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news
Near Miss of the Day 550: Unmarked police car driver weaves through cyclists
Here’s an interesting entry in our Near Miss of the Day series – the driver of what we presume is an unmarked police car starting to overtake a cyclist and thinking better of it due to a couple of other riders; as well as another motor vehicle, coming in the other direction then after weaving through them, flashing their blue lights.
The footage was filmed in northwest Kent by road.cc reader Philip, who said there was no apparent reason for the driver to have flashed the lights other than because “that for some reason excused and justified their bad driving.”
He told us: “Having just cycled up Hogtrough Hill (just next to the better known Brasted Hill in Kent) I was heading down a quiet country lane. I started taking a left turn, arm out in a clear signal with a car still approaching on the opposite side of the road. The car then continued to turn as I turned but onto the wrong side of the road, towards an oncoming car and two other bicycles.
“The car then had to stop sharply but couldn’t pull over because by this point it was parallel to me and had nowhere to go. It pulled in behind me, allowed the oncoming car and bikes to pass and then continued to pass me. While I was fine and nobody came close to me, had the oncoming traffic been faster or closer we could all have been seriously hurt.
“As I gave my usual disappointed shake of my head that I reserve for this sort of thoughtless driving the car lit up its blue lights. I can only assume that this was to show me that it was an unmarked Police car and that for some reason excused and justified their bad driving. There was no reason to light up its lights after passing the other vehicles and while passing me and at no other point were their blue lights on and almost as quickly as they passed, they turned off their lights again. (Note, in the video their side lights appear to flicker but this is just a side effect of the camera’s frame-rate).”
He added: “I find in general road users’ lack of consideration for cyclists disappointing but it is really sad that I often find that the Police are just as bad as any other ‘regular’ driver.”
> 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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104 comments
Can't you do him/her for wasting police time?!
I would think the video being published on here would have shameful enough, obviously as a keen cyclist himself, I expect the Officer will see it on here
I had a similar experience - I was riding alongside another rider on a wide, 2-lane road, approaching a corner a marked car honked and close passed. I gestured (not rudely) in a 'really?!' kind of way. The car pulled up and the officer flagged us down to say we 'must ride in single file'. I got a copy of the highway code up and pointed out that a) his use of a horn was illegal unless he considered his driving to be dangerous b) his overtake was dangerous and c) we were fully entitled to ride side by side, and had been doing so to try and dissuade an unecessary overtake into a corner... He shut up and drove off PDQ.
Should have said that you were a keen police officer yourself...
I was under the impression that the police could only use their flashing blue lights when they were responding to an incident or had a specific need such as drawing attention to a hazard. So perhaps they were admitting that they are the hazard and the problem and will report themselves.
I once saw a marked "panda" use it's blue lights to get through a traffic jam in Kings Heath High Street a long while back. Once beyond the lights and the queue he turned them off.
Lucky that 4x4 didn't arrive 5 seconds earlier.
Is that really safe driving even if in a pursuit?
Did you report it? (Although not sure what the offence would be)
Certainly a 'driver training issue'.
RTA 1988, s3:
Careless, and inconsiderate, driving.
If a person drives a mechanically propelled vehicle on a road or other public place without due care and attention, or without reasonable consideration for other persons using the road or place, he is guilty of an offence.
And according to https://www.sentencingcouncil.org.uk/offences/magistrates-court/item/car... it should probably be a fine of 50% weekly income plus 3-4 points.
In pursuit by definition is unsafe driving.
Not if you are trained to the correct level.
By your sentence that means that the risk to bystanders would be equivalent to normal safe driving. Looking at plod's safety record on pursuits we can see that's not the case.
https://www.theguardian.com/news/2019/jul/02/deaths-uk-police-pursuits-c...
Some enlightened jurisdictions, even in the States, are beginning to follow non-pursuit policies. It is rare that the pursuit is the only opportunity to apprehend a scally. The risk to the wider public is too great, for little or no payback.
I'm waiting for them to abandon using police cars for pursuits and instead employ some spotty faced teens flying some racing drones instead. (Probably wouldn't need to be racing drones, but you know, why not?). A driver wouldn't be able to do much to lose a drone except for drive around long enough to exceed their flying time and it'd be easy enough to have drone-chase-relays to follow the driver around until they give up and/or abandon their car.
That's spot on. Helicopter patrols have been used in some jurisdictions to trace vehicles and occupants without the need for a highspeed chase, thus reducing risk for officer, occupants of pursued vehicle, and public at large. Trouble is the cost associated. Using Drones would be fab. With modern tech they would not necessarily need to be piloted directly.
Mind you reapplying the tech could result in something far more sinister...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9fa9lVwHHqg
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