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news
Near Miss of the Day 384: Close pass from white van driver who gets straight back to his phone
Today’s Valentine’s Day near miss sees a perhaps amorous white van driver attempting to gently stroke a cyclist with his rear wing en route to a set of traffic lights. We gather from the footage that the motorist was keen to pull up in the queue so that he could check his phone (assuming he wasn’t already doing so).
The incident occurred on Bishop's Bridge Rd (the A4206) in London to the rear of Paddington Station.
Mark submitted the video to the Metropolitan Police, but while he has received a reference number, he fears he has left it too late.
“This occurred on February 14. I did not know that footage has to be submitted within a short time frame.
“It took me a week to edit down the footage and upload it because I have borrowed a camera and it's my first experience of using one.
“As I cycle through London every day and witness all kinds of incidents, I feel I should invest in a GoPro soon and record my journeys from now on.”
> 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
Alex has written for more cricket publications than the rest of the road.cc team combined. Despite the apparent evidence of this picture, he doesn't especially like cake.
Latest Comments
- brooksby 0 sec ago
And a rich person who does live here but claims that they live overseas and only visit here can pay far less tax.
- john_smith 5 min 52 sec ago
Tea with honey is nice too.
- FionaJJ 15 min 29 sec ago
It might reduce the price, but that's good news for those who don't need or want a car, and would otherwise be forced into paying for a parking...
- richliv 18 min 30 sec ago
£5500 is same price as the equivalent 2020 Trek Madone (SL7) which is now about 50% more. Hopefully this will drive stupid prices down a bit, I...
- john_smith 23 min 17 sec ago
Leather-clad motorcyclists has a nice evil ring to it though.
- RNTRMP 41 min 38 sec ago
" The lightest pedal system currently on the market" is debatable, the Xpedo Thrust SL are 168g a pair, KEO compatible, and a fraction of the cost.
- mark1a 1 hour 19 min ago
I think it depends on the Lidl. There's two near me, one is just half a mile away and has been open over 20 years. The bike parking is not great,...
- MattKelland 2 hours 41 min ago
Thanks! For some reason it's not showing up here: https://road.cc/show/tags/nmotd/145572
- brooksby 2 hours 42 min ago
But it's OK because our taxes are being used to subsidise those poor hard-done-by motorists by freezing fuel duty
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11 comments
Here's the response I received regarding the above incident -
After careful consideration of the evidence supplied in this case, I regret to inform you that we are unable to take any further action.
G Dark
On behalf of Traffic Allegations
Traffic Prosecutions
Traffic Offence Report Team
I have to agree with biker phil and ex_terra; not sure if the police take road incidents that seriously, maybe not submitting the evidence within 48hrs was a factor.
This driver was speeding, reckless and using a phone and will no doubt do it again.
I would hope that at the very least an official looking letter would be sent out to the registered keeper of the vehicle. Most people are reasonable and fall into bad habits rather than set out to break laws. A reminder that bad driving is not invisible to the authorities might go some way to making them think twice before using a phone at the wheel again.
It was a shame it was not taken further Mark, and whilst it is frustrating, it is a good thing that you took the time to submit the footage, this driver will now be on file, and when they commit further driving offences, and if they cause serious injuries to others, then a pattern of behavior will hopefully become obvious to those investigating.
Thank you.
If the London Mayor is really serious about reducing traffic in London, he should fund another Police operation "CUBO", but this time targeting drivers on their mobiles.
All those drivers receiving 6 points would probably cause numerous drivers to be disqualified and, therefore, fewer drivers on London's roads.
To me an amazon or yodel driver looking to see where he is delivering next.
Why?
Are white van men less likely to be texting their mates or looking at whatever social media does for them?
I'm not giving him an excuse, Just stating what I thibk was going on based on the van and the hi viz jacket he was wearing. Unfortunately online ordering and the pressures put on them by the workload means they mess about sorting out routes or signing off deliveries on the move rather then safely doing them.
But yes he might have been texting his mates.
Maybe he was watching 'near miss of the day no 383'
Almost certainly on his phone when doing the dangerous pass. Since he was also breaking the law by using his phone while in charge of a motor vehicle and the vid clearly shows that, surely the police have to prosecute?
Not at all, because that would mean police having to do some police work, to uphold the Law.
Biker Phil is right - besides the police have more important things to do like policing Facebook and painting their nails blue in solidarity with the latest cause of the day.