Support road.cc

Like this site? Help us to make it better.

Near Miss of the Day 33: Close-passing drivers don't just put cyclists at risk

Our regular feature highlighting close passes caught on camera from around the country – today it’s Cumbria

As a cycling website, our Near Miss of the Day feature obviously focuses on the danger to which some motorists expose people on bikes.

But often, we see that poor driving doesn't discriminate against different classses of road users - a driver who is happy to pass a cyclist far too closely instead of hanging back will often come close to colliding with oncoming motor vehicles.

That's exactly what happens in this pair of videos filmed last week by road.cc reader Lee Brady on Hayclose Lane near Kendal, Cumbria,

The first,  above, involved a Ford Ka while the second, below. involved a coach from Cumbria-based operator, Reays; both took place near the Station Inn Pub, Oxenholme.

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.

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.

Add new comment

7 comments

Avatar
KevM | 6 years ago
1 like

Respect for cyclists is so low that they would rather have a head on collision themselves than wait behind one. Shows the odd and often deranged attitude of drivers...

Avatar
Kendalred | 6 years ago
2 likes

Know the road well, I used to live 5 minutes away (until about 6 weeks ago). Hayclose Lane is a bit of a rat-run, you can get from one side of Kendal to another without having to go through town. In the first video, the cyclist is effectively going downhill, and you can a good speed up all the way to the pub, so there's no real need to overtake a cyclist as you won't save that much time. that never seems to stop anyone though does it.

I have had a coach overtake me on that very stretch, and I must have been going 30mph at least. Not sure it was Reays though!

That section of road on the second video is pretty crap - a short but slow drag up to the pub, always dark due to the tree cover, the surface is shite and the main West Coast Main Line station (Oxenholme) is right there, with resultant traffic. In fact I would bet the coach has just come from there.

 

Avatar
OldRidgeback | 6 years ago
4 likes

Crap driving - these videos should be uploaded to the police - some forces are taking action against this sort of poor driving behaviour now

Avatar
fenix | 6 years ago
1 like

Are these videos being shared with the police ?

Avatar
severs1966 replied to fenix | 6 years ago
0 likes

fenix wrote:

Are these videos being shared with the police ?

What for? They won't watch them.

Avatar
welshcyclistguy | 6 years ago
3 likes

Videos like this and the extremely scary close passes i have had over the last few years and months is the reason nearly 20 years of road cycling is over for me.. i spend most days on my CX bike, mountain bike or even zwift, uk roads are just to damn dangerous. Unfortunately its just getting worce and worce .

Avatar
Shades | 6 years ago
0 likes

Got bored of these on my old commute...

 

Latest Comments