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news
Near Miss of the Day 707: Two close passes in quick succession
A road.cc reader who bought his first action camera after a series of close passes the weekend before last didn’t have to wait long for it to record similar instances of poor driving, filming two drivers in succession making close overtakes on himself and the cyclist riding in front of him.
Robert, who captured the footage on his new camera, told us: “I was unsure about sharing this footage, not least for my crude commentary on the driving display.
“Until last week, I had decided against using a camera. Last Sunday [23 January], I was out on my usual ride and had three or four close passes, one of which was extremely dangerous on a narrow road and round a left-hand bend. In the light of that, I bought a camera and used it for the first time on Sunday.
“By and large, I think most drivers were considerate and the publicity around the changes to the Highway Code appear to have had some impact.
“But this footage shows an incident on the B440 from Dagnall towards Hemel Hempstead. Normally, this is a fairly quiet road on a Sunday.
“Yesterday, it was notably busier than normal (I later discovered the M1 had been closed),” Robert added.
“But that doesn’t excuse the close pass from two drivers on me and the cyclist in front (whom I don’t know).”
> 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.
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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15 comments
And of course the dangerous/carless prosecution fails becaue the test
"was this action below the standard expected of a careful driver" is failed when 5 consecutive drivers do the same thing. Defence argues, clearly this is the standard of the typical driver, it's very unlikely that 5 significantly deficient drivers will arive in a row.
Not only close passes but also forcing vehicles going the other way to take avoidance action; the cops would be able to write multiple infringement notices for those idiots.
the [Filth] would be able to write multiple infringement notices for those idiots
They could, but they won't! On Sunday 6th I went up the A6 (I rarely take the risk, and the traffic was worse than I expected) and in the one minute between 12:16 and 12:17 (exact GPS times) there were 5 close passing vehicles one after another within 20 seconds all at 50-60 mph. They were all at less than a metre and one was at about 25 cms. Between 12:17 and 12:18 there was a similar group of 5 one after another, all reinforcing each other's offending. Lancashire has been forced to abandon the previous policy of simply ignoring all offences and now operates a 'pretending to take action' scheme. I suspect lots of the offenders just bin the 'who was driving?' letter, knowing the police can't be bothered to follow them up. Cyclists are in a bad way, and the touted HC changes will make no difference at all.
Get OUT of that gutter, guy!
This is a perfect example of why riding 2 abreast is actually better for the riders and the motorists behind. There is a gap between the riders making a correct overtake much more difficult, low and behold, 2 close passes. Any decent driver would have waited until the opposite lane was clear, but sadly these 2 motorists didn't make the standard required!
But they weren't riding together, they were just going the same way.
Fair point. My point was a bit more general tbh.
Nonetheless, it does illustrate the benefits of riding two abreast when you are riding with someone else.
It is normal for one close pass to be followed by others if the cars are close together, as they seem to think (think, hmmm) that if one driver can pass the cyclist without killing them it must be safe for them to do so too. Or maybe they'd all read the misinformation propaganda by the msm about the HC.
And they've been reported, right? Right?
+1 terrible, reportable driving
Unfortunately, this will go to the Herts/ Cambs/ Beds joint unit, which have a history of refusing to do anything (even when video evidence shows clear law-breaking or even cyclists being hit). After a number of upheld Professional Standards complaints for them refusing to investigate, they now refuse to provide feedback, so the reporters are never told the unit didn't do anything, and no complaint can be lodged. They don't give a sh*t.
After a number of upheld Professional Standards complaints for them refusing to investigate, they now refuse to provide feedback, so the reporters are never told the unit didn't do anything, and no complaint can be lodged. They don't give a sh*t
Amazing! It's just like Lancashire Constabulary is in the room!!
I have a hunch the OP thinks the drivers might be knobs?
I love the understated swearing (much more constrained than I would be)