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news
Near Miss of the Day 748: Driver passes “inches from handlebars” – but police take no action
The latest video in our Near Miss of the Day series shows the moment a driver passed a cyclist “inches from my handlebars” – but police did not consider that the driving was poor enough to warrant referring the case for prosecution.
Richard, the road.cc reader who sent us the clip, told us: “I was cycling uphill and it was wet. Fortunately the road surface was good at this point.”
He also sent the footage to Gloucestershire Constabulary, with the police worker who reviewed the footage telling him: “I have watched the videos and the driving isn’t sufficiently poor to merit me prosecuting the driver.”
Richard told us: “This is my first submission since the Highway Code changes and it seems it has made no difference to the response.
“I was on the return journey from a 5 mile each way trip – exactly the type of trip the government claims it wants to encourage.
“I could have taken the car as it was raining heavily on the outward leg but I chose to cycle.”
He added: “I wonder how many people would be put off cycling if this was their experience of trying to do the right thing?”
> 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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13 comments
Having submitted a number of close passes recently for the MET review and they seem to have next to no response to close passes. Not sure what it is, perhaps a case that has made these hard to prosecute or indifference.
It's easy to say from the sofa but this needs complaints to everyone and their dog, from your MP, PCC, Councillors and taxi licensing local authority to the Police station cat. The fact that this so called professional driver,( licenced by not only DVLA but also the private hire authority) had just been offered a lesson in safe overtaking by the car in front , and still pulled this manoeuvre suggests that he really doesn't care who he terrorises or endangers.
That Police person should lose his/her job ASAP and the driver concerned should lose his/her license ASAP as He/she must be blind not to see that oncoming car and wait for the safe pace to pass as most pedestrians will walk with their backs to the nearside traffic so would not see that car from behind. A very stupid driver indeed, have plenty here in Warminster. No indicator of the first car to the tailgating behind and it will follow regardless as they only see their own bonnet instead of reading the road well ahead of them.
How is that not a nip under the revised code?
Are we supposed to fall off on purpose in these situations?
We know it's unlikely the police will do anything. Carry on reporting regardless otherwise they'll say there's not a problem. Put a complaint in, email your MP and mayor or police crime commissioner. Ignore any response it's likely to be mealy mouthed weasel words and carry on with your day.
And get in touch with the local media, who might well feature it, given the recent spate of stories about the HC changes. If you belong to a bike club, see if they've got a media person who knows who to talk to and how to do a press release.
Yep. Tell them it is a clear offence under RTA 1988 S3, backed up by s163 of the HWC 2022.
I used that exact wording on a very similar close pass submission to that video above recently, bearing in mind the police are carrying out their 2wheels safety campaign at the moment too,it resulted in a letter of advice to the driver, so not even a formal warning, better than no action, but not confidence inspiring they take this stuff that seriously.
That looks scary,because I can imagine myself riding that bike, but often close passes on NMOTD do not look as bad as they are in real life.
Would we be better mounting bullet type cameras on the outside of the bars ?
Edit - PS
Of course It's the old -
"I can overtake this cyclist because the car in front is overtaking"
Starts an almost reasonable overtake
"Oh look there's a car coming towards me!"
"Should I go for the head on collision or take out the cyclist?"
It's a no brainer
There is a lot of "follow the leader" here.
And impatience, driving on full automatic, and of course a refusal to give up a manoeuvre once started.
But I also see it as a problem caused by the tailgating of the first car, whose good overtake obscured the close passers veiw of the road ahead. Instead of waiting to see what might be coming they have already started the pass.
I feel like it happens to me a fair bit.
A really bad bit of driving there, and doing something about this incident would have been a perfect way to demonstrate to the awful driver. A failure by the police there, and of course as we all know there are several possibilities up to prosecution. A word with a traffic officer showing them what they are doing wrong would perhaps have been the best avenue, a letter or the awareness course wouldn't have addressed these points as directly.
However, some action at all would have been better than the poor excuse offered. Do cyclists have to use photogrammetry to show the close pass? More?
Had a great close pass today followed by an almost immediate left turn. "Luckily" id already slowed down from the close pass otherwise it would have been close to a colllision.
You might find the local authority far happier to rip away the taxi driver's licence to ferry passengers around. I was overtaken by a taxi driver going the wrong side of a pedestrian refuge and although the police weren't interested, the council grabbed the CCTV footage from their own cameras and dealt with it themselves.
Knowing that the guy isn't driving members of the public around is far more satisfying than the police sending a warning letter.
You might find the local authority far happier to rip away the taxi driver's licence to ferry passengers around
Except you won't. They will say they're 'taking action' but always (contradict me in the surprising event that the council actually told you the taxi licence was removed) refuse to tell you what it was. That means it was 'having a word with...'