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news
Near Miss of the Day 503: Audi driver exiting roundabout in close pass on cyclist (includes swearing)
Roundabouts feature regularly in our Near Miss of the Day series - usually when a motorist joins the junction, cutting across the path of a cyclist, but today we have a close pass that happened on the exit to one.
The footage was captured by a road.cc reader who asked to remain anonymous and who said: "This took place on a newly widened road in Keighley, west Yorkshire. The black Audi was sitting behind me on at the lights, followed me on to the roundabout, and then close-passed me as we exited the roundabout, missing me by a few inches.
"I'm unsure of whether the driver was merely incompetent, or whether this was a punishment pass for me having the temerity to be using the public highway on a bicycle. Apologies for the swearing.
"Following a previous incident where the registered keeper denied they were behind the wheel, I took advantage of the traffic lights to get this driver's face recorded on the camera.
"I submitted this to the local force, and I was informed that "The submission has been processed and the keeper/owner has been offered an educational course for Driving Without Due Care and Attention".
"Rather a light outcome, but better than nothing I suppose," he added.
> 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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13 comments
Disappointing that reflection of the sky from tinted window and steep raked windscreen obscured driver as it commonly does.
A camera mounted on a helmet may have given a positive driver's image same as what you would have seen yourself.
With a 2nd unoccupied lane available to the Audi driver, likely means it was a cowardice close pass with intent to cause you harm, alarm and distress - certainly driver deserving of punishment of sorts.
I think the language is quite appropriate given the circumstances. Good on the rider for just getting the footage and not being tempted to remonstrate against the driver. Yes, the outcome is a bit less than it could be but at least the cops did take action and I expect that's one Audi driver who will take more care in future.
outcome is a bit less than it could be but at least the cops did take action and I expect that's one Audi driver who will take more care in future.
He doesn't need to bother- all that the police have said is that he has been 'offered' the joke driving course. All he has to do is simply not reply, and they will do nothing about it. Court backlog for cases the police consider unimportant are now 21 months, and almost all of them will never come to court.
Good point, offered the course as an alternative to what? A summons for due care, or NFA?
The rider should chase it up in six weeks time (as most of these offers seem to expire after 28 days) and find out what the result was.
Do we have a date for the incident? Would be interested to know how long the process took from submitting the video to the feedback being received.
BTW terrible driving!
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think the offer of a course is as an alternative to a charge of driving without due care and attention. The standard penalty for that offence is three points on the licence and a fine of £100. But if the driver is considered to have endangered others (and this could be argued to be the case going by the video) then that can rise to nine points on the licence and a fine of £5,000 if the driver tries to fight it in court. A lot comes down to what happens in court on the day. A lot of offenders wait until the court day to see if witnesses turn up, and then plead guilty as they'll likely avoid the maximum sentence this way. I was a witness in a road rage case that went to court last year.
Even just having three points on the licence will mean a significant jump in insurance costs. Only a very foolish person wouldn't take note and be more careful in future. Note also that the driver improvement courses actually have a pretty good record. Statistically, those who take them are much less likely to reoffend. There is a hard core that do, but then you have to question whether they should actually be allowed to drive at all.
Offered a course is usually an alternative to 3 points an a fine or if the driver challenges it in court, double that + costs.
Offered a course is usually an alternative to 3 points an a fine or if the driver challenges it in court, double that + costs.
Except that dodgy drivers like these are now fully aware that the police and the courts just can't be bothered with cases like these and will build up such a huge backlog that thy will never come to court- just the same as the huge number of Scousers etc. who don't pay Covid fines for congregating in large drunken hordes.
But in your analogy with the COVID fines there is no 'victim' as such.
In this case there is a victim/complainant who should be informed if it is not going to court.
The point I was making was that the article/original poster doesn't make this clear. It could well be that the police update didn't make it clear in the first place.
It's no good the police offering a course if the alternative is No Further Action. That's why I suggested that the OP chase up the actual result in 6 weeks or so.
This was terrible driving, which has been reported and apparently investigated and I'm keen that there is a decent result. For the record I think that if the driver has no other motoring convictions, then a driver improvement course is a 'decent result', not great, but it will do.
It's too bad it appears you didn't get any useable image of their face.
Oooh, I know this road (Hard Ings Road, Keighley). It was recently widened to include two lanes in each direction, at a cost of over £10 million for about 400 yards. The design also included, according to the council, some 'high quality infrastructure for cyclists'. 10 brownie points to the first person to spot this cycling infrastructure.
I had actually spotted one of those little blue signs when I watched the video! I wonder how much longer using said infrastructure would take, accounting for crossing the roundabout in at least two, possibly three, separate light phases and giving way to turning traffic at at least eight points, not to mention dodging lamposts, kerbs, pedestrians, railings...
Yep - 10 million quid for widening the road for about 400 yards, and all cyclists get are some 'shared path' signs on the pavement. It's pathetic. And there aren't any other ways of effectively or efficiently travelling down the Aire Valley past Keighley - there is no real alternative but to use this road.