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news
Near Miss of the Day 704: Two abreast group close passed by impatient driver who almost hits front rider
Today's Near Miss of the Day will probably be familiar to any of you who regularly head out into the lanes with a club or group of mates. You are riding two abreast, as is perfectly safe and allowed, when an impatient driver just has to get past.
In this case Oxford Cycling Club, who also sent us NMOTD 682, were on the receiving end of a close pass back during the balmy September late summer.
Dave Nash tells us the driver sounded his horn as he sped past, almost brushing the arm of the lead rider, and members of the group are certain the pass was intentionally close.
Thames Valley Police sent the driver involved a letter of advice, providing guidance in line with the Highway Code.
Dave told us he was pleasantly surprised by Thames Valley Police's response to "a couple of suggestions we offered", and that assurances were made that 'Rule 66' of the Highway Code, detailing cyclists' rights to ride two abreast would be included in future letters.
"The club also had the opportunity to impress upon Thames Valley Police the catastrophic consequences if one or more of the cyclists in the group had moved to the right to avoid a pothole or detritus on the road," Dave told us.
"We are hopeful that motorists cautioned for close passes by TVP will, in future, be advised that their actions could have resulted in serious bodily harm or worse, especially if the cyclists had deviated from their line of travel."
> 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@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
Dan is the road.cc news editor and joined in 2020 having previously written about nearly every other sport under the sun for the Express, and the weird and wonderful world of non-league football for The Non-League Paper. Dan has been at road.cc for four years and mainly writes news and tech articles as well as the occasional feature. He has hopefully kept you entertained on the live blog too.
Never fast enough to take things on the bike too seriously, when he's not working you'll find him exploring the south of England by two wheels at a leisurely weekend pace, or enjoying his favourite Scottish roads when visiting family. Sometimes he'll even load up the bags and ride up the whole way, he's a bit strange like that.
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81 comments
Don't let Nigel distract from the fact that a car driver decided to put at risk the safety of a number of people on bikes by an action that TVP thought worthy of some follow up.
Anything else is his common tactic of distraction when a motorist is clearly at fault.
It is not OK to put the safety of other road users at risk even if you think, incorrectly, that they should be behaving slightly differently
I once heard a professor complain of a particularly poor student, "It's not that they're stupid that bothers me, it's that they assume that I am as stupid as them."
We can ride for free? Where do I apply?
the oncoming car feels worse for sure, but I think thats maybe the speed. I think with the car from behind, its that the leading rider on the outside who is slightly obscured, gets given no room whatsoever from the driver, its like they start the cut back before theyve properly passed the group.
Because the driver hasn't assessed the manoeuvre correctly. They never saw the cyclists at the front, so never planned to overtake them safely.
This should have been a driver awareness course and not a warning letter.
Exactly this
None of which negates the fact that they are not breaking any rules by riding two abreast.
Or the fact that even if they SHOULD have been riding single file the driver still has a responsibility to overtake them without putting them at risk.
if a pedestrian crosses the road suddenly, and without looking, 50m away from a crossing, car drivers are still required to do everything in their power to pass them safely, without putting them at risk, and not bowling past them as close as possible without slowing down ... no matter how legitimate they believe their complaint about them not using the crossing etc.
See how this works? This is why the Highway Code needs to spell out that those capable of creating the greatest risk should also carry greater reponsibility.
In other words:
- leave at least 1.5 metres when overtaking cyclists at speeds of up to 30mph, and give them more space when overtaking at higher speeds
- you should wait behind the motorcyclist, cyclist, horse rider, horse drawn vehicle or pedestrian and not overtake if it is unsafe or not possible to meet these clearances
"You can ride two abreast and it can be safer to do so, particularly in larger groups... Be aware of drivers behind you and allow them to overtake ... when you feel it is safe to let them do so."
Both cars were damn close.
General tip:
If you're a computer, pause the video and use "," and "." to move frame by frame, backwards or forwards.
I'm in two minds over this. I'd want to know, are the riders happy that there was enough space for a car coming towards them? If there was then there is no reason why there is not the same space for a car to overtake them, if it is safe head on then it should be safe the other way as well.
Obviously a malicious driver will make a dangerous situation out of a safe one, whichever their direction of travel. Most drivers will slow down when meeting other cars in a road like this, not barrel past with inches to spare. Yet for some reason when it's flesh and bones, taking up no more width than would a metal box, then they have an axe to grind regardless of the risk. It seems to me that both drivers fell into that category, especially the one overtaking.
My thoughts exactly, the video had me very confused. Both cars were a close to the opposite verge as each other. If I had been passed that close by the first car I would then be single file pretty quickly. Having said that both cars could, and should, have slowed down.
Not true. Down to being able to see each other directly, the time/distance it takes to complete the pass, the side of road you're on, etc.
That oncoming vehicle wasn't for slowing either! I thought that actually looked worse (on the vid, might not have seemed as bad in real life).
It's hard to tell from the video, but it doesn't look like it would be possible to pass and leave a 1.5m gap. Ideally in this circumstance, an oncoming vehicle would slow to an almost halt and let the cyclists manoeuvre around them. A following vehicle would need to wait for the cyclists to single out on a sufficiently straight section or for the road to widen.
You don't need a 1.5m gap for oncoming traffic. The rationale is that you can see each other and so you can slow/stop/manoevre sufficiently to pass each other safely. That's not the case when overtaking, since we do not spend all our time (in any mode of transport) looking behind us.
I don't agree with you here. The risk of a gust of wind or a pothole appearing doesn't change dependent on the direction of the passing vehicle.
The speed differential with an oncoming vehicle is often much higher too. I ride with a mirror and spend quite a lot of time watching what's coming up behind me. Your rationale would make close passes acceptable as long as the cyclist had a radar or mirror.
We'll disagree then. I just know that - on a road wide enough for two cars to pass - I'm (personally) MUCH less concerned with oncoming cars than I am with those behind me.
On single-track roads, I'm right with you. It can even be worse, because the oncoming driver generally expects you to dive out of the way - or doesn't expect you to be there at all.
(And FWIW I do have a RTL510 which you generally hear merrily beeping away in every submission I make)
Agreed. That's the worst - when they expect you to stop/avoid them/ get out of the way as they drive towards you, often at some considerable speed.
When possible, I just stop in the middle of the road, so that they have to stop too (or run me over - not happened yet!). If they wind window down to 'chat', I suggest to them that 'we share the road'.
Last time, the driver responded by saying 'well fuck off out of the way, then'!!
It's the just not slowing down part that gets me with those encounters,its like fine its a narrow road we are going to have to accommodate each other to pass safely that's just life using these types of roads deal with it, so slow down please. But they dont they just drive at you at undiminished speed and your choice feels like get out the way or be hit.
I havent worked out if it's just an intimidation tactic, or they just dont understand really what they are doing.
Literally had one yesterday where I had to ride off the road into a hedge and my handlebars were still no more than a few inches away from this car door mirrors doing 40-50mph past me.
I think we're saying the same thing.
On a 2 lane road oncoming vehicles are usually not a problem as there's easily a 1.5m gap. Unless the oncoming vehicle is in my lane overtaking another oncoming vehicle! Which has happened to me and I was not ok about the small gap I was given as they screamed past at 60mph+, even though I could clearly see it all happening in front of me (days before cameras unfortunately).
Once relative speeds are below 25mph or so, I'm not so worried about the size of the gap.
In my experience, from what I've been told when updated, most of the drivers receiving 'words of advice' are more intent on arguing the point than taking anything on board.
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