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news
Near Miss of the Day 896: Cyclist estimates motorcyclist overtook at 120mph, but police insist "there is not enough evidence" and rider passed "clear of the cyclist on a wide piece of road"
A cyclist from Derbyshire has shared footage of the moment a motorcyclist flew past them at an estimated speed of 120mph in an incident they said could have caused a "big problem" for a less experienced rider, and has criticised the police's response to the video.
road.cc reader Rob sent in our latest Near Miss of the Day video, our ongoing series making a point about driving standards and the lack of consideration for vulnerable road users on UK roads. In the footage, a motorcyclist can be seen overtaking at high speed in the same left-hand lane of the Derby Road between Hatton and Hilton.
Rob explained how he was running a Garmin Varia Radar Camera RCT715, which can estimate speed of passing motorists, and caught the motorcyclist passing at an estimated speed of 119mph on the 60mph road.
"The speed and the noise it went past startled me, and if I had been a less experienced cyclist it may have caused a big problem," he explained. "But why should a cyclist put up with what would be the equivalent of the tower fly-by in Top Gun? Would a horse rider get the same treatment?
"I have nothing against bikers, I know several and one of my best friends sadly died from a bike accident in Derby a few years ago, but riding in this manner doesn't do bikers any favours.
"I submitted it to Derbyshire Police who responded with 'no further action', which I have to say is utterly disgraceful. I don't expect them to prosecute for speeding, indeed I'm not entirely sure they can without calibrated equipment, but the evidence was clear enough for at least a warning or education to the rider.
"This leaves me with zero confidence that Derbyshire Police cares about making roads safer for all users. I have asked for an explanation from Derbyshire Police, but they haven't responded."
road.cc contacted the force in search of an explanation and received the following statement, insisting that there was "not enough evidence to state that an offence occurred" and that the rider had passed "clear of the cyclist on a wide piece of road".
Following the report the video was reviewed and, as has been made clear by the person reporting, there is not enough evidence to state that an offence has occurred – or that the manner of driving has been below that which would be expected with the motorcycle passing clear of the cyclist on a wide piece of road. While there is an indicated speed from the camera on the bicycle, this is not evidential.
In any report to the force proportionate enquiries will be made and, while this has not resulted in any action in this case, each report is reviewed based on the specific circumstances of that incident.
We would urge all road users to be considerate of other, more vulnerable, road users, and to treat each other with courtesy and care. We will, and do, prosecute individuals who put others at risk and also seek to educate those whose driving or riding falls below the standards we would expect, but may not meet the criminal threshold but this is done on a proportionate basis based on the evidence provided.
> 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
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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22 comments
"I have nothing against bikers, I know several and one of my best friends sadly died from a bike accident in Derby a few years ago, but riding in this manner doesn't do bikers any favours."
"I ride a bike, some of my best friends are cyclists, they all go through red lights so I'll treat them equally."
Careful now, don't want to start 'othering' groups based on the behaviour of a single individual.
The road markings there are a 6m gap with a 3m line. To travel two sets of lines/gaps is 18 metres and the motorcycle does this in 8 frames. At 30fps, I calculate that to be around 151mph.
The Garmin varia radar has a detection limit of 99mph according to the manual. Perhaps that's just what they tested it up to, as it clearly works for higher speeds. I do wonder if the display on the video is just showing the approach speed of the motorcycle. If you consider the rider is moving away from them at 18mph, that would give an actual speed of the motorcycle of 137mph, which is closer to the 151mph I get from analysing the video.
Whilst they cannot be issued a speeding FPN, that level of excessive speed is certainly careless, if not dangerous driving, and the police stating NFA is a disgrace. Video analytics is enough evidence for the speed if the plate is clear.
The nagging doubt that I have is it just doesn't look 130mph+. And I realise the frame rate may play a part in that and youve calculated it.
But 130mph is near enough 60 metres per second, that's like 10-12 car lengths it should be travelling in 1 second.
I was overtaken by a van I calculated was hitting 70mph in a 30limit few years back, I didn't have time to react it passed by so quickly, I think I got the first letter of F out and it was already quarter a mile down the road, this motorcycle was travelling twice as fast as that.
I'm fairly confident in my calculation. For reference, this was around 71mph. I calculated that from the video footage using the same method and got the same result as the police when they did video forensics on it.
There will be some slight variation if the road markings are not quite the correct size (unusual). I expect the frame rate is accurate enough. Whatever the speed, it's well beyond being defendable on the grounds of device calibration.
Even if it's 90 that should be enough to be at least careless. NFA is nonsense.
Looks good to me. I had a similar experience with a Porsche a few years back. I literally didn't hear it until it was level with me. It gave me such a fright I nearly fell off the bike. It wouldn't have entered by head to blame the the driver though, even if he did appear to be well over the speed limit.
But that's because you're a shit troll.
We're talking about real life here. Talking of which, had you thought of getting one? Or at least stop boring us and join your fellow Gammonflakes currently soiling themselves over a football shirt.
And who are you, petal? Have you tried getting help for your problem?
How did Rob manage to get the plate to report it? I can't identify a single character on the video.
My cameras struggle with more than a 20-30mph difference in relative speeds. A 100+ pass !!!
Garmin radar says 119 MPH. If the video is 30 FPS (or 29.97, close enough) the motorcyclist takes nine frames (0.3 s) to cover the spacing of over two full dashed lines. Measuring on Google Maps near there, I get 12-16 m per two lines. What I can find online is saying it should be a standard of 12 m for under 40 MPH roads, 18 m for over 40. Being as generous as possible to the motorcyclist, then, 12 m / 0.3 s = 40 m/s = 144 km/h = 89 MPH. Using 16 m exactly matches the Garmin at 119 MPH.
I don't think a video of a bike haring past you would stand up in court if challenged. Closes passes are different because you can tell how far away someone was relatively easily. Speeds are another matter. I wouldn't say the bike was too close either. Well, apart from the fact it probably scared the ever living crap out of the poor cyclist.
At this speed it is a close pass by any standard of reasonableness. it would have been a close pass at 5m away. The idiot on the bike could at least have had the good grace to be on the other side of the road which was completely clear.
Completely clear at a law abiding speed, but possibly not for long at 120mph.
at 120mph, that tractor on the same side comes close incredibly quickly too.
Exactly - and that's the real point here isn't it? Bit like the Scotland try (that wasn't) against France in the 6N. It 'looks' like a try/speeding but it simply wouldn't stand up to the scrutiny of a court.
https://www.met.police.uk/advice/advice-and-information/rs/road-safety/d...
"speeding, racing, or driving aggressively"
and
"driving too close to another vehicle"
From a lay standpoint this seems to qualify for both the offences of "Dangerous driving" and "Careless or inconsiderate driving". Which part of the motocyclist's driving do you think is open to challenge?
The problem is - prove it!
Funny how them that want you to "ThinkBike!" are often total cockwombles to us ... the original Bike.
I've had everything from gnats-hair high speed close passes, to being overtaken on the right... while mid-turn, to attempting intimidation by over-revving when I've been in front *or* behind them.
Some are, not all, but there's a reason why roads in Derbyshire & Nottinghamshire often have road signs showing motorcycle fatalities specific to that road
When I see the "ThinkBike" signs I always think - yeah because you know if a motorcyclist is nearby it is about to do something really stupid so you should avoid being caught up in it.
Turning into my road I used to sit adjacent to the centre line and signal right with my hand. I would often get motorcyclists third lining approaching in the opposite direction riding into my arm. If I have to do that turn now I take primary instead. Obviously some motorists don't like having to wait behind me but thems the breaks.
Could be worse. I was once waiting like that and got hit head-on by a car coming the other way that pulled out to pass the queue of cars that were also about to turn off into the same side road I was. I was lucky to escape with only relatively minor injuries. My bike was completely trashed though.