 comments
Jesus fucking Christ! Did that scumbag even realise the cyclist was there?!
No, but he got a bl00dy good deal on renewing his mobile phone contract!
Quick search on google shows the Chief Constable as being Kier Pritchard and his Twitter Account has a post of him having a coffee and a almond crossiant during his Saturday morning ride. Judging by the bike in the photo's he's quite a keen cyclist. I wonder if he knows what's going on within his own force. Perhaps we should tell him? Post a link to this story for him perhaps?
https://twitter.com/wiltspoliceCC/status/1289467000679329792
Do this now!
Tweet has been sent. I will let you know if I get a response. Thanks
What an absolutely disgusting state of affairs that the cops won't even consider it
Ironic considering they've been stopping motorists over the last few years: https://www.wiltshire.police.uk/article/4993/Drivers-stopped-in-Operatio...
Christ that was close.
Ignoring for a second the horrendous driving and terrible close pass, I thought driving while on the phone was a crime? Why wouldn't the the police want to investigate a crime? Is that their response to all crimes sent to them with video evidence?
But to refuse to investigate any and all close passes seems to be a blanket approach to ignore dangerous and careless driving offences (which are also a crime no?). At the least this footage seems to be careless and/or driving without due care and attention. Glad at least to see the cyclist wasn't struck - more luck than judgement I think.
And "Wiltshire Police road justice team" seems terribly misnamed given there doesn't seem to be much justice provided if they ignore footage like that.
That was nasty!
Incredibly close!! ;-(
No effort at all to move over even a token amount.
As others have said - keep making the effort with the cops and employer.
"police have refused to accept the footage because the incident did not result in a collision."
Institutionally anti-cyclist.
or just plain corrupt
Yes. What rank was the off duty copper driving?
Dont be ridiculous. you three embarrass yourselves.
Isn't it the pitiful reaction of the police that is embarrassing and that's what causes people to jump to conclusions?
No. The routine accusation of police corruption damages policing for us all. every time you see video of police being attacked while trying to do their jobs be sure that posts like those have helped create that atmosphere.
I certainly don't agree with people attacking police but I think the behaviour of police is far more important than whether commenters make accusations of corruption (which to be fair I don't agree with - more likely laziness/lack of resources). What's needed is for someone on the force to re-examine this and apologise for the poor response. I suspect that they're not set up to examine email submissions that don't go through their usual portal (assuming they have one) and that's why they didn't respond to this.
I agree hakinspeter, this should simply be referred for an Independent review bu the Office for Police Complaints (www.policeconduct.gov.uk) nothing is gained by attacking the police. The fact that they have communicated in writing that as there was no collision there is no offense to answer for is frankly laughable.
I presume that the officer in question has no concept that it is a lot easier to remedy bad driving before an incident than it is to clear up an accident?
It does seem that the response from police forces is incredibly variable. Some forces are happy to help and will do their best to support the vulnerable road users and others won't make an effort.
I think some forces have pretty much said because of Covid, they don't have the resoures to process "minor" crimes. I suspect the concept of no collision is ones where a drivers dashcam footage picks up an drivers infraction which is reported. The trouble when taking it on to cyclists is a collision is invariably life threatening.
The other thing here is as the Police Officer doxed the car owner to the reportee? Nothing I saw on the video made me think that PKC was the company it was from. Josh does say he emailed the company but was that on advice of the Police (as shown from their response) or did he also find it for himself.
I suspect the concept of no collision is ones where a drivers dashcam footage picks up an drivers infraction which is reported. The trouble when taking it on to cyclists is a collision is invariably life threatening
Good point. I hadn't thought of how such a barmy policy, expressed in public, could have arisen when it's bound to provide ammunition for cyclists. Maybe it is indeed a perverse distortion of the original intention to limit police involvement in motorist-to-motorist 'he almost hit me' disputes which can't go anywhere because even when there is a collision the police (rightly) aren't interested because no-one is hurt.
I got the company name and number off the side of the vehicle but only just it was still a blur even when going frame by frame at 120fps on the go pro.
i think it would be helpful for all policce forces to have an across the board consistent approach. Wiltshires seems out of line IMO.
No offense if there no collision seems wrong .
Absolutely. It seems like an easy win from my point of view as once they've got the portal set up (maybe just copy what other forces are using) they can easily employ/train someone to examine the footage and either send out warning letters or escalate to a NIP. It seems like a very quick and easy way for them to gather evidence at very low cost and as there's a link between criminal activity and criminal driving, they might well net some big wins from it (e.g. Yorkshire Ripper caught from a traffic stop).
What would be really fun is if they were to crowd-source the evaluation of the videos - something like Road.cc's NMOTD - and have volunteers flag up the dangerous ones for further investigation. Maybe even use it as a kind of community work - get caught speeding and you have to watch 30 hours of close passes.
TBH, It is stories like Max Coopey who have a lot more people believing stories on Police Corruption then someone stating here.
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