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news
Near Miss of the Day 492: “The most frightening close pass I’ve had” – motorist speeds past cyclist in driving rain (includes swearing)
The cyclist on the receiving end of this overtake at speed, and what's more, in the driving rain, by a motorist near Durley in Hampshire, has described it as "the most frightening close pass I've had," and it's easy to see why.
Tom, the road.cc reader who filmed the clip last Friday, told us: Usually I upload anything like this to Hanmpshire Police’s Operation Snap (not that I ever get a response), but they don't accept anything without a registration plate.
“Sorry about the language, I try not to swear but sometimes it slips out.
“This was the most frightening close pass I've had, felt like I was only a few inches away from being another KSI statistic.”
> 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.
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From the article above.
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8 comments
Despite all the crashes caused by people driving faster than the conditions mandate, even if it is slower than the limit, people still drive too fast for the conditions; people are stupid. They are isolated in their warm, dry car, and reality is safely outside, locked away, and the weather can be comfortably ignored.
The only answer is robot cars, if they ever sort out the problems. They have races for ecars, so why not robot cars? Couldn't be any more boring than F1.
Instances like this are the most frustrating. The driver of the second car has just seen the first car complete a text-book manoeuvre, but then conciously chose not to follow their lead and to drive that close.
... and then slam on the brakes because they were speeding and have caught up with the car in front.
I'm not sure it was conscious, more likely fiddling with the heating controls, the radio or the wipers, while they were blindly following the car in front, and this cyclist appears while their attention was distracted.
I think you are being far too generous more likley they are just tailgating and 'forget' they should be a safe distance away and are unable or unwilling to be responsible or react once they see a cyclist, if they do see the cyclist. I observed a driver this morning turn a corner on a housing estate from a minor road to the major road without even looking or glancing to see if anything was coming just fixated on where he was going not on what was around.
I think possibly, and not excusing the driver in any way, what s/he's done is simply follow the previous vehicle without allowing for the fact that the cyclist will be further along the road by the time they move through the same point. Time and again I find that if three cars pass me in close succession the first will be textbook, the second a little too close and the third way too close. Total lack of awareness of relative movement in space and fixation on the car in front rather than the cyclist.
No, the first driver moved across correctly into the other lane, whereas the second driver moved out just enough to pass the cyclist and no more, as if they were passing a parked car.. it was a deliberate move by a driver, who no doubt believes cyclists are low class scum, blocking roads that belong to motor vehicles.
second driver moved out just enough to pass the cyclist and no more, as if they were passing a parked car.
My experience with close-passing vehicles is that they allow considerably more clearance to parked vehicles than they have just allowed me.