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Near Miss of the Day 232: A festive foursome with one video resulting in driver being fined (includes strong language)

Our regular feature of close passes from around the country - today it's London...

Today's entry in our Near Miss of the Day series features four videos sent in by a cyclist who invested in an action camera - with the first (shown above) landing the motorist with a £100 fine.

The were submitted by road.cc reader Nick, who told us: "My old front light was no longer holding a charge so I recently bought the new Cycliq front-light and camera, and have it centrally mounted on my handle-bars.

"I’ve been cycle-commuting for over 18 months now and cycle about 18 miles each way into work - most journeys are pretty uneventful, however I’m pretty certain that before I got the camera I didn’t have this many near misses, especially over a couple of months!"

The first two videos were both submitted to the police, so have 2 minutes either side of the incidents themselves.

Nick said that the first video (shown above) "is the most shocking event, I recently heard that the driver was fined £100 and 3 points on their licence."

For the second one, he told us: "Even my wife went ‘meh’ at this one. I did think long and hard about whether to report it, but decided that cab-drivers really should be told that a lazy drift across the traffic lanes isn’t really acceptable.

"The police felt that there wasn’t enough evidence to warrant a conviction, but the driver was sent a letter.

"These next two I didn’t report, but still qualify as near-misses," he continued.

"Clueless pedestrians, [@01:05] I didn’t stop as the lane is quite narrow and there was no shouting after me. The traffic isn’t normally that heavy, but I’ll admit I was pretty assertive filtering through the traffic.

"Dangerous undertake, I couldn’t make out the number plate, so it’s not been reported. I’ve asked for the Cycliq rear-camera for Xmas, so hopefully I’ll be able to get a clearer view if this happens again."

Let's hope Santa's reading.

> 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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7 comments

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Panslanepaul | 5 years ago
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Re Clueless Pedestrians

"Pretty assertive filtering through traffic": you sure are, and bolder than I, but riding the wrong side of a traffic island especially across a split ped x is meat and drink to the anti-cyclist lobby so suggest you tone that down a bit. Also, and here's a topic for debate, does the "give a metre" campaign only apply to motorised vehicles, or should faster cyclists give slower cyclists the same gap? If so, you just posted a classic Near Miss of Day on three and possibly four other cyclists.

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hawkinspeter replied to Panslanepaul | 5 years ago
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Panslanepaul wrote:

Re Clueless Pedestrians

"Pretty assertive filtering through traffic": you sure are, and bolder than I, but riding the wrong side of a traffic island especially across a split ped x is meat and drink to the anti-cyclist lobby so suggest you tone that down a bit. Also, and here's a topic for debate, does the "give a metre" campaign only apply to motorised vehicles, or should faster cyclists give slower cyclists the same gap? If so, you just posted a classic Near Miss of Day on three and possibly four other cyclists.

Personally, I usually try to give slower cyclists a metre or so when overtaking on my bike, but I don't think it's really necessary, just a courtesy. I think the speed difference is very important, so when there's not much difference in speed, a smaller distance becomes acceptable and conversely if a car is going 30mph quicker than you, you'd want more than 1.5 metres to feel safe.

I also take into account how predictable the slower cyclist looks e.g. if the cyclist is using a phone or has shopping dangling from their handlebars then I'd give them more room (I really don't want to crash into another cyclist).

Also, overtaking cyclists have "skin in the game", so they're unlikely to misjudge a safe distance.

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nwhyte2012 replied to Panslanepaul | 5 years ago
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Panslanepaul wrote:

Re Clueless Pedestrians

"Pretty assertive filtering through traffic": you sure are, and bolder than I, but riding the wrong side of a traffic island especially across a split ped x is meat and drink to the anti-cyclist lobby so suggest you tone that down a bit. Also, and here's a topic for debate, does the "give a metre" campaign only apply to motorised vehicles, or should faster cyclists give slower cyclists the same gap? If so, you just posted a classic Near Miss of Day on three and possibly four other cyclists.

 

Yup, I agree - I was definately in the wrong and almost had instant karmic feedback for my sins!

That bit of my journey is always a bit tricky, as the approach to the ASL at the lights is always blocked on the left hand side (either by a bus or a HGV in this case) and the right-hand lane was near grid-lock, so I tend to follow the scooters on the outside, on the wrong side of the road. Having merged across the slow moving traffic, I saw that the cyclists were practically hugging the kerb and the traffic opened up a bit as the flat-bed was to the right hand side of the running lane, so I knew I could nip past them outside the cycle lane markings - definately a bit cheeky and had they been in the middle of that piss-poor excuse of a cycle lane, I'd have held back.

Having almost been doored further along on that road (passengers opening doors into cycle-lane to get out and walk) I took the advice of getting somes tips for safer filtering from a motorcyclist friend: https://www.bmf.co.uk/news/show/10-tips-for-safe-motorcycle-filtering

Everyone want's to get better right? I'm now a lot less bold along that road, that's for sure!

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Panslanepaul replied to nwhyte2012 | 5 years ago
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nwhyte2012]</p>

<p>[quote=Panslanepaul wrote:

Re Clueless Pedestrians

Everyone want's to get better right? I'm now a lot less bold along that road, that's for sure!

That's for sure, and fair play for holding your hand up. We don't always make the right decisions in the split second we have available. I used to ride a motorbike into and out of London from the M4 round the North Circular and I was always a cautious filterer so much so I was always moving over to let the kamikaze brigade through. Happening upon the recently enacted scene of a filtering biker having been taken out by a motorist swapping lanes on the A40 near the Hoover building is not something you forget in a hurry.

Stay safe!

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captain_slog | 5 years ago
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I know that first stretch of road well and it's a hideous piece of smashed-up tarmac. And those dreadful speed cushions that mean you can't hold a decent line without your teeth getting jolted out of your jaw.

Never had anything as bad as that though, thank God.

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Rik Mayals unde... | 5 years ago
2 likes

Normal everyday events in my experience. I commute to work every day and my journey consists of 85% cycle paths. The parts where I have to cycle on the road are usually filled with close passes, and drivers more concerned with what's going on with Facebook than what's going on in front of them. I don't know if anyone else has noticed, but it appears many modern cars are not specced with 'indicators'. Many motorists obviously don't need them, as they know where they are going, so stuff other commuters. Part of my commute involves crossing the slip road of the M6 at junction 29, I would say over 90% drive onto the motorway slip road without indicating. Many come around the roundabout as if their life depended on getting around as quickly as possible, hence you can be halfway across and some idiot then appears and in a split second is on the horn or slamming on to avoid you. I have found in my experience that drivers are more aware when I'm on my sunday run, weekday commuters are usually on a different planet and couldn't care a toss about 'road lice'. 

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burtthebike | 5 years ago
2 likes

Just your normal everyday driving, which is the problem.  If the driver in the first vid can get away with £100 and three points, our legal system is broken, shattered and wrecked, totally not fit for purpose.  They could easily have maimed or killed someone and it was only luck, and I suspect, the experience of the cyclist which meant that it didn't happen.  When the difference between a collision and nothing is so little, and entirely the fault of the driver, the outcome should be the same, so what punishment would he have got if he'd killed the cyclist?

Sorry, forgot where I was there for a second, of course they would have been totally exonerated and their costs paid by a grateful country.

Can't wait for the governments review of road law.  Should I ask santa?

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