Near Miss of the Day 512: Cyclist given camera last Christmas – and the close passes mount up (+ 7 videos)

A cyclist who got an action camera as a present last Christmas eventually decided to put it on his bike in July after a number of near misses – and in the course of the month filmed several pieces of poor driving that he submitted to the police, all of which bar one resulted in warning letters being sent to the motorists involved.

The camera was given to road.cc reader Richard, who is based in Hampshire, by his wife. “I didn’t really want it as it detracts from what cycling is, fun. But over the summer there was so much bad driving, not only around me but also directed towards me that I was getting fed up with the lack of accountability and disregard. So, the camera went on the bike.

“There have been so many experiences of poor driving that to have saved, upload and informed the police of every one would have been a real pain. So I decided to contact the police only if the vehicles came within 35cm. 

“All the below, submitted clips to the police, prompted an advisory letter to the driver, except one, which has been put forward to roads policing for prosecution,” Richard said, adding that he will sent the clip through once the case has been concluded.

Here’s the other videos submitted over the course of 27 days in July, together with his comments.

7 July 2020

Panicked and lost all sense.

40 per cent of all collisions that occur on this road involve a person on bike, who make up 2 per cent of the traffic.

15 July 2020

The BMW had waited for a few seconds behind me, then having summited a blind rise and clear of a solid central white line, they decided to overtake.  The oncoming car did not seem the phase them!  I reckon the BMW was about 30cm from me at the closest point.

 16 July 2020 a.m.

This felt like the driver took offence to me not only being on the road but also potentially making him wait at the junction.  It would take a focused effort to oversteer from a junction onto oncoming traffic on the opposite side of the road, having to overcome both judgement and years of repetition.  So I’m fairly certain this was intentional. 

16 July 2020 p.m.

Not sure how you would label this close pass?  It felt like he was attempting to put me in my place by using Daddy’s high-powered car … going up an 18 per cent hill.  Dick swinging contest?  I concede defeat … he was the biggest dick on the road that afternoon. 

28 July 2020

Not much to say about this one, van far too close for comfort; felt the wind generated by its door mirror.  7 per cent upward climb, car approaching from the front.

30 July 2020 (on the same road as the 7 July)

Possibly the worst close pass I’ve had.

About 9 months earlier, to a very similar lorry, at the exact same location, a woman lost her life cycling. 

The clip starts at the point I become aware that a lorry is to my rear.  No safe overtake is possible in the first instant due to the road furniture.  However, at the T-junction the road widens ...  Should have known something was wrong by the road positioning of the car waiting to turn right.  As you can see from the remainder of the clip, following the overtake, he gets a few seconds ahead in his journey.  I wrote to the company expressing my concerns about one of their “professional” drivers.  They did say that they would talk to the driver and give me feedback if desired.  I declined to hear what he had to say.  On reflection; I think the woman who lost her life might have gone right of the pothole as I had decided to go left.

 3 August 2020

Just why?

> 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