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news
Near Miss of the Day 340: Pointless close pass as cyclist rides through door zone
The latest submission in our Near Miss of the Day series shows a cyclist getting squeezed by a motorist as she overtakes him while he is riding along a row of parked cars – and having to be wary about the prospect of getting doored.
The pointlessness of the overtaking manoeuvre is highlighted when the rider catches up and passes the same vehicle in a queue of traffic shortly afterwards.
It was filmed in Bournemouth by road.cc reader Dave, who acknowledged that he was riding too close in the door zone – though of course that’s no excuse for the driver coming, in his words, “within millimetres” of him.
Dave added: “The Near Miss of the Day videos you guys show are hopefully beneficial to anyone not sure how to drive around cyclists.”
> 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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7 comments
people coming the other way is precisely the problem. If the road simply had a cyclist riding outside the door zone, and a motorist overtaking, with no chance of any oncoming traffic, i doubt we would ever have an issue with passes. Thje problem comes when a constant stream of oncoming traffic is there. If we could get rid of the oncoming traffic, no issue would remain. Proving of course, that too many cars is also causing an issue to motorists following bicycles. I'll take primary next time im on that road and see if its any better. Im writing a piece right now to give to road cc, perhaps it will help explain the issue from the non cycling motorists point of view. We will see.
I get much less hassle from riding central on the road. It has many benefits. Slows traffic, forces driver to pass to other side of road, creates a wider escape area for the odd nutter.
Most poor overtakes are by inattentive drivers with no premeditated intention to do you harm. These are the folk you need to educate.
The nutter will never be educated unless prosecuted
i will ride further out if i didnt get beeped or yelled at by morons behind me. Thats the issue. I rode there watching the doors just in case, then saw that old bat creeping past me. Another time when i rode further out and stayed central, a van driver tailgated and beeped at me, then told me to get out the middle of the road, youre not a car. Can't win.
That's the thing, we can 'win', we can force the situation by simply riding legally and safely, the continued nonsense about better being alive than dead and being right is simply that, there's no evidence to support it. However continually ceding all the time will never, ever improve matters and the chances of being struck from behind by an impatient driver who has had to slow is IMHO massively less than one who is close passing you at speed, it's also less frightening.
I know which I'd rather have, I'll take getting yelled/beeped/revving engine all day long, it also creates a stand, if you continue to back down then 'they' have won, normalising riding wherever you see fit and particularly for your safety should be part of what we do to force the situation,because the police and government aren't going to do it. Make it normal to be in that position.
This afternoon going to the shops some berk in a van behind me getting all arsey with his engine, pretty much two seconds extra because a car was coming the other way and there was no where for him to go other than go right over me, cede into the gutter and he would have close passed me at speed, no thanks.
And when the van was able to overtake how much room did it give you ? Because my experience is they just save their close pass for later and ultimately I just want to ride my bike without any grief,hassle or conflict,it doesnt mean I ride in the gutter,but it doesnt mean I ride down the centre of the road either. I ride to protect myself because I know I only have to meet the one nutter on the road to have a bad day. That road in the video is going to be very difficult to maintain prime all the time every time you ride it
Rider moves to central part of road after vehicle passes. They should have been central in the lane all the time. The overtake wouldn't jave happened
Yeah rider's fault *facepalm*