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news
Near Miss of the Day 624: Drivers overtaking cyclist nearly hit oncoming rider
We have a slightly unusual one in our Near Miss of the Day series today – two motorists who give a cyclist a decent amount of space while overtaking, but in doing so come perilously close to hitting a rider coming from the other direction.
It was filmed near Muir of Ord, around 10 miles west of Inverness, by road.cc reader Kieran, who told us: “I reported this to the police after viewing the footage, the drivers were informed of their actions and apparently very apologetic, saying they 'did not see the second cyclist'.”
But he added: “Police are not interested in making a prosecution and ‘don't see what other avenues of enforcement we should pursue’.”
> 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
Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.
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41 comments
Police don't see what other avenues they can pursue if they don't prosecute? How about issuing a fixed penalty notice for careless driving? £100 and 3 points is at least some punishment and creates a record of poor conduct.
So they saw the first cyclist, but not the second. Explain that?!?
I suspect that the driver of the small blue car actually saw nothing and just blindly (
) followed the first car
because when most drivers approach a cyclist from behind they can't see anything else. The can't see the car the cyclist is following leaving no chance of completing an overtake. they can't see the red traffic lights ahead making an overtake pointless, they can only see the cyclists in front of them, the cyclist they must pass as soon as possible. so how you expect them to see a second cyclist on the other side of the road is a mystery.
Exactly right - so many morons rush to follow the car in front who's doing the overtaking, as they asusme that if they're going for it, it's fine for them; don't worry about being unsighted or anything. Twats.
Yet another reason for riders to wear decent flashing front (and rear) lights in the day or night. Like, why wouldn't you?
Do they penetrate through the car in front to the one behind?
It was broad daylight - if they can't see a cyclist in those conditions, they should not be driving. If they can't look beyond the end of the bonnet, they shouldn't be driving.
I am 100% on the cyclist side, being an ambitious amateur road cyclist myself.
But sadly I must admit that the same thing almost happened to me while I was driving my car and needed to overtake a road cyclist.
I still can't believe I didn't see the oncoming cyclist. Luckily he was further down the road and I managed to come back into my lane just in time. To my defense, he was wearing all slick Rafa black outfit...
That's no defence. That's just victim blaming. If you can see well enough to identify not only the colour but the brand of clothing, then you shouldn't be making excuses for your failure to look for oncoming traffic.
Strike One
Strike Two
Strike Three
It's RAPHA
DOOR mirror
Luckily that cyclist wasn't a car.
Or you'd have not seen that either, and would likely both be dead.
And it would be down to you.
You never "need"to o/take, and certainly not before checking the way is clear.
FFS
The police will accept any excuse in connection with an offence against a cyclist- the 'what can we do?' is their own pathetic excuse for failing to prosecute and put points on the licence- the only worthwhile punishment.
"did not see the second cyclist'."
Because did not look...
Whilst I'm not sure if you're allowed to say "all fur coat and no knickers" any more, I think you may have a point on leasing vs ownership. Hadn't considered that before.
Although in many cases, even 'ownership' is more like 'the car that the bank owns until I finish paying them back'...
Interesting theory re: "king of the world mentality". But if most people lease cars these days, and so everyone else drives a fancy new Merc too, then surely it loses some of its cache and status symbolism?
For the record, I own my car (not a brag - it's very ordinary and of noughties vintage), and personally think the leasing model is irresponsible. But it's hard to criticise people for choosing to lease rather than buy when the market is set up that way.
I think if it loses some cache, then the EMS won't start the car up.
Perish the thought that anyone could save up for anything ! Or not have something new.
Touchet
Just as well I added 'status symbolism' so you knew what I meant.
I agree, I was just challenging Nige's suggestion that people who lease are somehow not "living within their means". If they can afford the lease payments etc, then they are. We (or at least I ) don't think of someone living beyond their means because they didn't save up to buy their house outright.
A house appreciates though* and the price normally goes up faster than your salary !
Not convinced people can afford them as there is still a lot of personal debt out there https://www.creditfix.co.uk/blog/over-half-of-uk-adults-head-into-2020-w...
I don't get the need to swap your car every 2 or 3 years as folk in my area do a lot !
* prices may also go down
Yeah ok, maybe mortgages aren't a direct comparison. I guess I was just saying that there are some things which we accept we don't own - it's just that cars haven't traditionally been in that category. And I'm sure you're right that there are some who can't 'really' afford to lease the car they're driving either. On a recent mortgage application I was shocked at an affordability question along the lines of "do you have any other regular payments you would continue making in preference to your mortgage, e.g. gym memberships, subscriptions". Who chooses to pay their gym membership over their mortgage?! I guess cars fall into that category for some.
Finance companies loaned private car buyers a total of £3.06 billion in April 2021, with more than 184,000 cars acquired on finance.
The total value of the car finance market totalled over £37.4 billion in 2018.
Just a couple of stats.
I do find it strange to treat a car as a consumable and I don't get the whole buy new thing.
Get the car you want, not the one you can find
be sure no one has done anything untoward to it before you owned it
enjoy low maintenance warranty free driving for a few years.
Now buying new and selling at three years old seems foolish, but does buying a new car and keeping it for 6 years work out that much more than buying a 3 year old car and keeping it for 3 years twice? I guess it depends on how much you like to haggle. What about buying a new car and keeping it for 10 years? cost per year is probably equivalent or maybe even less than the 3 years to 6 years plan. Modern cars last pretty well it's not like those 8 year olf fords and fiats of the 80s and 90s that looked like they were about to fall apart. Of course buying at 3 years old and keeping for 10 years will be cheaper still.
I wasn't (intending to) criticise leasing. I'm not even sure if you can buy a new car the way that we used to...
(our household owns two vehicles, vintage - as per my previous posts - and we own them outright. In theory, after owning them this long, we could pretty much scrap them and walk away and not feel as if we had lost money. Might have to in a few years, what with the changes to unleaded petrol that sneaked through under the radar...).
Yes sorry, I guess my reply should really have been to Nigel Garrage rather than you, I just responded to the (then) most recent in the thread.
Pretty sure the car dealers have not yet stopped accepting cash, but they (or rather the manufacturers) want to incentivise leasing because the natural course of action when the lease expires is to start a new lease, wheras those that have just finished patying off a loa to buy a car may be tempted by a year with no payments, and those that bought the car outright in the first place may not even notice 3 years is up.
so they offer better discounts and lower interest rates to those leasing than those buying outright, and because the lease is only balances against depreciation and not the entire purchase price it makes leasing look much cheaper, as long as people don't consider that buying with a loan, means they own the car after 3 years, while leasing means after 3 years they own nothing.
I've checked and yes, you are allowed to say that.
Not only is it a 2009 film, but also a vintage wedding provider https://www.furcoatnoknickers.co.uk/
I bow before your google-fu, O squirrelly one
Dashed working class oiks getting uppity, eh? When will they learn their place?
A lot of the worst driving I experience comes from Range Rovers, Cayennes, X5s and similar around Chelsea and Fulham, most definitely being driven by people who have bought the car they can afford. People who believe it's acceptable to drive those sort of wankpanzers around are selfish and entitled by definition, whether they buy or lease.
This happens a lot. And it's becoming ever more common. It's because while drivers' behaviour has changed a bit their attitude hasn't - they refuse to be held up or slowed down by a cyclist (so they think sod the traffic on the other side of the road - whether it's another vehicle or a cyclist - they are not waiting).
I've just sent this to Police Scotland. MSP next if no timely response. The service has had a few really bad years (on just about everything from racism to failing to attend an RTC for 3 days leaving bodies in the car) but I hope that they can be goaded into action.
[message]
Dear Police Scotland,
You may like to know that you are being called out frequently for failure to police road safety breaches recorded by video cameras on bicycles.
There are two issues: first, the reporting process requires an officer to meet the victim in person, which is at best time consuming, and at worst impossible, if the victim has since left Scotland (eg at the end of a holiday). Why is there no mechanism for uploading a video so that the police can analyse it and promptly decide on action?
Second, there appears to be a presumption that even with clear evidence of drivers risking a severe collision, there is often "nothing that can be done". See this clear example: https://road.cc/content/news/nmotd-624-drivers-passing-cyclist-nearly-hi.... If the cyclist had been a police motorcyclist, would that officer have been satisfied that due care and attention had been exercised, or would they have felt that the driving of either car was dangerous?
It pains me that as a resident of Scotland, my local police service is getting a public panning. Please take action and make the roads safer for all of us - drivers included.
I look forward to your response.
[End]
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