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news
Near Miss of the Day 537: “Closer than close” pass causes oncoming driver to brake
The cyclist who sent in the video featured today in our Near Miss of the Day series described it as a “closer than close” pass from a BMW driver – and one, moreover, that caused a motorist coming in the opposite direction to have to brake to avoid a collision.
John, the road.cc reader who shot the footage in Quainton, Buckinghamshire, sent it into Thames Valley Police, who subsequently told him that the driver – who did not view the video – was nevertheless “horrified by the incident.”
“They were given a warning,” John said. “Also I was told by the police that the driver was a horse rider.”
He added that the police civilian worker he dealt with on this incident told him “they are flooded with camera footage from cyclists” – something underlined by the regular appearance of videos in this feature from Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire, the counties that fall under Thames Valley Police’s responsibility.
Considering how much damage the driver of the BMW could have caused, John also added an interesting yet bizarre stat with regards to insurance after crunching some numbers himself: "I also forgot to mention it was a BMW 1 Series vs a Specialized Venge Pro 2020. Car valued at £2,500. Bike £6,500. Car insurance for me would be £230. Bike Insurance £515 at Bikmo. Crazy!", he said.
> 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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22 comments
A classic example of having to cut in because of an oncoming car.
Use this road often. Overtaking on the brow of a hill or on a bend is common place here in Buckinghamshire. Drivers seem to expect no oncoming cars or expect them to slow down.
I dare say the police only sent a letter because of the oncoming car, the cyclist was just a witness.
That oncoming car was clearly completely invisible (no hi-viz), it's no wonder the driver didn't see it until the last moment...
Horse rider? How the f*ck is that relevant???
And if they're flooded, does that not suggest that road crime is a massive issue, being that it leads to injury and death at an alarming rate, and so requires greater resource...
aggravating factor, they should clearly understand the space required by vulnerable road users, and so this pass cannot be put down to ignorance so it must be malice.
Or sheer stupidity.
How long do Thames Valley Police take to respond to a video?
I submitted mine on 10 Jan.
A pickup driver took it upon himself to be the enforcer of the roads by close passing me and pointing to the shared path beside me. One day the driver is going to misjudge and take someone out.
Took them over a month to get to me. But they did get there eventually. Oxfordshire section of TVP.
Thanks
That ain't no horse!!
'Flooded with footage'? Presumably from car dashcams which are as cheap as chips. Cycle cameras not so. I'm also presuming that cycling cameras tend to be of better quality, so their evidential images are suitable for court.
So it could be that motorists' shit footage is flooding the system and quality, relevant cycling footage is being washed away with it. Jetsam swirling around with the flotsam.
That nautically themed response didn't really work did it, but you know what I mean
He added that the police civilian worker he dealt with on this incident told him “they are flooded with camera footage from cyclists”
I wonder if an idle thought might cross the TVP roads and traffic unit's communal brain cell about where they might be able to apply some preventative policing effort.
I'd've thought that police departments would welcome receiving lots of footage. It's evidence that's gathered for very little cost to them apart from setting up their portal and then they get some quality data on poor driving and which locations have the biggest problems.
Most of the time, they can just send a warning letter which should be a quick win for them, and of course there's also the benefit of possibly finding criminals that have flown under their radar (e.g. companies running vehicles registered as SORN etc.).
All it takes is having the resources to process the videos and I reckon that they could easily find people willing to do a simple desk job rather than needing fully trained officers.
I thought the same. Easy wins. 3 points and £200 fine for you, and you, 6 points and £300 for that. But, this is modern Britain after all and unless someone's race, religion, gender or sexuality has been brought in to question then you can pretty much fuck off if you think they'll give a shit about a cyclist.
A warning? They damn near killed someone and all that gets is a warning?!
Sorry, forgot for a second; it was only a cyclist and they don't really count.
If clearly dangerous driving only gets a warning, it's hardly surprising that they are flooded with vids from cyclists showing dangerous driving. I wonder if they are clever enough to make the connection and actually take some serious action. That driver, horse rider or not, shouldn't be on the road. Next time they'll kill someone and the police will say "it's a terrible shame, but how could we have known they were such a bad driver?"
Guess what, close passes will continue plaguing our rides for a very long time until the punishments handed out actually reflect the irresponsible, negligible or even downright dangerous driving standards that are so endemic on our roads.
Is anyone else wondering what the relevence of being a horse rider is?
At least the police say they spoke to the driver who still has no idea how close they came to the cyclist as they didn't view the footage......
Horseriders hate inconsiderate motorists every bit as much as we do, if not more.
Does that make horse riders better drivers? Evidently not. Drivers like this need prosecuting
Not judging by the number of uncomfrtably close passes I have had from horse boxes.
Shame the self-hate didn't prevent that bit of "inconsiderate " driving....
Indeed, and that is what I took the police's comment to mean, that as a some-time vulnerable road user themselves they were without excuse.
I think it means as a horse rider they should be more aware of overtaking a vulnerable, slower moving object with a human on it.
It's like when you hear a close pass drivers excuse and in there is "I'm a cyclist myself".
There are a number of different warnings that can be given - I'm curious as to which type it was here.
there's the "don't do it again" informal warning sometimes backed up with a letter. If the letter and outcome is formally recorded on police systems this can later be used to inform decision making. No one should get more than one warning.
or there's a warning under s59 of the police reform act 2002.
https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2002/30/section/59
This is a formal warning recorded on the police national computer against the driver and the vehicle. If they are found driving carelessly or in an antisocial manner within a year of their last warning the vehicle can be seized.
This means anyone driving that same vehicle or the same driver in charge of another vehicle.
I hope this one was a s59 warning.