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news
Near Miss of the Day 918Near Miss of the Day 918: No further action taken for "pretty scary" close pass on cyclist
A cyclist in Essex questioned the county's police force's decision to take no further action against a driver for a "pretty scary" close pass, the rider believing a "potentially lethal driver hasn't been challenged".
road.cc reader Julian is keen to point out he's generally "really positive" about the work of Essex Police and the Extra Eyes reporting portal, which allows third-party footage of roads incidents to be submitted for an officer to assess, but "just thinks in this case they called it wrong".
"Essentially, I'm passing a parked car, keeping clear of the door zone whilst being conscious there's another parked car which is why I didn't tuck back in," he recalled. "The vehicle passed within a few centimetres of me — pretty scary!"
Essex Police opted against taking any action against the driver in the clip, the force suggesting the prosecution would not have been secure due to the fact Julian could have moved to his left after passing the first parked vehicle. However, as he explained to us, this could have left him "boxed in".
As per Rule 67 of the Highway Code:
Take care when passing parked vehicles, leaving enough room (a door's width or 1 metre) to avoid being hit if a car door is opened, and watch out for pedestrians stepping into your path.
Julian was keen to tell us that while this report's outcome was disappointing, "I would like it acknowledged that I'm really positive towards Essex Police and the Extra Eyes portal, which I have used in the past and have always been really happy with the positive action.
"I just think in this case they called it wrong and a potentially lethal driver hasn't been challenged, not even an advice letter, for their (in my opinion) dangerous driving."
road.cc contacted Essex Police and we were told: "We understand it is disappointing when it is decided no further action will be taken. There are a number reasons why a particular case might not be progressed, described here: saferessexroads.org/extra-eyes/results/.
"In most cases where no further action (NFA) is taken, this is due to the strength of the evidence not meeting current guidance from the Crown Prosecutions Service and Forensic Science Service, which is needed to give a good chance of successful prosecution if challenged in court.
"These standards are designed to ensure limited resources and limited court spaces are used on the cases most likely to result in a conviction. While we can't process every example of careless driving, the continued support of the public is very much appreciated as without this support, a great many drivers committing clear offences would not be held to account."
> 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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44 comments
Hang on. Echo chamber. That sounds awfully familiar. Do we have a PBU?
Is Darwin a particularly well known vigilante?
Darwin (character)
I have been doored, but being slow as always, no big troubles happened. Unless drain grates exist, I hug the curbe and always try not to keep drivers behind me in an empty road. They can be either, sleepy, stupid or angry and neither is good.
Darwin is hard, but speaks the truth.
You do you but I'd recommend modifying that if sporadic parked cars mean you'll end up weaving in and out of traffic and potentially getting hidden by a parked van.
Also taking the primary at junctions is a good idea: if you have to cross paths with traffic your best bet is being as visible as you can.
Is this how you get all your extra miles in, constantly moving over and pandering to the impatient motorist behind you?
This is what I do. I also bow and lay my coat over any puddles should one be in their path.
Pulling over to the left between parked cars merely creates the problem of having to pull back out for the next parked car, which is generally more dangerous for the cyclist. Let's be clear - the driver is at fault here.
"agree with the cops on this one. He had plenty of opportunities to move over without interrpution."
It was FOUR seconds between the parked cars.
There was absolutely no need to pull in and no justification for that overtake no matter how you try to rationalise it.
You forgot to add that the cyclist should have dismounted between the two parked cars and grovelled on the ground in abject submission.
A lot of motorists do seem to expect cyclists to move out to overtake Parked Car 1, then move back in for a few seconds, then move out to pass Parked Car 2, etc etc.
Which is weird, because I've never seen a motorist drive like that…
Depends on the size of the gap between parked cars, but I would pull in to the left if I thought it was a safe place for a following driver to overtake. The point is that it's my decision to make and this particular driver either doesn't know how to drive safely or doesn't care. It's a disgrace that the police aren't even sending the driver a letter.
I agree, I would move over if I judge that there is a long enough gap between the parked cars for the car behind to overtake me at a legal speed and for me to be able to pull back out again without having to slow or stop. I think in the instance above it's certainly highly debatable that those conditions applied and the cyclist was justifiably concerned about being boxed in. In any case, as you very rightly say, it's the cyclist's decision; too many drivers – and police assessors – seem to hold the belief that "if safe to do so" means "If the driver thinks it's safe for you to do so", it doesn't, it's our lives at stake and so we decide when it's safe.
What they expect is for you to move in after the first overtake so that all the cars can go past and you should wait for your betters to go about their journeys unhindered by you scum cyclists.
Any sensible cyclist doesn't pull in after every overtake because then you have to pull out again when cars are sure as hell just going to overtake all the cars in one go and would 100% blame you for "pulling out in front of them" if you did pull in/out.
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