Near Miss of the Day 891: “Inconsistency” of police response to dangerous driving slammed as driver avoids punishment for squeezing between cyclist and oncoming car

In January, you may recall, North Yorkshire Police received the Near Miss of the Day treatment after a cyclist accused them of lacking transparency and not taking “enough action” against dangerous drivers who threaten the lives of vulnerable road users. Now, just over a month later, it’s the turn of their colleagues in West Yorkshire to face criticism for what one cyclist – who was recently close passed by “centimetres” by an impatient motorist, right into the path of an oncoming vehicle – believes to be the force’s inconsistency when it comes to dealing with near miss submissions.

As the road.cc reader who sent us the footage noted, today’s featured incident is a “fairly typical” one, a classic case of MGIF (Must Get in Front) mentality from a motorist, willing to squeeze between a cyclist and an oncoming driver, instead of waiting a few seconds to pass safely.

But, despite the depressing inevitably of such behaviour on the road, it’s the unpredictability of the police’s response to very similar types of close passes – the driver in this case escaped punishment after West Yorkshire Police reviewed the footage – that baffles our reader the most.

> Near Miss of the Day 775: Two videos highlight inconsistency in close pass enforcement

“This is a fairly typical incident,” the cyclist tells road.cc of the nature of the close pass, which took place on the A657 Rodley Lane, in Calverley, near Leeds on the afternoon of 7 February.

“Despite my high vis and two rear lights, the driver of the car decided to squeeze between me and the oncoming car, rather than wait a few milliseconds for a safe pass. They missed hitting me by a few centimetres.”

The cyclist continued: “The upsetting thing here is that I’ve submitted this to West Yorkshire Police, who have decided not to follow up with the driver. As they aren’t replying to my messages, I can only presume that this is because it isn’t considered a dangerous pass.

“The thing that gets me is the inconsistency of submissions to the police. Two pretty much identical incidents can have very different responses, and this appears to be due to whatever officer is viewing the footage.

“The police, as is standard, will never admit they are wrong. I’m absolutely convinced that if a different officer had viewed my footage, there would be a different result.”

> Near Miss of the Day 889: Police refuse to act on cyclist’s submission and claim they require the “bike to be visible in the footage” to determine a close pass

Nevertheless, the cyclist insists that they will continue to submit instances of dangerous and careless driving to the police, despite the force’s perceived procedural inconsistency.

“I’ll continue to submit my footage,” he says. “I think around 85 per cent of my submissions are followed by a Notice of Intended Prosecution, so the police can do their job sometimes. Most submissions are close passes, with the occasional driver doing something ludicrous like driving on the wrong side of the road.”

> Near Miss of the Day 885: Cyclist accuses police of lack of transparency after “life-threatening” close pass by taxi driver towards oncoming car

This latest criticism of the police response in Yorkshire to close passes follows accusations of a lack of transparency aimed at officers in the north of the country, after both the force and the local council failed to provide details of the specific action taken against a taxi driver who committed a “life-threatening” close pass on a cyclist towards an oncoming vehicle.

road.cc reader James was cycling in the Yorkshire Dales on the B6160 leading into Kettlewell from Kilnsey, on 9 October last year, when he was left “fearing for my life” as a North Yorkshire Council-licensed taxi driver chose to overtake him on the narrow road as an oncoming motorist approached, leaving James “just inches of space” and forcing the oncoming driver to brake sharply to avoid a collision.

Following the close pass, James submitted footage of the incident to both North Yorkshire Police, via the force’s Operation Snap portal, and the council’s licensing department.

North Yorkshire Police responded swiftly to James’ report, advising the cyclist that they had taken “positive action”, such as “educational letters, courses, training, penalty points, and/or fine and court attendance”.

However, James said that, despite several requests, the police “repeatedly refused to clarify what specific action was actually taken”, a response the cyclist claimed left him with “very low confidence” that North Yorkshire Police “are doing enough to protect vulnerable road users”.

in a statement provided to road.cc, North Yorkshire Council clarified that a warning letter was issued to the taxi driver in November “to remind him of his obligations”, and asserted that any future indiscretions on the road could lead to him losing his licence.

The local authority also noted that North Yorkshire Police took “subsequent action” to address the cyclist’s concerns “from a roads policing perspective”.

> 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 Twitter or 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