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news
Near Miss of the Day 761: “That’s really close – I could have touched that!” says cyclist after close pass
“That’s really close – I could have touched that!” was the reaction of a cyclist who was subjected to a very close overtake last week in Norwich. However, police only issued the driver with a warning letter, and the rider is now calling on other cyclists to share with him their experience of submitting footage to the force.
The link to the video on YouTube was sent to us by road.cc reader ThatGuyOnTheBike, who said: “I was amazed how close they got and where they chose to pass me.
“I'm a regular submitter to Norfolk and Suffolk Operation Snap who can be pretty good. On this occasion though, they decided that a warning letter would suffice.”
He added: “I'd also like to hear how others have found our local Operation Snap //thatguyonthebikeagain [at] gmail.com" target="_blank">via this email.”
> 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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17 comments
Simon, I mentioned before in some comments section but could your team, maybe in conjunction with cycling UK do an article on different police forces responses and willingness to prosecute drivers. Andy Cox is doing a massive charity drive for RoadPeace and has recently done an article about camera submissions, yet we have submissions like the above or Carlo's van which are just warning letters. Maybe have a chat with him about the lack of consistency between forces and before / after Covid, whilst also promoting his charity link.
Seconded 👍
Great idea. I ride in three counties regularly. When something happens in Bucks most of the time I can't be bothered. TVP will phone you up occiasionally but their apetite to do anything more than send words of advise is low. Also their form take the longest to complete.
Some (potential good) news on the above on Twitter yesterday. Of course seeing is believing....
https://twitter.com/oxfordcycclub/status/1521838008961482753?s=12&t=19EM...
Thirdereded
Extraordinarily bad driving, choosing to pass at the most narrow and dangerous point. Surely that should get more than just a warning letter?
I don't even know this got a warning letter as such, the feedback I got said they'd offered words of advice, the van is veering further in towards me to at this point to avoid driving into a keep left bollard pinch point.
The vehicle was SORNd at the time as well.
Is that Norfolk/Suffolk?
Suffolk,roughly half a mile from Suffolk Police HQ as it happens,but it gets reviewed by Norfolk,as the road and armed police team are run as a joint county operation, and its always Norfolk who seem to respond to the submissions
Yay for some local content for once
Everything I submitted pre covid 2018-2020 resulted in a NIP, I stopped submitting for a while during lockdown even for bad passes just because they became the exception rather than the rule, and only picked up again when the traffic started getting bad again regularly, though I only submit stuff I feel in immediate danger or threat of collision, and that video is probably not one Id have submitted, but its impacted on experience because Ive had at best only warning letters issued for similar levels of submissions and even NFAs for some since 2020, so why bother kind of thing, unless they hit you I dont think they are interested.
I mean they publish the stats.which covers both Norfolk & Suffolk as its a combined operation snap https://www.suffolk.police.uk/sites/suffolk/files/2022-04/DASH%20CAM%20P...
do drop me an email
thatguyonthebikeagain [at] gmail.com
I am having exactly the same issue with Norfolk/Suffolk Operation Snap
The past 5 submissions have all been given warning letters, where as previously they would have been given NIP's. I have been subbmitting stuff since the web portal opened in 2018 and had a pretty good results, between 2018 and 2020 (pandemic stopped my cycle commuting, only just restarted) I submitted 115 videos, 42 of them I had no feedback, 61 of them were NIP, 2 were trips to court and both were convicted, 8 were warning letters and 2 were no further action.
The 5 I've submitted over the past 6 months all were given warning letters and comparing the footage between those and the previous submissions I'd say they fall in the mid to high end of severity. When I raised this point I was told that the action taken against the motorist was at the discression of the officer viewing the footage.
This one, the driver got a NIP for the paper number plate on his trailer, but a warning for nearly hitting me???!!!
https://youtu.be/8-lEO_NbaeM
This is my most recent submission - I felt the door mirror of this van brush my shoulder as it passed - warning letter
https://youtu.be/urDfxJCTqs8
This one from 2019 - court, 4 points and a fine
https://youtu.be/WSbzzugkuM4
This is a video I posted on youtube some time ago because of how impressed I was with the action being taken by Norfolk compared to other forces.
https://youtu.be/40RfOPZ_MG4
It's not very good when they're posting stuff like this on Facebook
https://www.norfolk.police.uk/news/latest-news/operation-close-pass
I've submitted to Norfolk/Suffolk today so waiting to hear what the say, its so hard how they want it done in the Norfolk area in herts/beds/Cambridge is so much easier although they say due to data protection they won't tell you what action they did take but the email says 1 of 4 things 1 a warning letter 2 offer of a driving course 3 points & a fine & 4 court, but like I said I as the victim/witness is not allowed to know the outcome
but the email says 1 of 4 things 1 a warning letter 2 offer of a driving course 3 points & a fine & 4 court, but like I said I as the victim/witness is not allowed to know the outcome
It's probably even worse than you think- make sure they haven't employed the Lancashire Dodge on you, which is where the letter gives a list of increasingly joke non-penalty penalties and states 'may result in ....', which is obviously designed to leave open the possibility of doing nothing at all
oof, that one with the MPS van made me flinch. Some shocking driving on display there.
I know the road police team in Suffolk have also worked with local bike clubs and encouraged the use of cameras on club rides, but I've not seen/heard how useful those clubs are finding things now.
Do get in touch
thatguyonthebikeagain [at] gmail.com
It sounds like we have much to discuss