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Near Miss of the Day 279: The ultimate MGIF ('Must Get In Front') driver?

Our regular feature showing close passes from around the country - today it's Berkshire ...

Even if you don't know the acronym MGIF, you'll almost certainly have come across motorists deserving of it - the rivers who simply Must Get In Fornt of cyclists, no matter how pointless (or even dangerous) it is.

> What to do if you capture a near miss or close pass (or worse) on camera while cycling

> What to do next if you’ve been involved in a road traffic collision

Today's video in our Near Miss of the Day series, even by the standards of your typical MGIF driver, is something else.

The motorist overtakes a group of riders - including road.cc reader James, who shot the footage in Mortimer, Berkshire, yesterday - before promptly braking to a halt to turn right into a driveway, causing the riders behund to stop too.

It just makes no sense whatsoever. A handful of seconds saved - and on a narrow road with cars coming in the opposite direction, one that could have put lives at risk.

Fast forward to 2 minutes into the video to see the overtake and what followed.

> 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.

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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35 comments

Avatar
mdavidford | 4 years ago
0 likes

Quote:

A handful of seconds saved

 

Uh, no - absolutely no time saved whatsoever.

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whobiggs | 4 years ago
1 like

Well I doubt I would have been able to resist umm...some words with them  laugh

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ChrisB200SX | 4 years ago
2 likes

Not sure how people think that overtake is fine. The driver was at speed then stamped on the brakes while he is alongside cyclists and pulled in directly in front of them, braking to a stop, forcing vulnerable road users to take evasive action. Nothing OK about it.

There is much more to an overtake than how far over you move your vehicle at some point during the manoeuvre.

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Philippe | 4 years ago
0 likes

Absolute screamer, same driver must live near me too!

 

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ktache | 4 years ago
4 likes

You may have Robert, are you really that impatient and unaware of your surroundings?

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Robert Hardy | 4 years ago
0 likes

It's sloppy and inconsiderate but haven't we all done something akin to that at some stage of our driving or cycling history?

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fizrar6 replied to Robert Hardy | 4 years ago
2 likes

Robert Hardy wrote:

It's sloppy and inconsiderate but haven't we all done something akin to that at some stage of our driving or cycling history?

No never.

Definitely not.  Speak for yourself Robert.

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MonkeyPuzzle | 4 years ago
1 like

Driver showing how Berkshire got its name there.

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burtthebike replied to MonkeyPuzzle | 4 years ago
0 likes

MonkeyPuzzle wrote:

Driver showing how Berkshire got its name there.

Calling someone a Berk is defined as unparliamentary language, apparently because it is rhyming slang for Berkshire Hunt.

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John Smith | 4 years ago
2 likes

TVP do sometimes do something. I subitted a close pass about a year ago and the driver was sent on a driver awareness course. The value of that or not is debated by some, but the point is something was done and TVP kept me updated.

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LastBoyScout | 4 years ago
0 likes

Had one of these a couple of weeks ago - close passed by driver that then turned right.

Footage sent for TVP to ignore!

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schlepcycling replied to LastBoyScout | 4 years ago
0 likes

LastBoyScout wrote:

Had one of these a couple of weeks ago - close passed by driver that then turned right.

Footage sent for TVP to ignore!

How do you send footage to TVP, I couldn't find anywhere to do it on their website.

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bobbypuk replied to schlepcycling | 4 years ago
4 likes

schlepcycling wrote:

How do you send footage to TVP, I couldn't find anywhere to do it on their website.

The quickest and easiest way is just to delete the video files yourself.

Alternatively you can submit here and they will ignore it for you.

https://www.thamesvalley.police.uk/ro/report/rti/report-a-road-traffic-i...

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zero_trooper replied to bobbypuk | 4 years ago
0 likes

bobbypuk wrote:

schlepcycling wrote:

How do you send footage to TVP, I couldn't find anywhere to do it on their website.

The quickest and easiest way is just to delete the video files yourself.

Alternatively you can submit here and they will ignore it for you.

https://www.thamesvalley.police.uk/ro/report/rti/report-a-road-traffic-i...

When you say ‘ignore’, do you mean that you received no response whatsoever, or that they acknowledged your complaint but did nothing about it, or they informed you of no further police action?

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bobbypuk replied to schlepcycling | 4 years ago
1 like

schlepcycling wrote:

How do you send footage to TVP, I couldn't find anywhere to do it on their website.

The quickest and easiest way is just to delete the video files yourself.

Alternatively you can submit here and they will ignore it for you.

https://www.thamesvalley.police.uk/ro/report/rti/report-a-road-traffic-i...

Avatar
brooksby | 4 years ago
2 likes

As others have said, the actual pass was fine in terms of distance...

But if they know they (the driver) lives or is visiting a property only a hundred yards up the road - and I bet the times when they can just turn right in there without stopping are pretty few and far between - you do wonder what (if anything!) is going through the driver's head... 

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deanj | 4 years ago
3 likes

That's unbelievable. What is happening to the world? Why on earth did they need to unclip there? What's wrong with a little 5 second trackstand?

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MrGear | 4 years ago
5 likes

Hardly a near miss, but fucking pointless and annoying nonetheless.

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atgni | 4 years ago
3 likes

Don't understand why the offense below isn't charged more: (From CPS website)

Driving without reasonable consideration

The offence of driving without reasonable consideration under s.3 RTA 1988 is committed only when other persons are inconvenienced by the manner of the defendant's driving, see s.3ZA(4) RTA 1988.

The maximum penalty is a level five fine. The court must also either endorse the driver’s licence with between three and nine penalty points (unless there are "special reasons" not to do so), or impose disqualification for a fixed period and/or until a driving test has been passed. The penalty is the same as for driving without due care and attention.

A driving without due consideration charge is more appropriate where the inconvenience is aimed at and suffered by other road users.

Note the essential difference between the two offences under s.3 RTA 1988 is that in cases of careless driving the prosecution need not show that any other person was inconvenienced. In cases of inconsiderate driving, there must be evidence that some other user of the road or public place was actually inconvenienced; Dilks v Bowman-Shaw [1981] RTR 4 DC.

Charging Practice 

This offence is appropriate when the driving amounts to a clear act of incompetence, selfishness, impatience or aggressiveness in addition to some other inconvenience to road users.

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Philatlondon | 4 years ago
1 like

Inconsiderate driving, but hardly dangerous. The cyclists on the other hand could do with learning how to ride in a group.

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flybywire | 4 years ago
1 like

That needs reporting to TVP. And a visit. 

The driver needs educating.

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jh27 replied to flybywire | 4 years ago
2 likes

flybywire wrote:

That needs reporting to TVP. And a visit. 

The driver needs educating.

 

And their vehicle needs an MOT.

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muhasib replied to jh27 | 4 years ago
0 likes
jh27 wrote:

flybywire wrote:

That needs reporting to TVP. And a visit. 

The driver needs educating.

 

And their vehicle needs an MOT.

All four tyres on an advisory, good job he did that stop in dry weather.

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Russell Orgazoid | 4 years ago
0 likes

You know where they live.

Drop a brick through the windscreen one night.

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racyrich | 4 years ago
0 likes

So the riders now know the twat's address.
A few years ago a clubmate of mine was cut up and by luck saw the car on its drive later that day. He went back at midnight with a baseball bat and gave the local bmw body shop some work to do.

Avatar
racyrich | 4 years ago
4 likes

So the riders now know the twat's address.
A few years ago a clubmate of mine was cut up and by luck saw the car on its drive later that day. He went back at midnight with a baseball bat and gave the local bmw body shop some work to do.

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burtthebike replied to racyrich | 4 years ago
1 like

racyrich wrote:

So the riders now know the twat's address. A few years ago a clubmate of mine was cut up and by luck saw the car on its drive later that day. He went back at midnight with a baseball bat and gave the local bmw body shop some work to do.

Oh dear, what a shame, never mind eh.  Well done. 

I've often considered doing the same thing but have never been fortunate enough to have the perpetrator's address.  And I'd probably use a d lock, a baseball bat is likely to get you arrested for going equipped.

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David9694 | 4 years ago
1 like

“Fast forward to 2 minutes into the video to see the overtake and what followed.” .... err not a lot, or did I drift off?

there is something about the “nearly home” last 2 minutes/300 yards of some drivers’ journeys.

They seem quite oblivious to it, I mean with a lot of crap behaviour, they literally get away with because they just drive off.

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bigbiker101 | 4 years ago
3 likes

That's not a near miss, driver game loads of room when passing, what the driver did was just completely inconsiderate

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ktache | 4 years ago
6 likes

Cut them a bit of slack, it's a Sunday.

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