Near Miss of the Day 793: No action for driver overtaking into oncoming traffic (+ interesting Operation SNAP feedback)

The driver fully crossed double solid white lines. This is what the RAC says
Can I overtake if there's double white lines? It is illegal to overtake if there are road signs or markings prohibiting it. These road markings appear as variations on double white lines; where the line nearest to you is broken, where the line nearest to you is solid, or where both lines are solid
Why no action for that offence?

Hi folks, I am the submitter of this video, and thankfully have some good news to add. I live very close to where this occurred so know this stretch of road extremely well having driven and ridden it countless times. Consequently I know how often drivers will attempt to overtake, and also know how fast some drivers take the bend. The number of near misses between cyclists/drivers and indeed between two drivers is frankly ridiculous.

The camera angle may not fully convey just how unsighted this bend is. There is a large hedge to the right, and you have to be almost completely around it until you can see whether an overtake is safe or not. The gradient means that all but the fastest of cyclists will be doing less than 15mph, which of course 'invites' overtakes from impatient drivers. The vast majority of drivers cope well enough in this situation, but there are still a few that don't.

I have had disappointing decisions from OpSnap in the past, including one that you may remember was previously posted here involving a yellow van. On that occasion I ended up learning a couple of good lessons thanks to some well-reasoned and much appreciated critiquing from the fellow forum members.

This time however I was very surprised. As per my quotes in the article above I was more concerned about the implications of a collision between the cars, or the overtaking driver avoiding a collision and hitting me instead. Both scenarios were avoided this time by pure luck rather than any element of skill or judgement from all involved.

I actually messaged the OpSnap team via their website to ask if there was any sort of appeal process and was surprised to get a call back from the person that had reviewed my submission. They proceeded to explain that they had watched it again and still felt the pass wasn't dangerous enough to warrant further action (me: really?!!!), but given my request for an appeal they had referred it to one of their colleagues; another assessor and 1 of 4 in the office covering South Wales. The other reviewer disagreed so they have changed the result to now sending the driver a warning letter. A driver training course would probably be my preferred action, but a letter does at least demonstrate to the driver that this sort of incident is not acceptable. Hopefully that will be enough to improve their behaviour in future.

Looks like another Fifth Columnist is around, unless (as alleged below) it's the same Fifth Columnist with a suspect retread. This 'cyclist intentionally veered out into the road' rubbish is frequently proposed by very thick people such as Lancashire Constabulary because they can't appreciate that a headcam is not the same as a dashcam. It's not a very difficult concept. How are people this dim able to walk and breathe at the same time?

https://twitter.com/woodallc87/status/1543224654063669254

"Continued dialogue with @metpoliceuk about the Hoyer close pass gets madder by the day. I really didn't care that much at the time, now every email from the police gets more absurd than the last. Now just making it up as they go along?"

I live in south Wales and my experience with Operation SNAP has been largely positive since the Highway Code changes and thay have informed me of action being taken for close passes from videos that I have submitted to them.

South Wales Police however rejected a few submissions because they claimed that they could not read the number plate of the offending vehicle in the video, which was completely incorrect, unless they were viewing the video on a potato.

Makes me wonder if they have a quota either official or unofficial that they work to on a daily basis so that they do not get accused of persecuting motorists, or for some other reason?

In my mind as a driver, double white lines are a zero tolerance thing. I am surprised that the police would let that go.

I will overtake a cyclist on a double white line (there is a two mile section of road from Knowle to Chadwick End that has unbroken double whites for the length - 2 years ago there were breaks so obviously there are sections that are potential overtaking spots, it's just too many motorists have no judgement so in came the lines - so there are places where it is safe to pass in the right circumstances).

The trouble is that once a motorist has decided that the white line is not sacrosanct, it seems they are unable to distinguish between a safe bit of road and a dangerous bit as previously the only information that stopped them making an ill-judged move was the double whites.

Oddly one of the most peculiar traits of drivers lacking confidence is that they don't pass cyclists on straight bits of roads presumably because they aren't sure something will be coming, yet as they approach a blind corner, they will then pass - it's almost like they know they cannot see oncoming traffic so there can't be any (especially when passing cyclists which obviously means oncoming traffic can be ignored generally anyway).

Strange that they didn't review the whole footage for offences. Can't have been any swearing or other public order offences by the cyclist to make it of interest. The safety of other motorists is clearly of no interest - odd, they pay road tax, don't they? Perhaps the oncoming car was electric?

I realise I'll be in the minority, but I don't have a problem with drivers overtaking me by crossing a solid white line even if I am doing over 10mph - I'd generally rather that than they get frustrated behind me, and definitely rather than that they squeeze past.  But that's only if they can see it is safe to do so.  In this case, that was a dangerous overtake whatever the type of line in the middle of the road (as with wjts's picture).